The Chevy Volt to be Priced $41,000 (or $33,500)

[dextermat]

all bullscrap:

GET THE ELECTRIC CAR OUT ALREADY!!!!

just like a hybrid that cost an arm and a leg for no fuel economy whatsoever.
Stop ripping us up...

 

[rhelme]

I love how everyone jumps all over the Chevy, but seems to praise the Prius and other "hybrids".

The fact is what Chevy is doing with there gas motor to recharge the batteries is running it at a specific RPM where it gets the most energy efficient output. Its not like when it goes to running on the gas motor that you will hear the gas motor change RPM... NOPE.... It will run and charge the batteries... Thats why They have DIESEL-ELECTRIC trains.... because to run pure DIESEL would require more of them to pull the same load (torque distro) and the fact that its more efficient to run the DIESEL Engine at a known tuned RPM.

Same with this car... you go over 40.... its not like the drive train switches to gas... thats not how it works... The batteries still drive the car 100% and the highly tuned and much cleaner and efficient gas engine charges the batteries...

Everyone is saying FAIL, yet I am watching Lexus and other car companies RUSH to do this SAME tech... but I'm sure you non American car haters will call those successes, even with their huge price premium...

 

[Roten67]

Ok Whilst Electric cars seem to be the future, how much will my electric bill be, no one seems to discuss this, I have to put gas in the the VOLT and use my electrcity to charge it, seems like a double wammy to me. also if everyone plugged in their electric cars at around the same time how can the Local grid handle the extra load

 

[rsud]

[citation][nom]pkellmey[/nom]What person in their right mind would buy the car for that price? That is simply insanity. It's similar to the pricey overhead that Ford places on their hybrids. Between the price difference of a hybrid and the normal model, you can pay the fuel difference easily and still come out with more money in your pocket.[/citation]

You need to get out more or get a real job. You can't buy a new BMW for less than $32K. There are a lot of BMWs on the road. Not lets add in pricey SUV's, the $35K tier of sports sedans (A4, TL, etc). There is no shortage of $33k+ cars on the road already.

 

[jitpublisher]

[citation][nom]smlong426[/nom]It has a 16-kWh lithium-ion battery. The cost to charge would depend on electric rates in your area. In my area, 1 kWh is $0.08. So, I'm assuming that fully charging the car would cost about $1.30.That's not bad for 40 miles of driving. That's roughly the equivalent of 2 gallons of gas for conventional cars while driving within the city limits. The big difference is that the Volt would have zero emissions and save roughly $4. My daily commute is roughly 40 miles round-trip, so I can see the value in this.I really don't understand the "breaking even" analogy as someone else posted. Comparing cars of different classes makes the break-even point have nothing to do with fuel costs.[/citation]

Really? You don't understand how many years you would have to drive this thing to end up paying the same as you would for another fuel efficient vehicle that costs half as much? The only thing these cars are practical for is people who have a lot of money to spend, and are more worried about making a "green statment" than actually saving any money. There is no cost savings in owning one of these presently. I drive less than 40 miles a day round trip to work and back, and I can find absolutely no value at all in considering buying one of these. None at all.

 

[Regulas]

Government motors and the commie loving worker unit Unions can kiss my ass. I will not be buying anything the UAW touched.

 

[jgiron]

so instead of paying a lot for gas you pay more for electricity?
but u still need gas to power the generator.
I prefer using the Fred Flintstone car instead.

 

[jasonw223]

I find it hilarious that people are comparing this car to a BMW, Mercedes, Camaro, and F-150 Raptor...lol.

Anyway, I live in Canada and drive about 60 miles a day on average (and could charge my car at work if I wanted). Here our gas is expensive and power is cheap - I literally would save around $250 a month on gas alone compared to my fairly fuel-efficient Mazda. That's $15000 saved in the 5 years I take to normally pay off a car (and more if gas goes up, which it will). That plus a tax credit is equivalent to a purchase price of roughly $18500. And this car will be a heck of a lot cooler than a Cobalt. And sell for a lot more after I'm done with it. I'm curious how many people commenting on here live with their parents and have never actually purchased a new car...

This car is a huge step forward, and obviously carries a slightly raised price at the moment since it is the first of its kind. You're paying for the car, and a whole lot of research and development. However, to the right drivers, this car will practically pay for itself.

