GM apparently has some ‘splainin to do — and not just
to Lucy, but also to the American taxpayers who have bankrolled its
operations since that terrible I’ve Fallen — And I Can’t Get Up
moment back in late ‘08.
Reason?
That new Volt all-electric car you’ve been hearing so much
about — and which GM has been touting as an example of its
resurgent We Get It attitude — is apparently a con.
Or at least, a semi-fraud.
GM had claimed the Volt would be what amounts to a
completely electric car, driven entirely by its electric motor and
battery pack. The Volt’s small on-board gasoline engine would only
operate as a kind of take-it-with-you recharging unit, power
alternators (like a home generator) but not the
car’s drive wheels.
The concept was innovative. Other electric cars have been
tied down to a fairly small radius that extends only as far as they
can travel before having to turn back in time to make it to a
recharging station for a top-off. So far, this has meant a
real-world operating range of about 75 miles or so under ideal
conditions — sunny, warm weather and don’t use the accessories
(AC, power stuff) too much.
Under less than ideal conditions — cold weather
especially — and if the car has to deal with hills or you use the
power accessories — your actual mileage will
vary.
This has been a major limiting factor in the commercial
viability of electric vehicles since the 1970s and all the way
through the '90s, when GM gave it an earlier go with its EV-1
electric car.
As cool — from a technological perspective — as these
things are, a 50-70 mile range is cutting it too close for most
people. Toss in a $40k price (for the Volt) and recharge times
measured in hours rather than the minutes it takes to gas up a
standard car — and it’s no tough nut to see why electric cars have
been little more than costly curiosities up to now.
The Volt was supposed to change all that by effectively
eliminating the range problem. By carrying its power source (for
electricity) with it rather than being tied to a fixed charging
station somewhere, the Volt promised the same convenience and
ease-of-use as a standard car.
Now comes the catch.
Turns out the Volt’s gas engine does more than provide
juice to refresh the batteries. It also drives the wheels — though
GM never mentioned this during the year-long build-up to the car’s
launch and, indeed, touted precisely the opposite, claiming the
Volt’s gas engine did not directly power the car at all. It just
charged up the batteries.
Well, not quite.
At high speeds (highway speeds) the Volt’s gas engine does
provide direct supplemental boost. Which means the Volt is more
dependent on gasoline — that elixir of all that is evil — than GM
was claiming.
It’s not a grotesque lie — but it is a significant fib
that GM’s been caught peddling.
Perhaps worse, the Volt’s real-world gas mileage (as is
being reported by respected outlets such as Popular
Mechanics) is reportedly averaging between 32 and 36 MPGs.
Motor Trend says “high 30s to low 40s.”
That’s ok, right?
Well, not so much — given you can buy a new Ford Focus
(built with private funding, mind you) that gets 41 MPGs on the
highway, without either the Volt’s complex What’s-itz under the
hood — or its Lexus-esque $40k price tag.
Hell, a new Hyundai Sonata sedan manages 35 MPG — and it
does it for about $19k, sticker.
So, history appears to be repeating itself. The Volt is
looking to be a technically interesting but economically
crippled-up money pit not likely to sell even with more than $7,000
in government (read: you and me paying for it) subsidies to
buyers.
If it were 100 years ago, I’d say “get a
horse!”
Maybe we should anyway.
