Chevy Volt - Comments Page 1

Well, the "greenies" won't agree to more drilling or more nuclear power plants so I guess that you could always plug it in to a currant bush!

Well, the first cars probably weren't affordable compared to other transportation either, (and think about computers!) but the technology has to start somewhere. The early adopters are critical for every technological change.

As I understand it, the Japanese car companies have long deemphasized profits in favor of market share. The US companies overemphasized profit and wrongly concentrated on the gas-guzzlers for too long.

The economics and emissions numbers just don't work. Remember, those "payback" numbers don't count the cost of electricity and I believe assume that you rarely if ever go past it's electric only range, and anyone calculating modern vehicle emissions being higher than plant emissions is using optimistic numbers (check the numbers yourself, have you seen the ULEV stickers on cars the last few years, those actually emit lower levels then ambient in many urban environments).

Second, no one ever seems to try to talk about out what manufacturing that new car really costs environmentally or on your bottom line. In most cases, keeping your old clunker (even talking about a truck or SUV that gets 10-15mpg) will never emit or cost you as much as the emissions manufacturing the new vehicle or the cost to your pocketbook (unless you total a car, economically it's almost always cheaper in the long run to fix rather than replace).

Now consider the environmental impact of manufacturing a hybrid, a car with 2 drivetrains, one of which has the added environmental cost of using all sorts of toxic substances including heavy metals used in manufacturing high capacity batteries (BTW, do some reading about what lithium batteries do if you discharge them too fast, then ask yourself if you want to be in the same vehicle with them, there are electric race cars/motorcycles that have their battery packs explode on every run. Remember the problems with exploding battery packs on laptops?). One estimate puts the emissions cost of manufacturing a Prius at greater than the emissions that would be created manufacturing AND operating a large SUV over it's lifetime.

Should I even mention hasmat teams at accidents involving hybrid battery banks?

Little known fact #1: In 1985, GM polled the buyers of S-10 Blazers. Their median income was $45,000 per year. Therefore, GM set the base price of the S-10 Blazer at $15,000!!!

Little known fact #2: At every step of manufacture, from individual components to major assemblies to completed vehicle, a profit is factored-in and passed on to the product cost at each step. This results in a built-in profit equal to one-half of the sticker price, including Dealers' cost and profit.

Several decades ago, Mercedes wanted to cut the cost of its cars by $10,000. This was their charge for its Brand Name. The German people would have none of this, as they felt that this would "cheapen" the Brand, so Mercedes acquiesced.

This greedy profiteering still permeates the industry. Is it any wonder that the average consumer can not afford a new vehicle today?

How stupid are the american people. An electric car is not the answer to our proplems. You will notice they never talk about the batteries. Why? Because there isn't one fit for that kind of use.
Ask how much it will cost to replqace them. Ask how long they will last. Not more then two years and cost around $1000. Ask how much your electric bill will go up charging them every day.
Our electric grid can't handle what we ask of it now. And if they pass cap and trade you won't be able to pay for what you use now. Wake up America!

I'm still not convinced that CO-2 is the actual cause of global warming. So, why would I buy an overpriced hybrid or all electric vehicle?

The economics and emissions numbers just don't work. Remember, those "payback" numbers don't count the cost of electricity and I believe assume that you rarely if ever go past it's electric only range, and anyone calculating modern vehicle emissions being higher than plant emissions is using optimistic numbers (check the numbers yourself, have you seen the ULEV stickers on cars the last few years, those actually emit lower levels then ambient in many urban environments).

Second, no one ever seems to try to talk about out what manufacturing that new car really costs environmentally or on your bottom line. In most cases, keeping your old clunker (even talking about a truck or SUV that gets 10-15mpg) will never emit or cost you as much as the emissions manufacturing the new vehicle or the cost to your pocketbook (unless you total a car, economically it's almost always cheaper in the long run to fix rather than replace).

Now consider the environmental impact of manufacturing a hybrid, a car with 2 drivetrains, one of which has the added environmental cost of using all sorts of toxic substances including heavy metals used in manufacturing high capacity batteries (BTW, do some reading about what lithium batteries do if you discharge them too fast, then ask yourself if you want to be in the same vehicle with them, there are electric race cars/motorcycles that have their battery packs explode on every run. Remember the problems with exploding battery packs on laptops?). One estimate puts the emissions cost of manufacturing a Prius at greater than the emissions that would be created manufacturing AND operating a large SUV over it's lifetime.

Should I even mention hasmat teams at accidents involving hybrid battery banks?

Volt not only too expensive to purchase and what with its short distances allowed electrically, I cannot see why anyone will want one; or two?

No one seems to mention the increases in their electric billings due to the incessant recharging let alone all the added extra pollutants generated by the power companies producing all the needed power should multitudes be sold. How green is this vehicle then anyway?

Never shall one be in my garage!

GM will undoubtably sell some Chevrolet Volt
cars since people are bound to have economy
no matter what it costs them; think about it.

I love the idea. I love the concept. And I love the looks of the car. I don't like the price, even after the $7500 rebate. I'll still consider buying one though. But if I can't swing it, I'll wait for competition to drive the price down. All of the car manufacturers are jumping on the EV bandwagon so very soon there will be alternate choices to pick from.

