Lutz: 60-100k Volts in First Year of Production

[odoprelude]

The Volt is supposed to do 0-60 in 8.0-8.5.. not too shabby for the image. Have you seen that Tesla they are supposed to be releasing in 2008-2009? 0-60 in less than 4.0.. (100k, warranted) This may be the future... I am really thinking about one of these when they make it to market.. for commutes less than 40 miles a day, this vehicle is supposed to save you 500 gallons of gas a year!

[Michael_S]

Brand new vehicle with a brand new type of batteries?
Even with the cost savings of using Epsilon 1, I will be astonished if it costs $25,000 or less.

Astonish me GM, please. Because if I'm that astonished, I'll be able to buy one.

[bigtime]

25k or less? Are you insane? This thing will have a nice premium built into it. Look at what GM builds now for 25k, do you think they can add all this tech AND keep the price? I bet the car will be 25,995. LESS BATTERY. The battery "lease" will add another $5995, BUT you will not own it and can trade it in for a new one. Isn't that nice of GM? Its amazing how we keep getting screwed and NOBODY says a word. Gas above 3 bucks? Insane. Everyone has just accepted it - hook, line and sinker. Oh but bigtime its the war on terror, 911, blah, blah, blah. I am not blaming one man, I am blaming the big corps who managed to screw us yet again and the American people who are too busy blaming Bush for everything from there itchy crotch to killing JFK Jr. Yes, thats an actual liberal conspiracy theory. The election is coming up and NOBODY is talking energy! What is the big issue? Healthcare? Why not. Considering all of our cash is going to fill up our hummers the people need another entitlement. A freebie. Good for us, one less bill I need to pay each month! Whose going to pay for it? Ah, who cares. Thats why we're importing millions of illegals. Got to up the tax revenue. We need an energy policy now, we need cheap gas now. Why is everyone so accepting of 3 buck gas?! We have 12 aircraft carriers doing nothing. Start bombing something else! Iraq was supposedly about oil, but I haven't seen any of that great Iraqi oil yet! Bomb something. Use the trillions we have invested and get us cheap oil please. Tired, tired, tired of this crap. Screw the caraboo and start drilling. Build some more refineries and some nuke plants. Screw the environmentalists. Stop sending all our jobs over to China! Guess what stupid? Your not helping our gas prices any! Every one of those red chinese who now has two nickels to rub together now has buying power. Buying power equals more energy usage equals competition for us. Leave them in the rice fields with their ox where they belong. No oil for you. You go now. The average middle class American is dying. If its not big corporations screwing us its our own government and our own people. You have been dooped. Congratulations. The chevy volt, continuing the tradition! Ridiculous. Now all of a sudden these magical hybrids are here. Why? GM can't build cheap cars, no money in that. Got to up the price and up the tech. But its good right? Gas prices are high, there helping us bigtime! Don't be so stupid. This whole thing is part of a master plan. Products should be getting cheaper to produce, but yet technology time and time again complicates are lives and ADDS cost. The worst part? They have convinced you, the consumer, you need it! How? Higher gas prices!!! The only winners here are exxon, GM, LG, etc. Not Average Joe American. Sorry folks. Think about it.


Thanks for letting me rant.

[plane]

Prediction: The Volt will not be produced by GM before 2035 if ever.

[unkillsam]

Originally Posted by plane

Prediction: The Volt will not be produced by GM before 2035 if ever.

Another prediction: The Volt will be a pos just like all chevy's are and will fall apart before the first oil change.

Go buy a Prius.

[Michael_S]

Originally Posted by plane

Prediction: The Volt will not be produced by GM before 2035 if ever.

I think you're wrong.

But I do think Lutz should keep his mouth shut until the car is on its way to dealerships. That way if it's delayed a year, or doesn't perform as well as he's said, or gets only 30 miles before the combustion engine kicks in, or costs too much to sell as a Chevrolet and must be a Buick or Cadillac, Lutz won't have egg on his face.

