What is Digg?252 Comments
- DDDavinnn, on 09/16/2008, -8/+67couldn't care less
- yyymilitia, on 09/15/2008, -10/+53I could care less, as long as I never really have to fill up with gas, it's perfect
- Pissoff, on 09/16/2008, -7/+39Again, people don't give 2 ***** how green it is, they care how much it costs to operate it.
A lot of cars cost less than $20,000, and averages 30-45mpg, $20,000 ends up saving you about $800 a year.
You would have to drive that car for 25 years, ridiculous. - damonic, on 09/16/2008, -6/+33That is one of my biggest pet peeves. Thank you.
- chris4404, on 09/16/2008, -2/+21"The Volt will be able to run 40 miles on lithium-ion batteries and get a range of 400 miles from an internal combustion engine that charges the battery. The four-door sedan with a hatchback is set for release at the end of 2010."
My commute's less then 40 miles but I'd like to see more. - inactive, on 09/16/2008, -2/+21Yeah, it's recognized – but think about it "I could care less" which means you do care, which is not what it typically intends.
- mrASSMAN, on 09/16/2008, -1/+19It's still more than 100mpg when you go over 40miles.
- michaelpinto, on 09/16/2008, -3/+21This is a first real step, it's only fair give GM some time to catch up with Toyota. Besides this is all a first generation of technology, so my bet is that you'll see things improving a great a great deal over the next few years,
- franklymister, on 09/16/2008, -5/+22What the hell is that ugly thing that they've put the Volt badge on?
It looks like a Toyota Tercel for the 21st century.
PROTIP: If you're going to charge $40,000 for an economy car, at least make it look amazing, like the concept Volt did.
How does
http://www.motordaily.net/voltfront2.jpg
equal
http://images.thecarconnection.com/med/chevrolet_1 ...
????? - DrDragun, on 09/16/2008, -1/+16You can be a grudge-holder if you want. Personally, when the dog stops peeing in the house I stop yelling at him and start giving him biscuits.
- GhandicapXRS, on 09/16/2008, -11/+25So it's an electric car... Big deal. I converted my '85 Fiero to run on the power of Greyskull.
Bonus: none of my friends have died. - mrASSMAN, on 09/16/2008, -1/+14Well my (manual) 1991 Honda Civic DX gets about 45mpg and it's worth around $3000 :)
- enderklein, on 09/16/2008, -0/+12electricity generated by coal-fired power plants generates less carbon per kW than individual gas-powered cars do for the same energy. Still not perfect, but better than doing nothing.
- Groovester, on 09/16/2008, -3/+14I have to say: it's about time. After years of doing the same in motorcity, it looks like this might be the shake up they need at GM.
- mrASSMAN, on 09/16/2008, -5/+16If you're saving $800 a year, 25 years would pay it off completely.. if the car is $5000 more than your old one, the difference would be paid in 6 years. Anyway the Volt has much higher efficiency than that, though I think it'll initially be selling for closer to $30,000.
- Topher06, on 09/16/2008, -2/+13I don't mind that GM is finally looking at Hybrid and alternative fuels, but their recent ad campaign make it sound like this was the plan all along and they are already doing it better then the competition. A knee jerk reaction from a company that is nearing bankruptcy after a decade of promoting vehicles like the Hummer that nobody wanted.
GM shouldn't have to "catch up", GM should have been doing this 10 years ago, but when gas was cheap(er) and the economy booming, nobody cared about Hybrid vehicles and so GM didn't care. - adam99, on 09/16/2008, -1/+12When you consider that the concept had the drag coefficient of a large pickup (0.48), you would waste a lot of your already-precious battery charge overcoming that drag.
So they spent considerable effort streamlining the car - and since aerodynamics doesn't exactly bend to the whims of style, efficient body shapes will tend to look the same.
Seriously, if Chevy could've brought the Volt to market like the concept, they would have. - CandidateZero, on 09/16/2008, -2/+12Please. GM already introduced a FULLY electric car 12 friggin' years ago. Then GM abruptly discontinued it despite a campaign by the public to save it. The reasons are obvious, and now they're paying more lip service to the idea.
