[SSedan64]

Wow, that is low Voltage #'s. I thought GE said they were buying 2500 of the Volts?

[Irelands child]

UPDATE.... UPDATE

Copy and Paste from today:

"In August, and for the second month in a row, the Chevy Cruze was the best selling compact car in America, with 21,807 cars sold.

The Chevy Volt? Not so much.

Only 302 of the plug-in hybrids were delivered to customers, up from 125 in July.

So, is the extended range electric car of the future already out of juice?

Not quite. At least not yet.

Sales of the four-seat hatchback were hampered by a July shutdown of the Hamtramck, Michigan assembly line where it is built. The closure needed in order to retool the plant to increase production for the 2012 model year.

As a result, supplies at dealerships -- where Volts reportedly sit on the lot for less than 10 days, about as quick as a car can be processed and turned around for a customer -- have been tighter than usual.

Of the 2,395 cars that were produced in August, a GM spokesman tells FoxNews.com that a third are in transit and another 700 or so earmarked for dealers for use as demos as new markets for the car are added across the country. So, even with production up to steam, the supply chain isn’t quite at full speed.

Nevertheless, GM has repeatedly said that it will sell 10,000 Volts by the end of 2011, and reconfirmed that goal for this report. The total stands at approximately 3,772.

With over 7,500 built since production began in late 2010, many of which are tied up as demos, and production currently running at 150 cars a day, GM is certainly on track to build more than 10,000 cars by Christmas break, but are the customers there to buy them?

We’ll have to wait until the end of September for a clearer picture, or maybe October. Perhaps November. In any case, the clock is ticking".

Not a good sign for Government Motor Company (underlining above is mine)

Dave W

[deckofficer]

I'm about 50 miles east of Sacramento, and if I was a working stiff, needing to commute, I'd sure consider what a neighbor is using, the Volt. His commute is about 52 miles one way, 104 miles round trip. He is a bit of a lead foot, so he consumes 0.06 gallons for this 104 miles. That is 6/100th of a gallon.

Bob



Almost 1300 miles on 6 gallons

[BarryK]

I guess, I'm just old school but I have always been under the assumption the more gas a car burns the better the car.

A while back, I was at a light in the Sequoia next to one of those stupid cars and I think that car was about as big as my fender, told my wife if I hit that thing doing 50, it would be years before they found that stupid car.

I have never seen one of the Obama cruise cars in person but just knowing he was behind it, tells me all I need to know about the car.

[52fatness]

Originally Posted by BarryK

I guess, I'm just old school but I have always been under the assumption the more gas a car burns the better the car.

A while back, I was at a light in the Sequoia next to one of those stupid cars and I think that car was about as big as my fender, told my wife if I hit that thing doing 50, it would be years before they found that stupid car.

I have never seen one of the Obama cruise cars in person but just knowing he was behind it, tells me all I need to know about the car.

You ain't kiddin'

[mopar210]

i work at a gm store in a small town . we have 1 demo volt and the 1st one we had for retail was sold the day it came in . i have driven the volt for about 100 miles , it really is a cool car ! it has 3 drive modes , one of them being a sport mode , it really was much quicker than i expected . also the comfort level and ride quality far exceeds what i expected also . i understand there is a $7500 tax credit also for the purchase of the volt . i also was suprised by the seemless transition to "gas engine assist" . i feel that for 1st gen. vehicle , this thing is pretty nice .

[LATECH]

Originally Posted by 302 Z28

Nothing and mean nothing is a stupid looking, as boring and asinine as a Smart car, especially one with a $10K paint job.

Vince

I couldnt agree more Vin, they are the Dumbest looking piece of crap I ever saw.
Could you imagine getting T Boned in that thing? You would die for sure.
I saw a guy pulling out on the freeway in one and immediatley thought to myself: that is either the dumbest guy ever or he is looking to die.
We had a couple at the Auction and they were so underpowered you couldnt believe it.
My wifes 96 CAMRY with 197,000 miles still gets the same mileage as that POS.
And yes,the paintjob adds to the unique quality of ignorance on the owners behalf. Smartcars are DUMB
What the heck happened to the TESLA? that was a cool car

[deckofficer]

Mopar210,

I haven't asked my neighbor for a ride in his Volt, but if he offered, I'd be there. My Electric Smart Car I keep at my vacation home, but I like it and do most of my driving when I'm there in it. The person that asked about the Tesla, that is a great little car that I have driven. The handwriting is on the wall, personal transportation in the future will be electric. They still produce the Tesla in small numbers, but have bought the Toyota Fremont Plant for the large scale production of the Tesla S, a five passenger sedan that can be ordered with a 300+ mile range battery for less than I just paid for my V. For the last 10 years I've been following EV and battery advancements, and as you all know, our smart phones and ipads do pretty well with current li-Po battery technology, but HUGE advances are just around the corner for batteries. Stay tuned.

