Who's pre ordering the $41,000 Chevy Volt?

[Jag42]

What a Joke ! Car is maybe worth 18k.

[Z1NONLY]

I would never buy a hybrid as my only car. But if I just needed a driving appliance that was good on gas, the Volt would be on my short list.

If you commute less than ~40 miles/day, you wouldn't even have to buy gas.

However Nissan's full electric "Leaf" will have a range of almost 100 miles and cost less so the Volt my have competition problems in the hyper-efficiency market.

[voyager7]

Not me. They can keep that piece of electric crap.
40 miles on a charge, I would run out way before I got to work.
I would not buy it even as an around town car.

[GreenRadar]

no thank you, I will stick with my motorcycle

[Obsidian]

Forgetting that it's just an econo box with a nifty electric hybrid thingamabob, it's the arrogance of the pricing that gets me. They are so clearly going to use the "up to $7500 government tax credit" as a selling point ... and they totally factored that in to the price of the car. That's lame.

There are many nice cars you can get for $41K that are a lot better than this thing, no matter what you want in a car ... luxury, sports, hybrid, whatever. Good luck to Chevy but it won't sell much past the curiosity stage at the price point I suspect.

[srtga]

I too would like to see a diesel option but that will never happen, the US public is too against diesels.

Yea, blame GM for that one too. Remember the converted 350 diesels that they put in the G-bodies in the late 70's/early 80's? Fail... I think the pickups are doing a lot to remedy that though.

I hope the Volt turns out to be a good car...

[WLH]

I have read a number of arguments for and against the all electric car but this one IMO pretty well put it all together from someone I know and respect.

You still need the same amount of energy to move a certain size/weight car at a certain speed, regardless of its power source. A traditional car converts fossil fuel into useful kinetic energy on board. An electric car still needs the same amount of energy, which is now generated at some remote power plant, most likely by burning fossil fuel. Studies have shown the net well to wheel' efficiency for a traditional internal combustion car to be about 19% after drilling, pumping, refining, transporting, and ultimately burning, only 19% of the potential energy in a gallon of crude oil makes it the wheels). All electric cars up that by 1 whole point to 20% and that does not figure in the extra energy needed to manufacture and eventually dispose of the batteries. Hybrids, on the other hand, push the number closer to 34%. This number has the potential to go even higher by using internal combustion engines designed and tuned specifically to operate an on board generator at a steady load and speed. This same approach has been used for generations to power diesel-electric train locomotives. All electric cars like the Volt simply make no real sense to me.

Also there is the cost of replacing the batteries and it is not a few hundred dollars but a few thousand.

[dmoney1988]

I have read a number of arguments for and against the all electric car but this one IMO pretty well put it all together from someone I know and respect.

You still need the same amount of energy to move a certain size/weight car at a certain speed, regardless of its power source. A traditional car converts fossil fuel into useful kinetic energy on board. An electric car still needs the same amount of energy, which is now generated at some remote power plant, most likely by burning fossil fuel. Studies have shown the net well to wheel' efficiency for a traditional internal combustion car to be about 19% after drilling, pumping, refining, transporting, and ultimately burning, only 19% of the potential energy in a gallon of crude oil makes it the wheels). All electric cars up that by 1 whole point to 20% and that does not figure in the extra energy needed to manufacture and eventually dispose of the batteries. Hybrids, on the other hand, push the number closer to 34%. This number has the potential to go even higher by using internal combustion engines designed and tuned specifically to operate an on board generator at a steady load and speed. This same approach has been used for generations to power diesel-electric train locomotives. All electric cars like the Volt simply make no real sense to me.

Also there is the cost of replacing the batteries and it is not a few hundred dollars but a few thousand.

I dont know were they got that info from. the volt is not an all electric car like the leaf and the volt has a onboard generator powered by a gas engine. But like the other people said on this thread it does not fit everyone needs especally the price. I like the idea of the volt but i do not like the price. the volt needs to be able to do 100 miles before having the onboard generator kick in to supply power to the electric moter. the price needs to come down to more like 25000 before I consider it.

BTW: An unlimited warranty on the battery would not be a bad idea if the battery is 100% recycleable.

[Obsidian]

Chevy seems to be touting the $350 per month 36 month lease option which is even funnier than the $41K price. $350 is a low lease payment on a car at that price point, so they are anticipating a very high residual value on the order of Honda/Acura, BMW, brands like that. In three years there are going to be a lot of cars Chevy will not be able to sell for anywhere close to the residual, so they will lose money.

[JDS]

$41K is just the starting price too ... are there going to be $50K Volts with options? Anyone in a $50K Chevy that's not called a Corvette got hosed bad.

It's a horrifying idea.

Just think, for about $50K you could get...

BMW 335is


Chevrolet Corvette Coupe


Lotus Elise


Mercedes-Benz E350 sedan


Porsche Cayman