Belligerati

I honestly didn't have time to read the article, but from just what you posted here, I would call this an unreasonable hatchet job. I don't know what the production costs on the volt are, or look like, so I'm not going to comment about that.
As far as the car harvesting a tax subsidy of $7,500, I don't see why that is bad for GM. I agree that fleet average rules are retarded, but that's a government problem, not something that makes the volt fail.

I don't understand why it is called a "headache of a car", I mean, we can assume that like all first gen cars it will have some kinks to work out, but that's the price you pay for introducing a new model.

40 miles on 6 hours of charge is pretty much exactly what most people need. almost all of the commuters I know average well less than 40 miles a day, meaning that for most of the week, or perhaps months at a time they will be using no gas.

And finally, regarding gas going bad, there is a cheep additive that you can put in which prevents this problem. I realize that's a pain in the ass, but I imagine that a later model will just have that as another fluid, and squirt some into the tank whenever you fill up. (or better yet, a month after the last time you filled up)

As far as the R&D costs, it's unfair to spread those only across the volt, honestly those need to be spread across the volt and all of the later generations of plug-ins and plug-in hybrids that get made.

Oh and finally, I would like to point out that the pure electrics that were scrapped from a while back made (lots) of money on every lease, and had a waiting list a mile long. I'm still trying to figure out why they went away. (I have a nutty conspiracy theory, based on one of chan's conspiracy theories, but I wouldn't rant about it here)

My understanding is that Honda covers the variable costs of making a Prius but including development costs make the firm lose money on every one they sell (IS THE PRIUS MAKING A PROFIT ?). That could be true for the Volt as well. Not withstanding that however, this car will be similar in size to the Prius and cost more than twice as much anyway.

Plug in electric cars do seem like the sort of solution we need, but it does have an infrastructure problem. While many Americans do have an outlet in a private garage which is likely to have a standard home outlet, many park outside or in larger garages without outlets. Over time that's going to change. If parallel hybrids catch on then we'll see pay by the watt outlets everywhere eventually, but until then that's going to scare off a lot of potential buyers.

I don't know much about the electric cars you mention, but I would caution against estimating the commercial viability of electric cars from the small scale roll outs of cars like the EV-1. Rich environmentalists in dense areas tended to be at the head of the line for those demonstrations, and that isn't at all representative.

Excellent point on the gas stabilizers. I didn't know such a product existed. I wonder what it does to your emissions and efficiency when you add it.

The average American drives about 12,000 miles a year. That's about 32 miles a day, well less than the 40 that the PI-E's can go off of a 6 hour charge. That means that if your only going to do your commute and maybe stop off at a store or something you don't need a charger at your destination. There is no need for extra infrastructure, getting the first 40 miles per day free pretty much takes care of most driving for most people.

I strongly doubt that you will end up seeing any infrastructure develop in response to these things, because it will be totally unnecessary. Perhaps a few workplaces will run electric to a few spaces for their employees who commute more than 20 miles and drive a plug in electric, but that seems like a pretty small population.

You need the infrastructure at your home or home parking garage, otherwise you can't charge your car for your light usage.

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: