Chevy Volt - an American success story.

[Chuck 1935]

AND NOW THE REST OF THE STORY..........CHEVY WILL BUY BACK THE VOLT.
Another fine GM automobile. Too bad, I had hoped they had changed.

[jspande]

Oh p-u-lease, did you even read the articles (beyond the headlines)?

This is clearly a case of a company going "above and beyond", presumably due to the new technology and potential for irrational reactions (like your's) to it.

Here's the essential facts. During safety tests (severe side impact crash tests), they found a way to produce a battery fire - the impact damage had to intrude about 4 inches into the battery assembly, followed by a complete rollover of the car! This produced 3 (I believe) cases of fire, and only after 1 to 3 weeks later!!!

Of course, gas tanks NEVER explode in car crashes, and if they do it'll be right away before occupants can escape (isn't that far better?).

These results lead to the recomended precautions that these batteries be discharged soon after a serious accident, or at least that the damaged car not be parked in a building or near other vehicles until repaired.

[Cat320]

Originally Posted by Chuck 1935

AND NOW THE REST OF THE STORY..........CHEVY WILL BUY BACK THE VOLT.
Another fine GM automobile. Too bad, I had hoped they had changed.

The Volt is another gubmint sponsored 'success' story...at least they'll spin it as a success story. Your taxes at work.

[edj]

Originally Posted by Cat320

The Volt is another gubmint sponsored 'success' story...at least they'll spin it as a success story. Your taxes at work.

No.... The Volt was pretty far along in development long before GM got into financial trouble.

[DriVer]

I just heard on the News that Chevrolet has offered to buy back any Chevy Volt whose owner is concerned that the vehilce may catch on fire due to the possibiloity of a defective battery or design.

No questions asked.

GM is also quick to offer that they don't believe that anything is systemnically wrong with the Chevy Volt battery design or battery.

So .... IF you don't want your Volt just bring it back.

[Cat320]

Originally Posted by edj

No.... The Volt was pretty far along in development long before GM got into financial trouble.

Irrelevant, Ed, it's a disaster any way you look at it, just like Solyndra.

[raycon9]

the bad news is if the volt is an edsel, than GM may be in trouble again.
bend over tax payers.

[DutchStar38]

That's OK. In 2009 the Dept of Energy gave a company a $100 million grant to install 12,800 electric car charging stations. So far they have installed about 5500 and are conducting studies on where to install the remaining charging stations. So most of that grant money is sitting on the companies books, which gives the company a much better financial outlook. Our government at work with our money.

[chasfm11]

Originally Posted by DriVer

I just heard on the News that Chevrolet has offered to buy back any Chevy Volt whose owner is concerned that the vehilce may catch on fire due to the possibiloity of a defective battery or design.

No questions asked.

GM is also quick to offer that they don't believe that anything is systemnically wrong with the Chevy Volt battery design or battery.

So .... IF you don't want your Volt just bring it back.

There was nothing systemically wrong with the Firebird that our son bought either - other than the fact that a ball joint burned out at 33K miles. I had the occasion to talk with a GM engineer afterwards who blamed it on production. What is amazing to me is that I had a Ford Econoline - which had grease zerks in the king pins, last for 22 years and 169K miles. My son's Firebird,without zerks, couldn't do 1/5 of that.

GM's problems ARE systemic and are not isolated to the Volt.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by Paul R. Haller

I have driven the Tesla. What a nice ride. Too much $ though. Thats why I drive a Prius. Actually We have two of them. A red 05 for my wife, a green 06 for me. They have been great cars. I have never once had them into the shop for anything since I owned them beyond normal servicing. All that's been done is oil changes, tranny fluid changes and filters and adjusting the brakes. We could not have been happier and on top of getting 50 MPG the government paid me 7500$ in tax credits on each one to buy them.
-Paul R. Haller-

My nephew has one. They get 20mpg highway/ 50 city.

[Chuck 1935]

Great cars. When it's 20 years old and worth $500 and needs a $2000 battery you now have a worthless piece of junk.
The Chevy Volt will go a whole 35 miles on it's battery before having to fire up the teeny gas engine WOOOW

[raycon9]

Originally Posted by Chuck 1935

Great cars. When it's 20 years old and worth $500 and needs a $2000 battery you now have a worthless piece of junk.
The Chevy Volt will go a whole 35 miles on it's battery before having to fire up the teeny gas engine WOOOW

PLUS, the owner might be charged for battery disposal.
(it is hazardous waste)
i think i read the battery life is 10 years.

[wa8yxm]

There have been some studies on Electric Vehicles v/s Gasoline types in terms of cost per mile.. Not a lot of difference.. Though Electricity to recharge is cheaper than gas per mile.. When you have to drop a new battery in it.. All that money you saved on gas will go POOF right quick.

I was looking at the Volt. I mean it's US made (Which appeals to me) but there are two things, more than anything else, that are making me de-consider it.

1: The CEO of GM stating that he wants "up to a dollar a gallon tax on gas to get people to buy the volt" (Google it, I did, yesterday, just to be sure)

2: The agreemen between LG, and GM to make the batteries.. I have YET to find an LG product I was pleased with.. Every LG product I ever had had serious issues.. I still have one which I deal with,, And one which I re-built so it works right.. But not one LG product was right from the factory.. NOT ONE.

[DrivinMyHome]

I drive a 2000 Honda Insight, gasoline-electric hybrid. Bought it in 2008 a couple of months before gas jumped to $4/gallon for the first time. I use it for my daily commute and average 250 miles each week. Original EPA was 70mpg highway. I got 58mpg on my worst tank. My best (and I was trying HARD on this one) was 99.3mpg. I average 80-85mpg most of the time. My own personal comparison from my previous vehicle (1999 Chevy Malibu, ~28mpg averaged) to this one: I saved over $4000 in the first 2 years of driving it (just the cost of gas, not including the less frequent oil changes and repairs). I've probably doubled that figure by now, but I'm too lazy to do the math. Plus, it's kind of cool to tell people that I can travel almost 1000 miles/fillup with only a 10 gallon tank (I once drove from Phoenix to Los Angeles and back and still had ~1/4 tank).

As to the battery: I bought the car with the original 144v battery. It had 128k miles and was 8 years old already. It lasted me to 160k miles and December 2010 before I noticed my first problem with it. The warranty expired at 10 years and 150k (it was considered 'expired' in May of 2010) so I will have to buy the battery outright. The cost for the battery: $750 and with a 2 year warranty. I have researched it and will do the replacement myself since the labor would double the cost (~$750). Even if I paid for the labor, the math works in my favor: if the battery has to be replaced every 2 years, I will have saved ~$4000 and spent ~$1500 for a net savings of ~$2500 versus my 'average' car.

The company that sells the batteries uses my old battery to rebuild the next one, minimizing waste. They also reuse any old cells that pass inspection. It doesn't bother me that I will get a reconditioned battery as I have done the math and their warranty keeps me in the black.

Last note: I have been driving it with the CEL coming and going for a year now (due to the 144v battery) and it hasn't left me stranded or even acted funny. I have been without the extra 'boost' of the electric motor, but have learned to live without it. I still get 70-75mpg with a 'bad' battery.

:announcer: "And now back to your regularly scheduled Chevy Volt discussion." :announcer: