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Volt Sleeps With the Fishes

By on 3.5.12 @ 6:06AM

It might as well have been a Trabant.

GM has just announced it will be idling the plant (and the 1,300 workers at that plant) where the “game changing” Chevy Volt electric car is — uh, was — built. GM says it’s only temporary — until they figure out how to “align production with demand.”

It could be a long wait for those workers.

GM projected production of 45,000 Volts this year. That may have been just a little bright-sided. Last year, 7,621 of them found buyers (about 2,400 fewer than the 10,000 GM had hoped for). This past month, just over 1,000 of the $40,000 sort-of electric cars (sort of, because deep inside the thing, there’s a gas engine that serves as a sort of carry-it-with-you “range extender”), which means “production” and “demand” have a ways to go before they are, er, aligned.

One reason why, obviously — though perhaps not to GM — is that the concept itself was misaligned. Electric (and hybrid-electric) cars exist for one reason: To do an end-run around gasoline. The whole point of the exercise, as a practical matter, is to lower the cost of driving by cutting the driver loose from $4 a gallon fuel. But when it takes $40,000 to do that, it becomes pointless as a practical matter. Yes, it’s a clever bit of engineering. I know. I’ve driven the Volt. Remarkable. It can operate at steady 60 MPH for several miles (rather than coast for a few seconds, like most hybrids) purely on the strength of its electric motor and batteries. Very cool. But also very expensive — and that’s the point that matters.

The Volt’s sticker price is in BMW 3 Series/Lexus GS land. Do people who purchase $40k cars have to worry much about $4 gas? Apparently this thought did not occur to the people at GM responsible for the Volt. Even with a $7k direct federal subsidy to each buyer (more on the indirect subsidies below) a new Volt still costs what we call in the car business “entry luxury” money. Easily two (even three) times the amount that would buy you any one of several very appealing compact sedans, several of which get 40 MPG on the highway.

So, drum roll, people looking for something economical did not look at the Volt. Who did? CEO Dan Akerson conceded that the average income of a Volt buyer is $170,000 annually — not exactly hard times.

GM figured (so it said) the Volt could be sold to the less flush on the basis of its down-the-road economies. But those are theoretical and ill-defined (including, for instance, such as variables as winter driving; how will extreme cold weather affect the electric drivetrain? Etc.). But the up-front costs are very real — and forbidding. People facing lean times are not lining up to finance a $40k purchase, even with a $7k carrot dangled in front of them. And the potential buyer pool of 170k’ers per year is just about dried up.

Is GM unaware? I doubt it, because all kidding aside, GM is anything but stupid. That is, the people running it can do math. They also understand marketing — and politics. And that’s where the troof comes out about the Volt and why it ever saw the light of day.

GM, like every car company, has embraced the politics of green because it leads to taxpayer-financed green. Think Solyndra was a boondoggle? The Mackinac Center for Public Policy estimates that the actual cost-per-car of each Volt, once all the federal subsidies are factored in, comes to $250,000 or $3 billion, total. (Lookee here for more.)

Guess who paid for that?

It wasn’t GM’s money. It was your money. And mine. And the money taken from millions of other taxpayers, all poured into the coffers of GM to further the advancement of otherwise economically untenable projects that would never have see the light of day except for the fact that we have a system of crony capitalism that distorts the free market like a funhouse mirror.

The Mackinac study’s author, James Hohman, tartly described the Volt as “the most government-supported car since the Trabant” — a reference to the infamous two-stroke, plastic-bodied POS manufactured in the old DDR — that’s East Germany, for the edification of younger readers.

And that’s what rubs. If you or I decided to build a Homer Mobile (remember?) in our garage, it’d be up to us to finance the thing and if we went next door to our neighbor’s place and flashed a gun demanding money or else to “help” we’d be shot by the neighbor or tossed in jail. But that’s because we are not Too Big To Fail. GM, of course, is. And has many big friends in Washington, too. So it can indulge in the building of electric Homer Mobiles and send the tab to us — and pocket the proceeds.

