GM delays building Volt engine plant in Flint
by Sebastian Blanco on Dec 17th 2008 at 12:46PM 
Click above for a high-res gallery of the Chevrolet Volt
It was a big deal when, back in September, GM CEO Rick Wagoner and Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm were on hand to announce that GM would spend $370 million dollars for a 552,000 sq ft plant to build the engines for the Chevy Volt and Cruze. In a much quieter announcement today, GM said that construction on the plant will be delayed. The reasons: the poor economy and GM's lack of money.
Volt fans, don't worry. GM is still claiming that the Volt (and the Cruze) are still on track for a 2010 release date. GM has previously told us that any cutbacks will have "no impact" on the Volt program. No word yet on any changes to the fate of the Hamtramck plant where the Volt itself is to be put together.
Gallery: 2011 Chevrolet Volt Live Reveal
[Source: AP]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Zebracat 8:21AM (12/19/2008)
HAH! The first shoe has just dropped on GM not buildig their phony quasi-ev. I suspect the real reason is not so much lack of tax payer money but more like the fact they were never all that serious abou tthe project, much like the EV1. The second shoe will drop soon and once GM stops their project watch the other two follow. If Ford were serious about electric cars it would be making a pledge to buy back Th!nk with its governement funds! Then it would have a ready built electric that it already did all the reasearch on before it sold it to Norway for scrap. Let us not forget these are the people who killed the elctric car already once and I suspect they are closet serial killers as well.
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gorr 1:18PM (12/17/2008)
This car will cost a fortune to build and gm will never make money out of it. It have 2 propultion systems so it will cost approx 2x to build. Battery is not good and gasoline is not hyped anymore, so why buy that ??? I prefer a clarity from honda build with one mechanical package even if it's still more costly then a simple ice. The only car i can see that is realistic for the moment will by a simple actual car with a 'good old ice' but fitted with a hydrogen tanl instead. H"A"W from japan can extract 50% more power from the ice when they use hydrogen and water mist instead of gasoline without any pollution.
It's not hard to see that peoples here are sick inside their little brains and just reject automatically any solution that are sustainable for all the futur because they think that after their body die at 80 year old , then they go into the sky forever. The plain truth is that you have to come back in a child corpse and do it forever because you did lose all you personnal power long long time ago and you don't have enouph energy and knowledge to live forever, so you rely on somebody else energy to survive temporarily?? That's why hydrogen is rejected and green algae farming too, and this is why petrol is used because it's proven that on the long run it kill everything.
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John 2:52PM (12/17/2008)
I lost you when you said we come back to life in a child's corpse.
Or when you said you were waiting for the Honda Clarity, which cost $1 million dollars each to build.
Or when you said the Volt uses two propulsion systems. It uses an electric drivetrain and the ice is just used as a generator.
oldraven 4:27PM (12/17/2008)
You, sir, are a crackpot.
patrickmx2 10:01PM (12/17/2008)
um,,, whuddit he say? Child corpse? Wow. Anyhoo the only thing he said that made any sense
"it's proven that on the long run it kill everything."
Yeah. There is no CURE for DEATH as far as I know. There are just some things we all get to do together!
jharlan 1:44PM (12/17/2008)
Delaying innovation in any way emphasizes that GM is dead, but just hasn't fell over yet, again allowing their formidable competitors to beat them to the punch. They failed to act when resources were ample, and now resources have vaporized. As I have said before, again they are a day late and a dollar short. If the Ford Fusion Hybrid was on the market right now, Ford would have gained the advantage again, but if it is not in the showroom early next year, the competition (who never rest on their laurels) will negate it's competitive advantage. Detroits foreign subsidiaries offer diesel cars in Europe US buyers would buy in an instant, and yet we languish with inefficient obsolete domestic designs.
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ziv 2:35PM (12/17/2008)
J, not sure about the diesels being popular in the US if they were imported. Diesels tend to get 20-30% better mileage than gasoline engines, but diesel costs 50% more. Also, it takes 20%+ more oil to make a gallon of diesel, so the carbon footprint is correspondingly higher.
