Is It Too Cold for the Chevy Volt?

Yes. I think both excessive cold and heat are going to be a factor. I'm also hearing actual numbers of miles per charge as low as 25 miles.

If GM truly expected the public to embrace these vehicles, they shouldn't have started out selling them. They should have offered them for lease with a very attractive lease price attached to minimize the risk.

The risks associated with purchasing a car for $35,000 after rebates, that may or may not work as advertised, or incorporates technology that could be obsolete in 2 years, far outweigh any possible benefit that could be gained in fuel savings.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see the Volt become GMs next expensive failure.................if it's not already.

Proof yet again, that government demand for something can be way out of alignment with the purchasing publics demand for something. I wonder if they will ever learn.

As far as financing goes, a lease is not going to significantly change the sales numbers. This is not a car for the masses, but bling for the well heeled.

GM gets publicity and a number of test mules for the next generation EV development.

I think they want it to be a car for the masses. They're just waiting to see if their friend and partner in the White House can continue to deliver on ever higher fuel prices.

You mean friends rights. Since November's elections and the shift of power in the Senate gas has risen in PA it went from $2.14 a gallon to $3.75 this morning and still rising.

US drilling in the gulf has been banned. In the meantime we have sent 5 billion to Brazil to drill/export oil to China. Senate is controlled by Dems..............still.

All we need is one more election........and maybe a little homework.

Don't forget the thousands of capped wells through out Texas and the mid-west.

Similar thing happened in the early 2000's remember gas up to almost $4.00. The 2006 then 2008 election prices dropping like a rock. I also seem to remember during the mid 90's prices being around $1.00.

Pretty interesting correlation though.

I love how the prices shot up recently with the Libya and Egypt crisis. All of Phillie's local refineries where reporting an overstock of fuel, yet prices still rose.

John,

Before we get ourselves all riled up, I'd just like to say for the record, I don't like any politicians at the moment......and haven't for a long time. I don't care which side they're on.

No riling up here. Just yanking your chain a little.

I know how sensitive politics are on CR. Don't mean to up-set anyone.

Personally I think it's business as usually for the oil companies to give us the shaft. They must think we need it every once in a while.

No worries.

Sometimes I feel like all of us worker bees are getting the shaft. I don't know who to blame anymore. All I do know, is that all of us blokes are going to be paying the price.

Amen brother!!!

The ban was lifted Oct 12

I am with you on this one with one minor difference. GM didn't design it to be sold at all! Why pay $35k for this when you can have a prius for less? <rhetorical> GM is expecting the gas prices to drop again and to be able to go back to business as usual. That is why Ford has outsold GM this year. I went to the Indianapolis car show this year. GM didn't have anything impressive (I am not impressed with the Volt). Ford had many hybrid (full and mild) options for their cars and trucks. I am still waiting to see the EPA rated mileage on the Volt. I don't think it is going to compete with the Prius or the Insight.

Ford has stepped up and made things affordable. For example, you can buy the Lincoln MKX hybrid for only $2k (USD) more than the gasser version. The hybrid is $35k (USD) and the gasser is $33K, MSRP. And this is a small SUV. Although, I am not sure what type of hybrid it is.

GM can't go back to business as usual due to the new emissions standards. GE is poised to build recharging stations, but not until they get to work on the infrastructure to deliver the electricity, which they will use some of their TARP money for.

I hate to sound like a pessimist, but it sure does seem like all of our fates rest in the hands of a very few................and I'm not sure they have our best interests in mind.

My sister has a ford escape hybrid 4x4. She got it for around $34,000 (all the bells and whistles) it gets about 30 on the highway and 35 in the city. I bought an equinox AWD for my wife $24,000 she's getting about 31 city 37 highway. Plus it has a lot more room in it. I'm 6'4" and I can sit in the back with the front seat pushed all the way back and I still have room.

GM is working hard to catch up. They are working on a new model called the Hindsight.

They are just trying to make the front end look like the @ssend so that everyone will recognize it when they pass it.

At least there trying. Honda and Toyota haven't change styles in 20 years. They use the same cookie cutters they did from the 90's.

I guess they think everyone likes foreign cookies, I prefer American Pie.

That is a bit subjective, but the styling has changed radically in the last 10 years, let alone 12 to 15.

Do some research of the two model years and you will see significant body changes.

You could say the same thing about the Porsche 911, but the cosmetics are not as important as what is under the skin, which has gone through remarkable changes.

I can always depend on you AH. I'm wiping tears from my eyes.

