GM Kills Off A Top-Selling Segment Leader - The Chevy Volt

[Grumpy Bear]

Told the wife I'd look at electric when they will go 500 miles per charge in the winter with the heaters on AND can be fully recharged anywhere IN under a half hour FOR  less than an equivalent $2/gallon mileage equivalent. IMHO that is going to be a deal breaker for a very long time. THREE problems. REGIONAL INFISTRUCTURE, NON-FOSSILE FUEL POWER GENERATION CAPACITY and NOMAD NATURE OF HUMANS. (Let's see them get people to give up their freedom)

 

It would work fine IF no one ever drove more than 20 miles from home and not more than 100 miles per day. Could plug it into 220V and have it charge over night PLUS a spare vehicle for emergency transport at 3AM to the hospital...and double our current power generating capability.  

 

This move is like dropping a person that can't swim into the middle of the sea and saying "Well figure it out on the fly'. No crystal ball required just two minutes of serious thinking. 

 

11 minutes ago, M1ck3y said:

Yup, products, technology and businesses fail all of the time. I don't pretend to be a fortune teller, I'm looking at the market and what appears to be happening. But since you have that crystal ball, I would really like to know the next winning lotto #!

 

Edited March 2, 2019 by Grumpy Bear

[diyer2]

3 minutes ago, Grumpy Bear said:

Told the wife I'd look at electric when they will go 500 miles per charge in the winter with the heaters on AND can be fully recharged anywhere IN under a half hour FOR  less than an equivalent $2/gallon mileage equivalent. IMHO that is going to be a deal breaker for a very long time. THREE problems. REGIONAL INFISTRUCTURE, NON-FOSSILE FUEL POWER GENERATION CAPACITY and NOMAD NATURE OF HUMANS. (Let's see them get people to give up their freedom)

 

It would work fine IF no one ever drove more than 20 miles from home and not more than 100 miles per day. Could plug it into 220V and have it charge over night PLUS a spare vehicle for emergency transport at 3AM to the hospital...and double our current power generating capability.  

 

This move is like dropping a person that can't swim into the middle of the sea and saying "Well figure it out on the fly'. No crystal ball required just two minutes of serious thinking. 

 

 

Agree

Won't even have a conversation with the believers of this technology.

 

[mpzz]

It's far from certain that electric cars are the future.  Changing from internal combustion engines to electric motors is a gargantuan task.  Many thousands more huge power plants would have to be built and they have to be powered by something.  Do we have enough natural gas reserves to power them?  Will we have to use coal?  Is that any cleaner than having individual car engines burning fuel?  Do we have enough resources to build the hundreds of millions of highly toxic batteries that would be required?  Do we have the space to store all the used up batteries or the ability to recycle the materials used to manufacture them?  Even if somehow all those problems and challenges can be quickly resolved (they can't), China and India will still be belching pollution into the sky like it's their sole purpose for existing.  Those two countries are the source of our current climate crisis anyway, not the United States.  Anyone who's older than a pup remembers when our large cities were choked with smog every day.  They aren't any more.  The US has done a tremendous job of cleaning up the exhaust of the internal combustion engine. 

Cars powered by electric motors are no panacea.  And the autonomous vehicle?  How stupid is that idea?  Even if they could ever make one that was safe enough to actually be used around other cars, pedestrians and God knows what other obstacles, why would that be better than mass transportation like planes, trains and buses that we already have that are far more efficient for urban transportation than individual vehicles carrying one passenger?

 

[M1ck3y]

3 hours ago, Grumpy Bear said:

Told the wife I'd look at electric when they will go 500 miles per charge in the winter with the heaters on AND can be fully recharged anywhere IN under a half hour FOR  less than an equivalent $2/gallon mileage equivalent. IMHO that is going to be a deal breaker for a very long time. THREE problems. REGIONAL INFISTRUCTURE, NON-FOSSILE FUEL POWER GENERATION CAPACITY and NOMAD NATURE OF HUMANS. (Let's see them get people to give up their freedom)

 

It would work fine IF no one ever drove more than 20 miles from home and not more than 100 miles per day. Could plug it into 220V and have it charge over night PLUS a spare vehicle for emergency transport at 3AM to the hospital...and double our current power generating capability.  

