Find Whirlpool Deals at Lowe’s
Car Tech: Is the Chevy Volt over-hyped?
- 8/8/07 4:41 PM
Is the Chevy Volt over-hyped?
by wcunning - 8/8/07 4:41 PM
In my recent column, Chevy Volt runs on hype, I tried to figure out why this concept car from GM has generated so much interest. What do you think of the Volt? Does it deserve all the attention, or are there more worthy concepts?
to a degree...
by streamline35 - 8/8/07 8:46 PM In reply to: Is the Chevy Volt over-hyped? by wcunning
I would agree that it is over-hyped to a degree...
I think it's a great concept car, and I really wish they would hurry up on getting it into production. I like how it's gas engine doesn't run the wheels at all, it only contributes to recharging.
But on the other hand, it's getting alot more hype than it deserves. GM to me seems notorious for acting way more environmental than they actually are. For example, the gas mileage on most chevy vehicles is pretty rotten, and yet they have a whole web page dedicated to how great their gas mileage is. What they list is the old EPA highway estimates for their vehicles. That's about as overblown as legally possible.)
Anyway, as far as the volt goes, like I said, it's a great concept, but somehow I doubt GM is going to be speedy about getting this, and other practical environmentally friendly cars onto the road anytime before they absolutely have to. Toyota on the other hand is currently testing out its plug in prius (they gave one to UC Berkeley and one to UC Irvine to test out) and it apparently get's a 122 miles per gallon.
Chevy Volt Hype
by J Snow - 11/14/07 7:11 PM In reply to: to a degree... by streamline35It's hard to tell whether Bob Lutz truly believes in the Chevy Volt, however, these are the reasons why I believe that Lutz has no choice but to go full steam ahead on the Chevy Volt:
1) A123 batteries are a proven entity and are already being used in tens of thousands of DeWalt portable hand tools;
2) GM has a negative net worth of about $60/share that isn't going to turn around unless GM does something drastic with their product line. The Chevy Volt is just the flip side of the E85 program of replacing gasoline with ethyl alcohol as renewable fuel;
3) The $92,000 Tesla Motors sports car is a reality and will be on the road sometime next year. They will have all the kinks out of their 45KWH battery pack and they will start full scale development of their White Star $50,000 sedan;
4) Though competitor Phoenix Motors keeps playing with their SUT and competitor Subaru keeps playing with their R1e and G4e, the battery packs in these vehicles will continue to improve and come close to becoming production quality;
5) Toyota is finally seriously looking at Prius Plug-In Upgrade Kits and I firmly believe that they will jump on board and certify a Prius Plug-In design and put in production by 2009;
6) Originally, GM picked Johnson Controls/Saft to provide them with Li Ion battery packs for the Volt. Gm, wisely, figured out that Johnson Controls/Saft were incapable of delivering the goods. They replaced Johnson Controls/Saft with A123 recognizing that A123 had developed a safe and reliable Li Ion batttery pack;
7) GM will produce most of the Chevy Volt components in China and do the finally assemblies in Detroit. The motor, controls, hardware, etc... will be made in China and this will make the car quite affordable (as well as ready for the Chinese market) once the cost of Li-Ion batteries come down in price.
In conclusion, GM must make a bold step in order to regain their lead in the automotive industry. I believe that GM management sees that the Chevy Volt can give them the edge to leapfrog the competition.
You are misusing the term "hype"
by theBike45 - 8/9/07 7:53 PM In reply to: Is the Chevy Volt over-hyped? by wcunning
The term "hype" means inordinate attention or praise for the commonplace. The VOLT, which will become the first mass produced electrically powered vehicle that is a viable alternative to the gasoline engine, at a time when such a revolution is deemed critical for the future of the planet would seem to have a very difficult time being overhyped. Overhyped cars do not possess the revolutionary potential of this vehicle, nor generate millions of hits on General Motor's website for a car that's 3 years in the future.
no, "hype" is pretty accurate in this case
by streamline35 - 8/10/07 10:50 AM In reply to: You are misusing the term "hype" by theBike45Sounds to me like you are just re-enforcing the fact that it's just hype (so far). You mentioned it has generated millions of hits on GMs website during the lengthy period since it was introduced. And yet we've still seen nothing but a concept car at auto shows. Meanwhile Toyota has already made plug-in prius's and is allowing them to be independently tested (by UC Berkeley and UC Irvine).
And you make it sound like it's the only car of it's kind and nothing else even comes close. Here's the only difference between it and the plug in prius: The volt uses it's gas engine to recharge only, the plug-in prius uses it for a small amount of vehicle power (though it's mostly electric) and the prius still gets 122 miles per gallon (in real life testing). So what's more revolutionary? This concept car that is talked about so much, but shown so little in real life, or the plug in prius, a very similar vehicle that is obviously far closer to production than the volt?