For those interested...
WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR (trailer): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsJAlrYjGz8
WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR (torrent): http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/14805297 - inactive, on 09/16/2008, -2/+12Ginormous made it into the dictionary, but you still sound like a dumb ass if you say it.
- bpoteat, on 09/16/2008, -1/+11Then you don't follow the auto industry very closely. Evey single manufacturer releases cars that look almost nothing like the awesome concept cars they are supposed to be a consumer version of.
- zacharytelschow, on 09/16/2008, -1/+11Pissoff hits it right on the head. I bought an '08 Focus for $12,300 and have averaged 33.2 mpg through the first 7500 miles. I'd have to drive a hell of a long way in a Volt to make up the estimated $27,700 difference in their purchase prices.
- Spuy767, on 09/16/2008, -3/+13Because a Hybrid design like the prius/insight is essentially the wrong idea. Those cars generally use fossil fuels constantly, whereas the volt, for many people, would use no fossil fuels at all. Not to mention that an electro motive design is extremely efficient, it simply needs some tweaking.
- mrASSMAN, on 09/16/2008, -5/+15Not nearly as sexy as it was during conception, but pretty sleek nonetheless.
(concept: http://www.chevy-volt.net/ ) - zacharytelschow, on 09/16/2008, -1/+10"...their recent ad campaign make it sound like this was the plan all along and they are already doing it better then the competition."
GM spent more time developing their hybrid technology because they did it the right way. Their hybrid technology was designed to be built into any size vehicle (including full size trucks and SUVs); Toyota can only produce small hybrids like the Prius and Corolla. - DrDragun, on 09/16/2008, -0/+9That depends entirely on the batteries. If improvements are made to battery techonology in the meantime then the 40 mile figure can be improved with very little R&D to the car platform itself. The electric powertrain should be usable with any improved batteries that they develop.
- txtumbler, on 09/16/2008, -0/+9Yes, but if you shift the pollution to a few powerplants instead of millions of individual cars, it is much easier to capture and scrub the emissions. The other alternative is for everyone to get a few PV solarpanels on their home and produce the extra electricity for free.
- fangorious, on 09/16/2008, -0/+8The Sorceress. Duh.
- Pissoff, on 09/16/2008, -0/+8Everything I've read says it's going to be in the 35k - 41k range depending on dealer and possible markups.
I just don't see it being worth it for the average Joe until 2015 or so. I hope I'm wrong. - BooostedAWD, on 09/16/2008, -0/+8Anybody see a rise in electricity prices in the future?
- stealthc, on 09/16/2008, -0/+8We can't all have what we want at once. New technologies are going to be priced for the early adopters first. Eventually you'll be able to get your hands on a used Volt for a fraction of that price and still get the awesome fuel economy. I'm just happy they're finally building it.
- kolyana, on 09/16/2008, -2/+10Right, because those tires are TOTALLY green
And the frame is made from bamboo
And the oil on the chain is made from kitten tears - EComni, on 09/16/2008, -4/+12The redesign isn't *too* bad. Certainly looks better the Prius and the newly redesigned Honda Insight (aka a Prius with the front-end of a Civic).
But $40,000?? - fuzZzy, on 09/16/2008, -0/+7Statements like this really ticket me off:
"A drop in the price of petroleum, which has fallen dramatically since earlier this year, could also put the brakes on the investment in engineering to make plug-in hybrid vehicles less expensive."
When are people going to learn it's not about the price of gas, it's much much bigger than that. - damnyooneek, on 09/16/2008, -0/+7a 10 mile commute on a bike in the snow is impossible for me
- Pissoff, on 09/16/2008, -0/+7Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Honda Fit, Hyundai Elantra, Hyundai Accent, Ford Focus, Nissan Versa, Nissan Sentra, Saturn SC2, Kia Rio, Toyota Matrix, etc, etc.
Also, who said anything about new? All of the above cars can get 35mpg, and all cost 9 - 18k used.
Maybe I should of said "a ***** ton" instead of "a lot". - ronintetsuro, on 09/16/2008, -1/+8Article clearly states a $40,000 pricemark.