 

This move is like dropping a person that can't swim into the middle of the sea and saying "Well figure it out on the fly'. No crystal ball required just two minutes of serious thinking. 

 

 

Nope, you must have a crystal ball. Your flat out criticizing my opinion, because it doesn't align with your opinion. You think you know best? You should probably contact the auto manufacturers of the world and let them know their doing it wrong.

 

I made a comment about how auto manufacturers are going electric, and they are. I don't pretend to have answers for your concerns or beliefs. I myself don't want an electric vehicle, that doesn't mean it isn't going to happen.

Edited March 2, 2019 by M1ck3y

[Grumpy Bear]

4 hours ago, M1ck3y said:

Nope, you must have a crystal ball. Your flat out criticizing my opinion, because it doesn't align with your opinion. You think you know best? You should probably contact the auto manufacturers of the world and let them know their doing it wrong.

 

I made a comment about how auto manufacturers are going electric, and they are. I don't pretend to have answers for your concerns or beliefs. I myself don't want an electric vehicle, that doesn't mean it isn't going to happen.

To disagree is not criticism? 

 

Did I say I knew "BEST"? I said I know what "IS".

 

I'll bet the owners of TUCKER and CORD wished someone would have told them the world wasn't ready for what history proved was a really good set of ideas. Were they idiots? Don't think so. Just put to market things the world wasn't ready for. 

 

  

 

 

[M1ck3y]

1 hour ago, Grumpy Bear said:

To disagree is not criticism? 

 

Did I say I knew "BEST"? I said I know what "IS".

 

I'll bet the owners of TUCKER and CORD wished someone would have told them the world wasn't ready for what history proved was a really good set of ideas. Were they idiots? Don't think so. Just put to market things the world wasn't ready for. 

 

  

 

 

 

 

I'm not going to argue with you because that's clearly what you want. Especially about the definition of criticism.

Edited March 3, 2019 by M1ck3y

[Grumpy Bear]

43 minutes ago, M1ck3y said:

I'm not going to argue with you because that's clearly what you want. Especially about the definition of criticism.

Let's see what the Oxford Dictionary has to say: 

 

Criticism: 1The expression of disapproval of someone or something on the basis of perceived faults or mistakes.

 

So your understanding, as you've expressed it and as I understand it; is that I disapprove or find fault with you? PERSONALLY? Really? I believe a very careful reread of most of my comments are pointed facts. The few remaining are opinion and are quite generic aimed at humanity such as the 'nomadic nature of humans'.  That fact is un-mistakeable. 

 

All Criticisms are directed at GM. 

 

The assumption that I wish only to argue with you is thus unfounded. I don't care to change my mind on that.

 

They only way your claim even makes remote sense in the English language is if you see yourself and GM as the same entity. Is that true? Are you GM? 

 

Please feel free to have the last word. I just had mine. 

 

 

[HondaHawkGT]

It's a bad move to kill the Volt off IMO. The Volt was really starting to rebuild the perception of GM reliability in crowds (the Toyota Prius types) that typically dismissed GM vehicles in the past. Especially when they see news reports like this:

 

https://insideevs.com/chevy-volt-468000-miles-odometer-video/

 

It boggles the mind how GM hasn't helped the guy out with his battery issue. He could have kept going well past 500k miles at the rate he was adding miles. That would have been some of the best advertising you could ever ask for. I guess they think those terrible, worthless "Real People" ads are enough to get the job done .

 

 

Edited March 3, 2019 by HondaHawkGT

[Colossus]

3 hours ago, HondaHawkGT said:

It's a bad move to kill the Volt off IMO. The Volt was really starting to rebuild the perception of GM reliability in crowds (the Toyota Prius types) that typically dismissed GM vehicles in the past.

