Will the Chevrolet Volt be a failure or a success?

I'm not sure. I emailed several southern CA dealerships to obtain salesrep contacts and had a brief telephone discussion with a salesman at one dealership who offered that leasing idea and indicated that CA state sales tax and vehicle license fees would not be assessed if a bill of lading was available and the car was delivered via flatbed truck from the dealer to Long Beach Harbor.

I then turned the contacts over to my dad to decide what dealership he wants to deal with, what options he wants to order, finalize the purchase details, figure out shipping, etc.

 

Thats probably the US bank offer, its how mine (and all others that I know of) works with them.

 

This thread has just about played out.

What was the conclusion? Success? Failure"

It's all in the eyes of the beholder.

 

It successful in sucking people into GM dealerships to testdrive the volt and leave with a cruze. That's all GM wanted anyways.

 

Lutz said this generation would end up a halo vehicle. And with all the supporter downplay now from "mainstream" vehicle to just "early adopter", there's really no debate that Cruze sales will be strong as a result. The upcoming Sonic sub-compact will likely benefit from the Volt presence in showrooms too.
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Just passing by and noticed this thread is still going! Why?

 

....and now I know what you were talking about, the *cruze* is a Detroit vehcile that Obama said 50+ MPG, whereas he forgot to mention CAFE MPG is not the same as EPA MPG.

As a fan of $$$ government handouts, I was wondering if the thread left some wrong info on the current $7500 credit. If it works like Cash4Clunker program, it does not impact taxes, whereas earlier Hybrid (Prius) credit was a real mess on the 1040. But I am going to pass on the $7500 credit this time, unless it is still there in 3-5 years when I will get a Prius plug-in or Detroit equivalent.

 

Someone asked for a sum up, which is a good practice I guess.

 

Well, if it's all Volt halo, it's a great halo. GM had first quarter profits of $1.7 billion (after special items), the Cruze is selling well and they have the new Sonic and a new Malibu to come this year. Their crossovers are also selling well.

The Sonic will also benefit from not being an Aveo and not being called Aveo.

 

We saw the same over-promise, under-deliver problem with Two-Mode, enduring years of unrealistic hype and ending up with technology that didn't fulfill mainstream requirements. But back then, gas was still cheap and monster-size guzzlers were patriotic.

The situation is different now, same mainstream requirements however gas is expensive and consumers are flocking to compact & sub-compact traditional vehicles for better efficiency.

Since some flat out deny past expectations for Two-Mode and are now beginning to do the same with Volt, it makes sense pointing out the issues. Do we really want to watch Volt just be a halo vehicle to help sell traditional vehicles rather than force it to become what middle-market expected all along?
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Anybody who thought the Volt was going to be a mainstream vehicle is delusional.

I think it is great that GM fans are buying a Cruze instead of the usual gas hog GM crap. I have my fingers crossed GM pays back the debt, and then it can die. Did I miss the news where GM used some of its "profits" to pay back debt this latest feel good announcement ?

 

Weekly report:

172.9 miles, 54.25 kWh*. 31.4 kWh/100mi or 3.19 miles/kWh.

Did not run the ICE. I have about 2 gallons left from the last time I filled the car on March 15.

* I thoughtlessly plugged the car in Sunday morning after breakfast w/o resetting the Kill-A-Watt. Bad nerd! I decided to use the value I saw when I remembered to reset an hour or so later rather than guessing what it might have been. Point being: this week shows slightly worse than actual. Next week will be slightly better than actual.

EDIT: Here are previous weeks, I'll do this until it becomes impractical if anyone is interested.:
227 mi, 81.3 kWh -- 35.8 kWh/100mi or 2.79 mi/kWh
223.6 mi , 75.71 kWh -- 33.85 kWh/100mi or 2.95 mi/kWh
249.7 mi, 73.1 kWh -- 29.27 kWh/100mi or 3.41 mi/kWh (+7 gas, 0.2gal)
191.1 mi, 62.25 kWh -- 32.6 kWh/100mi or 3.07 mi/kWh (+12 gas, 0.36gal)

 

Great job tracking. Are you putting all the data in a spreadsheet? I can't wait to have one full year of data.

You are beating EPA figures. If you drive a Prius, I bet you can get better than 50 MPG.

 

Do you have an on-going report? We would like to avoid assumptions... like your annual driving distance. Under 10k will have very different results compared to the standard 15k, since fewer miles makes it easier to EV only.
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I am but it's awful and I have not been consistent about anything but the weekly totals, of which I have 5.

I might but I don't beat EPA in any of my other cars. I think the EPA erred low but to be fair to them, the potential spread is far greater with EV when it gets cold.

 

So far as I know, the EPA does not perform cold testing for fuel economy.

 

I'm not sure what you mean. Are you asking if I track my other cars? Not precisely, although I do log mileage when I service them. I drive less than 15000 miles/year total. My wife drives about 5000 miles.

 

I didn't mean to suggest they did, just that whatever factor they apply against the raw EV test numbers (and the Volt breaks 50 miles, the Leaf must go over 100) may have been set to accommodate the much greater range swings you can expect from temperature fluctuations. I am only guessing.

They apply a factor to the gas tests too, but they have a much deeper database of experience to draw from.

 

So far as I know, your guess is wrong. For now EVs and *EVs are owned either by people with a clue, or fanbois that give a pass no matter how valid a criticism of the car(s) might be. If the owner base ever gets any bigger EPA will be asked to include cold weather testing so that owners are notified on the sticker that drivers who heat their EV cars will take a hit in energy economy larger than ICE cars.

Parenthetically, this particular closet skeleton strikes me as a competitive advantage for Toyota with its 'blended' approach to PHV. I certainly pay much more attention to energy economy than 'only EV' marketing. I expect to see reports of 12 E miles in a Prius PHV in the winter, compared to 25 E miles in a Volt.

Look what happens to the ever popular fanboi bullet point of petrol consumption break-even between the Prius PHV and Volt in the winter, based on (I hope) reasonable assumptions:

Winter driving
PHV 12 E miles, 40 MPG
Volt 25 E miles, 28 MPG

Set x to gallons consumed:
12 + 40/x = 25 + 28/x
12/x = 13
-> x = 12/13th of a gallon
Breakeven: 49 miles

 

I do not think this is true if you phrase it this way. On an energy economy basis it should take the same amount of energy to heat the car the same amount of degrees (allowing for interior volume differences). The distinction comes in because the energy density of gasoline is so much greater than a battery's you use a little of your gas or a lot of your electric, but either way should be the same amount of energy.