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The last time I saw pics of the proposed Volt, it looked a whole lot like the upcoming Camaro release, and that got me really excited about it. I'll probably still consider one with the current looks (provided I can get comfortable in it at 6'4" tall....), which are still much better than most of the other hybrids to date.
Gimme a break. What a pathetic joke. What a mediocre compromise. http://tinyurl.com/5r3oal (broken link)
By the time is shows up in any significant numbers the world will have passed it by and GM will have made its last car. Move over Enron, Worldcom, Bear Stearns, Lehman, IndyMac, (and many more to come).
Ever notice that the design of, many but not all, cars the last couple of decades has to be a "Bubble" or a "Wedge" ?????
We are told that Areo-Dynamics are needed for better gas miliage. This is absolutely untrue, because I've got two friends who back in 1979 & 1980 developed crude modifications to the carborater on a 1970s Tuna Boat sized Cadillac and a 1969 1 1/2 Ton GMC flatbed truck. The Caddy got 100+ mpg and the GMC truck about 70+ mpg.
Both have refused to pursue the inventions. The friend with the Caddy sent in his invention idea to the Jimmy Carter program called, "Send the Government you idea for Saving Energy" . When they could'nt help him with Grant Money, he took it out on his own and was contacted to back off pursuing it. It spooked him and both he and Bob my other friend have never tried to do anything since. I've spoken to them since about it with regard to this present bogus energy crisi and they still want nothing to do with pursuing it.
I would'nt have believed this either if it were'nt for the fact I saw their funny looking modifications and experienced driving with them. The point is, if these rookie inexperienced machinists could figure this out, then certainly all those employed college educated Rocket Science Engineers the Auto-Industry Giant's have on staff certainly know what to do it and better. It's all about the big coin!
Anymore it's hard for me to get excited on these Latest Car technology threads knowing what I know.
I was told a similar story by a neighbor of mine, who has now passed away. Her parents had bought a Chevrolet car (not sure what model..I know I was told but geez I can't remeber everything) in the 70's that got well over 40 mpg, but was not suppose to get anywhere near 20 mpg. Her parents ownded and operated parts store. About a week after having the car home a rep from Chevrolet came to the store offering to buy the car back and to give them a free replacement. The refused...knowing someting was up and also knowing that they had waited for months for that car because it was a special order. Later that day they popped the hood and started chekcing things out and sure enough the carborater was what they considered "one of a kind" with no numbers and looked nothing like they had seen. It was not the one that belonged on the car. So YES, the car companies and the government have the technology to make cars way more fuel efficient with little to no effort, why they don't is beyond me! They drove that car forever!
It will probably be less than $40,000 with tax credits. You've got to pay a price to have a regular car that doesn't use gasoline for 40 miles. There are plenty of well off environmentalists that will purchase this car.
Since you only need to charge the car on the power grid at home (alternatively in Europe, China, and Japan they are building charging stations in their cities) you only pay a few cents per mile compared to tens of cents for a gasoline car. An electric engine has fewer moving parts than a laptop computer so maintenance should be relatively painless, although the Volt has a simplified inline four cylinder ICE gasoline generator, it would only be used if you travel further than 40 miles.
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