GM and the other Detroit auto makers just reported that new car sales have hit a 15-year low. Could vehicles such as the Chevy VOLT, (pictured above in artist Jason Cullinane’s estimation) save America’s automakers? Detroit is paying the price for having fought tooth-and-nail to avoid a transition to smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles and will now have to look at thousands of SUV’s sitting forlornly at dealerships for the foreseeable future. It takes a long time to change Detroit’s production cycle and even longer to change its management mindset. (more) If Chevy is counting on the Volt to replace gas guzzlers in its inventory, it will take a while. Production of the Volt will begin in late 2010 with about 10.000 units hitting dealerships in year one.
The Volt will be powered by Chevy’s E-Flex Propulsion System which will use a lithium-ion battery with a variety of range-extending on-board power sources, including gas and, in some vehicles, E85 ethanol to recharge the battery while driving. Chevy’s emphasis that the Volt is an electric, and not a hybrid vehicle, is just semantics.
When it comes to plugging in, the Volt will be designed to use a common 110–volt household plug. For someone who drives less than 40 miles a day the VOLT will use zero gasoline and produce zero emissions. For longer trips Chevy Volt’s range-extending power source kicks in to recharge the lithium-ion battery and give the Volt an estimated range of about 600 miles at 50 mpg, but a tasty 100 mpg on a 100 mile trip. It will take an estimated 6 hours to fully charge.
The VOLT could cost anywhere from $30k to $40k in its initial production run. Can the same guys who killed the electric car be saved by one? Let’s just say I’m skeptical.
RSS
I think it’s sweet justice that the manufacturers who as you said killed the electric car now need to embrace it. They had plenty of time to start working on alternatives. The trend to smaller cars has been coming for years. Hopefully they pull through.
Dagny
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This is indeed an ironic twist of fate for GM and all of the other major vehicle manufacturers. Unfortunately the damage is done and thousands upon thousands of people are going to lose their livelihoods as a result of archaic thinking of the powers that be. My only hope, that little spark that is still there, is that full electric and other environmentally friendly products can hit the streets and the factories soon enough to minimize the economical disaster that is lurking in the shadows. I hope they (GM) and all other major manufacturers put their full efforts into something they should have embraced decades ago, environmentally friendly vehicles that still gainfully employ those who have dedicated their lives to manufacturing our transportation needs.
Keep it clean and green.
GM’s big boo-boo in marketing the Volt is the price! 30-40K is just inaccessable to most consumers. Vehicles in general are just too darn expensive and the people that need the Volt the most simply can’t afford to buy one! During the gas crisis of the 70s GM found itself in similar dire straits and introduced the gas sipping Chevette in a relatively short amount of time and at a very affordable price. Sure, it was spartan, but it sold and it saved gas. What America needs is not just an electric car but a new “people’s” car. Market a Volt-type vehicle that is available to the masses and Gm as well as the industry as a whole will be saved. Are we so complacent that we’ve forgotten that it was the masses and not the elite that made America what it is???
Hey Tom,
Here’s a link to an article electric car costs.
http://techfever.net/2008/07/31/eco-cars-for-the-masses-why-dont-we-have-cheap-electric-cars/
It takes time to turn around an industry as big, ugly and dumb as the auto industry.
r