AP Source: GM to call back 8,000 Chevy Volts

AP Source: GM to call back 8,000 Chevy Volts

news.yahoo.com

GM will ask Volt owners to return the cars to dealers for structural modifications, said the person, who did not want to be identified because GM executives plan to announce the repairs later Thursday.

The fixes are similar to a recall and involve about 8,000 Volts sold in the U.S. in the past two years. GM is making the repairs after three Volt batteries caught fire following crash tests done by federal safety regulators. The fires occurred seven days to three weeks after tests and have been blamed on a coolant leak that caused an electrical short.

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Government Motors Volt Costs Taxpayers $250,000 per Vehicle

This follows in the heels of the recent revelation that taxpayer subsidies are funding Volt production to the tune of $56,000 to $256,00 per vehicle, not counting state and local government "incentives."

Considering that the average Volt buyer earns $170,000 per year, gets a $7,500 tax credit, and government-subsidized charging stations; and, that GM has recently announced its intention to move EV production to China, is this really the best use of our taxes?

GM deal moves electric car development to China

P.S.: What's really sad is that despite having to recall 100% of their production for a potentially catastrophic failure, neither GM, the MSM or the Obama administration will use the term "RE-CALL;" they insist that it is a "call back" (whatever that means)!

(visit the link for the full news article)

jw

Well, there is no arguing with success, now is there? When Government steps in, things always get better. When a President takes control of an automaker, of course only good things will happen and that business is sure to improve by leaps and bounds...when they control all but 1 (Ford always said no...God Bless 'em) we get things like the Volt. Talk about a dim bulb of an idea.

Oh but but but..Obama commanded that there be electric vehicles.. The order was given, the car was made and ...oops...didn't work did it? Hey, how about we go back to that free market stuff? This central planning business seems to be a little short of a good idea after all, eh?

Originally posted by jdub297
This follows in the heels of the recent revelation that taxpayer subsidies are funding Volt production to the tune of $56,000 to $256,00 per vehicle, not counting state and local government "incentives."

Considering that the average Volt buyer earns $170,000 per year, gets a $7,500 tax credit, and government-subsidized charging stations. and that GM has recently announced its intention to move EV roduction to China; is this really the best use of our taxes?

GM deal moves electric car development to China

(visit the link for the full news article)

edit on 5-1-2012 by jdub297 because: (no reason given)

If it costs that much to repair the car, why don't they just total the cars and give the owners new one's with the correction done in production? I just built my custom Chevy Volt on their website, with all the options, and the total came out to $45,168.

Electric cars like volt should not be on sale yet. They might be ok when the weather is ideal, but in texas in you need to use air conditioning to avoid death from heat stroke and in canada you need to use the heater to keep from freezing to death, so the wattage needed would mean greatly diminish range, you wouldnt get far.

The batteries are just not good enough yet and they cost a fortune.

Structural Modifications?? LIke essential pieces of steel to strengthen the chassis? GM must have cut the steel out to save weight in order to increase gas mileage in this little gem of a car. The same company who now leaves out the spare tire and tosses in a can of fix a flat in certain models just to save weight in order to ncrease those MPG numbers.

What a POS considering that they only sold about 7600 units in the entire 2011 year vs. a projection of 10,000 units sold.

The fact that these junkers were subsidized by the taxpayers is simply nauseating and the farming out of production to China only makes it worse. I can't think of any reason to buy a GM product ever in the future.

I'm partial to my Indiana built Subaru.

Originally posted by jibeho
in order to increase gas mileage

in order to increase those MPG numbers.

FYI electric cars dont use gas.

reply to post by satron

I just built my custom Chevy Volt on their website, with all the options, and the total came out to $45,168.

Is it too late to go back and order the add-on safety feature? Did they offer a non-spontaneous-combustion version?

Good luck to you.

jw

Originally posted by mwuhi

Originally posted by jibeho
in order to increase gas mileage

in order to increase those MPG numbers.

FYI electric cars dont use gas.

