Should the feds buy flocks of Volts for their fleet?
Lyle Dennis, one of the world's biggest Chevrolet Volt fans, has an idea on how to help the new halo car roll off the assembly lines at high numbers and help General Motors out of its current economic programs. The idea was inspired by the effort the US made during the Depression and World War II and would make the US General Services Administation, which is responsible for procuring government vehicles, buy massive quantities of Volts to replace the current government fleet. These Volts would be sold to the government at premium and without a battery warranty. This would be a very symbolic move, and would really help GM's bottom line while also boosting the car's development. For one thing, the critical batteries would be massively promoted and publicly tested. Dennis thinks 100,000 vehicles would be a good number for the US fleet. According to the Federal Fleet Report for 2007, the government operates a fleet of 231,213 vehicles. About 22,000 are replaced each year, so this is a five-ish year plan. Now, is it a good one?
Gallery: 2011 Chevrolet Volt Live Reveal
[Source: GM-Volt]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jpm100 1:10PM (11/26/2008)
These cars need to get into the hands of enthusiasts for lack of a better word.
Although I'm all for having them starting up geo metros again for the government.
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Tim 1:37PM (11/26/2008)
Although I believe that the federal gov't should be downsized in order to OBEY (not interpret) the Constitution, gov't SHOULD always buy DOMESTIC vehicles that support national defense and the general welfare by reducing the use of foreign oil and supporting technologies that make sense like the E-REV.
Yep, it's a good idea and a much better one than just throwing money at them. Then again, the Democrat and NeoCon socialists in gov't are NOT really known for doing the right things so they will throw money at GM while they buy something else...
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Lad 7:06PM (11/26/2008)
Let's not forget there are three companies in need of support, not just GM alone. I suggest General Services spec out electric drive cars that will qualify all three American companies.
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GoodCheer 1:26PM (11/26/2008)
I would say this is a great idea, at least in contrast to mandating that they buy Flex-Fuel vehicles, which then just run on gasoline anyway.
Of course of the 22,000 vehicles replaced each year, many will be in service where a Volt would not do... trucks and vans and so forth. It's also not clear that a Volt would make a suitable police-type vehicle (I assume FBI & CIA types drive things like Crown Vics with lots of rear seat room).
And just looking at the numbers, 20,000 Volts at a premium price of $50,000 is still only $1 billion, whereas GM would probably get roughly a third of $25 billion from the bailout package..... and still burn through it in a year.
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Uncle John 3:52PM (11/27/2008)
Actually, I see many Armed Service members driving around in Dodge Cirruses that are for regular business.
Woodenbee 1:31PM (11/26/2008)
Well it is fair to only talk about GM because they seem to have the lock on govt contracts (during the bush admin), all those burnt out security vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan were white GM pickups, that's what the black water guys would shoot civilians from, I guess they didn't wreck enough of them to keep GM afloat, not getting those juicy no bid contracts is probably what helped GM to slump, that and their own staggering complacency and ineptitude.
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bananas 9:35AM (11/27/2008)
You are a SCUMBAG.
You spout off at the mouth about a car company and totally unrelated tnagent ideas that have nothing to do with this post our have any business here on Autobloggreen.
You should be slapped in the mouth for such talk. Bash GM but leave your skewed political views out of it here.
Cellien 1:35PM (11/26/2008)
Sounds like a great plan.
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Serge 1:38PM (11/26/2008)
Sounds like a sensible idea. I would also hope that some Ford Fusion/Escape Hybrids are also in the picture. Not sure if Chrysler has anything worthwhile, except for prototype EVs -- they really need to get on with the program.
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oollyoumn 1:57PM (11/26/2008)
Since we won't see any Volts for two years, how does this help GM survive? GM still needs piles of money just to make the first Volt. All parties would be better off if the feds just give GM money. The est. billion dollars for the Volts would provide GM a small fraction of that in profits and the Feds get an untested car that will likely cost much more to keep operational.
