Will the Chevrolet Volt be a failure or a success?

Well it's still a stupid use of money but stupid can be more fun and I bet it was more fun than watching it sink 20 %. I am thinking about cashing out all my stocks right now, I can just about buy a flat screen TV (prices have come down, you know).

 

Certainly, but let me take our questions in reverse order:

2. I don't propose people with a lot of cross country driving go out and get a Volt for it, we were discussing that it was possible to be driven by an electric motor for thousands of miles by generating your own electricity onboard, there is simply no other vehicle that can do it so the statement from GM was true. That said there are many things I would enjoy about the ride, I love spending time in my Volt.

1. If you haven't had a chance to test drive one of the new generations of EVs I strongly recommend it. Theres a lot of neat bells and whistles in the volt when you first get in to drive, but its mostly just window dressing that you could find anywhere. When you push the start button there is a ghastly loud futuristic sound effect that comes on to make you feel like you just started a space ship, but you can turn that down once you learn how.

Assuming you are driving a prius now it won't be that unusual at first to put the car in drive mode and pull silently from the parking spot. If you have to turn a couple times to get out of the parking lot and onto the street you'll feel the weight in the low center of gravity and feel a much stronger presence on the road than in the prius. Just for fun, and since this will be a test drive of less than the AER anyway, hit the "drive mode" button twice to put it in "sport".

Then pull into traffic. The car jumps from stop and you feel the pull of the acceleration forcing you into your seat, but hear nothing from the engine. The silent power is something reminiscent of a jungle cat, powerful, sure-footed, and completely silent.

Glide along the highway, silently and effortlessly at 70 or 80 mph.

Get back to the dealership 15-20 minutes later and realize you just had a blast joy riding in a real driving machine AND you didn't burn a drop of gasoline doing it.

Then go decide if the tradeoffs are worthwhile for you, but you really should experience it first.

 

Well, it is certified as AT-PZEV isn't it?

 

2k1 is another anti-Volt troll.

 

To be clear, yes it was true. It was just extremely disingenuous. That's what spin is.

Here is another true statement:

The Nissan Leaf is capable of driving across country without ever running out of electricity. And it doesn't need a drop of gas to do it.

 

lol

I honestly chuckled a little bit there. bravo.

I would rather people buy volts than hummers, or volts instead of the cruze. I am not anti-volt 100% of the time.

But the volt that was promised, versus what was delivered is where I draw the line. If Toyota pledged the Prius could go 500miles on pixie farts, and then in 1998 showed what they did, I would be equally disappointed.

 

A Hummer H2 is capable of going cross country without burning any fuel...

(But the flat bed it is towed on would burn a bunch)

 

Cute, but you do not understand the meaning behind the designation. It means < 10% of LEV emissions or thereabouts)

 

Exactly. In fact, an H2 stock can go across country on electric power if it's towed by a Volt.

And if it's towed by a Leaf it won't even use any gas. Nor will it ever run out of electric charge.

 

That has never been disproven. Neither the pledge OR the ability.

 

By the By, I have a 300 mile trip in my Volt coming up on Thursday to go pick up my nephew from Gettysburg college for Easter Weekend.

I'll probably refuel again right before heading out, and will probably be close to needing it again when I get back. I'll post the typical mileage and economy information, but is there anything else anyone would like me to try to monitor during prolonged CS use?

I thought about taking my wife's Mariner Hybrid to protect my lifetime numbers in the Volt but it makes a lot more sense to use the 37 mpg Volt over the 30 mpg Mariner.

 

I would hope it works as expected.

If you lived in an area more like mine I would ask you to do some mountain runs with the pack depleted. The ICE in the volt is not powerful enough to carry the car even when empty up some of the passes around here at speed. So it would need electrical assist the entire way to make it. But with the pack empty, I am curious as to what it does. If power demand is really really high (like going up a 7% to 8% slope at 80mph with 2 passengers) will it go into reserves a little more, or will it just say "no I already told you I'm empty" and just slow to a crawl?

 

My understanding is in that situation it would advise no more power was available and slow accordingly. However if you live in such an area and know the incline is coming you can put the car in "mountain mode" to force it to use a higher state of charge as the float and then dip into more reserve electrical power for the climb.

I actually intend to use mountain mode the whole way there so I can turn it off when I pick up my nephew and show him all electric operation for a little while.

 

Definitely easier to spin toddlers than PC'rs.

Have a good trip!

 

Hes a 19 yr old sophomore at Gettysburg College...

 

Then I will be curious to hear if he turns to you and asks "how can you have battery charge remaining after a 300 mile trip?"

 

The thing can cross the entire county on electric, why would you be wondering how it still has charge after 1/10th that?

Have a good drive. I'd still happily replace my minivan with a Volt right now.

 

A tad off subject, but the WSJ reports the government is pushing to divest itself of GM. See link below.

U.S. Weighs Summer GM Stock Sale - WSJ.com

 

I doubt it. I used to own a car with a very low center of mass, I never consciously felt it. A low center of mass is certainly not exclusive to electric vehicles. As for 'stronger presence', that doesn't even make sense.

Never ridden a jungle cat, nor in a car with feet. The 8.9 second 0-60 time isn't much of a decrease from the Prius's 9.8, and nothing like what I used to get in my sports car.

The only effort I usually put in to driving at 65 is pushing on the accelerator, are you saying I don't need to do that?

And also realize that NONE of that would apply to that cross country trip that was so touted. I get it for 15-20 minutes. And that I burned coal instead.

So the awesome electric driving experience is a silent engine (not a silent car of course, nor a silent road) for 35 miles out of the entire cross country trip?

 

I am sorry I failed to adequately express the driving experience.

"they should have sent a poet" - Jodie Foster in Contact.