The Chevy Volt

[Workdawg]

At the time of unveiling, the Volt project had been in existence for less than a year. The Volt was targeted to cost around US$30,000. As of April 2008, General Motors Vice Chairman of Global Product Development Robert Lutz was quoted as saying that the realistic unsubsidised price had risen to US$48,000[52][53], that he reckoned that US$40,000 might be possible, without making any profit, and that only government tax incentives could take the price tag nearer to US$30,000. When asked directly about the price later, Lutz indicated that this was a misquote - and said "The answer is that we don’t know."[54] As of August 2008, General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner was quoted saying that the price of the Volt would likely be in "the mid to high 30's", suggesting a price of more than US$5,000 more than originally targeted.

So possibly mid 30s AFTER tax incentives?

Adjusting the numbers to reflect a big increase in gas prices, also it looks like this:

Car MSRP:
Toyota Yaris = $12,000
Chevy Volt = $35,000

Cost to operate a Yaris for 1 year:
15,000miles / 30mpg = 500 gallons
500 gallons * $5 = $2500 a year

Number of years to make up cost diff:
$35,000 - $12,000 = 23,000
23,000 / 2,500 = 9.2 years


I agree that there are benefits to creatign no emmisions and reducing our dependency on oil, but according to this LINK, the country uses approximately 390 million gallons of gas a day. Wikipedia also indicates that the initial run of the Volt will be 10,000 cars and it will remain a low production car for 2011-2015.

So, for the first year, assuming EVERY Volt sells, we'd be saving:

500 gallons per year, per person / 365 days = 1.37 gallons per day, per person
1.37 (rounded) * 10,000 chevy volts = 13698.63 gallons per day saved.

13698.63 / 390m = 0.00003 = 0.0035% gas saved

If we extrapolate that chevy increases production, but still limits it, to say 20,000 a year for the next 5 years, and that every car sells, there are now 110,000 Volts on the road.

1.37 gals saved per day * 110,000 volts = 150684.93 gallons saved per day.

150684.93 / 390m = 0.0386% gas saved.

Still very insignificant.

390,000 1% of US consumption / 1.3698.63 gals saved per day = 284,700 volts

Based on those numbers, it'd take 284,700 cars using NO gas to reduce our gasoline consumption 1%.

The gas savings are a TINY drop in the bucket. I'm not saying it's not a good start, but it'll take A LOT more for this to make any kind of difference.

 

[dmention7]

Oh, it will take a lot more than one car for sure. And a lot more than just passenger vehicles too. But you know what they say about the journey of 1000 miles beginning with a single step.

 

[mazdamn02]

I'm surprised that this runs on lithium ion batteries. Does anyone know what the prius and other hybrids use? From what i know Lithium Ion batteries are terrible for applications like cars...

 

[YSOSLO]

Pete, I think you're exaggerating that many of us are spending $200 a week on gas for a single car. At $4 a gallon, that's 50 gallons of gas, which at even 20 miles a gallon is 1000 miles a week. That's HUGE amounts of driving. Maybe $200 a month is more like it.

Yeah James, I did mean to say $200 per month for gas. There were a lot of good points made since my last post above and sure, there are all sorts of ways to come up with cheaper options. Personally I wouldn't be caught dead in a Yaris...they just don't do anything for me. I'd rather ride a moped.... And yes, there are certainly more expensive options out there than the Volt too, and that's why I believe if Chevy can come in with a base price of around $35K and with options maxing out around $40K I think they'll have some decent sales of this thing. There are lots of different reasons why people buy one car or another. I'm sure all of you driving a MS3 didn't all buy it for the same reason and you sure didn't buy it to maximize your gas mileage. Like many of you mentioned already, this is a step in the right direction, especially for an American company. No new equipment needed by the consumer (like a natural gas pump installed in your garage for the NG vehicles that are being developed on the East coast) and a decent amount of interior volume (unlike the Honda Insight of old) and it looks like a "normal" car, unlike the Prius (although with so many on the roads now we're used to them at this point). Hopefully the reviews will be good enough on the Volt to get people other than the Chevy-only folks into the dealers' doors, so the other companies out there realize this is the type of thing that might truly revolutionize our use of fossil fuels.

*James in one of your posts above you were wondering about what happens when the battery goes dead, and the articles I've read on this car indicate that the batter provides ALL of the power for the vehicle and is good for about 40 miles. Once the battery is drained, a small gasoline engine kicks on to power the battery for an additional 300 mile range.*

 

[dmention7]

I think James meant, what happens when the battery loses the ability to hold a charge.

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

For whatever reason there is no charge in the batteries and the engine is not running. I know if you're within range of electric outlets you can plug it in, but what if you're not? The ability to jump start a gasoline engine is an important feature to me.

You may need a higher amp circuit to fuel the car, or at least multiple circuits if you are plugging in each side of the car to charge it, depending on the draw. Personally, I like the idea of having a CNG-type appliance in my garage to fuel my car, and would rather see energy move towards a personal energy independence model as well as a national one.

 

[dmention7]

i can't think of any reason why you wouldn't be able to jumpstart the engine. More than likely, however, the car would simply not allow you to deplete so severely that there wasn't enough juice left to start the engine.

Compared to actually driving the car, starting the small gasoline engine would require a miniscule amount of draw.

 

[Workdawg]

That makes sense Jay, the gas engine goes on a little bit early so you don't completely deplete the battery. However that doesn't stop people from leaving accessories on to drain it.

 

[dmention7]

True, but a car with that much electronic integration should be smart enough to start up the engine before the battery gets too low, or just cut off power to accessories. Either way, it's a relatively simple problem to solve.

 

[spek1098]

I'm surprised that this runs on lithium ion batteries. Does anyone know what the prius and other hybrids use? From what i know Lithium Ion batteries are terrible for applications like cars...

Most hybrids like the Prius and Escape uses nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries. I think the factor that make people think Lithium Ion (Li-ion) are bad for cars is their cost. They actually have a higher energy to weight ratio and last longer then Ni-MH batteries. Li-ion batteries are the only batteries good enough to handle electric only vehicles (think Tesla Roadster).