Volt a failure?
#31
Lexus Champion
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I have yet to see one on the road here in Jacksonville FL. Iv'e seen 2 458 Italia's but not a measly Volt LOL
The car is overpriced and took to long in the production stage IMHO; it was a car that was hyped up for many years.
The car is overpriced and took to long in the production stage IMHO; it was a car that was hyped up for many years.
#32
Driver School Candidate
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One word
Hydrogen
http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/
I am getting so sick and tired of this big push for these stupid electric cars. I know I am not going to sit on the side of the road for 4 hours while I wait for a battery to charge, nor do I want a hybrid. In todays age we get in the car; we fill up in a few minutes and continue.
I would write a paper on the overall problems electric cars have, from the simple "oh bunny your having the baby now!" Well I can not leave I just plugged the car in to charge!!!"
To the bigger one such as the already huge demand of normal day to day usage of the power grid, now want every american to charge a car at night.
Hydrogen
http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/
I am getting so sick and tired of this big push for these stupid electric cars. I know I am not going to sit on the side of the road for 4 hours while I wait for a battery to charge, nor do I want a hybrid. In todays age we get in the car; we fill up in a few minutes and continue.
I would write a paper on the overall problems electric cars have, from the simple "oh bunny your having the baby now!" Well I can not leave I just plugged the car in to charge!!!"
To the bigger one such as the already huge demand of normal day to day usage of the power grid, now want every american to charge a car at night.
Last edited by bigaudiofa; 01-19-12 at 05:24 AM.
#33
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One word
Hydrogen
http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/
I am getting so sick and tired of this big push for these stupid electric cars. I know I am not going to sit on the side of the road for 4 hours while I wait for a battery to charge, nor do I want a hybrid. In todays age we get in the car; we fill up in a few minutes and continue.
I would write a paper on the overall problems electric cars have, from the simple "oh bunny your having the baby now!" Well I can not leave I just plugged the car in to charge!!!"
To the bigger one such as the already huge demand of normal day to day usage of the power grid, now want every american to charge a car at night.
Hydrogen
http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/
I am getting so sick and tired of this big push for these stupid electric cars. I know I am not going to sit on the side of the road for 4 hours while I wait for a battery to charge, nor do I want a hybrid. In todays age we get in the car; we fill up in a few minutes and continue.
I would write a paper on the overall problems electric cars have, from the simple "oh bunny your having the baby now!" Well I can not leave I just plugged the car in to charge!!!"
To the bigger one such as the already huge demand of normal day to day usage of the power grid, now want every american to charge a car at night.
For one, the infrastructure isn't there right now, and will take at least a decade to get to a point where you could reliably find a place to refuel. This is one of the big reasons natural gas hasn't taken off - to hard right now for the average consumer. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a gas station. At least LP gas has taken off fairly well on the commercial end (look how many companies have switched their fleet vehicles over, and half the forklifts in warehouses run on propane)
The other major problem is the perception that you have a hydrogen bomb strapped to your car (this was also a public fear in the early 20th century with gasoline). Most people don't relish the idea of having a pressurized tank of a highly explosive gas strapped underneath their ***. The first time their is some sort of accident, the public will cry for a ban on these 'bombs', even if it is a fluke.
So, even with our over taxed power grid, electric is the only realistic solution for the short-term. As more electrics are out there, the technology becomes cheaper and more efficient, until a real long-term solution comes.
Just my two cents though.
#34
Lexus Connoisseur
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Is the Volt a fail? Yep. The Volt was outsold by the Geekmobile Grande! Where's Dan Akerson (GM CEO) at now? He must be eating shoes for dinner right now. Oh wait, he must be putting out that fire started by his Volt.
Toyota Prius Wagon Sales in 10 Weeks Top GM Volt’s 2011 Total
Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) scored a victory in 2011 as U.S. deliveries of its Prius v wagon in 10 weeks topped sales of General Motors Co. (GM)’s Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid that was available all year.
Toyota sold 8,399 of the hybrid wagon, which didn’t arrive at U.S. dealerships until the last week of October, said Carly Schaffner, a spokeswoman for the company. GM delivered 7,671 rechargeable Volts in 2011 and 7,997 in the model’s first 13 months on the market. The Japanese automaker hadn’t distinguished Prius v sales from those of the original one.
“Prius v is off to a great start,” Jim Lentz, president of Toyota’s U.S. sales unit, said in an e-mail this week. The hybrid wagon starts at $26,400, Toyota said on its website. The Volt starts at $39,145 and is eligible for as much as $7,500 in federal tax credits.