 

Well said.  if GM wants to sell vehicles, they need to earn trust back.  long term product reliability with a warranty to back it up (100,000 miles) is what Hyundai/Kia did to change a cheap crappy perceived product into what they claim to be today. 

[tmo]

The problem with the Volt is the design and "53 pure electric miles^† and up to 420 miles^† with a full charge and a full tank of gas". If people want an electric car, they are going to Tesla because of the sportier/futuristic design and 200-400 mile range.  For close to the same cost (26k base price) you can get a model 3 with a 220 mile range. For 34k (the same price as the base volt) you get the long range battery, 0-60 in 5 seconds and a top speed of 140. If GM wants to compete, it needs a car that isn't the Volt so i'm not surprised. 

[Colossus]

Why does it need a top speed of 140 when we have no highways with speed limits of up to 140? 

[tmo]

We don't need a 700 hp hellcat, but people buy them just to say they have them and the car never even sees a track in some cases. Same with corvettes. 

[truckofwinandawesome]

On 3/1/2019 at 11:26 AM, flyingfool said:

over priced electric cars are not for the masses, it's all about making money, not wasting it.  the money is in cheap electric cars  like the chinese made Spark from GM

no, your thinking of the Buick Envision, the Spark is made in Bupyeong, South Korea in the same plant that made my Aveo.

[gearheadesw]

Todays version of the electric car are a dead end, you charge them with what, a coal fired power plant? Until we have fusion power on line, we'll have to make a vehicle the can charge itself while driving, we can't make enough power to charge all cars in the country, with out destroying the Earth. What happened to fuel cell technology? It works, has almost an unlimited supply of fuel. Cost is up because no one is pursuing it. Shut down by the mighty car companies themselves, because they won't make enough money, and save the planet at the same time. So, lets make money and kill everything, perfect.

[the wanderer]

On 2019-03-02 at 12:00 PM, Grumpy Bear said:

Told the wife I'd look at electric when they will go 500 miles per charge in the winter with the heaters on AND can be fully recharged anywhere IN under a half hour FOR  less than an equivalent $2/gallon mileage equivalent. IMHO that is going to be a deal breaker for a very long time. THREE problems. REGIONAL INFISTRUCTURE, NON-FOSSILE FUEL POWER GENERATION CAPACITY and NOMAD NATURE OF HUMANS. (Let's see them get people to give up their freedom)

 

It would work fine IF no one ever drove more than 20 miles from home and not more than 100 miles per day. Could plug it into 220V and have it charge over night PLUS a spare vehicle for emergency transport at 3AM to the hospital...and double our current power generating capability.  

 

This move is like dropping a person that can't swim into the middle of the sea and saying "Well figure it out on the fly'. No crystal ball required just two minutes of serious thinking. 

 

 

 

This makes no sense. Look on the market today. I see cars from tiny little bugs that you basically strap on to your back, up to massive 3500's that can pull 30,000 pounds. There is a car for every need. You wouldn't look at a camry and say; gee, what a useless car, it can't pull my boat. You buy what works for you, based on your needs.

 

And current electric cars satisfy the needs of many millions of commuters who just need a "a to b" set of wheels, and never go more than 200 miles in a day. Teslas go what, 400 miles on a charge?

 

Nobody is saying we need to all drop and replace our gas for electric. This has been and will continue to be an evolutionary process. The tech will improve, the costs will go down, the demand will go up, and so will the power. The problem with the grid is not technical, it's political. That distinction is important because we could put up nuke plants tomorrow if the public got on board with it (NIMBY).

 

And, it's far cleaner and more effective to treat pollution at the source (power plant) than it is on millions of tiny little bubbles driving around. So if all other problems were solved, we'd have less pollution with 100% electric (and controlling pollution at the plants) than everyone driving gas and trying to put emission controls on every car.

 

I wish you guys would research this because you're contributing to the problem instead of fixing it.

Edited March 8, 2019 by the wanderer