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This hasn't been mentioned and I'm just curious - has the Volt been tested climbing up a road with a 6 percent or greater grade? For people in Illinois, this won't be a factor, but for people in hilly/mountainous areas, there could be a real safety concern with a car conking out haflway up a 10 percent incline.
Have you seen a vehicle released lately that couldn't perform under the circumstances you've mentioned? I've only heard of 10% grades in Wyoming...
Mercedes, Lexus, Acura, BMW, and Cadillac seem to be doing ok in this price range.
There's a $7500 credit for buying the vehicle. I'm curious - where did you get the highway data? Do you have a link?
The 230mpg applies to city driving and assumes you're driving the same mileage as 80% of America on a weekly basis.
The EPA has not tested the Volt for city or highway mileage yet.
Those figures GM is giving are based on new EPA "guidelines".
The 50 mpg highway data is also based on those EPA guidelines and kicks in after you have driven 40 miles on the battery.
"..the agency says it has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM."
Remember though GM is now "Government Motors" so can they claim numbers not verified by another agency since they are both the government ??
Wouldn't any non-government owned car company get in trouble for selling numbers not verified by the EPA ?
The EPA has not tested the Volt for city or highway mileage yet.
Those figures GM is giving are based on new EPA "guidelines".
The 50 mpg highway data is also based on those EPA guidelines and kicks in after you have driven 40 miles on the battery.
"..the agency says it has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM."
Remember though GM is now "Government Motors" so can they claim numbers not verified by another agency since they are both the government ??
Wouldn't any non-government owned car company get in trouble for selling numbers not verified by the EPA ?
They're not selling numbers, they've made a claim based in a projection.
Conveniently you've ignored the math, here it is again -
Quote:
When gasoline is providing the power, the Volt might get as much as 50 mpg. But that mpg figure would not take into account that the car has already gone 40 miles with no gas at all.
So let's say the car is driven 50 miles in a day. For the first 40 miles, no gas is used and during the last 10 miles, 0.2 gallons are used. That's the equivalent of 250 miles per gallon. But, if the driver continues on to 80 miles, total fuel economy would drop to about 100 mpg. And if the driver goes 300 miles, the fuel economy would be just 62.5 mpg.
I don't recall the government being the one on the production line. I suspect you will find it is the hard working American that is doing what they can to keep their company going. Chrysler got a bailout under Carter and did well from it. ... So did the government. they made millions in their investment
When it was over the company was still American and employee your fellow citizens.
Perhaps if you wan't to disassociate your self from anything related to the American government then your list is long.
1. Take your money out of all financial institutions as they are backed and bailed out by the gov
2, stamps are a tax of our gov so stop mailing anything via US mail... must use Fed Ex and UPS
3. Pay cash for your home as the banks are all infiltrated by gov bailouts
4. DO Not retire and take SS or Medicare.. those are gov backed retirement systems.
5. Im sure you don't have any IRA's or mutual funds as they too are tied to banks
6 Don't eat American food as the gov regularly bails out and price supports the American farmer.
7 Skip those stundent loans....
I suspect your isolationist viewpoint is very selective. It also appears to penalize the American worker most of all.
I suspect most with their negative comments really only come down to not liking Obama. Seems those I hear making negative comments about him seem to like to employ the N word and really have nothing to back up their anger. These bail outs you are so hostile towards have with out a doubt benefited you personally. Gov back assistance has come in many forms and will continue to assist the public in a variety of ways, be it support for the economy, or keeping your neighbor employed... or preventing a meltdown of our economy.
As I recall, that government you want to rail against is our government, by the people and for the people. Perhaps you need to be more instrumenetal in the solution. Come up with a better plan. promote it to politiians and the elected. Make it a reality. Or you can continue to sit back, do nothing , take the support and complain about it.
If they did so wel why is it they have failed to cahnge like they sadi they would just as GM and Frod did in that recesion.Why;because they found they couldn't compete and make enough money with their giher cost on fuel efficent cars. the only think that saved them was the SUV market took off whch are high profit vehicles. now they are in a car market with more than just Honda and Toyota as they were then.
The MPG is a bit deceptive... they calculated if you drove 50 miles (in which the 40 miles is calculated as "free")... If you drove it for 300 miles which is about the distance before you need to refuel and recharge, it drops down to 60 MPG (which is respectable)... the 240 MPG is more of government trying to delude people and think it will stimulate the growth of the company... so I thought I break down the real truth (by the way, for you socialists out there... I am FOR the Chevy Volt before you even knew what it was)..
1) The Chevy Volt uses only electric for the first 40 miles BUT Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV).. why do I say that? Because over time, like every car, your MPG degrades from mechanical wear and tear... so yes, it will be 40 miles before it needs to be recharged which is outline in point 2...