Toyota, the largest gasoline-electric auto seller, wants to deliver more than 220,000 vehicles bearing the Prius name this year to U.S. customers, a 60 percent increase from 2011. That’s to be fueled by a four-car “family” consisting of the original hatchback, the v, the Prius c subcompact arriving in March, and a plug-in Prius that goes about 15 miles on battery power.
GM missed its goal of selling 10,000 Volts last year. A slow production increase kept dealers for the Detroit-based company in short supply until December, and a federal investigation of three fires that occurred after Volt crash tests lowered demand for the car, according to Bandon, Oregon- based CNW Marketing Research Inc.
Powertrain Choices
Comparing the plug-in Volt with the hybrid wagon is “ridiculous,” said Rob Peterson, a GM spokesman.
“Consumers cross-shop vehicles with comparable technologies or functionality, not a new name plate,” Peterson said by e-mail. “Comparing Volt to Prius v is apples and oranges.”
The range of alternative-power autos available to U.S. drivers is mushrooming as manufacturers offer vehicles powered wholly or in part by electricity, bio-fuels, natural gas and even hydrogen. That number will jump this year with new offerings required to meet clean air rules in California.
Bloomberg News tracked sales of 37 such vehicles in 2011, up from only two in 2000. Offerings include the Prius, the Volt, Nissan Motor Co. (7201)’s Leaf and Honda Motor Co.’s FCX Clarity fuel- cell sedan leased in California.
Hybrid sales accounted for only 2.2 percent of U.S. auto sales last year, down from 2.4 percent in 2010, according to researcher LMC Automotive. The decline was a result of reduced production of the Prius, which accounts for half of all hybrid sales, after Japan’s natural disasters cut the supply of parts, said Lentz, who is based at Toyota’s U.S. sales office in Torrance, California.
Hybrids Slip
The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami temporarily halted Prius assembly in Japan, leaving U.S. dealers with little inventory of the car for months. Overall Prius sales fell 3.2 percent last year to 136,463.
Toyota dealers in the U.S. also sold 9,241 hybrid midsize Camry cars, 37 percent fewer than in 2010, according to Autodata Corp., and the Toyota City, Japan-based automaker said it delivered 14,381 Lexus CT200h gas-electric compact luxury wagons in the model’s first calendar year.
Nissan sold 9,674 Leaf all-electric cars in the U.S. last year, missing its target of 10,000 to 12,000. The company said production lost to the tsunami limited availability. The Leaf averages about 73 miles per charge, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Prius v wagon, larger and heavier than a standard Prius, averages 42 miles per gallon of gasoline in combined city and highway driving, compared with 50 mpg for the main version. The Volt, capable of going 35 miles on battery power, has two U.S. fuel-economy ratings: 94 mpg-equivalent when both its lithium-ion pack and gasoline engine are used, and a combined 37 mpg when powered solely by gasoline.
Source: Bloomberg News
Originally Posted by Bloomberg News
Toyota Prius Wagon Sales in 10 Weeks Top GM Volt’s 2011 Total
Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) scored a victory in 2011 as U.S. deliveries of its Prius v wagon in 10 weeks topped sales of General Motors Co. (GM)’s Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid that was available all year.
Toyota sold 8,399 of the hybrid wagon, which didn’t arrive at U.S. dealerships until the last week of October, said Carly Schaffner, a spokeswoman for the company. GM delivered 7,671 rechargeable Volts in 2011 and 7,997 in the model’s first 13 months on the market. The Japanese automaker hadn’t distinguished Prius v sales from those of the original one.
“Prius v is off to a great start,” Jim Lentz, president of Toyota’s U.S. sales unit, said in an e-mail this week. The hybrid wagon starts at $26,400, Toyota said on its website. The Volt starts at $39,145 and is eligible for as much as $7,500 in federal tax credits.
Toyota, the largest gasoline-electric auto seller, wants to deliver more than 220,000 vehicles bearing the Prius name this year to U.S. customers, a 60 percent increase from 2011. That’s to be fueled by a four-car “family” consisting of the original hatchback, the v, the Prius c subcompact arriving in March, and a plug-in Prius that goes about 15 miles on battery power.
GM missed its goal of selling 10,000 Volts last year. A slow production increase kept dealers for the Detroit-based company in short supply until December, and a federal investigation of three fires that occurred after Volt crash tests lowered demand for the car, according to Bandon, Oregon- based CNW Marketing Research Inc.
Powertrain Choices
Comparing the plug-in Volt with the hybrid wagon is “ridiculous,” said Rob Peterson, a GM spokesman.
“Consumers cross-shop vehicles with comparable technologies or functionality, not a new name plate,” Peterson said by e-mail. “Comparing Volt to Prius v is apples and oranges.”