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vfx 2:19PM (11/26/2008)
I have suggested this idea on these pages before. The difference is that the plan should be open to (and divided between) all manufactures including Tesla, Zap, Pheonix, Myers, Fisker, etc. as well as the usual Detroit bunch.
Like Lad said, it should be spec'd (just like all built military vehicles). Additional money would be needed up front for Battery and other tech development.
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pditty 2:38PM (11/26/2008)
I remember back when the government mandated the government buy a bunch of propane and liquefied natural gas vehicles.
Boy did that ever help those take off in the public market! I mean, just try to buy a car now that DOESN'T run on LNG.
We have one here at work that is capable, I don't think it has ever had anything other than gasoline in it.
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Rob 3:02PM (11/26/2008)
After years of refusing to put substantial dollars towards battery development, now we (the government) should buy 100,000 Volts with no battery warranty? Is this the right way to push the technology forward or to help GM become a sustainable company? If we are to massively promote and publicly test a battery system, shouldn't we get DOE or the US Advanced Battery Consortium involved?
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ed 3:09PM (11/26/2008)
I know this is a bit off topic but does anyone know if GM is planning a Photo voltaic roof for the Volt? Its difficult to judge the area available but i would think an efficient panel would be capible of 200w in bright sun.??
Over 7 days, a car could generate 20kw of its own power i would guess, enough to take it 40 or 50 miles & doubling the Volt's range. Or maybe this is an overestimate.. i await a response from a true PV expert!
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GoodCheer 3:39PM (11/26/2008)
Your numbers are a bit optimistic. You used 12 hours of sun a day, while in fact for a stationary solar panel tilted to the local latitude and facing south the numbers are actually here:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/ilands/fig11.html
Where the best in the country is about 6 hours. And then the roof of the parked car won't be tilted to the latitude, so the number is cut again by cos(latitude), or ~.7 as a rough number. And then part of the time you'll be parked in the shade.
You might get 5 kWh in a week if you're very lucky.
Does that make it a bad idea? No. But don't go into it thinking that it will pay for itself in energy costs any time soon.
The general response to that question is that the cost of PV panels could be better spent fixing them to your house roof at the right orientation, and offsetting your electric bill with what they generate.
jpm 5:27PM (11/26/2008)
Have you ever experimented with a solar panel? If so, you'll see that it needs to be angled into the sun (normal, aka 90 degrees to sun's rays) to get appreciable power. Most panels, on roofs for example, are fixed at around 40% latitude. But to make best use of a solar panel, it needs to track the azimuth of the sun.
So with the high cost and low efficiency of solar when it's not angled into the sun, it makes no sense to put them on a roof of car.
And to the main point of this article, I have to say... let GM to it's own devices. They should go bankrupt and fade away to make room for the real companies that have always been dedicated to making an EV a reality.
boo 1:32AM (12/05/2008)
wait, didn't Tesla already do this? I'm sure they did their homework and found out that it WAS worth it. I dont really expect much from Volt.
ed 4:57PM (11/26/2008)
I probably was being optimistic Goodcheer, and as i live in northern Europe, PV on the roof of my car would probably never pay for itself in my lifetime. If i lived nearer the Equator & could get even 5kwhrs 'by magic' just by leaving my car parked away from shade, that would appeal to me. Of course, if you have to whack the air con on 'cos you have left your car in the blazing sun all day, it kinda defeats the purpose!! Nothings simple in this life..
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charlie twosix 5:07PM (11/26/2008)
Why not Postal Service city delivery vehicles? They don't need great range and they recharge each night. It is said that for every $.01/gal rise in the gasoline price the cost to the Postal Service is a million $ a year.
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Sunshine 5:09PM (11/26/2008)
A PV panel on the roof might assist with the extra electrical load (A/C, etc.) on blazing hot summer days in western states, though 200 watts is a drop in the bucket relative to the total energy capacity of the battery pack. On a Volt it could - maybe - provide an extra mile in traffic before the engine kicks on. Then there's the aesthetics to consider - not too many suburban types that I know would appreciate the roof of their car covered in PV.
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