Quote:
Originally Posted by euromodder
..I don't like the design for starters, but that's something I could put aside if the car was rather efficient.
Then it turns out it also has a lousy 40 mile range on batteries, and a miserable MPG on gas once the batteries run out.
It's EV-range isn't even enough for my own 30mile / 50km commute without recharging (no facilities at work, and pretty few in the entire country come to think of it).
If I'm buying an EV I'm not going to buy something that switches to a thirsty ICE quickly.
If I'm buying an EV I want something that'll do most of my trips as an EV.
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40 miles might be lousy for your needs but for most people living in the United States, 40 miles does cover it. Considering that many people on this site hypermile they will likely get closer to 50 miles if they coast more than the average driver with the mentality of 'I'm going to go the 55mph speed limit until I'm 5 seconds from the stop light where I will jam my brakes'. There was a news reporter who was driving the Volt who seemed like the average person who had it switch over at the 47 mile mark driving in a small town. I'm sure the high 30's mpg is probably similar too, most people who I've seen talking about it in videos have been driving it with a typical enthusiastic wasteful driving technique having fun with the car. I wouldn't doubt that getting 40 mpg is fairly obtainable. I'm also curious what it would get crossing the country at a constant speed of 75mph which is the speed limit of most of our interstate system, probably in the high 30's but to most people living in the states, they would probably be enthusiastic to have that over their low 20's they are likely used to. ...but for most people who aren't going over that range too often, what the point they don't have any concern for gas mileage because they will be driving in EV mode. I think that is where people are hung up, they think, or maybe they will be driving over 40 miles often but for most people it isn't often at all and if you aren't going out for a road trip it probably won't be that far past 40 miles so the impact isn't that big.
I still think this car will appeal to people who will be driving it roughly 20-40 miles in a round trip and maybe slightly more than that. I don't think it is a terribly inefficient car if you compare it to what most of the current cars on the road. If you compare it to a Prius, Insight, or other car that is designed with no other purpose but gas mileage, yes the Volt is inefficient by comparison. I'm not convinced that GM was trying to build a car for people who drive a Prius, they are trying to build a car for people who probably don't like the look of the Prius or how it operates and handles and I understand why they made aerodynamic compromises when doing it. If it was priced lower it is a car that makes more sense. ...but for the average used car buyer, once this car is in the right price range for them, I'm sure it will be grabbed up quickly. Going through discussion threads there seem to be tons of people who want this car, even at its current price. The Leaf has already allocated its entire 2011 20,000 build quota according to Autoline so unless they can contract more batteries and build more, I think that some people are going to hop on the Volt bandwagon.