- sandiegodude, on 09/16/2008, -0/+6The new design seems a lot more practical for a family rather than the old "roadster" design to be perfectly honest, and I'm sure safety considerations were also taken into account which changed the overall structure of the car (you don't normally see chopped tops in production vehicles for a reason) $40,000 is pretty damn steep for a new hybrid, but people are willing to pay it to go green, especially commuters who's daily commute is under 40 miles.
- stealthc, on 09/16/2008, -0/+6Where do you get the conversion kit for that?
- paulieslim, on 09/16/2008, -0/+6green? I thought it only come in silver...
- FrankTheTank17, on 09/16/2008, -1/+7You seriously think this car looks better than the concept? The final version looks just like all the other cars on the road today, at least the concept version looked mean.
- Namco, on 09/16/2008, -2/+8Do any of those have an all-electric mode? Nope.
- odinjurkowski, on 09/16/2008, -1/+7$40,000???
I spent less than $13,000 for my Toyota Yaris and get 40 mpg combined.
Frankly I can't afford these "luxury" electric/hybrid vehicles. I might pay an extra $1,000 for them, but this is way too big of a price difference. I'd never recoup the cost. It just doesn't pay. - bigbill780, on 09/16/2008, -0/+6The moustache on that man makes the car looks atleast 50% better.
- 91z4me, on 09/16/2008, -1/+7Yeah, but your are still driving a Yaris.
- MxM111, on 09/16/2008, -2/+8But 40K for the car? Ouch!
- vbullinger, on 09/16/2008, -1/+6Let's say you have a 10 gallon tank in your normal car of similar size. You fill up once a week. $3.75/gallon. $37.50/week. 52 weeks/year * $37.50/week = $1,950/year. If you have it for 10 years, the price comes out to around $20k. And that's while taking so much filth out of the air and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Sounds worth it to me.
- wilf_brim, on 09/16/2008, -3/+8The more I read about the Volt, the less excited I am, and the more I worry about GM.
First: I agree completely that $40,00 for that is too much for what you get. Today one can buy plenty of vehicles that come close to the efficiency of the Volt for far, far less. Even if one spends $30,000 (very generous for an econobox like the Volt appears to be) that $10,000 will go a very long way to making up for the gas.
Second: GM will completely mess up the production of the vehicle. The best GM cars are questionable their first year. This will be a complete lemon, and at least 3 class action lawyers are going to get rich on suing GM. Completely new technology (to GM), and they can't even get a conventional vehicle out the door half the time.
Third: The car is still 2 years off from being sold. In that time Toyota (certainly), Honda (probably), Nissan (maybe), and one or two other manufacturers will have new hybrid models that are almost as efficient but will cost less (25-30k). GM will be late to the party with an unreliable, overpriced vehicle that won't sell.
The only good thing is that they won't be able to say that because of the failure of the Volt American's don't want efficient vehicles. Not that they won't want to, but because they will have done out of business shortly thereafter. - Topher06, on 09/16/2008, -6/+11Butt ugly as are most GM's on the market today. GM doesn't know sexy, period.
- lazyslacker, on 09/16/2008, -5/+10There are not "a lot" of cars that cost less than $20,000 and average 30-45 mpg. There are virtually no cars in that category. Sure. maybe if this was 1985 you would be able to make that claim. The only cars that I can think of that even come close are the Honda Fit, the Nissan Versa, and the Smart ForTwo. All of those only get about 35 mpg, nowhere near 45. Some hybrids like the Civic Hybrid get more mpg, but they cost about $25,000.
Maybe you should try to make sure the point you want to make it actually valid and not a gross exaggeration before you spout off a bunch of nonsense and hope that everyone just believes you. Have fun driving your imaginary 2008 Honda CRX around. - acknotSW, on 09/16/2008, -0/+5We need the model T phenomenon to repeat itself.
The first company that comes out with a $15k - $20k all electric or plugin hybrid that can sit 4 and get at least 100 miles on the battery is going to make a fortune as long as enough of them are produced. -
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