Its the same thing, it would require more electricity to carry more weight...KwPM(Kilo Watts Per Mile) if you will....(actually, i don't even know American electric measure.. jolt? joules? shocks!?)

He just worded in statistic point of view.

Originally posted by mwuhi

FYI electric cars dont use gas.

This one does:

the gas engine will kick in and allow the car to be driven an additional 344 miles on a full tank (9.3 gallons) of gas.
... When the generator starts, the car will get 37 mpg (35 mpg city/40 mpg highway)

GM-Volt FAQs

There are only a few true EVs. Volt is not one of them.

jw

Originally posted by mwuhi
Electric cars like volt should not be on sale yet. They might be ok when the weather is ideal, but in texas in you need to use air conditioning to avoid death from heat stroke and in canada you need to use the heater to keep from freezing to death, so the wattage needed would mean greatly diminish range, you wouldnt get far.

The batteries are just not good enough yet and they cost a fortune.

Parts of Canada they wouldn't even work in the winter. Every 2 years, for my pickup truck, I need a new $150 - $200 battery, because of the cold. Those don't even last their normal lifetime. I'm in the prairies, where we get extreme cold, and when we go into the stores to go shopping when -30C, most people don't even turn off their vehicles, unless there is a plug in available for the block heaters.

We're not even set up for hybrids of any other kind either in this province. It feels like we're still years away.

An electric vehicle up here would be useless, except in the mild weather areas like the west coast. They have a long way to go to make batteries better and way cheaper.

Originally posted by jdub297

Originally posted by mwuhi

FYI electric cars dont use gas.

This one does:

the gas engine will kick in and allow the car to be driven an additional 344 miles on a full tank (9.3 gallons) of gas. ... When the generator starts, the car will get 37 mpg (35 mpg city/40 mpg highway)

GM-Volt FAQs There are only a few true EVs. Volt is not one of them.

Interesting.... In Canada, you don't get the government rebate unless the vehicle is true EV, Hybirds don't get it.
I Always thought Chevy Volt was EV, i guess it fall sin with Prius, Civic Hybird, Insight, and rest of the newly came Hybirds...

Hopefully Nissan Leaf is pure EV.

Its a hybrid then, they shouldnt be calling it an electric car.

Originally posted by mwuhi

Originally posted by jibeho
in order to increase gas mileage

in order to increase those MPG numbers.

FYI electric cars dont use gas.

Actually the Volt is a hybrid and has been dogged by its lack of distance under pure electric power. A little weight savings could certainly help increase distance.

A pure electric like the Nissan Leaf is blowing the doors off of the volt in regards to performance and sales.

Chevy Volt is nothing but a redesigned Cruze with a battery and a smaller engine.

This comes as no surprise

Watch and see how much media-attention this ENORMOUS RECALL (all 8000 of em) gets.

I'm of the opinion that GM never wanted the Volt to succeed - but merely developed it so they can say "See! We care!"

Wide-acceptance of electric vehicles would mean too much lost revenue to GM. Anybody who doubts that - please go watch "Who Killed the Electric Car"

Originally posted by mwuhi

Originally posted by jibeho
in order to increase gas mileage

in order to increase those MPG numbers.

FYI electric cars dont use gas.

This was part of Obama's and GM's original deception of the public.

We've learned that the Volt ... is actually just a traditional hybrid with some... potentially misleading marketing behind it. Since the concept stage the company has been saying how the onboard internal combustion engine was just to charge the batteries, that only the electric motors (there are two) are actually connected to the drivetrain. ...
We're now learning that is not the case, that the Volt's gasoline engine can directly provide power to the wheels in concert with the electric motors.

Why insist this isn't just a hybrid when it apparently is? When the company went looking for a government bailout it was in part awarded one because of the innovation shown in the Volt. Now that we're learning the Volt is basically just a plug-in hybrid with a bigger than average battery pack (Popular Mechanics is finding 30-odd miles of purely electric range), we're left wondering: where's the innovation?

Update: We've added some further details and analysis below, and a confirmation from Chevrolet as well.

