I drove a Volt today.

LOL.

 

Nice graph on the life span of the Agressive cooling vs Passive coolling on the PHV10 vs PHV40. Not much difference past the decade mark. Just for clarity the Prius has a 10 year 150,000 mile bettery warrenty. Most Americans do not keep a car much over a decade. California the average age of a car i believe is 7 years old (I may be wrong), in the USA it is 11 years old. However most people can source a battery in the salvage market for $500 + labor to install. There are plkenty of cars totaled but with good batteries for salvage market. That is not alot of money $500, heck most clutch or Transmissions cost more than that to repair. Most just look at it as fix for a nominal fee or time to get a new car.

 

I own a Prius Gen 3 IV with solar and my wife just purchased a Acura ILX Hybrid with Tech Package.

 

Look John best of luck to you. Perhaps you are a man with a Vision, a Maverick, a man before your time, the early adopter on the verge of a upward trajectory. Or perhaps youre just another guy who made a car purchase like the guy who purcahsed the Edsel before it went to the dogs. The Edsel had the latest technology of it's time, garnished the best magazine reviews, but went down in history the the car that failed.
Edsel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

I don't consider myself an early adopter. There are probably close to a 100 Volts in and around Austin. It has 3 model years on the road now. I just looked at getting another Prius, Prius Plug-In, Volt, or a Leaf and it turned out that the Volt was the best.

My son loved driving it for the summer and will take it to work when he graduates in the spring.

 

Your just smelling yourself must be time for your yearly shower

 

Interesting article from a credible source. GM losing $49,000 per vehicle. They had to idle the Volt plant. They only have been making volts for 2 years. Prius sells 164,000 cars a year at a profit. The Volt only sold 4,228. GM will have to sell 120,000 volts to turn a profit. With expanded competition that may be a Tall order. Toyota plowed 10 billion into the Prius over it's lifetime and finally made a profit.

Insight: GM's Volt: The ugly math of low sales, high costs| Reuters

 

Volt Battery suppliers at struggling.
As GM Volt Sales Increase, That Doesn’t Mean It’s Successful | MIT Technology Review

 

Keep reading. Just like you recognized the startup costs of the gen 1 prius the volt had development and startup costs and you don't pile them all onto the first production runs. GM idled the plant where they build the Volt to retool so that they could move a vehicle line from Canada into the same plant. While the Volt line was down they almost ran out of inventory because the Volt was selling pretty well. It takes awhile to ramp up a new vehicle into a market. As you noted earlier, the gen 1 prius had a slow start as well.

 

Ramping up battery production in the US is a good thing, but is not without challenges. There are folks on PriusChat that follow the battery industry closer than I do. It's a changing technology and a risky investment for large scale manufacturing. Everyone wants lighter and higher density batteries, as well as less expensive.

Btw, you are following a well worn path to bashing America by criticising the federal investment in domestic battery production.

 

Me and my wife drove one too. A good looking car.... But.......
I think they built it to get the government subsidies... It's not yet a serious car. Especially for the money. They are making money on the government end as well as the consumer end... If
the market will bear... More power to them... But not me!
Seems the more the government subsidizes to try and get people to buy, the more the dealer raises the price?
Shouldn't that be illegal? Was that the intended purpose of subsidizing?... To make the dealer more profit?
Take Away all subsidies.... Is the volt really worth 8k more than a Prius.? Really? Prius is way more a marvel on engineering and final mpg proves it.

We sat in the back seat and our feet fit underneath the front seat like a glove... No moving room!.. Was the rear seat just a gester to not look like a big boy car?

When you run out of electricity, you revert back to 37 mpg.... Non hybrids Do that well? "get a Mazda with the sky active engine" for half the price and have better gas mileage for long distances... LOL,..!

When I punched it, the electric only sport mode was gutless compared to running on "hold" mode where the ice is forced to run.

"if" I commuted within the batteries range it may be worth the hassle.

But for a serous car, ill stick with the Prius or pip..... At least when the pip runs out of battery will still get you 50+ mph for as long a trip as you want to go!



SCH-I535 ? 2

 

Typical nasty response. One begins to think the fact that the Prius is #1 grates you. So be it, but again, respect from you using the forum is lacking.

DBCassidy

 

You are way off base, concerning bashing America. But, I can see where you are very confused , what you are saying is GM IS America. So, when someone "bashes" GM, you take it as bashing America. Time to wake up, smell the coffee and look around at the current America.

There are veterans on this site and saying "bashing America" is an insult to them. Again, please show the veterans the recognition they deserve and earned. They serve their country, and EARNED the respect.

DBCassidy

 

JMD, I agree with you as you hit the nail on the head. GM is currently paying the pprice for being a "laggard" in the market place. Years, if not decades GM dissed the Toyota Prius, ignoring the slow, but steady market penetration that the Prius was claiming. This eroded GM slice of the pie. This explains the current maliase GM is in.

DBCassidy

 

John, come on, its time to fase the facts: Toyota admits it is losing money on the PIP.

GM, on the other hand, can't / won't even admit they are losing $$$$$ on the Volt. Perhaps GM can't look at itself in the mirror an acknowledge reality?

DBCassidy

 

Dude Volt sold 4228 cars. They need to sell 120,000 a year to turn a profit. There battery supplier is going under. They don't have 10 billion to invest and a decade as Toyota did. Wall Street is concerned. GM may not have the deep pockets to see this through

 

I will show you how silly it is. The Volt cost $96,000 to make. They get $200 a month on a lease or $5,000 in he first 2 years. GM cannot afford the Volt. That is from an auto analyst.

 

Easily. Ask any Volt owner.

I save at least $1000 per year in gas versus a Prius and that by itself makes it worth $8K more. I will probably spend more on oil changes on my Prius than I will spend on gas for the Volt.

The Prius is a great vehicle, and some people need the 5th seat and such, some need even more room and they can get the Prius V. I shopped this past summer for another new Prius, or Prius Plug-In, but when it came down to it I found the Volt was better.

Since getting the Volt it has outperformed my expectations. I thought I would still use a tank of gasoline a month but am still on the same tank from August and averaging about 1500 miles a month.

 

JMD, you are referencing a lot of FUD and/or just plain wrong info unleashed during the election cycle by right leaning "institutes" and media. You're a newbie here and these have been addressed before.

Like you, I had a gen3 with solar. It gave me my first taste of EV drive and I loved it. So much so, I wanted more but I had to look elsewhere to find it.

 

Prius oil change is free the first 2 years. The dealer where i live charges $30 not a big cost to consider. Pip cost can be minimum if you take advantage of the charging station network and you spend less time at the plug because it has a smaller battery.