2) It needs to be recharged for 10 hours straight before it is recharged for another 40 miles... if you get home at 6 PM, it will need to be UNUSED until 4 AM before it is recharged... If you use it until 9 PM then it can't be used until 7 AM... however you CAN still use the gasoline engine which is highly efficient but probably not very powerful...
3) Over time, like any battery, it needs to be replaced and the costs would be pretty close to another car... there have been many failures with electric cars because batteries usually die before the "life" of the car, which by some estimates is 100k miles... how does someone pay that much money if the car only lasts for 100k miles...
4) The car will cost about $40k.... considering it costs less than 20k for a Prius in the future... would you be better off buying 2 Prius? Price is a bit too high and unfortunately, even at $40k, the company would be losing money to produce these vehicles...
5) There have been "problems" with these cars going up hills... I would be careful about going up hills when these cars are older... I would hate for you to be rolling backwards...
The problem is that 40 miles is probably flat without much road resistance... what happens when you drive in hilly terrain or make a lot of turns/stops... the 40 miles is more than likely an overestimate and not with true real world driving experiences...
Even with all these defects, I think the Volt is a good move forward... who knows with time what the 10th generation vehicle would look like or perform... Its a good car but I think it is a bit "overhyped", it would work if the car is used primarily for driving in flat terrain back and forth... but long trips is probably not recommended... at least it does have a gas engine, which would solve some of its problems...
This hasn't been mentioned and I'm just curious - has the Volt been tested climbing up a road with a 6 percent or greater grade? For people in Illinois, this won't be a factor, but for people in hilly/mountainous areas, there could be a real safety concern with a car conking out haflway up a 10 percent incline.
DC motors have more torque than ICE's, so I don't think they'll have a problem going up a steep grade.
This article states the 1.0 liter which sole purpose is to charge the battery which it should do in about 30 minutes of driving. This should push the MPG into the triple digits. If this technology works like it suppose to this will be a good vehicle to have. The battery estimate life is 150,000 miles.
Last edited by Union Proud; 08-11-2009 at 07:43 PM..
The MPG is a bit deceptive... they calculated if you drove 50 miles (in which the 40 miles is calculated as "free")... If you drove it for 300 miles which is about the distance before you need to refuel and recharge, it drops down to 60 MPG (which is respectable)... the 240 MPG is more of government trying to delude people and think it will stimulate the growth of the company... so I thought I break down the real truth (by the way, for you socialists out there... I am FOR the Chevy Volt before you even knew what it was)..
1) The Chevy Volt uses only electric for the first 40 miles BUT Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV).. why do I say that? Because over time, like every car, your MPG degrades from mechanical wear and tear... so yes, it will be 40 miles before it needs to be recharged which is outline in point 2...
2) It needs to be recharged for 10 hours straight before it is recharged for another 40 miles... if you get home at 6 PM, it will need to be UNUSED until 4 AM before it is recharged... If you use it until 9 PM then it can't be used until 7 AM... however you CAN still use the gasoline engine which is highly efficient but probably not very powerful...
3) Over time, like any battery, it needs to be replaced and the costs would be pretty close to another car... there have been many failures with electric cars because batteries usually die before the "life" of the car, which by some estimates is 100k miles... how does someone pay that much money if the car only lasts for 100k miles...
4) The car will cost about $40k.... considering it costs less than 20k for a Prius in the future... would you be better off buying 2 Prius? Price is a bit too high and unfortunately, even at $40k, the company would be losing money to produce these vehicles...
5) There have been "problems" with these cars going up hills... I would be careful about going up hills when these cars are older... I would hate for you to be rolling backwards...
The problem is that 40 miles is probably flat without much road resistance... what happens when you drive in hilly terrain or make a lot of turns/stops... the 40 miles is more than likely an overestimate and not with true real world driving experiences...
Even with all these defects, I think the Volt is a good move forward... who knows with time what the 10th generation vehicle would look like or perform... Its a good car but I think it is a bit "overhyped", it would work if the car is used primarily for driving in flat terrain back and forth... but long trips is probably not recommended... at least it does have a gas engine, which would solve some of its problems...
I agree with parts of that. The volt is a first edition. Just like the Model T was a good idea, it doesn't stack up much to cars made 10 years later. Hopefully this is just the first of a long line. Battery life will improve, charging will be quicker when they move to 220, and the costs will drop.
I don't think the LION battery will die after 100,000 miles, if properly conditioned, and GM has been taking this into account from what I've read. The gas engine doesn't have a lot of pep, but it will get you down the road about the same as a prius. Remember, the Prius is a very small car, and even it will probably have a plug in in the near future.
If people are thinking they will never have to use gas again, thats a big mistake, however, this is a step forward in the right direction.
Help me out though; you have to plug it in, which is going to jack up your electric bill. Also, electricity is generated by coal, y'now the left's #1 energy enemy. correct?
Why don't you just walk.
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