Chevy Volt - Comments Page 2

So so much misinformation/misapprehension. Where to begin? I only have 4 paragraphs, so:

The Volt was actually announced in June 2007. GM has been unusually transparent and forthcoming in the project's developments for those of us willing to follow it.

The large format Lithium Ion cells chosen for the Volt's battery pack are not subject to thermal runaway and explosions. The pack itself is carefully monitored and balanced, and there is an active cooling system.

The battery actually uses only half of it's 16kwh capacity; it is never fully charged or discharged. As the car ages, more of the battery's capacity is made available so that you continue to get the 40 mile range for 10 years or 150,000 miles. The engine does not recharge the battery, it turns a generator to prevent the battery from discharging any further. The idea is to displace gasoline, using fuel to recharge the battery is the last thing you would want to do.

Wait wait wait, hold on! Didn't they already do this? Does EV1 ring a bell to anybody???

Watch the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car for the real truth. Car companies DO NOT CARE what we want!

$40K, I dont think so!!! But hey, we are 60% owners in this failure!

I suspect the strategy is"Buy a Volt and get a night in the White House".

This seems to be a race to see if GM can make a Volt before the end of the world from Climate Change, which begins on 31 December 2009., according to certain "experts".

But if the world doesn't end as planned by Al Gore, James Hansen and cronies, at least we have a good idea of when GM will need its next taxpayer bailout.

I suspect the strategy is"Buy a Volt and get a night in the White House".

This seems to be a race to see if GM can make a Volt before the end of the world from Climate Change, which begins on 31 December 2009., according to certain "experts".

But if the world doesn't end as planned by Al Gore, James Hansen and cronies, at least we have a good idea of when GM will need its next taxpayer bailout.

I am very concerned by this car. Nuclear power plants are only 34% efficient, if you want to put this in practical terms, for every Volt that is charging from a household outlet, there is energy in the form of heat being dumped into a heat sink somewhere equivalent to two other Volt's (making up the other 66%)

Also, comming from a canadian climate which is very cold, how will the winter months affect this vehicle. Cold kills batteries. Also, the heat in a standard car comes from the coolant in the engine that runs through a heater core. When there is no coolant, and no heater core, how is the cabin heated? If it is heated by an electic coil, you are effectively killing your mileage.

Another concern is the battery bank. What are the emmissions from mass producing these batteries? batteries also have a lifespan, how much will it cost to replace them? essentially I would like to see a life cycle analysis on all aspects of the Volt.

Having seen "Who Killed The Electric Car", I'll never buy another GM, or American, car. When I think of all the taxpayer money used to erase that car from the market, including the Bush administration suing California over their air quality standards, I wish there was a RICO investigation to imprison everyone guilty in this travesty.

After reading all these comments I am saddened by all the lack of American pride GM gave us what we wanted big cars and suv's and most of them served us well. Not till the big gas crunch did we all of a sudden want small boring economy boxes. And to anyone that wouldn't buy or even drive by a GM dealership,I guess you don't care about the thousands of fellow Americans out of work and would rather support foreign economy's For me I am a Proud American and will support American company's that are trying to make a difference GO GM!

EDITOR'S NOTE: There are LOTS of people who won't buy GM, but it has nothing to do with a preference for foreign-made cars. They just don't want to support a policy of government owning private businesses. Ford, for example, did not take bailout money, because they made tough decisions in the years prior to the meltdown. As a result, they are not under the thumb of the government.

Ok say you have a volt..You are on a trip and have no place to charge your car,so now you are running on gas only.. My question is what will the gas mileage be while running long distance with a depleted battery.....

I've owned the GM Chevrolet Volt for over a month and have 2500 miles on it. I bought it in NY and drove it back to IL since they are not sold yet in IL. My local dealer is servicing it without any problems. Last week I went over 260 miles and used 0.5 gallons of gas. I only used gas because I went to a sporting event after work one night. Did I care I used some gas? No, because that is exactly why I love this car and the technology behind it ... mainly uses electricity/battery and when needed uses small amounts of gas. This car is a lot of fun and has a SPORTs mode even. It handles great and is smooth. I give test drives multiple times a week and everyone is astonished at how well this car is put together and the features they put on it including how they thought it out so well with an engine running infrequently. BTW, this is the *first* GM/Chevrolet product I've ever bought and rarely buy a new car. This car is that unique and that good.

"One cost analysis suggests that one would have to drive a Volt over 200,000 miles to break even on its price tag versus a typical gasoline-powered car. Furthermore, that analysis did not count the cost of electricity to recharge the Volt!"
I don't think that the guy that wrote this was buying gas where I live. It hit $5.66 (US) per gal. yesterday and is going up not down.Currently my Pick up (3/4GMC) costs $204 to fill when empty and my Dodge Caravan is about $100. That Volt is starting to sound quite good!