I would like to see a home solar charging option put out by GM for the Volt. That would further reduce the carbon footprint of the car. People need to realize that global warming in just around the corner and we must make changes or all hell is going to break out. There was a news story just today that the American military is now making plans on how to control situations which are likely to arise. It's a frightening thought.

No one seems to care that Tesla Motor company has had a working electric car available for more than a year now. It costs a lot but they didn't get my or your money handed to them for free.
Tesla will be producing a commuter car, for about the same price as the Volt without any subsidies, next year. No Lithium batteries either.
When Obama was throwing our money away on the "Big Three" because they were "too big to fail" he gave GM billions of dollars so they could continue to make overpriced, poorly built, cars.
A couple hundred thousand dollars were tossed to Tesla even though they actually have an all electric car that doesn't explode and that people do want. Seems Obama is more interested in paying off UAG than putting people to work building for the future. I don't have $100,000 (the cost of Tesla's sportster model), I don't have $40,000 (the price of the Volt and Tesla's commuter car), but if I was in the market for a new car I wouldn't even drive by a GM dealership. The fact that some of my money was already stolen from me and wasted on GM confirms my resolve to have nothing to do with them, ever.

For a serious view of the future of the automobile and worldwide sustainable energy, check out this Charlie Rose interview with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors.

Also, Musk is a founder and Chairman of a company, SolarCity that produces and provides homes and businesses with complete solar energy systems.

You'd have to be out of your mind to buy an electric car unless you only drive 10 or 15 miles per day. Even then the batteries will deteriorate and the cost per mile will skyrocket.

Man made global warming is a fairy tale that cannot have a happy ending. Take the CO2 out of the air and smother plants, thereby creating food shortages, higher cost of living windfall profits for fraudsters like al gore and their stupid CO2 Cap and trade schemes. Wake up people. Follow the money trail.

Wow, I'm honestly surprised... I really expected the responses of the sensible would be squashed by the treehuggers (please don't take that as meaning to be offensive, I grew up camping, spending summers canoeing in northern Canada... I really respect and appreciate nature, that doesn't mean I at all agree with the "green" movement, there doesn't appear to be much correlation there). It makes me wonder if it's your audience or if people are starting to look at these things critically.

Now we need the politicians to start listening

For the "global warming is just around the corner" crowd... Yes, it could be, and if it happens it will no matter what _we_ do. On the scale of things the earth is nowhere near the warmest it's been well before humans existed. Global temperatures tend to follow solar activity, which is somewhat cyclical, but also unpredictable, and then can be strongly affected by a number of other natural events.

Related to that, CO2 levels are nowhere near the highest that they've ever been, and average global temperature doesn't follow CO2 levels anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

I own a hybrid car, made by Toyota. So far it drives like any other car and gets 49.2 mpg. I don't know if the battery will have to be replaced soon, as the car is 2 years and 5 months old, but my friend recently replaced her Toyota hybrid (Prius) with another just like the first car (which she had 5 years with no problems.) BTW, I received $5000 trade in on my 7 year old PT cruiser and ended up paying only $17,000 for my hybrid.

I will not buy any more American made junk. It is too soon to tell what problems/issues this rig will have-and they are inevitable.

Japanese quality rocks the house. For green economy the Prius is second to none in availability, price and value. It is roomy and state of the art in every way. There simply is no vehicle I can see which touches it. I prefer the Insight but numbers don't lie. It uses electric as well.

My husband gets 50-55 mpg. The 280 mpg figure is a crock and if you read the blogs the savvy have debunked GM's bs. So nothing has changed, still trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public.

Buying American amounts to a subsidy to the automakers as they are designed to self destruct. Sorry! Not on my nickel. If they want us to be patriotic they can start the patriotism by building a quality rig which surpasses the rest for their fellow Americans.

Way overpriced, not practical for the way most ppl drive. If it sticks around there will likely be improvements. I would not trust the beta version. This is uncharted water for GM.

Helen Isensee: I drive a 2001 Prius-original battery btw I have heard they are thousands but unsure.

There are 2 batteries. The one in the front that is the main source-engine and one in the back which is for the electric motor. That is rechargeable w/2 posts like a regular battery too. They are expensive to replace-$170. is the price I was quoted.

We are not told the KW draw per charging time. At 15 amps, 220 volts, 8 hours and 10 cents per KWH it would be cheaper to drive my '88 Chev Sprint.

Japanese quality rocks ... that's why Toyota is the leader in recalls and problems three years running. Even their magazine division, Consumer Reports, has trouble with them.

With the subsidy, the Volt will only be a few thousand more than the Prius, which is so totally outdated it isn't funny. Worth it? Debatable. But it will kill the Prius, other than for the people who refuse to notice what crap Toyota has been building the last few years.

With my driving, I would never need to buy gas for the Volt except perhaps twice a year.

Being an Electrical Engineer, and a bit of a pedant, the statement "120/240v household current" is incorrect.

The numbers quote are the voltage, not the current. The current is what flows (measured in Amperes, or shortened to Amps) when you connect a load to the electrical system, the voltage is the potential difference across the load.