The range of alternative-power autos available to U.S. drivers is mushrooming as manufacturers offer vehicles powered wholly or in part by electricity, bio-fuels, natural gas and even hydrogen. That number will jump this year with new offerings required to meet clean air rules in California.
Bloomberg News tracked sales of 37 such vehicles in 2011, up from only two in 2000. Offerings include the Prius, the Volt, Nissan Motor Co. (7201)’s Leaf and Honda Motor Co.’s FCX Clarity fuel- cell sedan leased in California.
Hybrid sales accounted for only 2.2 percent of U.S. auto sales last year, down from 2.4 percent in 2010, according to researcher LMC Automotive. The decline was a result of reduced production of the Prius, which accounts for half of all hybrid sales, after Japan’s natural disasters cut the supply of parts, said Lentz, who is based at Toyota’s U.S. sales office in Torrance, California.
Hybrids Slip
The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami temporarily halted Prius assembly in Japan, leaving U.S. dealers with little inventory of the car for months. Overall Prius sales fell 3.2 percent last year to 136,463.
Toyota dealers in the U.S. also sold 9,241 hybrid midsize Camry cars, 37 percent fewer than in 2010, according to Autodata Corp., and the Toyota City, Japan-based automaker said it delivered 14,381 Lexus CT200h gas-electric compact luxury wagons in the model’s first calendar year.
Nissan sold 9,674 Leaf all-electric cars in the U.S. last year, missing its target of 10,000 to 12,000. The company said production lost to the tsunami limited availability. The Leaf averages about 73 miles per charge, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Prius v wagon, larger and heavier than a standard Prius, averages 42 miles per gallon of gasoline in combined city and highway driving, compared with 50 mpg for the main version. The Volt, capable of going 35 miles on battery power, has two U.S. fuel-economy ratings: 94 mpg-equivalent when both its lithium-ion pack and gasoline engine are used, and a combined 37 mpg when powered solely by gasoline.
Last edited by flipside909; 01-19-12 at 08:34 PM.
#35
Lexus Connoisseur
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Pot calling the kettle black?
JANUARY 18, 2012 AT 6:17 PM
GM CEO agrees to testify at Volt hearing in D.C.
General Motors Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson agreed Wednesday to testify next week before a House panel investigating the government's handling of an investigation into fire risks in the Chevrolet Volt.
A panel of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hear testimony from Akerson and the government's top auto safety regulator, David Strickland, who heads the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
"Dan has agreed to testify at the hearing, and he looks forward to doing it," GM spokesman Greg Martin said.
The Volt has become a lightning rod for criticism from many Republicans and right-leaning blogs, even as the company says it has drawn thousands of new prospective buyers that haven't visited a GM dealership in years.
This will be Akerson's first testimony on Capitol Hill since taking the reins of the Detroit automaker in September 2010.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a letter sent to House members Monday that its subcommittee overseeing bailouts will hold a hearing Jan. 25.
The hearing is titled "Volt Vehicle Fire: What did NHTSA know and when did they know it?"
Strickland said last week the White House was informed in September of the June fire, but officials didn't ask the agency to keep the information secret. NHTSA didn't publicly disclose the fire until Nov. 12, when Bloomberg News first reported it occurred.
After an initial investigation concluded that damage to the Volt battery was the cause of the June fire that occurred three weeks after the government crash test, NHTSA briefed Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, according to letters Strickland sent to three House Republicans.
NHTSA opened a formal defect investigation Nov. 25, after a second Volt battery pack caught fire seven days after another government test.
GM, which received a $49.5 billion government bailout, is still 26 percent owned by the Treasury Department.
Republicans have asked GM and the Obama administration to answer detailed questions about why they didn't disclose the fire in a crash-tested Volt for several months, and whether politics was behind any decision to delay the disclosure.
A spokesman for Issa, Ali Ahmad, said Friday the committee would demand that NHTSA turn over records.
"NHTSA has stalled on responding to the committee's inquiry for six weeks and inexplicably refused to provide any documents. The committee expects full compliance with its request and will consider compulsory methods if NHTSA does not immediately change its position," Ahmad said.
Earlier this month, GM agreed to a safety fix, including strengthening the steel battery containment system and adding new sensors. NHTSA has pronounced itself satisfied with GM's fix, but hasn't yet closed its investigation. The agency could do so as early as later this week. It plans to release a report on its findings.
GM stopped short of issuing a formal safety recall to address the issue and is allowing dealers to sell unrepaired Volts. GM hopes to get parts to dealers in "the February time frame," the company said last week.