Bob

[BarryK]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Mopar210,

The handwriting is on the wall, personal transportation in the future will be electric. They still produce the Tesla in small numbers, but have bought the Toyota Fremont Plant for the large scale production of the Tesla S, a five passenger sedan that can be ordered with a 300+ mile range battery for less than I just paid for my V. For the last 10 years I've been following EV and battery advancements, and as you all know, our smart phones and ipads do pretty well with current li-Po battery technology, but HUGE advances are just around the corner for batteries. Stay tuned.

Bob

If only I had known this yesterday!!
I ordered a new F250 diesel 4 wheel drive.
Day late and a dollar short again!

Guess I will just have to live with myself.

[Siggy_Freud]

Originally Posted by BarryK

I have never seen one of the Obama cruise cars in person but just knowing he was behind it, tells me all I need to know about the car.

My oh my . . . I guess this is why I usually try and stay out of politically charged posts on a car forum.

"I really love BMWs, but I saw some republican driving it the other day so it MUST be a POS."

[DanielC]

Go into your kitchen, and get a coffee cup. A small one, that actually only holds a cup, liquid measure.
That much gasoline will still push my Ford Aerostar over mile, on level ground, at freeway speeds.
Show me the battery that is the same size as that cup, and move my Aerostar as far, at that speed.

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by DanielC

Go into your kitchen, and get a coffee cup. A small one, that actually only holds a cup, liquid measure.
That much gasoline will still push my Ford Aerostar over mile, on level ground, at freeway speeds.
Show me the battery that is the same size as that cup, and move my Aerostar as far, at that speed.

That is the way it was, not any longer, and huge improvements in battery technology are forth coming. Right now the top battery option in the new Tesla Model S has 300+ mile range and can be cycled 3000 times before a loss of 20% of original capacity. Not too shabby, a 900,000 mile battery. As much as the motoring public is going to enjoy the Model S, I would guess some would be trading in long before 900,000 miles on the clock.

[Northstar T]

Maybe I'm living in ignorance, but isn't the majority of electricity in the US produced by coal and nuke? not exactly environmentally friendly. out of sight, out of mind I guess. and how long do those batteries last? I guess we can just dump the old ones in a hole alongside the nuclear waste.

Sorry, I'm yet to be convinced that electric cars are the way to tranquility.

BTW: consumer reports recently got an astounding 25 miles to a charge on the Volt. they felt it was due to the cold weather and the fact that the heater is electric powered also, which sucked up the juice during the cold test drive.

perhaps they need a gas powered heater!!

Russ

[deckofficer]

Russ,

I'm not capable of convincing you on anything. You do live in the part of the country where the majority of electricity is produced by renewable solar (hydro is solar energy) power so you shouldn't have any guilt feelings going electric. With a currently produced battery lasting 900,000 miles, don't you think that is long enough? Both you and Gerry have this thing about proper disposal of the spent batteries. I doubt that will be the responsibility of the end user, more like a dealer requirement. You and Gerry seem to think the rest of us can't recycle, like in cans, plastic, paper, batteries? Don't know about you, but most of us do recycle.

[cobalt327]

If you were to take a "slice" off of the current batteries in use that was equal in capacity to what it takes to go 1 mile at 60 mph, I bet you'd be surprised at how small that slice would actually be. But the real difference is once the gasoline is gone- it's GONE. But the battery can be recharged many times.

OT- I have no problem at all w/electric motor-powered vehicles. I raced slotcars competitively in the USRA and you'd crap yourself at the amount of power/RPM that can be had from a motor weighing a scant 22g. More than enough to run a scale standing start quarter mile (~55') in ~0.4 seconds @ over 110 real MPH.

On a power to weight basis, a Gp. 7 motor is about like a SBC making over 5000 HP give or take. The slotcar below (this is how it came off the track after the last race it was in- it's dirty) is in road race configuration so in the quarter it would be considerably slower due to the extreme air control used to keep it on the track. Even so, it will cover a 155' "King" track having many turns in well under 1.5 seconds, or well in excess of 70 MPH average. HERE is a short video of a Gp 7 race on a King track.