Featured The Volt is no more

GM is still selling the Bolt, and Voltec driven cars in China, so replacement cells will be available for a Volt

IIRC, GM didn't bother exporting the gen2 Volt to Europe. Tariffs made the price too high, and some nations might have excluded PHEVs from incentives. You got the Bolt under a different name.

 

carb warranty on hybrid systems including plugins is 15 years (sorry Volt peeps, call it an ERV or late to dinner - it's a plugin hybrid) . So, yeah they have to keep them around that long. Question is, what % of owners keep them that long nowadays. Usually by year 10, it's bye-bye to somebody else. Several folks are cobbling together some pretty nice aftermarket packs anyway.
.

 

I'm pretty sure that there will be.
The v2 has been out since---what?
2015?

Somebody geekier than myself will have better numbers but that's 10's of thousands of units - besides.....10 years will be plenty, and batteries are easy enough to tinker with.

The fact that some people will be worried about it will further reduce the street price.....

 

Do we know if Volt is still operational with weak HV battery? I wouldn't mind decreased range. I would mind if the system would give you error and refuse to work soon after.

 

I'll be driving my Volt for some time and I recently picked up a Spark EV (which was replaced by the Bolt) to compliment it.

 

Yes, me too! I tested the Volt the day before goin to Toyota, and I’m surprised the Volt costs more than even advanced model of Prime, they are same plug-ins!

 

volt has almost twice as much battery range

(had)

 

And 80% of the gas efficiency.

Bob Wilson

 

you get what you pay for

 

How available were the Spark EVs? A friend in NJ will be replacing his aging Accord next year, and I suggested looking into a used Leaf. A Spark EV would likely be a better option in terms on range and reliability.

The Prime has a 8.8kWh battery, and the Volt's is at least 18kWh. That gives it much farther EV range, which could mean less gas burned over time.

But 120% the gas efficiency of an i3 REx.

 

I got a good deal from Carvana and they also delivered it. They seem to sell them as fast as they get them. Also, there's no sales tax on new or used EVs in NJ.

 

The BMW is down for a special project so we used our Prius Prime to visit a family friend. We had given her our 03 Prius but now it has a brake problem.

She lives about 20 miles away so we used most of the charge to get there. She got a call and needed to pickup one of her dogs. We put my wife's dogs in her house and off we went. About two miles from the destination, the car switched to gas which we used for the rest of the evening. With the dog in the back, we had dinner and headed back to her home. There I confirmed the gross brake symptoms and planned to return when it isn't raining.

When we got home, the trip meter showed ~90 miles and ~110 MPG. But curiously, 90 miles is about the breakeven point for the BMW, Volt, and Prime. Any further and the Prime is the cheapest. Any less and the BMW EV range is the cheapest.

Bob Wilson

 

put in perspective - even the mighty v2 Prius has many original traction packs still running around the landscape, introduced in 2004. In CARB States, they still have one year of factory warranty presuming they haven't surpassed the 150K mile mark. That's pretty excellent reliability - considering, unlike the volt which is liquid cooled, they are just air cooled. Heat is the great enemy of these traction packs, & since Volts are liquid cooled, they stand an equal chance, if not better, of doing as well a job at longevity.

But 25% the efficiency of the mode 3.

That means the Prius wins hands down on the multi 100 Mile trips, while the Bolt wins on the trips that are sub multi 100 Mile trips. Make your choice accordingly.
.

 

What is this CARB law about 15/150k warranty?

Last I checked when I had my 2005 Prius, it was 10/150k.

 

oops - yes 10yr - i never was much for math ....
the 2008 Gen2's (the very last of that generation) can barely squeak by the 10-year warranry mark still, some of them, end of model yr buyersunder warranty, which isn't too bad.

 

I think the bigger picture here, isn't specific loss of specific models, but both GM and Fords move towards curtailing or significantly reducing their production of all sedans and hatchbacks.

Seems that now both GM and Ford want to focus primarily on producing trucks and SUV's.

I don't like this trend.

Despite the popularity in North America of Trucks and SUV's, I don't want to see the death of the sedan and hatchback.
I would like to see both GM and Ford stay in the full line of automobile manufacturing business.

The idea that someday, maybe very soon, a local Ford Dealership and GM Dealership might be a Truck and SUV only environment is disturbing to me.

 

i don't think they can only sell low mpg vehicles in cali, without earning carb credits in some way.
they must have a plan. i hope

 

I thought they could purchase credits. Tesla appears to have a surplus

 

... and was significantly earlier to market.

 

I'm thankful for the pioneers who laid down a challenge for the others:

I wasn't plug-in shopping until 2016:

• May - BMW i3-REx, end-of-lease
• December - Prius Prime, new

By 2016 the options and prices were very nice and technology significantly improved. For example, both have dynamic cruise control and automatic emergency braking.

The 2003 Prius was much better than our 1991 Camry. The 2010 Prius was much better than the 2003 that I'll be working on Sunday. I'll drive there in our 2017 Prius Prime that from a technology standpoint throws shade on both.

Now if GM could put a small, efficient, range extender able to sustain 75-80 MPH in the Bolt, they'd have a great plug-in. A small, Achates, opposed piston engine would solve the problem. Then make dynamic cruise control and automatic emergency braking, competitive with TSS-P.