#Volt
Chart Of The Day: Volt "Competitors" 1995-2009
OK, so none of these cars are actually “competition” for the Chevrolet Volt, but think of them as a benchmark “basket” and they can help define the market the Volt will soon be thrown into.
Chevy Volt: 40 Miles Without A Drop Of… Premium Gasoline?
Chevy Volt Priced Starting At $41k, Leases Start At $350/Month
Quote Of The Day: Leno Re:Volts Edition
If you didn’t know, you might think it’s a Cobalt or a Camry. I don’t think there’s a lot of cachet in having the first one. It’s meant to be a people mover, not a people impresser. It’s not like when you pull into Bob’s Big Boy parking lot with the Volt, you’re going to open the hood.
I caught some flack from TTAC’s Best and Brightest for suggesting that Jay Leno was less than entirely impressed by the Chevy Volt when it showed up at his legendary garage back in December. Today though, Leno’s ambivalence towards GM’s wundercar hit the front page, when the auto-obsessed comic gave the Detroit News a withering reaction [above] to the extended-range electric car. Maybe next time GM will give Team Coco a try…
What's Wrong With This Picture: America's Car Edition
President Obama got a chance to check out the Chevy Volt yesterday, as part of his trip to the Michigan battery belt. Unfortunately, he did not confirm or deny whether the Volt will actually get 230 MPG, because the EPA and GM are still “negotiating” a mileage sticker for the Volt. Luckily, GM has provided an important look at how the Volt’s battery system stacks up against key competitors…
Chevy Announces Eight-Year, 100k Mile Warranty For Volt Battery
In hopes of convincing consumers that buying a battery-electric car will not be a financial disaster for them, GM is announcing an eight-year, 100k mile transferable warranty for its Volt battery. According to GM’s release, Volt batteries have undergone
more than 1 million miles and 4 million hours of validation testing of Volt battery packs since 2007, as well as each pack’s nine modules and 288 cells. The development, validation and test teams have met thousands of specifications and validated each of the Volt battery’s components.
Tests include short circuit, corrosion, dust, impact, water submersion, crush and penetration, and extreme temperature swings combined with aggressive drive cycles, also known as “Shake, Bake and Roll.”
GM does not, however, specify a minimum-performance range for the battery, saying only that it can run on battery power for “up to the first 40 miles.” That makes it tough to understand what kind of defect or level of performance would deserve a warranty repair or replacement, which is really the key consideration. GM’s claim that this
is the automotive industry’s longest, most comprehensive battery warranty for an electric vehicle
is technically true, but it is also the same warranty period enjoyed by Toyota’s Prius hybrid. Full release after the jump.
Quote Of The Day: Volt In Need Of A Jolt? Edition
Accelerating up the motorway slip road, the Ampera charges hard and deceptively quickly up to 50mph, but by then the single-speed electric motor’s flat torque curve has begun a nose dive and acceleration at high speeds is poor.
The 0-62mph time of 9 seconds and top speed of 100mph are an indication of this – most family hatchbacks with that sort of sprint capability will have a top speed of nearer 130mph
The Telegraph‘s Andrew English lays into the Chevy Volt/Opel Ampera’s high-speed acceleration, in an early test drive on European roads. Apparently an Opel engineer was embarassed enough by the performance to tell English that
We are considering driving the wheels directly from the petrol engine
Huh?
Ask The Best And Brightest: Will Low Gas Prices Blow The Volt Launch?
Quote Of The Day: Sooner Or Later Edition
We won’t be nationwide by end of 2011. By that time we expect to be shipping vehicles to Canada, Europe and several markets beyond those we’ve already announced.
[The nationwide launch date is] all still work in progress and will clearly be dependent on the ability of the production facility to ramp up as planned and all those kind of things. I’m not in a position to tell you by X-date we will be nationwide. I will tell you we’re heading towards national distribution and theres no question about it
Volt Communications Manager Rob Peterson (first quote) and GM Director of Volt Marketing Tony DiSalle (second quote) tell gm-volt.com that the previous 2011 date for the nationwide rollout of the Chevy Volt isn’t going to happen. Meanwhile, if you’re in California, Michigan or Washington DC, your Volt should arrive by 2011. Be sure to tip your congressional representatives, folks! Luckily, though, this video proves that the Volt will be more than up to the challenge of eating the Nissan Leaf’s dust.
Leaf Jolting Volt In EV Popularity Contest
Ford And Taxpayers Giving Away 4,600 EV Home Chargers, Nissan Not So Much
Worried about the high MSRPs on most of the electric vehicles scheduled for launch over the next year? Don’t forget to include the cost of buying and installing a home charging station. Nissan reckons the charger for its Leaf will cost about $2,200, including a home electrical inspection [er, that’s a medical marijuana grow…] and installation. Oh, and it won’t be Nissan coming into your home: Aerovironment, a firm otherwise best known for its Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, has the contract to supply and install the Leaf’s charger. Coulomb Technologies supplies the home charger for Ford’s first EV, the Transit Connect EV, and according to Automotive News [sub], they’re partnering with Ford to give chargers away to the first 2,000 buyers of the electric-drive delivery van. But, as usual with good news in the EV sector, the charger giveaway is actually being funded by tax dollars…
Quote Of The Day: Right Round Baby Right Round Edition
Quote Of The Day: Don't Make Me Pull This Oversubsidized Niche Over Edition
This week marked another important step forward for the development of U.S. based automotive battery and electric vehicle manufacturing as Coda Automotive, Nissan and Ford announced plans to build batteries at plants in Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan respectively.
While these facilities only exist as blueprints today, our Brownstown Township battery pack assembly plant has been manufacturing advanced lithium-ion batteries since January, and our Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant is currently producing pre-production Chevrolet Volts.
GM VP for global product development Jon Lauckner takes a petty swipe at the competition over at chevroletvoltage.com. First of all, Mr Lauckner, taking petty swipes is our job. Back off. Second of all, are you familiar with the adage that begins with “people in glass houses…”?
China Imports The Chevy Volt - Or Rather The Opel Ampera
Any minute, or at least by the end of the month, the Chinese government will reveal super-secret plans to throw serious subsidy money at clean energy cars. The plans have been so secret that the Chinese market from mild hybrids all the way to full plug-ins came to a standstill with everybody waiting for the government to dole out heavy cash. Of course, GM doesn’t want to stand on the sidelines of this bonanza.
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