Chevy Volt and the end of Petroleum

While watching the news last night on GM's new 230MPG Chevy Volt, something popped into my head.

These guys all of a sudden come out with this unbelievable fuel efficient vehicle just a few short weeks after the US government takes over.

Was this all planned?

I remember Bush saying, just after 9/11 in efforts to destroy the evil terrorists from oil producing countries, that it was there goal to rid the world of it's dependence of fossil fuels.

So they big boys help destroy the auto sector in order to take it over. Now they come out with god's gift to fuel efficient vechiles that don't require, not totally anyway, gas.

Are they trying to corner the market?
Nice little revenue stream they may have created here. Boy was it ever a good idea bailing out GM.


The next big thing will be how they will increase taxes and fees on electricity.

I would like to here others thoughts on this.

Nothing?

Hello....

First of all it is about darn time they let those cars out! It isn't something new either people have come up with cars that do that for over a decade or more in some cases. Yeah now they nay be more pleasing to the eye and have a more comfortable interior but they HAVE been around for a long time.
One thing you can count on is the OPEC people gouging the price if we start to get to independent of their strangle hold over us as far as oil and gas goes.

"The next big thing will be how they will increase taxes and fees on electricity. "

Have you looked at your electricity bill lately?

Mine kept going up no matter how much I saved/cut back and unfortunately I decided to read the WHOLE thing. Man o man what an eye opener!!!!
Did the phone bill right then too; called them and demanded they take off some things to bring it down. I now have a charge for $12.95 a month for expedited billing services???? It is listed as a service a voice mail "which I don't have"! Pay attention if your bill changes my friend....

reply to post by xoxo stacie


Oh I agree, we all new of electric vehicles for years, but the thing that gets me is that they never allow the technology out into the market place until now.

Now being a good time because the people releaseing the technology have complete control. Not some privatley owned company.

reply to post by xoxo stacie


Good catch on those bills. I was shocked out of slumber on my electric bill last year, too. $550 electric bill for June-July 2008. I realized I had fallen out of my contract rate and into the "standard" rate of $0.17 per KwH. So I switched energy providers and got the rate of $0.11 per KwH. The result is that my electricity bill for the hottest month of the year so far was only $300.

It's all a big scam, since the electricity all comes from the same plants and the same wires, but there ya go. Shopping around is good.

But that is off topic.

I agree that the Volt and others have been around for ages in one form or another. I actually wanted to try a conversion of my runabout (old Mazda 323) to electric, but could not find a suitable electric motor that didn't cost more than the car. I would love to find the electric wheel hubs. That's the most efficient way of running an electric car anyway, but I can't seem to find *any* leads on that. If I could, I would consider a future retrofit of my VW Beetle to an electric powerplant.

The first thing I thought was "great, now they will just charge $10 for a gallon of gas" and a "wonder what there gonna charge me to plug my car in while I'm at work" but what sticks out the most is, if they want to help the people, economy, and the environment then how come they haven't figured out how to build a fuel efficient vehicle with a smaller price tag. $40,000 will keep this technology well out of the hands average folks who are still hurting from the recession. This country draws most of it's tax revenue from the gas tax, which leads me to think the only reason this tech is just getting out is they finally have designed a cap and trade bill that will make up the shortcomings of tax revenue loss these cars will create. They should have made the cash for clunkers program pertain to hybrid vehicle purchases only.

Originally posted by Jnewell33
how come they haven't figured out how to build a fuel efficient vehicle with a smaller price tag. $40,000 will keep this technology well out of the hands average folks who are still hurting from the recession.

Agreed. I found an electric car kit the other day. 0-135 in 12 seconds. 0-60 in 4 seconds. Single speed (one gear) and configured much like the VW Liter car described earlier in the thread. The kit looked great for a runabout and was a fantastic idea. The only downside? the kit costs $100,000 and that cost does not include the price of batteries!!! I can build that in my garage for cheaper than $100,000.

I propose that the only way we are going to get inexpensive solutions to this is to restart the good old American tradition of independant inventors creating things in their garages and then selling them. A kit for a fully electric vehicle that meets NHRA or NHST saftey standards could and should be made available for $10K or less.

Honestly, what we need in the US right now is to just provide a means to replace all of these SUVs with one person in them with a small runabout. Keep your SUV, by all means, but use it when you are carrying people or luggage. Use your runabout for simple commuting to and from work.

Well after reading your thread Daze, I've come to the conclusion that this new "cap and trade" bill will be just that. if they can't get more out of fossil fuels, they will tax the electricity because it is a polluting energy.

Ha! Just when you thought it was safe to buy a new car!

