WaPo: GM would be better off without Chevy Volt
2011 Chevy Volt - Click above for high-res image gallery
To a lot of people, the only vehicle that's keeping GM - or at least the spirit of GM - alive as the company falters is the Chevy Volt. Washington Post columnist Charles Lane is not one of them. The Volt is designed to give 80 percent of Americans a car that, while it costs more than a similar, non-electric model, offers a chance to dramatically reduce their gasoline consumption. To Lane, the car is a money pit. He writes:
GM wouldn't be in quite so deep a hole if it had not sunk a billion dollars, and much of its corporate reputation, into a not-very-realistic plug-in electric hybrid vehicle known as the Chevrolet Volt.Lane also says he hopes that the Obama administration does not allow "a restructured GM to continue pouring (federal) money into the Volt. [...] The Volt and other electric vehicles could gobble up more subsidies than ethanol." Perhaps Lane and David Letterman should form a club.
Gallery: 2011 Chevy Volt
[Source: WaPo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Unni 8:21PM (5/03/2009)
For me, Volt looks the right approach to move to EV.
Once the battery technology is affordable , fast rechargeable and gives a good range ( say 300 - 400 ). Volt is the way to go. 15 -20 years after there wont be any ICE based cars. EREVs are the correct path for transitions to EVs.
more looks like, had a lot of rice we ate a lot rice, then less rice production we started to be lean and mean and take less rice ( fuel efficient ones ), then take supplements of rest needs. Then we increased supplements and reduced rice (hybrids - mild, strong etc etc ). Volt is the last step with 80% supplements and very less rice ( like normal days no rice , only supplements ). The good part is supplements are renewable and less polluting.
The question is today i need enough rice and supplements and GM don't have a meal for me. If GM cant offer me meal today, how I go to GM tomorrow because my current meal provider will have meal for me tomorrow also ( a volt alternative with a track which shows he made quality meal for me all long my needs ).
For today i think they need to push 2 mode malibus/impalas and cruzes aggressively and affordable to common people and release volt when it ready for the show ( yes they need funds for those and japan/UAE wont give funds to them )
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Lad 11:32PM (5/03/2009)
Agree! in a few words...it's the battery stupid! The BEV drive line is quite simple: a differential, direct drive electric motor and a control unit. The only expensive component is the battery because development of the device is not mature enough to offer needed reliability and a price point to meet the cost of a $20,000 family car.
When $3, 000 Li Ion batteries that will move the car 200-300 miles at highway speeds are built, the Volt will have a life in the American market
downtoearth 7:49AM (5/04/2009)
An interesting recent context about the Chinese Volt, the BYD F3DM. Puts a valuable perspective. What if Charles Lane is right?
We have to remember that what sells now are fuel efficient, modern, safe, reliable, good cars. EREVs, as significant as they are, are as for now vaporware. Media attention they get is absolutely out of proportion when compared with sales share they could generate (if they existed in the first place).
And then there is permanently unasked question of battery DURABILITY. These cars are no hybrids with massively oversized batteries, using maybe 15% of their original capacity to prolong lifespan. EREVs can't do that, they will have to go through nearly full charge - full depletion cycles every day what, as any laptop owner knows, simply kills most lithium ion chemistry batteries.
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"World's First DM Electric Car Faces Dilemmas"
The chances of the world's first compact battery operated sedan, which is not reliant on charging stations, seems still a long way off. The new-style vehicle, named F3DM and produced by Shenzhen-based BYD Auto, has sold only 80 units since its launch last December. [...] (the article is from 2009 April the 13th)
Auto Biz Review says twenty of these vehicles were purchased by the Shenzhen government, while those left are being used by China Construction Bank's Shenzhen branch. [...]
Group orders, however, did not come in a continuous stream after the eco-car's initial promotion.
Such group users were targeted in F3DM's preliminary sales plan, the president of BYD Auto Wang Chuanfu confessed, claiming they are insensitive to the vehicle's high label price of 149,800 yuan, or 21,917 U.S. dollars. [...]
In terms of the individual consumers' market, F3DM will definitely have a dim future if the price remains unchanged. [...]
Apart from the high price, BYD further confessed that the lack of charging stations for F3DM's, no favourable policies in the new field and also a stagnant auto market have all made F3DM difficult for further expansion. [...]
Moreover, battery charging will take nine hours if using a household power supply. This time-consuming problem could cause buyers to think again.
