Will GM be able to build a reliable version of their electric “Volt” car?
GM vice-chair Bob Lutz says that the development program is going “super smoothly” but Honda, who certainly have an ax to grind, say the Volt won’t work.
GM probably won’t make money on the first generation, and the battery technology is still far from perfect. You will have to go to your dealer for battery repairs, but GM does not want more complicated warranty work at the dealer level.
In any case, it sound like we are not there yet, at least on the R&D side. And given GM’s track record, well...you get the point. Meanwhile, the bailout debate rages on. Wilbur Ross is weighing in, predicting a GM bankruptcy filing would be a “total mess.”
What will happen in 2012 after a bailout, but before we can get reliably working Volt out of GM?
It could get ugly-er, if they cannot deliver. GM is planning to build the car in Flint, Michigan. Anyone looking for signs of urban decay in America is encouraged to visit Flint, which has deteriorated since it was featured in Roger & Me.
Fans set up a website for the Volt, which you can see here.
The ran a poll this week, stocked with “homers”, that indicated 72% of respondents were in favor of a GM bailout. Seems a little high to me, but they are soldiering on, and today include a copy of the letter they sent to Washington endorsing an aid package that will permit, among other things, GM to retool to build electric cars:
11/14/2008
Dear President Bush, Members of Congress, and Secretary Paulson:
The US automakers are on the brink of collapse. Partly from past failures and the forces of free market competition, they had been left in a difficult but quite possibly solvable financial situation.
The destructive and overwhelming force of illiquidity stemming from massive mortgage defaults, however, has rapidly crushed any chance of a self-induced recovery.
General Motors’ upcoming Chevy Volt represents the future of this country. The ability to drive without gasoline and on US-produced electricity will usher in a fantastic new era of petroleum independence and a vast enterprise of related green technologies, including the critical field of advanced battery production.
As unpalatable as the notion of corporate federal bailouts are for you, me, and many Americans, there appears to be no alternative.
Allowing the US automotive industry to die on the vine in the coming weeks will weaken our country severely, wreak terrible suffering on millions of Americans, and result in the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue. So too may it imperil our chances for an energy independent future.
I am a public advocate of electrification of the automobile and founder of the grassroots site GM-Volt.com. On my site there are over 45,000 Americans and other citizens of the world who are on a demonstrative waiting list for this electric car. We are the tip of the iceberg. There will be millions of such cars built and sold over the coming decades. This technological leadership should and must be driven by a US company.
We endorse that without delay the Government grant the immediate release of adequate loans, in addition to the low cost retooling loans already signed into law, for direct aid of the three US automakers, GM, Chrysler, and Ford.
Yours truly,
Lyle J. Dennis, MD
Founder, GM-Volt.com
And the Undersigned Citizens
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Meanwhile, the pile on against GM CEO Rick Wagoner is picking up speed. Is he dumb?
`Dumbest People’ Industry Image May Cost Wagoner Job Bloomberg
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Apparently the lame duck session Democrats are punting for now…
The car was first announced by General Motors (GM) in January 2007 as a concept car. This site, GM-volt.com was created on the same date to help make sure the car would arrive.
On June 3rd, 2008, GM CEO Rick Wagoner announced that the board of GM approved moving the Volt to production.
On September 16th 2008, GM unveiled the prodcution version Chevy Volt to the world
GM announced plans to build a $359 billion Chevrolet Volt plant in Flint, Michigan.
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Comments:
The Chevy Volt, at a likely price of $40,000, will keep GM’s losses fully charged for years to come.
The Volt will travel short distances on each charge of its batteries. But it will leave its operators dangerously stranded on too many occasions after drivers discover that AAA cannot rush over with a gallon of electrons to get the car off the shoulder of the thruway.
Furthermore, even though the Volt is equipped with a small gasoline engine meant to recharge the car’s batteries when no extension cord is within reach, the engine cannot power the car. It is not a hybrid.
In fact, hybrids make a lot of sense these days, even though they offer buyers a bad deal. At least hybrids waste no fuel while motionless at stoplights. Their gasoline engines only kick in after the vehicles reach highway speeds or when the driver puts his foot to the floor for rapid acceleration.
For city drivers, the hybrid makes sense. But full reliance on batteries in cars like the Volt is a mistake. The amount of energy stored in 500 pounds of electric-vehicle batteries is about the same as the amount of energy in four or five gallons of gasoline, which weigh less than 25 pounds.
Of course it’s bad news for the Volt that oil prices are collapsing and analysts think the price may drop to $50 a barrel before stablizing around $60. At those prices the Hummer H-1 will make a come-back.
Meanwhile, the arrival of electric cars means something else will appear too. We already have a huge problem with old tires. They are indestructible. Next we will have a problem with old discarded batteries from electric vehicles. The current technologies that promise the best driving results also depend on mostly non-recyclable materials. Thus, the dark lining of a not-so-silver cloud.
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