[McRat]

Originally Posted by Ziggythewiz

The Volt is the winner of no arms race.

What's the point in driving 40 miles on electric followed by 2000 on gas? Just take a prius, TDI, or other car that actually gets good mileage. You could rent a Cruze for the trip and the gas money you save over taking the Volt would pay for itself.

The only two people I know who drive Volts don't run gasoline very often if at all. If I understand it right, that is true for most owners.

If I bought one, neither would I. My commute is 10 miles each way. The American average commute is 16 miles.

Did you think Chevy just pulled that 40 miles number out of a hat? No. It covers over 80% of the drivers.

Why don't I drive a Volt? It's not cost effective. $40k is too much. Needs to be in the $25k area.

As far as a gasser with good mileage? I had a mid 1980's Chevy Sprint. Few cars today can match it for fuel economy.

Why hasn't fuel economy shown a huge jump in 25 years? It has, just not in economy cars. A Sprint with modern technology like direct injection and better aero would be getting ~75mpg today. It was not an efficient engine, and it had the aero of a brick. The Corvette back then was 14mpg, today it's 26 with double the horsepower. Ditto for SUV's and pickups.

My 6400lb 3/4 ton 4x4 gets 25 mpg and has over 900HP. That could not be done 25 years ago.

While the US Gov't knows most Volts aren't running off gasoline, they list it as a hybrid. If you drive using only electricity, why isn't that an electric car? Politics. The Feds have always favored import companies. Lobbying is good. Free trip to Asia or Europe on a "fact finding" mission vs. a trip to Detroit. Which would you pick?

The Gov't killed the EV1. They were in high demand at the time. It was the first truly useful electric car, but Toyota and Honda lobbyied to repeal the Electric Mandate since they were not ready yet. They were successful, and it only cost GM $1 billion dollars.

[Ziggythewiz]

The Govt didn't kill the EV1. The Govt allowed GM to kill it after forcing them to build it. Just like now they made em make the Volt, and GM's doing their best to use it to show how unviable electrics are. It is a hybrid, just w/ poor mileage.

[rochesterricer]

I see people on here railing against the Volt constantly, yet everyone who actually buys one loves it. Go figure.

GM doesn't have to do the same thing Nissan is doing guys. And they do have full EVs in the pipeline, due to come out in 2013 IIRC. The Volt is a good solution for a significant portion of the market, given the current state of battery technology. It fills a need in the market, which is why it has been outselling all other plug in cars so far this year.

[McRat]

Originally Posted by Ziggythewiz

The Govt didn't kill the EV1. The Govt allowed GM to kill it after forcing them to build it. Just like now they made em make the Volt, and GM's doing their best to use it to show how unviable electrics are. It is a hybrid, just w/ poor mileage.

Perhaps that's because it runs 16 second quarter miles? That is as quick as a 1978 Corvette with 350ci V8 engine. They don't fear the Prius from a stoplight. Everyone I've met who has driven one is impressed how quick it is.

Why would they make what people wanted if their goal was to kill it? The EV1 got rav reviews from people who drive cars for a living. Poor reviews from people who biitch about things for a living; newspapers, politicos, etc.

The Prius has 0 miles electric range. It's not an electric. You can't drive it to work on an empty gas tank. That is a hybrid. The Volt is an urban electric with additional safety equipment. Unless you consider being stuck on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere a good thing.