GM had its best-ever sales month for the Volt in December, selling 1,529, including nearly 1,000 to retail customers. But it fell short of its 2011 goal of 10,000 sales, selling 7,671 for the year.
GM hasn't restarted production at its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant since its holiday shutdown in December. The company hasn't given a precise timetable on when it will start assembling Volts again.
Soure: Detroit News
Originally Posted by Detroit News
JANUARY 18, 2012 AT 6:17 PM
GM CEO agrees to testify at Volt hearing in D.C.
General Motors Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson agreed Wednesday to testify next week before a House panel investigating the government's handling of an investigation into fire risks in the Chevrolet Volt.
A panel of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hear testimony from Akerson and the government's top auto safety regulator, David Strickland, who heads the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
"Dan has agreed to testify at the hearing, and he looks forward to doing it," GM spokesman Greg Martin said.
The Volt has become a lightning rod for criticism from many Republicans and right-leaning blogs, even as the company says it has drawn thousands of new prospective buyers that haven't visited a GM dealership in years.
This will be Akerson's first testimony on Capitol Hill since taking the reins of the Detroit automaker in September 2010.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a letter sent to House members Monday that its subcommittee overseeing bailouts will hold a hearing Jan. 25.
The hearing is titled "Volt Vehicle Fire: What did NHTSA know and when did they know it?"
Strickland said last week the White House was informed in September of the June fire, but officials didn't ask the agency to keep the information secret. NHTSA didn't publicly disclose the fire until Nov. 12, when Bloomberg News first reported it occurred.
After an initial investigation concluded that damage to the Volt battery was the cause of the June fire that occurred three weeks after the government crash test, NHTSA briefed Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, according to letters Strickland sent to three House Republicans.
NHTSA opened a formal defect investigation Nov. 25, after a second Volt battery pack caught fire seven days after another government test.
GM, which received a $49.5 billion government bailout, is still 26 percent owned by the Treasury Department.
Republicans have asked GM and the Obama administration to answer detailed questions about why they didn't disclose the fire in a crash-tested Volt for several months, and whether politics was behind any decision to delay the disclosure.
A spokesman for Issa, Ali Ahmad, said Friday the committee would demand that NHTSA turn over records.
"NHTSA has stalled on responding to the committee's inquiry for six weeks and inexplicably refused to provide any documents. The committee expects full compliance with its request and will consider compulsory methods if NHTSA does not immediately change its position," Ahmad said.
Earlier this month, GM agreed to a safety fix, including strengthening the steel battery containment system and adding new sensors. NHTSA has pronounced itself satisfied with GM's fix, but hasn't yet closed its investigation. The agency could do so as early as later this week. It plans to release a report on its findings.
GM stopped short of issuing a formal safety recall to address the issue and is allowing dealers to sell unrepaired Volts. GM hopes to get parts to dealers in "the February time frame," the company said last week.
GM had its best-ever sales month for the Volt in December, selling 1,529, including nearly 1,000 to retail customers. But it fell short of its 2011 goal of 10,000 sales, selling 7,671 for the year.
GM hasn't restarted production at its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant since its holiday shutdown in December. The company hasn't given a precise timetable on when it will start assembling Volts again.
#36
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Pathetic. If it was Toyota it would be all over the news.
Volt never met sales goals of I think 10k, it sold what 7k. The Leaf is the same, they wanted to sell 10-12k and sold I think 8k (though the Tsunami hurt sales like many Japanese cars).
Even from a technology leader standpoint, I don't hear many people talking about GM and the Volt at all.
Volt never met sales goals of I think 10k, it sold what 7k. The Leaf is the same, they wanted to sell 10-12k and sold I think 8k (though the Tsunami hurt sales like many Japanese cars).
Even from a technology leader standpoint, I don't hear many people talking about GM and the Volt at all.
#37
Lexus Fanatic
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GM is struggling to sell the car because, IMO, at its current price, tax-refund or not, the car is simply too expensive for a Cruze-platform Chevy compact with long-range electronics and lousy ergonomics inside to boot.
Right now, I myself am looking at the Buick Verano, another Cruze-platform GM compact, which, IMO, puts the Volt to shame in virtually everything but gas-mileage. It has an enormously better interior, far better ergonomics, gobs of sound-insulation, a superb paint-job, high-quality materials (especially compared to the usual low GM standards), and impressive build-quality. It sells for only 23-29K, depending on options, whereas a Volt with options/dealer-markup, even after the tax-credit, will go for probably 40K or more.
Last edited by mmarshall; 01-19-12 at 08:54 PM.
