In their recent Determination of Viability Summary, The Presidential Task Force on Automobiles (PTFOA) dissed, dissected and dismissed GM’s last next big thing. Not to put too fine a point on it, they called the plug-in gas/electric Chevrolet Volt a misbegotten turkey. The words fell with a thud over at the Volt fanboy site, gm-volt.com. Publisher Lyle Dennis picked up the battery powered cellphone. The Boy Wonder (secret identity: GM spokesperson Greg Martin) answered. “As the White House has said, they do not intend to run a car company, much less make product decisions. They recognize the Volt for the game changer it is. And, yes, no kidding, that costs money up front. But this is a long term play for us. Not to fear, the Volt is safe.” “Put the Batman on the god damn phone,” Commissioner Lyle replied. “Thanks for your concern,” The Caped Crusader (secret identity: Bob Lutz) assured. “Volt will survive and prosper. We know the numbers better than the Government … we furnished them! First-generation technology is expensive, but you can’t have a second generation without a first generation. Common sense and intelligence will prevail, here!” Holy truer words were never spoken, Batman!
The biggest problem for the Volt is that it is hideously ugly. I may want to be a PHEV pioneer, but I don’t want to drive around in THAT. Compare to the Tesla Model S.
Holy Groupie-Stains Batman! Is that a mattress with folding-table-legs in the Batcave?
At least the Tesla hauls ass.
And the smoke-blowing continues. Why can’t they use current technology to keep costs down until a newer technology becomes less expensive and can be put into production. I’d imagine that they could use a more conventional battery technology and when a newer battery is available, they could retrofit older Volts to use the newer batteries. They need to get the car on the road soon, and for a cost far below the $40,000 that they are estimating now. When there are alternatives available from Toyota and Honda for well under $30k, GM is going to have a hard sell on their hands. While I agree that the Volt is a different concept and can conceivably do the daily grind using zero gasoline, people are still going to compare it to the Prius/Insight/Civic hybrids. For nearly twice as much, the Volt will not make fiscal sense, even if gas goes back to $4 a gallon.
Detroit-X :
Lifetime brand injection molded plastic table w/ steel frame and folding legs. Hmmm, think Army cot, so yeah we’re still good :)
I’m still wondering why any car company hasn’t been employing simple engine shutoff when the car comes to a complete stop. A hot engine could start right back up with no problems when you remove your foot from the brake. This is such a simple measure, it makes sense in any car, not just hybrids. Can’t GM at least do that? It could up their fleet’s city fuel economy substantially.