Toyota supports the UC Berkely program
by eeee - 8/11/07 11:38 AM In reply to: no, "hype" is pretty accurate in this case by streamline35Toyota supports the UC Berkely program !
Talk about conflict of interest !
no...
by streamline35 - 8/11/07 4:38 PM In reply to: Toyota supports the UC Berkely program by eeeeIt's not a "program." Toyota isn't giving them money or anything. They gave them a test vehicle so the university could test it out and report back to them on it. It's not like Berkeley is promoting it or anything.
Toyota
by corydig - 8/11/07 10:09 PM In reply to: Toyota supports the UC Berkely program by eeeeScrew Toyota. GM as more vehicles with MPG over 30. WHICH MEANS Toyotas pollute more. Plus they are better quality and you could support your own country.
really...
by streamline35 - 8/12/07 1:30 AM In reply to: Toyota by corydigGM has more cars that get over 30 mph...? Wow, that's a great claim... but how about a little research into the subject. All it takes is 10 minutes over at the government's fuel economy website to quickly disprove your claim. And it's really sad, considering GM has WAY more cars than Toyota.
Toyota wins 4 to 0. That's right. GM has NO vehicles that get over 30 mpg according to the new mileage rating system.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/calculatorSelectMake.jsp?year=2007
Toyota has:
Camry Hybrid - 34 mpg
Corrola (manual) - 31 mpg
Pruis - 46 mpg
Yaris (manual) - 32 mpg
The closest GM even has to 30 mpg is the pontiac vibe, which gets 29 mpg. But do you know what the vibe is based off of? You guessed it, the Toyota Matrix (which also rated at 29 mpg).
Other notable GM vehicles -
Saturn Vue Hybrid - 26 mpg (matched by the much larger toyota highlander hybrid)
Saturn Aura Hybrid - 27 mpg (hybrid camry beats the crap out of this. Nonhybrid manual camry is close at 25 mpg).
You can look all that up on the link provided.
And now you want to talk about supporting your country by buying American. Well my first and most obvious response is that buying a more fuel efficient car will help reduce our carbon emissions and our dependence on foreign oil.
The other thing I might point out is that recently GM has been cutting quite a few of its American jobs, while Toyota has built plants in Kentucky and Texas. Also, consumer reports points out that American companies have started buying parts from and producing vehicles in places like Mexico and China.
My Honda Civic 1.7 CDTI
by DELEDWARDS - 8/12/07 1:36 AM In reply to: really... by streamline35My Honda Civic does a steady 63miles to the gallon if I stick to 75 mph....i can't work out how your fuel economy is so poor!!!
not again..
by bauer100 - 8/15/07 2:27 AM In reply to: really... by streamline35your stating the combined MPG for toyotas. the highway MPG number seems to be advertised. so using highway mpg there are more that 0 GM cars with 30+. its all automotive semantics. its really a tired subject.
Wow...someone intelligent
by ludwigkarl - 8/25/08 2:46 PM In reply to: really... by streamline35I second everything you just said.
People that say "be patriotic and buy American" does not know what they are talking about it. More American cars are made out of the country then some of the foreign makes. When I see those commercials from the big 3 about "buy American", all I hear is "we still make crappy unreliable cars but if you dont buy us, you are less patriotic." Screw them...I pay my taxes and follow the laws.
They are the one making crap and trying to sell it to the American people.
Note: Everyone would buy American if they were built to last and have great design...but they dont. Change...if you want us to buy.
GM gas mileage
by Tonylakeside - 8/16/07 7:57 PM In reply to: Toyota by corydigFor a fact GM cars do get more miles per gallon than what the window sticker says, not so for the others.
So much miss information its sad...
by bauer100 - 8/15/07 2:52 AM In reply to: no, "hype" is pretty accurate in this case by streamline35it saddens me what the public believes and perceives. the plug-in Prius is a project done by this comapany
http://www.energycs.com/recentprojects.htm
toyota has nothing to do with its development.
Several plug-in Prius
by albizzia - 8/21/07 9:17 PM In reply to: So much miss information its sad... by bauer100There are several companies (and CalCars, a volunteer organization) working on retrofits to make the Prius and other hybrids into plug-in hybrids.
Toyota has joined in, and is now testing their own Plug-in Prius. The official Toyota press release:
http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/news/07/0725.html
and video:
http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/tech/environment/phv/conference/driving_300k.asx
The press release indicate that the prototype plugin doubled the standard Prius NiMH battery pack for an EV range of about 15 Km, increased the electric motor power and torque and changed the gear ratios in the power split device to increase the EV speed to 100 Km/hr. It is not yet known whether the production version will use NiMH or some other battery type, it is possible they may first offer a NiMH plug-in, then later offer a LiIon version.
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
|
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
