Big press offensive for the Chevy Volt today. Even on Fox News, which showed that it is just as in-the-tank for Government Motors as any other network.
Some facts about the Volt which you won't read in these pressers (which I am NOT going to link because they are BeeEss).
- The Chevy Volt does not now, and will never get 230 miles per gallon. That figure was pulled out of some marketer's ass. The marketer did it by assuming that: (1) Electric miles driven count at some near-infinite number, say 2500 mpg, (2) The Volt will NOT actually go as far on it's battery as the concept engineers proposed (40 miles range) before they ever built the battery, which in real testing, has given the car a 20-mile battery-range. The car has a 1400cc 4-banger gas engine which the marketers (again, the marketers, not the test engineers) say the gasser will give 50 mpg.
- The Chevy Volt is priced WAY out of Joe Six-Pack's wallet range at $40,000 (and that's probably for a base model). The car's public acceptance will be like the previous GM electric, of which fewer than 800 were ever made, and which was leased by mostly Hollywood types seeking to prove their "green" creds. The only way GM fulfills any sort of extended production run with this car is if the dot.gov buys a huge fleet of them, which we will probably see in the "Second Stimulus" vote-buying package.
- The Chevy Volt is WAY behind it's pre-production testing schedule, but GM Marketing Div types are hyping it as if it is the complete Everyman's car, the "Voltswagen" of the age, which it will never be. I smell the stink of ObamaMania about all of this hype.
Not coincidentally, just last week, Nissan released some tantalizing stats on it's electric vehicle for 2010, the Leaf. It will be battery-only, it has been TESTED to go 100 miles on a charge (realistic use will be closer to 80 when driven in real traffic), and it will cost $30,000 (and will probably be fully-equipped at that price).
A just-formed US company, Coda, intends to market a battery-electric vehicle made in China next fall also, and also for $40,000+.
As a popular car, the Chevy Volt is DBA (Dead Before Arrival). The Coda will be overpriced and not likely to make the safety grade soon enough. Also DBA.
The Nissan will take whatever market there is to take. The Prius will continue to sell well.
Shit will always stink.
You heard it here first.
Please note these facts about battery-electric vehicles:
1. They all require recharge times measured in hours. The very fastest charging setups can only charge in 4 hours, while most others take 6 or more, all on 220-volt, 30 amp circuits, not many of which exist anywhere (you have a 220-volt 50 amp circuit for your clothess dryer, but only one outlet in your laundry room).
Electrics are speed-limited. The Nissan Leaf is rumored to top out at 80 mph, but driving it that fast will cut it's range by half. The others are 70-mph cars. Maintaining any speed over 65 mph will cut into that maximum battery range.
Electrics will have a VERY limited weight-carrying capacity, probably something like their rated passengers (if they are 150#) plus a few tens of pounds of luggage. If you put 2 300# people in them, they'd better be carrying light luggage.
The alternating current delivery grid of the USA cannot stand, in it's present shape, the current consumption of more than a few percent of the cars being electric plug-ins. To get to the "magic" figure of 30 percent of the nation's private automobile fleet being electric, we are going to have to do a VERY expensive overhaul of the nation's electrical production and delivery system. With the same "green" idiots who push electric vehicles opposing the siting of almost any new power stations, we have a null set. Can't be done.
Posted by: Rivrdog | August 11, 2009 at 21:11