GM exec confirms that this cat is out of the bag

What does that mean????? I don't get what alot of people in the forum are talking about when it comes to the volt.

Corolla goes 0 inches on battery power. Volt 2,500,000 inches on battery power. How in the hell are you coming up with them being competitors?

The Volt will compete with the Prius , Leaf, and Insight.

 

At $US 41k before taxes etc, the Volt will not compete with anything.

 

As some one who has walked 2500 miles one year, you certainly can drive a Volt or Leaf from NY to Miami without using gasoline, it is going to take you longer, much longer in the case of the Volt.

 

Not true... If it is sitting at the top of a VERY large hill, it will go further than a volt and still leave you with $22k in spare change.

 

Ok so for long trips, and over 1,000 miles is pretty long i get what you are saying. So for people that drive short trips say 18 miles to work and 18 back the volt burns no gas, and the Corolla burns 1 gallon.

Anyways i do think alot of people will be looking at the Volt, prius, And the Leaf and they will chose based on their needs.

Leaf great if you never want to go over 100 miles in your car, or wont get stuck in bad traffic jam in 100 degree plus weather.

Volt can only go 40 miles on pure electric(enough range for most people) , then you can burn gas to go as far as you want.

Prius plugin can go 13 miles on pure electric, then gurns gas.

So eveyone can test drive and make the pick thats best for them or what they enjoy the most.

I hope all of them do good. i\I'm even sad to see the Insight not doing good. I want all car companies to build more cars like the Prius, Leaf, and Volt!!!!!!

 

Considering this $41k hybrid runs on premium gas, that kind of sub-standard MPG shall raise Range Extender Anxiety. The fear of using premium gas is especially pronounced when the real-world EV range can be as low as 25 miles!

 

Wait till winter arrives and they turn on the heater. The acclaimed "40 EV miles! advert" is going to become 20 miles in real world. Not to worry, though. Whoever buys a Volt is immune from reality.

 

If you are commuting 1300 miles you have another problem all together.

The Volt is for daily commuters, 40 miles each way or less. For them the Volt may use the least gas, tied with the Leaf.

 

While the Volt is sucking on both price and CS mpg, the range is not seeming to be a problem. People have received pretty good range even with the AC on and doing high speeds. The heater is not going to bring the Volt to 20 miles, and I doubt that it will bring it below 30.

 

The compact size Volt does not have the EV range like the real mid-size electric car (Leaf) that costs $8k less.

The compact size Volt does not get hybrid-like MPG like the real mid-size full hybrid (Prius) that also costs $18k less.

Why pay more to have the worst of both worlds?

If you pay more, you should get the best of both worlds. A smaller car should have more EV range or higher MPG.

 

if it can cover the average commute, and they can make the price competitive, and it is as roomy and practical as prius or leaf, they may have a competitor.

 

Time will tell. Gentlemen's wager ? Winner picks their coffee or tea of choice.

 

To paraphrase a saying: if my grandmother had wheels she would be a bus.

 

40 miles is for typical commute round trip. This was the actual question to the survey. On a typical day, how many miles one-way do you travel from home to work? If you add up all the percentages to 20 miles one way, you'll get 78%.

See the survey GM used to come up with that 75% of the trips "without a drop of gas". I put it in quotes because it is not true. The gas engine needs to run every 6 weeks (engine maintenance light will come on). You'll need to burn the entire gas tank once a year (fuel maintenance light will come on). Note, the report is 7 years old.

If you can charge at work, 15 miles PHV Prius would cover 68% of all the commute using electricity. The idea is to charge often and avoid paying extra for the battery.

If you accelerate hard or drive fast, you will use some gas. That's the beauty of being a hybrid. You get to use both power sources when it is suitable. You actually get to use what you paid for (both gas and electric).


Source

 

Nice graph, but utterly useless. The cars are not given out randomly, but are bought by people who fit the car's best use and profile. And least the rational buyers, that is.

 

If the Volt were priced at the 30k range the rest are, it would be a good addition to our choices! However GM priced it right out of the running, you don't even get leather for 41k? Prius, Leaf, Ford and Hundai products will leave the Volt a short lived curiosity!