[unkillsam]

Originally Posted by Michael_S

I think you're wrong.

But I do think Lutz should keep his mouth shut until the car is on its way to dealerships. That way if it's delayed a year, or doesn't perform as well as he's said, or gets only 30 miles before the combustion engine kicks in, or costs too much to sell as a Chevrolet and must be a Buick or Cadillac, Lutz won't have egg on his face.

He was being sarcastic, and so was I.

The Volt WILL be the final piece of the puzzle in turning GM aroung. I expect GM stock to be above $50 a share and rising in two years.

[kstills]

I have a hard time believing that GM expects to sell only 60k of these in the first year.

That may be an admission of the amount of batteries they think they can safely produce, but if this car sits on the lot long enough for someone to take off the protective wrappers, I'll be very surprised.

This car will be huge.

[CJ Thunder]

I am buying this car, and I have to lease the batteries then I will not. I want to own everything. If I have to purchase batteries in 10 years that’s fine, batteries will be better.

That is ridicules. Paying for cable and renting the cable box...MOTHER ****ER that’s a pain!

Hopefully that is not the plan because I know that will deter people that don't lease a car every two years.

[JeffInDFW]

With the price of electricity these days, I'm not so sure I am going to save much by using it to power my car also?! Personally, I hope they use a clean diesel to power the Volt after the 40 miles. The diesel just seems to fit this perfectly since it is a low rpm motor.

Knowing how people are......I predict that most people that buy the Volt will only use the plug in option for a short time before they start blowing it off. Come on.....You get home from a long day at work, your getting your 2 kids out of the car and the groceries you picked up....Are you really going to take the time to drag an extention cord over to your car, and plug it in? Getting your hands dirty? How many times will people drive off in the morning with the extention cord still pluged in? Remember, people are lazy and typically not so bright....

You know what I would like to see? In Formula One pit stops they have strips of metal screwed into the ground that the cars park on top of that are raised up. They contact the race car, and work as grounding strips. How about something in reverse? Park on them, and they use conductive technology to recharge the car without having to plug anything in.

[Michael_S]

Originally Posted by JeffInDFW

With the price of electricity these days, I'm not so sure I am going to save much by using it to power my car also?! Personally, I hope they use a clean diesel to power the Volt after the 40 miles. The diesel just seems to fit this perfectly since it is a low rpm motor.

The Tesla Roadster charging cost, assuming you charge it at night, works out to about one cent per mile driven. (See their page here: http://www.teslamotors.com/efficienc..._batteries.php). The Tesla Roadster is an electronic sports car due to go on sale later next year.

The Volt will be larger than the Tesla, but not much larger. Even if the battery charging efficiency is half as good as the Tesla and the price of electricity doubles, $3.00 of electricity would take your Volt 75 miles with no gas involved.

[bigtime]

I don't think anyone has thought of the impact on the power grid that plug-ins would have. California has STILL not solved its electricity problem. Remember the blackout? The only positive effect this could possibly have is shifting energy used from oil - gas, diesel, etc., to electricity. BUT without adding capacity your going to pay through the nose. Energy, particularly electricity, should be cheap as hell. Its not. Its no coincidence "big oil" has gotten into other energy sectors. Chevron for example is especially in to electricity. Convenient huh?

So pick your poison America! What will it be? Gas, diesel, electricity? All will be expensive so it really doesn't matter. Welcome to the new world order.

[Will123w]

Originally Posted by mgescuro

I dont believe those numbers. That's very high for this car in its first year.
Aren't prices for these gonna be pretty high as well?? Like $28-30,000 each?

We'll see.

Now... how many people here on GMI are gonna bitch and moan about the batteries being Korean??

Yeah but what are the tax incentives going to be like at the end of the year? Wasn't the prius getting close to $3,000 when it came out? If it can hit that magic 150mpg number I could see a $5,000 tax credit.