By So is anyone excited about GM’s Volt yet? As long as the company continues to be owned by the US government and their quality remains so poor I have no intention of buying a GM product ever again:
General Motors Co.’s hopes of selling large numbers of its plug-in Volt electric car to U.S. drivers may hinge on gasoline prices, a company official said.
The Detroit-based carmaker needs to attract consumers beyond the “early adopters” that will be the car’s first buyers next year, Britta Gross, director of GM’s global energy systems and infrastructure commercialization project, said in Los Angeles yesterday.
“Thousands of these vehicles will initially fly out of the showroom, but that doesn’t have any impact on anything,” Gross said during the Bloomberg LP Cars & Fuels conference.
“You have got to penetrate the mainstream, and that’s where this becomes very important – what’s happening with gasoline prices.”
GM is counting on the Volt to revive interest in its products after emerging from bankruptcy this year. Unless gasoline prices rise, customers may be deterred by the car’s estimated retail price of at least $40,000, compared with the average price of less than $30,000 for new cars in the United States.
Tesla Motors Inc.’s Roadster, currently the only highway-legal battery car sold in the United States, costs more than $109,000. Nissan Motor Co.’s Leaf electric hatchback, set to go on sale next year, will be priced in the high $20,000 range, based on comments from chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn. That doesn’t include a monthly lease cost of at least $100 for the vehicle’s lithium-ion battery pack.
Ghosn has said battery-powered cars may account for 10 percent of global auto sales by 2020, up from less than 1 percent currently.
For most consumers, fuel price will influence the decision to buy an electric car, said Menahem Anderman, president of consulting firm Advanced Automotive Batteries.
“At $8 per gallon, the problem is solved,” Anderman said in Los Angeles.
“The problem is we are at $2.75, and the politicians aren’t going to tax it more because it would cause too many complaints.” [Korea Herald]
Funny, aren’t these the same politicians that say we will die in a fiery hell of our own creation due to global warming, but they won’t tax gas prices?
Anyway if you believe in the global warming dogma electric cars do no good anyway because of instead of being powered by gasoline they are powered by mostly likely a coal fired power plant. With that said I like the hybrid and electric car movement because anything that reduces our need to purchase foreign oil is a good thing. However, at $40,000 a car GM is going to sell a whole lot of cars at that price. After the limousine liberals each buy one of these cars to shore up their “green” credentials while continuing to fly around the world in private jets, not a whole lot of people will be left to purchase a vehicle this expensive, especially during tough economic times.
However, Nissan’s Leaf at $20,000 per vehicle is more reasonable, but the vehicle only has a 160km range on a single charge that takes all night to charge, not to mention the issues with installing garage chargers. That pretty much makes this car as well as the Volt impracticle for most American families.
If you are wondering Hyundai has a hydrogen fuel cell car scheduled to be released in 2012 as well as a electric car to be released that same year.
4:44 am on December 13th, 2009 1
Check out the Hyundai i10. There’s talk of installing charge stations at highway rest areas.
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December 13th, 2009 at 9:43 am
The i10 is not the best looking car but I think Korea would be a great place to install infrastructure for electric cars due to its size. If the infrastructure is there to support it more people would by these cars.
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December 14th, 2009 at 12:03 am
Yes.
PS. Given how utility bills are often subject to creative accounting, I imagine some construction companies are salivating at the thought of installing charging stations in apartment complex parking lots.
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7:53 am on December 13th, 2009 2
I heard that the Volt can charge off standard wall sockets so the need for any special charging stations will be negated. Also, there’s talk of offering a $7500 tax rebate for the Volt, which, while still an expensive option, will bring it down into more consumer’s price range. Oh, and it has like a 450 mile range with the battery and the gasoline engine, comparable to a regular car. If they stick with the interior as it has been shown, along with the front fascia as it was, this will be a nice looking car.
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December 13th, 2009 at 9:51 am
The Volt can charge off of a standard wall socket but it will take much longer to charge the car compared to if the special garage outlet is installed by a electrician. According to the Wikipedia page the Volt has a 300 mile range which is okay.
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8:33 am on December 13th, 2009 3
This Volt could be revolutionary. Gas prices are only cheaper now because of the economy. Next summer gas may be back up to 4 bucks a gallon again.
Regardless, these types of cars are going to be available soon. There will probably be a pretty big market for them. Just think of what will be available by 2015.
The traditional gas combustible engine has it’s days numbered, just like the incandescent light bulb. The 21st Century is finally going to start being cool.
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December 13th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Back when gas prices were comparitively high, there were some initial reports that the traditional internal combustion engine actually still had alot of life left to it, if improvements were considered to make it more fuel efficient.
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December 14th, 2009 at 12:04 am
Ironically, 4 dollars a gallon is practically third-world prices.