Battery quality is also a concern. According to sources, the Fe battery groups usually see high defective rates since it is difficult to ensure all the batteries are produced using the same procedure and the same materials.
Although BYD claimed that their F3DM's can travel 100 km purely on battery, doubts have also been raised, saying the announced coverage figure is based on the test at a constant low speed of 50km/h and such batteries can not support them in daily use.
Battery reclaim is another problem. According to BYD, their batteries used on F3DM's can be charged at least 2,000 times. However, no detailed and proper plan has so far been announced on the battery reclaim.
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/13/content_11178761.htm
why not the LS2LS7? 12:26PM (5/04/2009)
The F3DM was made in a short period of time and it's sold for far too little to cover its costs. Of course it's crap. It is taking GM 4 years to make the Volt specifically because they want to be more sure it will live up to their claims.
Jim Brown 8:54PM (5/03/2009)
They should have created a 100k sports car or luxury vehicle with it. Instead of spending billions and wasting time trying to mass produce for 40k.
Nobody is going to spend 40k on Chevy Malibu with an electric engine.
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LaughingTooHard 12:50PM (5/04/2009)
I will Jim Bo and I am sure GM will sell as many as they can build.
On the other hand if $40k is too rich for your blood, no worries, Kia sells lots of cars under $20k that will get you great gas mileage.
To each his own.
jharlan 8:58PM (5/03/2009)
Everyone is second guessing GM. All I have to say is the Volt better be good, and it better be soon or game over.
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Mike Z 8:59PM (5/03/2009)
I prefer RE-EVs to EVs at this point in time; and the preference of Tesla towards EVs seems more driven by a zellot belief in them rather than practicallity.
Batteries are expensive and heavy and ICE engines are cheap.
Most people drive short distances a vast majority of the time--So if it was an EV most of the time the average driver is hauling around 800 lbs of expensive dead weight.
RE-EVs solve this.
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Dave 9:20PM (5/03/2009)
I agree with WaPo / Charles Lane to some extent.
Certainly, its a waste to give the Volt a separate body from the Cruze (just make the Cruze more aerodynamic).
And the Volt has certainly been overhyped.
But it would take more than deleting one program to save GM.
And GM needs the good P.R.
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win39 9:30PM (5/03/2009)
Lane seems to have written an opinion that no one else in the media is brave enough express. You really have to wonder what GM has been doing. There is no reason a corporation with its resources could not have gotten an inexpensive functional electric car to market and changed the rest of their line up to hybrids by now, if they were focused on the market place and on the future. The Volt seems to an advertising project more than anything else. A $40K electric car to compete with a $25K Camry Hybrid is not what 80 percent of the market place wants. The Volt is the new Corvette, a symbol of technological expertise bought in small numbers to add luster to the rest of the line up. Instead they have continued to create demand with millions of dollars of advertising for their high margin truck based vehicles. Sort of, "Look over here at the electric car(hybrid actually). Don't look at the trucks and SUVs. Just buy them." They have used bait and switch for years to get customers to not buy their crappy little cars. Now they seem to be planning one in the other direction. Why pay 40 grand for this little electric sedan when you could have 2 1/2 tons of SUV masculinity for the same price? It is the easy thing that is putting them out of business. Too bad we need them for our economy and our national security.
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Jason Sander 9:51PM (5/03/2009)
I think you're missing the whole point of the Volt. The Volt is not to make money, at least in the short term. Perhaps down the road, the technology, when utilized in other vehicles, will make money for GM. The point is to displace our reliance on foreign oil. As long as we continue to throw money at OPEC, we leave ourselves vulnerable to terrorist attacks and wars on the other side of the world. The Volt is a stepping stone to a new world of motoring. While it is true that electric vehicles are not new technology, and also true is the fact that electric vehicle technology has been suppressed by oil companies and car companies for decades, better late than never, in my opinion. We have needed these cars for a long time, and I believe the Volt to be the first of many such vehicles.
People keep mentioning the $40K price tag for the car, while ignoring two points: One, the car will qualify for a $7500 tax credit for the first 100K units sold, effectively subsidizing much of the cost of the vehicle, and two; first generation products always command a higher price than subsequent generations, after the technology has been refined and the manufacturing process made more efficient. Costs WILL come down with further generations of the vehicle, especially if the Voltec engine is used in other vehicles, such as the Cadillac Coverj.