The Volt schedule is pretty tight, but importing 5,000+ engines from Korea for the first 6 months production is probably not going to be a problem, but GM simply doesn't have enough cars that people want to buy. If they had the Cruze in production, maybe. If the Malibu had a strong hybrid system, maybe.
EREV tech, whether built by GM or by BYD or someone else, will probably be the most popular way to avoid using gasoline in the 2-10 year window. Hydrogen is always going to be "just 5 years away" and simply too expensive, and batteries will still have range anxiety and expense issues for at least 10 more years. A small battery with a range extender gives you the ability to go almost completely oil free, while having an unlimited range using the ICE.
oldraven 4:31PM (12/17/2008)
Where did you hear it takes 20% more oil to produce Diesel? It's the other way around, man. Diesel requires less crude and less energy to produce. The only reason it's more expensive is because those who make Diesel make more money on Gasoline.
ziv 5:52PM (12/17/2008)
Oldraven, I have been told that the production of diesel uses about 10% more oil but I have to admit that I can only find one cite that has anything to say about diesel vs. gasoline production. The only google results I got for a couple different searches gave me this...
_If diesel provides a healthy alternative to gasoline, there would be a good argument for using this fuel more extensively. But this is only part of the equation. Although the CO2 emissions are less, the production of diesel requires a far greater amount of oil _
I have to admit that I really don't care one way or the other about diesel, unless it is the gen-set on an EREV. It has certain advantages, but it is a modest improvement on a gasoline ICE, whereas a Volt type vehicle allows me to be free of foreign oil, and oil companies in general, by installing a wind generator and some PV cells.
http://www.helium.com/items/342965-the-environmental-benefits-of-diesel-vs-gasoline
jharlan 6:46PM (12/17/2008)
ZIV: I agree. Diesel is a bridge to the EVs we will drive when the E storage technology catches up. If I had my choice right now it would be a PHEV with a small diesel kicker for longer trips, and it would have a very small carbon footprint. When the E storage technology catches up to our needs, it will be an EV charged by the solar panels on my roof.
why not the LS2LS7? 2:09PM (12/17/2008)
Smart move GM. Why throw the UAW more money like that? Go to another state.
And BTW, I grew up about 3 miles from that site.
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oollyoumn 2:47PM (12/17/2008)
How is it that GM does not have enough money to build this engine plant in the US now, but it has money to build plants in China and Russia now and has money to buy into Chinese companies now?
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ziv 12:47AM (12/18/2008)
oolly, it may be because their North American plants are not making enough sales. But GM is selling a huge amount of cars in Asia, ergo, they can afford to build more plants there. Building new plants in the US when they can't sell the cars they have here now is a losing proposition.
Conversely, GM's European Vauxhall and Opel plants aren't doing as well and they are slowing down.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/gm-to-cut-production-in-europe-by-40000-vehicles-as-sales-slide-954604.html
Torbjorn 2:51PM (12/17/2008)
The new BYD F3DM, which does exactly the same thing as the VOLT, but with more range on electric. 62 miles for BYD vs. 40 miles for the VOLT.
The BYD does this at HALF the cost!!! The VOLT was a great idea, but is now DOA do to the uncompetitive price of the VOLT. The price of BYD's car is so good that the U.S. Federal Government does not even need to offer the $7,500 tax rebate each consumer would get if buying the car. Give me a break.
UAW killed the cost of the VOLT. Politicians killed the VOLT by letting Chinese manufacturers to have an unfair manufacturing competitive advantage.
That being said, BYD makes their own batteries and the Chinese mainland has vast amounts of lithium to mine. Battery manufacturing and thus hybrid manufacturing will always be cheaper if "Made in China".
Even Warren Buffett saw this coming...instead of throwing his quarter billion investment into hybrid vehicles at GM, FORD or Chrysler...the guy wanted wanted to make money and gave the sum to BYD instead....proof is in the pudding.