#38
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That $7500 has nothing to do with GM, or how much it actually costs GM to produce the car. It is strictly a Government-to-car-buyer tax-credit.
GM is struggling to sell the car because, IMO, at its current price, tax-refund or not, the car is simply too expensive for a Cruze-platform Chevy compact with long-range electronics and lousy ergonomics inside to boot.
Right now, I myself am looking at the Buick Verano, another Cruze-platform GM compact, which, IMO, puts the Volt to shame in virtually everything but gas-mileage. It has an enormously better interior, far better ergonomics, gobs of sound-insulation, a superb paint-job, high-quality materials (especially compared to the usual low GM standards), and impressive build-quality. It sells for only 23-29K, depending on options, whereas a Volt with options/dealer-markup, even after the tax-credit, will go for probably 40K or more.
GM is struggling to sell the car because, IMO, at its current price, tax-refund or not, the car is simply too expensive for a Cruze-platform Chevy compact with long-range electronics and lousy ergonomics inside to boot.
Right now, I myself am looking at the Buick Verano, another Cruze-platform GM compact, which, IMO, puts the Volt to shame in virtually everything but gas-mileage. It has an enormously better interior, far better ergonomics, gobs of sound-insulation, a superb paint-job, high-quality materials (especially compared to the usual low GM standards), and impressive build-quality. It sells for only 23-29K, depending on options, whereas a Volt with options/dealer-markup, even after the tax-credit, will go for probably 40K or more.
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#39
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Some Chevrolet dealers are turning down Volts that General Motors wants to ship to them, a potential stumbling block as GM looks to accelerate sales of the plug-in hybrid.
For example, consider the New York City market. Last month, GM allocated 104 Volts to 14 dealerships in the area, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Dealers took just 31 of them, the lowest take rate for any Chevy model in that market last month. That group of dealers ordered more than 90% of the other vehicles they were eligible to take, the source said.
In Clovis, Calif., meanwhile, Brett Hedrick, dealer principal at Hedrick's Chevrolet, sold 10 Volts last year. But in December and January he turned down all 6 Volts allocated to him under GM's "turn-and-earn" system, which distributes vehicles based on past sales volumes and inventory levels.
GM's "thinking we need six more Volts is just crazy," Hedrick says. "We've never sold more than 2 in a month." Hedrick says he usually takes just about every vehicle that GM allocates to him.
GM spokesman Rob Peterson confirmed that "dealer ordering is down" for the Volt. He said many dealers have been waiting for resolution of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's investigation into the risk of fires in the car's battery pack. Last year three packs caught fire in the days or weeks following government test crashes.
This month GM announced a voluntary repair aimed at protecting the battery pack. And last week NHTSA said it has closed its investigation, concluding that the battery pack poses no significant fire risk.
"There's a lot of misinformation that has swirled over the past month," Peterson said. "Dealers are kind of waiting for things to settle down."
Hedrick and other dealers say that their GM zone reps aren't pressuring them to take more Volts. "They haven't jammed us," he says. "I think they'll just give them to somebody else."
Industry insiders are closely watching sales of the Volt and Nissan Leaf as barometers of market demand for electric vehicles. Several other automakers are set to launch EVs this year.
At the Detroit auto show this month, GM executives said they wouldn't chase a previous Volt production target set for 2012 -- 60,000 units, 3-quarters of which would be for U.S. sales -- and vowed simply to build as many as customers want.
GM sold 7,671 Volts in the United States in 2011, short of its 10,000-unit target. It launched the car in 7 key markets starting in late 2010, but didn't begin a national rollout until this past autumn.
"We haven't satisfied demand," GM North America President Mark Reuss said on the sidelines of the Detroit show. He said GM will be able to gauge Volt demand by sometime in the 2nd quarter.
Many dealers say they no longer have customers waiting in the wings
One East Coast Chevy dealer said he agreed to take all 5 of the Volts that GM allocated to him this month, even though he has seen a "huge dropoff" in customer interest.
"I probably should have taken only one," he said. "Sometimes as a dealer you choose to do things that are good for the company. I believe in the car."
The sales staff at Ourisman Rockmont Chevrolet near Washington, D.C., sold 19 Volts last year. General Manager Dug Dugger says "there are more buyers out there."
He's about to find out. Last week he had 18 Volts en route to his dealership.
Dugger says: "I'm not about to run scared until I have a feel for what the appetite is."
#40
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No surprise they are turning away their allocations. Our local dealer's Volts have inches of dust collecting on them. I don't think the Canadian government offers a huge tax credit like the US gets, and that probably hurting the sales really bad.
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01-26-17 03:13 AM