So what is this, if it isn't a proper EV with just an onboard internal combustion generator to recharge the batteries? Basically, the Volt's ICE is coupled to the ring gear within the transmission, which at times spins up to provide direct mechanical power when the batteries are near depleted. This is important because this is exactly when electric motors are least efficient. Again, this is also contrary to what we were told before, that the ICE would only spin up on-demand to provide extra juice to the electric motor.

Shocker: Volt's gas engine is indeed mechanically connected to the drivetrain (updated with GM engineer's response)

Popular Mechanics recently spent 3 days and 900 miles testing the Chevy Volt, recording data on its all-electric range and extended range fuel economy capabilities.

In three drive cycles, the Popular Mechanics team recorded electric ranges of 31, 35, and 33 miles. To some of us who got used to hearing and repeating the 40-mile estimate that GM has used for years, that might be a little disappointing.
...
Last month, Chevy basically admitted as much, revising their "about 40 miles" claim to "between 25 and 50 miles." This admission of reality was refreshing, and a smart move for any company trying to avoid a backlash when drivers achieve only half the range they might have expected in extreme adverse conditions.

So in reality, Popular Mechanics's electric range findings shouldn't be all that jarring to anyone who would care enough to read them.

But what may come as a surprise to many, is the once again disappointingly-low gas mileage that the Volt seems to get when operating in extended-range, or "CS" mode. Early on GM was using an estimate of 50 mpg when discussing the fuel economy for the Volt once its battery is depleted and its engine has turned on. ... But over the course of roughly 800 miles of extended-range driving, Popular Mechanics says it recorded averages of just 31.7 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on the highway.

Popular Mechanics Deals Another Blow to Chevy's 50-MPG Myth

Lies, lies and more lies, just to sell a tax-payer funded hybrid that doesn't deliver as promised (according to Popular Mechanics, and others).

jw

Originally posted by TXRabbit
This comes as no surprise

Watch and see how much media-attention this ENORMOUS RECALL (all 8000 of em) gets.

I'm of the opinion that GM never wanted the Volt to succeed - but merely developed it so they can say "See! We care!"

Wide-acceptance of electric vehicles would mean too much lost revenue to GM. Anybody who doubts that - please go watch "Who Killed the Electric Car"

I seen all the hype and advertisement for Volt, it truely made me believe it was a pure EV... now its nothing special, there are soo many hybrids out, also pseudo hybrids like Civic Sedan with Eco Button (reduces power consuming things(AC, Heater, lighting, Fan) and slowly releases throttle).

Nissan Leaf is going to get even more fame now Volt hit the floor.. i also heard of another pure EV from Mitsubishi.. forgot the name.

reply to post by luciddream


I think both Hyundai and VW have EVs in development. Hopefully the trend will roll like a snowball down a hill

Originally posted by luciddream
I seen all the hype and advertisement for Volt, it truely made me believe it was a pure EV... now its nothing special ... .

GM insisted to everyone that it is an EV, when it clw=early is not. It's not your fault for believing.

Don't call the Volt a plug-in hybrid. GM engineers steadfastly claim that the Volt is an electric vehicle with an on-board generator, or in their words, an “EV with a range extender." We tend to favor the former. Semantics aside, the Volt is the most thoroughly tested car in GM's history, a new type of vehicle that vehicle line director Tony Posawatz claims is overengineered because, “Frankly, we have to change minds about the quality of GM vehicles."

www.popularmechanics.com...

"Overengineered?"

Ooops!

jw

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I think that's a bit harsh really.. I mean electric cars are fairly new technology.. They aren't time tested and true like the internal combustion engine as of yet..

Because of this you are inevitably going to see unforeseen technical issues arise.. It's part of putting new tech out there.. I mean look at the first solid state hard drives.. They were fast sure but they burnt out in a couple of weeks to a couple of months.. LCD's were basically limited to 30 inches or smaller for a long time because anything larger would create huge problems with the picture..... Plasma screens used to burn out when used in high elevation even until recent improvements...

It's just the learning curve of modern science and technology.. I'm sure you can see my point here and in this case.