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Originally Posted by MN Driver
40 miles might be lousy for your needs but for most people living in the United States, 40 miles does cover it.
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I'm looking at it from my own and a European perspective.
Belgium is a very small country, with the north being quite densely populated.
Yet even then & there the Volt's short EV-range wouldn't fit me.
Distances in Europe are generally far shorter than in the US.
500 miles and 3 countries later, I'd be on the other side of the former Iron Curtain.
From Miami FL, I would hardly make it out of the state !
In Europe, the competition from diesel engines will also be fierce.
I really doubt wether a lot of people are going to buy an expensive 34 mpg car when they can buy a 50+ mpg diesel.
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Considering that many people on this site hypermile they will likely get closer to 50 miles
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Even then it still wouldn't do.
Hypermiling is a niche activity practiced by very few people.
Over time, any battery pack is also bound to degrade a bit, affecting range.
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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
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Driving a Prius is little different from driving any other run-of-the-mill car with an automatic transmission.
If you're trying to built an efficient car, clearly aiming at the customers who give a d@mn about burning gas, then surely the Prius and Insight are the cars to beat. In Europe, it'd also have to beat the diesel competition.
These 2 hybrids would be my
lower benchmarks if I were to design a new fuel-saving car that'd only hit the market 2.5 years later.
The battery can't be an excuse for a low MPG on gas, sorry.
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The Leaf has already allocated its entire 2011 20,000 build quota according to Autoline
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The Ampera won't even be here until late 2011.