As for your statement about buying 2 1/2 tons of masculine SUV for the same price? That's the very sentiment that got us into this mess in the first place; buying gas-guzzling SUV's for no other reason than as a status symbol. I'm driving a big vehicle, therefore I'm somebody. That sentiment is now passe; why do you think HUMMER is now a giant anchor for GM, losing money every day it remains in operation?
Ulimately, the world only contains so much oil. We WILL run out someday. Electrical energy can be renuable, clean, and will never run out, so long as we're smart. It only makes sense to support ANY effort by a car company to push away the ICE engine as our only means of transport.
BTW, even if the Volt is nothing more than a PR stunt for GM to repair its image after the EV1 fiasco, I present the following: "So what?" If that's what it takes to get GM, at least, to pull their head out of the sand and look around, than so be it. Check out all the other manufacturers doing the same. BMW, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Tesla, Aptera, Ford, even Chrysler are all working on electric drivetrains with an eye to release to the public in a few years. We are at the turning point for motoring; just as CRT televisions gave way to plasma and LCD flat panels, so too will the internal combustion engine give way to alternatives, including electric, biofuels, and maybe, even hydrogen.
*Steps off soapbox*
why not the LS2LS7? 10:01PM (5/03/2009)
GM learned their lessons with the EV1. A $40K electric car would not be functional enough (primarily range and size) to attract many customers.
I know people would like cheap EVs to be viable. But most customers aren't interested in them. And all the hoping the world doesn't change that.
Mike!!ekiM 9:13PM (5/04/2009)
The EV1, if build today, with Li batteries would have a 300 mile range.
I could charge it twice a month.
But, the EV1 was never built as a real production car. Real production cars require a Real Assembly Line. So, we will never know how successful it could have been. The EV1 only provedGM didn't really try to Sell It.
PeakOyle 9:39PM (5/03/2009)
I get the feeling GM would have fallen over sooner without the Volt program.
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why not the LS2LS7? 9:59PM (5/03/2009)
The DOE is about to give out loans to pay for the development of more efficient cars. Ford (for example) has applied for $11B. And they aren't even going to make an EV or EREV, just up the mpg on their regular cars some. So $1B to develop an EREV doesn't seem so bad to me.
Is it a money pit? Maybe. But many thought the Prius was too.
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shopa 10:04PM (5/03/2009)
The Volt has a problem. When its battery runs down, it is relying on a 1.4 Liter engine which is the same size engine as the Honda Fit. The problem is that the volt is much heavier than the Fit.
Since F=ma, the heavier Volt will have less acceleration than the lighter Fit.
I have taken the Fit 0-60 time and calculated that the Volt will do 0-60 in 16 secs.
Buyers will be unpleasantly surprised.
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Jason 10:19PM (5/03/2009)
You're forgetting that the function of the gasoline engine in the Volt is not to directly drive the wheels, but to keep the battery in a certain state of charge. The battery is the source of power for the electric motor driving the wheels.
Captain Obvious 10:26PM (5/03/2009)
Shopa, you clearly know absolutely nothing about the Volt.
The 1.4L engine is more than powerful enough to provide an "average" output that exceeds the demand of the electric motor at highway speeds.
Based on information directly from GM --> when the battery reaches a "depleted" status, the engine will fire up and power the generator, which will sustain the battery until the car reaches its destination, and is plugged back in.
Further, there have now been numerous third-party reviews from journalists who have driven the volt, and expressed the opinion that the acceleration was quite satisfying.
LaughingMan 10:35PM (5/03/2009)
Jason...
Yes, but energy is energy, whether it is flowing into the battery from the engine, or flowing to the motor to drive the car forward.
GM has been very careful to show the Volt mules recently with only EV mode. The performance of the car in EV mode has never been an issue... But the real key is for GM to show what happens when the battery is past the threshold for the engine to be off... What kind of performance can they get and still maintain a reasonable battery level?
Captain Obvious 11:07PM (5/03/2009)
@LaughingMan--
To answer your question, I would say that you need to focus on the concept of "Average Power".
For most cars, it only takes 25-50hp to maintain highway speeds. Acceleration is a different matter, but -- how much of the time do you spend accelerating?
I'm guessing that the 1.4L engine driving the generator will be easily capable of 80hp, which will be more than enough to provide for highway cruising while leaving a little left over, for when you need to get around that semi.