Meta media mining can make one a bummed-out blogger. I know I kinda lost it with the AutoWeek/Danbury pimpatorial. But I have this deep-seated sense of fair play that I can’t shake any more than an Amish person and their booty. If you want to know the engine propelling this site’s editorial, it’s my conviction that people deserve the truth. I’m not saying they want the truth. If there was a great hunger for unvarnished automotive editorial, we’d be one of many websites devoted to skewering four-wheeled sacred cows– despite the malevolent influence of automotive PR. Of course, that would also mean that we’d have less meta media mishegos to mine for our… minions? No, the Best and Brightest. We here at TTAC never forget the first part of that title. We know that the majority of our readers are motivated by a personal morality that compels them to do, see, discover and discuss the right thing. In these dangerous times for our economy and society, we must continue to tell the truth about cars, car making, car selling and car buying. And let the chips fall where they may.
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The Volt is NOT that hard to understand.
For most driving, ~40 miles, you use the batteries. That saves $$ and oil. The engine is there as a back up and to extend the range. So you won’t get stuck with dead batteries if you exceed their range.
The engine does not recharge the batteries because it would cost way more than just plugging it in when you get home.
So for 90% of the time MOST people will not have to visit the gas station. AND many, if not most, people have another car more suitable to long trips.
I think the engineering is absolutely correct, time will tell if the Volt can be a commercial success. To me the $40,000 is the real draw back.
I think going 40 miles is pie in the sky. Sort of like the old EPA ratings for miles-per-gallon. Most people will never see them. Or, they’ll want to run their heater or AC. Or they’ll have to pass someone on the highway. I just don’t see it happening.
My feeling is most people will get 20-25 miles. Might still be enough for some, won’t be 40.
Volt is an electric car with an internal combustion generator on board to extend range. The car is an iteration of a platform architecture and nothing about it irrevocably ties the on board generator to gasoline power. Volt is a start, not a finish. It is the right next step in the evolution of private transportation, given available technologies.
How many people will elect to subsidize its market introduction through early purchase remains to be seen, but once the market comes to understand what Volt is, and the obfuscating press and blog chatter diminishes to be replaced by genuine comprehension, enough early adopters will emerge, price be damned. How rapidly the price benefits from expanding production and adoption is an open question now. Let’s just give it a chance in the market — how about that?
Phil
this is great. I love the volt its great. It will be great for city people, but i think its impratical for people in the prairies.
EPA ratings? We often exceed those ratings in both of our cars…
The whining about the GT-Rs lap time is getting tiring. Can anyone show me a track test where the Turbo beat the GT-R? These cars have gone head to head plenty of times, and every single one that I’ve seen, the GT-R has beaten the Turbo. Sorry Porsche, your car is slower around a track. Stop whining and get back to work.