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10:18 am on December 13th, 2009 4
It will be very interesting when there’s 5 or 6 different electric cars on the market, especially when gas prices go up..as they most certainly will.
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4:27 pm on December 13th, 2009 5
However, Nissan’s Leaf at $20,000 per vehicle is more reasonable, but the vehicle only has a 160km range on a single charge that takes all night to charge, not to mention the issues with installing garage chargers. That pretty much makes this car as well as the Volt impracticle for most American families.
Actually, it makes it practical for most families. Most people drive to/from work and drive errands around town. Far fewer miles in a day than the 100 that the Nissan Leaf can go. If this is a family’s second car (and the first can be used for the occasional out-of-town trip) then it would be ideal, especially if savings could be had on gas.
The problem is that people tend not to think outside the box, so it seems impractical.
When I was a little kid, there were half-mile long gas lines and an odd/even system enforced at gas stations. That was impractical.
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December 13th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Many people like to be able to drive out of town on the weekend not feel like they have to own two cars to be able to do that. If you have to own two cars to be able to do that that makes the Volt more practical to own than the leaf.
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December 13th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
You’re right about certain families. Where I’ve lived in the US (medium-sized cities or metropolitan areas, all west of the Mississippi), the norm is for there to be, within families, typically one car for every driving adult. Most couples have two cars, and this would be practical for as one vehicle among those two (or three or four).
And of course for individuals (who typically only have access to their own car), it is impractical if they expect to make out-of-town trips.
On Oahu, of course, where you wouldn’t drive 100 miles a day anyway (unless you’re going back and forth between two points multiple times), there would be no problem with a car like this. In fact, a Prius driver told me that a Prius in Honolulu is not a good idea because it needs to be driven beyond a certain amount or you run the risk of battery drain.
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December 14th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Yes, and eventually the technology will improve, so range will increase.
People need to remember that the first combustion engine cars were crap.
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December 14th, 2009 at 12:56 am
Outstanding point Teardrinker, a lot of people don’t see the significance of these early electric cars.
The moment that gas prices go back to 4 or 5 bucks a gallon people are going to ask that one person in their neighborhood “Hey, how much does it cost to run that thing?”.
The paradigm will change quickly.
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4:28 pm on December 13th, 2009 6
Oh, and not everything from GM is crap. There are some pretty decent Buicks and Saturns, I think, quality-wise.
GM may end up suffering from the same thing as Hyundai and Kia: a reputation for poor quality that takes on a life of its own.
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December 13th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Actually that is the old Hyundai reputation until they got serious about quality and over time it paid off. Hyundai’s quality is often considered right up there with the Japanese automakers now.
http://rokdrop.com/2009/10/05/japanese-automakers-fear-hyundai/
It is going to take a long term effort by GM to repair their reputation and having had to rent a Chevy Cobalt recently for multiple days I can safely say at least that car is absolute crap. Recent quality reports have testified to the fact that other GM brands are of poor quality.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1932832,00.html
The only American car maker getting good scores for quality is Ford which like Hyundai has really been trying to improve their vehicle’s quality in recent years and over time their image. GM is hoping the Volt which they will take a loss financially making will in the long term improve their company’s image. I guess we will see but it is going to take more than one car to turn GM around.
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5:56 pm on December 13th, 2009 7
Actually that is the old Hyundai reputation until they got serious about quality and over time it paid off. Hyundai’s quality is often considered right up there with the Japanese automakers now.
I’m saying that for many people the old reputation is what sticks in their heads. Look at D.L. Barch at The Marmot’s Hole and his regular digs — apparently based on his current views — at Korean cars. The dude is partying like it’s 1989.
And that’s a lot of people. I was thinking about this the other day: I think a lot of Southerners in the Georgia and Alabama area might start buying Hyundais and Kias out of pride, since those two automakers are making a big deal out of providing jobs to the area. That is going to seriously compensate for lingering bias against Hyundai and Kia, assuming quality stays high.
But the rest of America, it might take a little longer. I read a lot of stuff on the Hyundai Genesis, and it was a mixture of “wow, that’s a nice car” and “come on, it’s a HyunDIE!”
I haven’t been in the market lately for a vehicle (I have a used car here in Hawaii that I plan to keep driving as long as I’m in school, while in Korea I’ve already decided to buy an LPG-hybrid [iLPG?] SUV or minivan from Kia for my next vehicle), so I haven’t had need to check out some of the claims, but Buick and some other other makes are making some quality claims and backing them up.
IOW, I think the days of assuming GM is crap are over. Chrysler, I’m not so sure about. Several family members bought Chrysler minivans that seemed to crap out in unison, as if they were telepathically communicating with each other. I’d look at a Ford, though.
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7:38 pm on December 13th, 2009 8
review this one: http://www.epower-cars.com/index.files/page0004.html
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