GM: the Chevrolet Volt is dead. Cancelled as of 2019

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Angel And The Wolf

In case you don't remember the N600:

I have an old Subaru 360, I always felt it had plenty of room, road in the back sideways

Would buy another if they made such a thing today air cooled motor and all

[MetroMPG]

Read a news item quoting a GM exec who says they will not be using the Volt's tech on any future vehicles, so they're writing off that R&D.

I will see if I can find a link...

Edit... here it is

GM president dashes hopes of future Volt, says no more hybrids
https://www.greencarreports.com/news...o-more-hybrids

Fans were hopeful that the company planned to replace it with another plug-in hybrid with similar technology based on GM's Voltec system, in which it invested most of a billion dollars a dozen or so years ago.

However the message could hardly be clearer, that GM plans on focusing on pure battery electric cars in the future, and not "waste" resources building plug-in hybrids

[jjackstone]

Wonder how long they'll continue making replacement batteries for the Volt.
JJ

[redpoint5]

It's a shame they're mothballing the technology. I understand it's a great car. People complain about rear seat comfort, but I don't ride in the back seat, and only free riders sit there, so they get what they pay for.

[MetroMPG]

They should have stuck the tech into a crossover/SUV. Mitsubishi has been selling piles of its short range PHEV Outlander here.

[cowmeat]

Wonder how long they'll continue making replacement batteries for the Volt.
JJ

Hopefully they'll make them at least until my battery warranty is up, unless they plan to buy the car from me!

I feel that killing the Volt's battery technology is a mistake. Hopefully they'll at least sell it off instead of just sh*t-canning it and maybe recoup some of the R&D cost.
EVs have their place, but the Volt really is the best of both worlds. I drive mine around 200 miles a week and I rarely if ever use the ICE, but if I need to take it on a 4,000 miles cross-country trip that isn't a problem, I can just get in and drive and still get better gas mileage than most of the cars out there.

EVs tie the owner to a 100-300 mile circle around their current location, and in a lot of cases require the owner to have a second car. Not everybody will be willing to wait at a quick charger to go another 300 miles, and a thousand mile trip would take a lot of planning and patience. But the Volt makes infinite range available to anybody who has an outlet available (technically that's not even required since you don't really have to plug it in). Sad to see it go!

[Piotrsko]

Originally Posted by jjackstone

Wonder how long they'll continue making replacement batteries for the Volt.
JJ

You can buy all the remanufactured packs you could ever want at napa, autozone, whomever. Might need a core, definitely need a VIN, and they are about $5,000-7,000. Ranger vin don't work. Takes a couple of hours to swap with impact wrench and floor jack since they use 50 attach bolts.

[redpoint5]

The battery tech isn't what was valuable to GM, as that changes continuously. The valuable tech was the hybrid drivetrain implementation.

I agree that the tech should have gone into larger vehicles. Small vehicles are already efficient by virtue of being small. It's the larger ones that stand to benefit the most. Why they are the last to get hybrid tech is beyond me.

Perhaps people who buy sedans are mindful of their fuel expenses, while people who buy more expensive larger vehicles don't care what they are spending on fuel.

[JSH]

I don’t think GM is abandoning all hybrids, just PHEV with large batteries. The Volt is an odd hybrid. The 18 kWh battery required extensive changes to the Cruze platform and those changes are expensive and rob interior space.

GM can build a regular hybrid with a small battery on a regular ICE platform with minimal changes. EVs will use a dedicated EV platform with a skateboard chassis. There is no room for a big battery in an ICE platform and no room for an engine in the EV platform. GM’s plan makes a lot of sense considering they have a goal of building all of their global vehicles on only 5 platforms.

[redpoint5]

SUVs/trucks and large cars were the perfect platform for a plug-in hybrid.

A smart company would have built these vehicles with the smallest size battery that qualifies for the full federal tax credit, which 16 kWh, or the size of the Pacifica battery which has an EV range of 33 miles. That's $469 per kWh of credit, which is twice the actual cost to build.

An SUV with an undersized ICE and powerful EV assist would have had decent fuel economy, especially in city driving, and have a range of about 30 miles EV. The size of the vehicle would make finding space for the battery/motor/controller easier. With 30 miles of EV range, 80% of total distance can be accomplished using only electricity.

The Volt came pretty close to ideal in this regard, but I'm wondering why Toyota still doesn't use the minimum size battery that qualifies for the full rebate amount in the Prime. They are leaving money on the table.