I'd like to get me one of those, do they have a layaway plan?

Layaway plan... Too funny! ;-)

since this is not off topic yet, higher fuel prices should be a reflection of higher demand, and since people like you are so ego maniacal that they disregard the geopolitical and environmental implications of oil consumption, it's going to be tough. I guess you would drink tainted water, if you could get someone else to pay for cleaning it. Why not just legislate that no one can pollute it? That is the role of society.

If we have to send our soldiers to war to have enough influence on maintaining our supply channels, then so be it? We produce vast quantities of oil. How is it not in our best interest to avoid dependence?

This is not my ego talking............it's my brain.

You have me completely stumped.

sweet, it's my Rush Limbaugh impersonation, with a logical twist.

Soooo...

The Chevy Volt has some shortcomings? Wow, that is news.

It looks to me like this is EV scare mongering. According to GM:

"The Volt's T-shaped battery pack consists of 288 individual cells arranged into nine modules. Plastic frames hold pairs of lithium-ion cells that sandwich an aluminum cooling fin. The design and construction of that aluminum plate is critical to ensuring an even temperature distribution with no hot or cool spots across the flat, rectangular cell. The battery pack has its own cooling circuit that is similar to, but independent from, the engine cooling system.

The Dana Corp-manufactured cooling fin consists of two lightweight aluminum plates joined by a proprietary clean nickel-brazing process. The carefully designed grooves stamped into the plates form channels that allow battery coolant that is pumped through the pack to flow over the entire cell surface."

Source: http://media.gm.com/content/media/us/en/news/news_detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2011/Feb/0214_battery

Keep in mind that Patrick Michaels is a climate skeptic and works for the conservative Cato Institute. He just might have an agenda. Apparently he is a climatologist, not an engineer.

This is just the opening platform. As better battery tech rolls out (and it will) concepts like this catch on more and more. In some way this car is more from IBM than GM. GM just puts the thing together and sells it!

Every design is just the beginning. You'd never buy a 13 inch black and white TV again. No matter how good the deal was you'd never use a Commodore 64. One day the Volt will be a joke for how badly it performs. But much of the tech that makes the Volt work will be included in the next generation of cars.

I'd never buy one but I greatly admire these cars.

You wrote, "No matter how good the deal was you'd never use a Commodore 64."

You may want to reconsider that.

You would buy that?

No. I use Mac ;-)

You know what I meant

In some cases retro is a cool thing. Some people love their antique cars. I could think of a few classics I would love to own.

Sometimes simpler is still better, too.

I decommissioned my 7-channel Harman-Kardon home theater amp for a two channel tube amplifier I built. Works at least as good as the HK did and has a novel look with all those valves glowing in the family room corner.

That is beautiful, and if it works like it looks, Congratulations. I want one.

Thank you!

Limber up your credit card. I have about $1200 in parts into that amp.

Are you sure all the transformers aren't tapping into the electrical field of the local power lines? That's illegal, ya know!

Good one!

Sweet! Milo

Hey, Now.

I still use my Commodore 64 and the programs I wrote to calculate my Biorhthym and Bellows extension factor; also to play theater europe.

The original code for my Comput-A-Grade program machining calculator was written in basic on c64 and then migrated over to this thing called Excel. No more sending Printer format codes.

WOo-Woo!

Milo

Knowing that the batteries have an active cooling system, I'm not too concerned about hot weather performance other than the A/C load.

Knowing that GM has a lot at stake, I would assume that they have done the obvious - made provisions for the engine to start on cold weather start-up and engine heat used to bring the batteries to operating temperature. Does anyone know if I am correct in that assumption?

From what I've read from "real world" driving the range dives if you have the heater running to keep the cab comfortable. All the higher numbers they use for marketing are best case scenarios, no wind, cross wind, grade changes, etc. So it isn't just battery temperature as much as consumption to power the heater.

I should have mentioned the heater along with the A/C. However, you can always bundle up a little and dial down the heat.

The question of cold battery performance is the bigger one. Do you know if I'm right in my assumption?

No. My focus so far has been on range and battery life. I don't know off hand what their operating temp range is but I do know the issues with CCA isn't the same as it is for battery sizing in a typical car. I think you may have tricked me into doing some research!

my friends Tesla has a cooling system that runs even when he is charging the battery, and it's always on when he is driving it, so I wouldn't assume too much impact from cold weather, as heat seems to be more problematic than low temps.

I think they are worried about frozen batteries.

too cold, too shine, but we should take care of ourself.