FORD, GM or Chrysler should have bought BYD prior to this vehicle being made for sale and kept manufacturing there in China and bringing the vehicle to the masses of the world....stupidity got in the way. Now they want us to feel unpatriotic for not buying their car. Sorry, it is not going to work this time.
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why not the LS2LS7? 6:28PM (12/17/2008)
Boy are you going to feel stupid when you find out the BYD is a pack of lies.
Petter 10:22PM (12/17/2008)
It's really your (private) system of pensions, social security, health care and unemployment benefits etcetera thats the fault here. Your none union workers still costs more then Swedens unionized workers. Actually you almost pay as much tax money to your health care system as us who have free health care. The Chinese health care system is much more privately financed then the US's. You need structural reforms. At least if you want to lower costs.
BYD was a large company before they went into the auto business, they couldn't have bought it.
why not the LS2LS7? 11:43PM (12/17/2008)
Labor costs have nothing to do with it. A battery to go 62 miles would have to be about 14kWh or more. Just the battery (from Chinese sources) would cost over $10,000.
It doesn't matter who builds it, it's going to add a lot of cost to the vehicle.
BYD is pulling your leg.
Bill 5:11PM (12/17/2008)
In crash tests, Chinese cars have folded up like they're made of aluminum foil.
The engine is not supposed to end up in the driver's lap!
Good luck on getting import approval for _any_ Chinese-built car in the next decade.
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Sequim1 5:37PM (12/18/2008)
Hi Guys!
The Volt is a joke! It's too big and too heavy to ever get any serious range or power. It is the Hummer of evs!
I've been a master auto tech for 35 years and have been amazed at the junk coming out of Detroit for as many years! The mechanics see first hand what the big three are into! For instance, in 2000 there was a recall on the Chevy Cavalier because the steering racks were seizing up. When I, your humble mechanic, pulled out the bearing that was causing all the problems, I noticed an amazing inscription on that bearing "MADE IN CHINA"! You put crap parts in a car, you get a crappy car!
I am a firm believer that Quality is designed in, NOT built in.
OK, enough about the obvious. I think the reason the big three are in such trouble is a lack of pride. They got greedy!
For now, I think the US Gov should make a law that any person or family who owns 2 or more cars must have one of them capable of 45 mpg combined. If you have 2 cars, one must be a high mileage commuter, EV or Air powered vehicle.
I am doing my part. Yeah, I have a small SUV to tow the small boat and small travel trailer, but I also have a converted EV with 70 mile range, and my secret hot rod. A converted Jap Kei car that runs of off compressed air. 3,000 + psi from 6 converted scuba tanks make this 600cc sedan purr like a kitten when driven normally, say 300 to 400 psi, but turn up the pressure to say 1,500 psi and it'll lay two black streaks for 2 blocks. Range is good, but who cares when when you are having fun! I haven't blown the head gasket yet, but soon, I'm sure. And it only costs $2 to charge the air tanks for 80 to 100 miles of easy driving.
Why can't Detroit build me a commuter like that?
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Torbjorn 3:18AM (12/18/2008)
I am not in love with BYD. Just pointing out that a company beat out the VOLT. Warren Buffet put his money with them not the big 3. He wants to make money not lose it. BYD also built the battery pack for $6,000 not $10,000, which would have been the cost if manufactured in Western Countries. China has a huge amount of lithium available to make batteries. If you can't beat em, then join them. Move all car manufacturing out of the U.S. to China. Hate to do it, but Western Politicians are letting the Chinese government to have an unfair manufacturing and labor cost advantage. The Chinese has been violating WTO practices without penalty for years. We that live in Western countries, buy Chinese products because they are cheaper. Thus, we are also to blame. Western Corporations and CEO's set their companies in China to make more money for themselves and investors who want their stock to meet earnings.
If western countries allow it to happen, China and other countries like it will abuse the system. Give em an inch and they take a mile.
Who's really to blame....all of us.
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