The new Chevrolet Volt released by GM looks appealing on first glance but don't be fooled -- it's a Trojan Horse. A company that could and should be giving value is shorting value and that, sooner or later, is going to bankrupt GM.
The GM site for the Volt says the car is revolutionary but these words are hollow. All you get from this car is the first 40 miles for free, or the price of 8 hours domestic charging of the lithium ion batteries, then it runs on gas or ethanol for hundreds of miles "until you have to stop to refuel". The 1990 Dodge Dynasty will do that, 385 miles from LA to Sacramento on one tank of gas. So what is new?
I think they could have done a lot better. In fact they did with the abandoned EV-1. It wasn't just green, it worked as a plug-in electric vehicle. GM's answer to that was to recall all the EV's when their lease ran out and send them to shredder at the junk yard. So you can understand my sarcasm for their new solution that is anything but the much simpler and more workable solution, in my mind, that GM trashed. GM in fact trashed a lot of good will in how they handled the EV-1 production.
The Volt is reputed to release in 2010 so it comes years late for the emerging EV market as well as too late for a revival of GM's diminishing market share. Way too little too late is just the economic view that cautions one not to go out and purchase GM shares; the story gets worse.
Technologically the car 's reputed breakthrough is factually a shortcoming. The actual range on electric is only 40 miles after which the extended mileage is provided by an ethanol (or gas) powered engine. One is not clear from the vague initial PR release information whether that is simply a generator for recharging purposes or it actually runs the car while running on ethanol, i.e., an ethanol hybrid. With more research and later PR releases from GM I find that it is apparently an on-board charging generator. For the company that produced the workable plug-in EV-1, which they took off the market amid lies and false justifications, showing they can do it better, this is not to be taken too seriously.
"Twenty months ago, in January 2007, we set for ourselves a very tough challenge… to develop an electric car, the Chevrolet Volt, that could not only travel 40 miles on pure battery power… but then, thanks to a small engine capable of generating electricity along the way… travel hundreds of additional miles without ever stopping to refuel."
To put this in perspective any car that gets 25 miles to the gallon will do "hundreds of additional miles without ever stopping to refill". Today most cars apart from trucks and SUVs will do that. Granted this: the refill won't consist of dropping a hundred dollar bill for a full tank of gas and and the significant amounts of greenhouse gas carbon emissions.
Furthermore the release says the car will require 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Where do you get ethanol in driving across the country? If you only want to drive around town get an all-electric glorified, street equipped golf cart. Yes, you can plug it in to your home outlet but this is by definition in meaningful terms not a full-blown plug-in EV.
By further comparison the Tesla battery packs take it 221 miles until you need to recharge; the Lightening takes you 250 miles. Even GM's EV-1 went 60 miles with a poorly planned Delco battery set up. Recharging of the Volt is "less than 8 hours" or 3 to 4 hours with a 240 volt quick charge versus overnight recharging for the Tesla and overnight charging or 10 minute 3 phase (240 volt) quick-charge for the Lightening.
So this is the best GM can do, while calling it revolutionary, 40 miles electric and a semi-hybrid beyond that? They must think the consumer is stupid or on drugs.
Exceptional value in automotive production points to some very famous casualties. The DeLorean DMC-12 did this with its now famous albiet defunct stainless steel over fiberglass body, Elastic Reservoir Moulding chasis and gull-wing doors. For that, I believe, John DeLorean was entrapped into a drug dealing bust and out of business. With production of an updated version underway we might see this one revived.
Other innovative and high value production cars were the Tucker, the Packard and the Studebaker Avanti as well as the full line of Studebaker cars. The story is different on each, of price wars and underhanded dealings that lend one to believe that they did not die due to their value, each being exceptional but by reason of interferance. One can assume a lot as these all were very popular with the public.
GM dramatizes lack in value in other aspects as in, for instance, the lowest miles per gallon compared with it's competitor car manufacturers. Just good enough to sell and not good enough to get excited about, this delivery attitude is going to bankrupt GM one of the days.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080916/ap_on_bi_ge/gm_centennial
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