Autoblog: Your new Chevy Volt, only $41,000

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http://www.autoblog.com/2010/07/27/...iced-at-41-000-or-350-month-for-3-year-lease/

General Motors' recently hired vice-president for sales and marketing Joel Ewanick took the stage at the Plug-In 2010 conference in San Jose, CA today and finally revealed that the 2011 Chevrolet Volt will have a base price of $41,000 (including a $720 destination charge) before federal and state tax incentives. While GM hasn't gone as aggressive as most people had hoped on the sticker price, the real deal appears to be the $350 per month for 36 months lease. That matches the monthly payment that Nissan is charging for the Leaf EV.

The effective purchase price of the Volt will be cut to $33,500 with a $7,500 federal tax credit (hence the asterisk in the title), but buyers will have to finance the $41,000 and get the credit back on their next tax return. Lease customers will have the credit factored in to their payment. The Volt lease requires a $2,500 down payment (vs $2,000 for the Leaf), but GM is including a clause in the lease contract that allows leasers to buy the car at the end of their term so that the automaker don't have another standoff with customers like it did with the all-electric EV1.
 
It's going to be interesting in this country, where EV credits vary wildly from province to province - Ontario is kicking in $10k, others less.
 
41000 Dollars doesn?t sound like much to my european ears, but given that the Prius starts at 22, the insight at 19 thousand dollars (and I guess those will be competing with the volt for tree-huggers) ... it doesn?t sound too promising, does it?


p.s: the Prius costs 32 thousand Us-dollars here at the moment ...
 
Just a quick comparison (these are all top-spec models):

Lexus HS 250h Premium: $37,420
Nissan Leaf SL: $33,720
Toyota Prius V: $28.070
Ford Fusion Hybrid: $27,950
Honda Insight EX: $23,100

So you're paying $8,000 more for a car that gets less range than a Leaf and probably has a worse interior than every one of these cars.
 
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The Volt gets all the range it wants if you keep putting gas in it, so you're never stranded with an 8 hour charge time :dunno:

Or does the Leaf do the same?
 
The Volt gets all the range it wants if you keep putting gas in it, so you're never stranded with an 8 hour charge time :dunno:

Or does the Leaf do the same?
The Leaf is 100% electric, and gets 100mi/charge with an 8 hour charge time (220v).

The Volt is a gas/electric hybrid, gets 40mi/charge with a 4 hour charge time (220v), and has a gasoline generator to charge the batteries which extends the range another 300 miles.
 
Critically though, the Volt can be taken on a road trip. The Leaf is local use only.
 
Critically though, the Volt can be taken on a road trip.
Whether you'd actually want to, though, will remain to be seen. GM doesn't exactly have a stellar record when it comes to interiors or ride quality.
 
I am skeptical, but GM has made it known the Volt will be a money loser. Once it has been out a while the technology will become cheaper and be introduced to cheaper cars.
 
Whether you'd actually want to, though, will remain to be seen. GM doesn't exactly have a stellar record when it comes to interiors or ride quality.


cadillac_deville-concours-1994_r17.jpg


Would like a word... :p
 
Isn't the Volt also a size bigger than the Leaf? C-segment versus B-segment. Between that and the backup gas-powered electric generator (which the Leaf doesn't have, but the Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust had), I think the extra $8,000 for the Volt is justifiable.

But I wouldn't want to own either.
 
I suppose it's already "mine", seeing as I already paid for its development with my taxes. Still, that's a stonkingly high price for a commuter appliance with no enthusiast appeal to it, and I doubt the greenies are really waiting with anticipation for it thanks to their infatuation plug-in electrics. So who's the target audience again?
 
Does this car also work on the basis that the petrol engine sometimes charges batteries, sometimes powers the car? If so, why the hell hasn't there been someone to make a Geoff ( TG reference ). A small diesel engine JUST to charge the batteries. The engine works at low power all the time, just enough to keep the batteries full, electric engines power you along, job done. And don't chime in with performance issues. Make it AWD electric. And if you want a car like this, you sure as hell aren't trying to beat an ordinary car on a track or highway.

Ignore the rant if such a thing already exists.
 
No, the gas engine only charges the batteries. It cannot power the car directly. I supposed you could just as well use a diesel engine but they are rare in passenger cars over here and generally considered dirty by environmentalists.
 
Diesel is also more expensive and I've heard not ubiquitous in all states. The biggest issue, as mentioned, is the perception of it over here.
 
Does this car also work on the basis that the petrol engine sometimes charges batteries, sometimes powers the car? If so, why the hell hasn't there been someone to make a Geoff ( TG reference ). A small diesel engine JUST to charge the batteries. The engine works at low power all the time, just enough to keep the batteries full, electric engines power you along, job done. And don't chime in with performance issues. Make it AWD electric. And if you want a car like this, you sure as hell aren't trying to beat an ordinary car on a track or highway.

Ignore the rant if such a thing already exists.

Yes. It's called a diesel-electric locomotive.
 
The question is can the Volt be driven for a long period of time using on-board charging alone? Of course that would defeat its purpose but I think most people will find the feature of on-board recharging very useful and reassuring, knowing that they won't get stranded on a dead battery at a friend's house, not to mention if the Volt can be charged with just a standard 110V outlet, then they can even charge at alot more palces than the Leaf. If I had to plop down some cash I'd likely go for the Volt. You can make $8000 back in a month, but of course the greenest choice is to buy a much cheaper 10-year old used car that gets 35mpg.

Does this car also work on the basis that the petrol engine sometimes charges batteries, sometimes powers the car? If so, why the hell hasn't there been someone to make a Geoff ( TG reference ). A small diesel engine JUST to charge the batteries. The engine works at low power all the time, just enough to keep the batteries full, electric engines power you along, job done. And don't chime in with performance issues. Make it AWD electric. And if you want a car like this, you sure as hell aren't trying to beat an ordinary car on a track or highway.

Ignore the rant if such a thing already exists.

Dude, that's exactly how the Volt works, except its a gasoline/E85(IIRC) motor recharging the battery instead of a diesel. The engine of the Volt NEVER drives the wheels. This is where alot of people are confused. The Volt is an electric car that has an on-board generator; it's not the traditional Prius/Fusion/Camry/etc. "hybrid."
 
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So basically, the Volt is like a hydrogen-powered car, but power comes from gasoline and not hydrogen?

That's actually not a bad idea to use gasoline power instead of hydrogen, because that kind of technology can be used my everybody right now because all you need to power it is gasoline, not like hydrogen which isn't gonna go to mass market for a while.
 
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K, thanks guys, that's all I wanted to know. I can't understand then why do you ever need to plug in this type of vehicle... Just use a good enough generator to fill the batteries and just add some petrol. Is it viable, doable?
 
Apparently not with the generator in the car. From what I've read, it can't bring the car back up to full charge on its own.
 
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