And how exactly do you people think electricity is generated? Granted I am all in favor of reducing dependence on foreign oil but as far as reducing energy costs it isn't going to happen. Are you in favor of nuclear power plants?

Originally posted by DazE777
While watching the news last night on GM's new 230MPG Chevy Volt, something popped into my head.

These guys all of a sudden come out with this unbelievable fuel efficient vehicle just a few short weeks after the US government takes over.

Was this all planned?

I remember Bush saying, just after 9/11 in efforts to destroy the evil terrorists from oil producing countries, that it was there goal to rid the world of it's dependence of fossil fuels.

So they big boys help destroy the auto sector in order to take it over. Now they come out with god's gift to fuel efficient vechiles that don't require, not totally anyway, gas.

Are they trying to corner the market?
Nice little revenue stream they may have created here. Boy was it ever a good idea bailing out GM.


The next big thing will be how they will increase taxes and fees on electricity.

I would like to here others thoughts on this.

Can a year ago be 'all of a sudden'?

Q: What is the Chevy Volt?

A: The Chevy Volt is an extended-range electric car being developed by General Motors. It currently exists in prototype form only but GM reports they are fully committed to bring the car to production. In June 2008, GM’s board of directors voted to fund production of the vehicle, and in September 2008 the production version was unveiled. Mule vehicles have been running since 2008 and the first pre-production cars will arrive in June 2009.

Source.

my electric 2 wheel scooter costs me $1.53(canadian)of electricity to travel 1000km of city driving.

www.e-ride.ca...

thats at 5.9cents/kwh. my total home electric bill is $25 to $28 per month(including taxes, delivery, fees).

all testing was done with a killawatt meter.

If I am not mistaken, was this car not announced well before the auto industry crash? I do not think it has anything to do with the takeover.

reply to post by MarshMallow_Snake


I never said it had anything to do with the take over. I mean this car had already been developed long before the financial crisis. When oil was at 140 a barrell they still had the car but did not push for it's release.

They could have put it out alot sooner and possibly saved themselves from bankruptcy.

reply to post by DazE777


You don't know much about retooling an assembly line for a new car, do you?

reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II


Why are you guys trying to defend this crap.

No I don't and personally I don't care. You think they just thought up this car overnight. When you build a prototype you also look at all manufacturing aspects as well. Retooling an assembly line would also create new jobs and open up the door for new parts suplliers and so on and so on and so on.

The rising price of oil and the evil boys of OPEC were and are no secret to anyone. If companies had any idea to become new and improved they would have started to impliment this stuff years ago.

As I stated they probably were heading down that path and were told to stop.



[edit on 12-8-2009 by DazE777]

reply to post by DazE777


You are correct. It takes TIME to retool an assembly line, and to set-up suppliers. They cannot change to a new vehicle overnight at the behest of oil price fluctuations. It just doesn't work that way.

As I stated they probably were heading down that path and were told to stop.

Do you have any evidence of this, and who might've done it?

[edit on 8/12/09 by Ferris.Bueller.II]

reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II


No, I'm speculating.

But it does seem plausible. I wouldn't put anything past TPTB.

And I agree they are not going to change everything based on oil fluctuations, but any type of person that holds such a position in a company that has the ability to make "change" doesn't need to worry about oil fluctuations. A visoinary would see that if you can produce a new technology and profit from it, then you should push forward for the greater good of the company and or mankind.

I'm sure they were more focused on the revenue they could rope in as opposed to bettering humanity with "greener" technologies. But the principle is the same.

Lets make a product that is fresh and revolutionary. And at the same time we can help the environment ....annnd *whispering* we can stop sending money to the middle east.

[edit on 13-8-2009 by DazE777]

It would appear we have a longer wait for a completely electric car to become a reality.

Volt will be gas/electric.
Read the story here.

As far as retooling, I think that these manufacturers were actually modifying some of the cars systems already so it would be easier to make the switch to a different drivetrain. Mass recalls with failing systems would be a huge problem for an already struggling car maker.

I'm actually waiting for the hybrid conversions on cars like we already drive. I've already thought about buying a hybrid or electric motor rear axle for my front wheel drive car. That would be an interesting upgrade. All it would have to do is get me up to speed and for hills etc.

I'm looking forward to these upgrades rather than brand new cars. China already claims to have their own volt version and some of these might be dropped into existing cars.

With the economy busted for auto manufacturers, it makes sense to retool at this point to revitalize the system. Too bad many can't afford it....as usual.

Those who can afford it, are testing these out in the field for us driving them in the future.

Most likely, this was a planned phase in and not for overnight.

[edit on 8-9-2009 by aleon1018]