 

[Caffeinecarl]

[citation][nom]yzfr1guy[/nom]+1! GM doesn't want to advertise factors of electricity usage like they do with fuel. I'm sure it'll double your household electric bill if your a daily commuter! btw, only the first 40 miles is total electric, who here drives less then this a day so they can be proud to not use the fossil fuels? Plugging/Unplugging a car daily would be a pain that I wouldn't care for, give me a big gas guzzling hemi and watch me lay rubber past this overpriced toy![/citation]

Charging cost is roughly 80¢ a day. You can go ahead and have your gas guzzling hemi. I'll take the crazy torque of an electric any day. You probably wouldn't know this since I doubt you've really researched electrics/hybrids all that much, but do you know why most hybrid vehicles (such as Escape hybrid) don't launch on pure electric power? It's not because they don't have the "technology" to do this. It is, believe it or not, because tire technology has not caught up to drivetrain technology. The walls of tires for electrics and hybrids have to be MUCH stiffer to handle the torque these vehicles can kick out.

Who's going to be burning rubber again?!

 

[husker]

There seems to be a few misconceptions about how this car is different from current hybrid cars on the market. This car technically is not a hybrid. It is an electric car. The drive train of a hybrid vehicle is powered most of the time by a gasoline engine, but is assisted at times by the battery helping it to achieve better gas mileage. The Chevy Volt, the first of its kind, is driven at all times by the electric motor and battery. The gasoline engine only serves as a portable battery charger that kicks in when the battery is low. In a traditional hybrid you will still have to fill the gas tank periodically even if you only drive 30 miles a day. If you drive 30 miles a day in the volt and charge it every night, then you will use 0 gas, and keep that same tank of gas indefinitely.

The second point I'd like to make is about the "green" aspect of the car. Yes, fossil fuels need to be used to create the electricity in the first place, but a large centralized power station generating the electricity is a lot more efficient than millions of little power generators in the form of gasoline engines. Controlling the emissions on centralized power plants is a lot easier than running around trying to upgrade and control millions of individually owned vehicles every time there is new technology that would warrant it.

 

[DejaVuBoy]

F**k yeah!

 

[jerreece]

So it's still not 100% electric. Just the drive train is 100% electric. Still relies on a combustion / gas engine to act as an electric generator.

Like soldier37 stated, I'd rather buy a Camaro SS and actually enjoy life.

 

[jimslaid2]

Boy thats really expensive. IMO

 

[firekraker]

Thank you husker! Is this car for everyone right now? No. But is still needed in order to keep research going. Also production costs should go down as more of the technology sells.

My 2 cents.

 

[Guest]

too little too late, had this car been on the market 1 year or 2 ago it would have done well, unfortunately it's the middle ground that no one wants, it's the reverse of the prius hybrid, which is principally a electric assisted gas engine, this one is a gas assisted electric engine, environmentalist wont look at this car because chances are they already got a pruis, the next true upgrade will be the Nissan leaf pure electric vehicle

 

[firekraker]

Pureleaf. That is great but sadly this country has little to no infrastructure for a true electric vehicle society. That is the other half of the equation that no one seems to mention.

 

[bpeglow]

Personally a round trip to work in back for me is about 2 miles. Then considering shopping trips and such I'd only have to charge this car about once a week and maybe fill up the gas tank once a year if I take a road trip.

 

[HavoCnMe]

Hear is what needs to happen for the whole electric scenario to work....This is going to sound easier on paper than to actually do. Someone, don't care who, needs to develop a nuclear power supply the size of a softball or maybe a hamster ball to sustain power during the life of the vehicle. No more gas, no more plug into the wall non-sense. JMO

 

[ikefu]

I'll take a Chevy Volt over a Nissan leaf any day. No gas for the first 40 miles and then if you suddenly decide to make a random road trip and need to drive 1000 miles all you have to do is fill up at a gas station and you'll still get Prius level gas mileage (with a hell of a lot more power to boot, electric motors destroy gas powered drive trains)

If you suddenly decide to make a road trip with a leaf... good luck finding a tow truck cause you got no way to charge that puppy once its batteries are drained.

 

[eddieroolz]

Wonder if Canada will be included in the launch. It would be interesting to see how it performs in our climate.