Because keep in mind that GM is not losing money on the Volt. We are.

The joke’s on us — again.

About the Author

Eric Peters is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities: The Cars You Love to Hate (Motor Books International) and a new book, Road Hogs.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (87) |

Mike Hawk| 3.5.12 @ 6:22AM

GM is no longer a public stock entity. It is owned by the UAW and US Gummint. Thus the moniker Gummint Motors. It builds this turkey at the directive of Obozo and his hacks. Outside of warm flat country, the performance of this pile of electrons is abysmal. Going up and downhill in mountainous terrain in below freezing weather gives you no range even when pointed downhill. You can't just plug it in to a wall socket either. You need to pop a few thousand for a home charging station and then find one ofthose non-existant ones wherever you go. A one day round trip vist to my sister would turn into a three day excursion in futility wiith one of these flops. THere are no sales because nobody wants one. The Edsel was a more syuccessful adventure.

spike59| 3.5.12 @ 6:35AM

a piece of crap is a piece of crap

C. Carroll| 3.5.12 @ 7:34AM

You can't polish a turd.

Trinacria| 3.5.12 @ 3:57PM

Sure you can...you can polish it up, put it in a suit, send it to Washington and refer to it as Mr. President.

Occam's Tool| 3.5.12 @ 6:35PM

Trinacria: Indeed. Good point.

beebop2| 3.6.12 @ 5:50AM

The trousers need to have that wonderful crease that surely indicates to the rest of us that no work is accomplished, other than ticking boxes and voting "present."

Stan Redmond| 3.5.12 @ 7:06PM

You can if you start with the clean end...

Appleby| 3.5.12 @ 6:38AM

Ontario is burdened by a lunatic we call "Premier Dad" because of his desire to force us all into his fever dream of Green. This man presides over a province that is rapidly going bankrupt, and he is deeply in love with "Green" energy. Cars such as the Volt cannot run in a country that (global warming be damned) is below zero most of the time...extreme cold weather cuts the range of these cars and incidentally makes it impossible to use the car heater. Add to this Premier McGinty's determination to close down all the coal fired plants in Ontario, having forgotten I suppose that all these toys need to be plugged in somewhere. He also neglects to notice that virtually everyone in Ontario lives in apartments or condominiums, which have no charging stations. In fact, the apartment building in which I live (one of many in my complex) was built 40 years ago and has barely enough electric power available for everyday use -- in fact, it still has fuse boxes instead of circuit breakers and I can't run my microwave and my dishwasher together. There are 12 apartments on each of 12 floors and at least half the people own cars. Think of our daily brownouts as electric cars overwhelm the neighbourhood supply of power!

How do these people manage to live day to day without thinking?

WRTolkas| 3.5.12 @ 8:22AM

Dear Appleby,

I read your comments often. You are a good and intelligent writer; except with the above comment you made one glaring error - the last sentence - what evidence do you have to indicate a politician thinks? The politician's Maslow's Hierarchy is simple: 1. Power, 2. Need money for the power.

Merlin| 3.5.12 @ 9:02AM

Appleby,

LOL, Thanks for your perspective, here and elsewhere.

RJ| 3.5.12 @ 6:42AM

The Volt is another illustration that government cannot dictate technology. California tried this approach in the 1990s and GM developed a car with over a thousand pounds of batteries. It didn't really get much beyond the concept stage, but it cost GM plenty. There are some very exciting new sources of energy in our future, but it is likely we will be dependent on traditional sources for the next few decades.

Timothy L. Pennell| 3.5.12 @ 6:49AM

If wishes were fishes.

Let's not forget to whom those 7,621 Volts went to. The "Car for the Masses, went to people who, on average, made $178,000 a years. They bought them as a Conversation Piece (usually as their 3rd Car) and the 99% PAID THEM for doing it. The rest of them were purchased by Unions, Universities, and Corporate Cronies, (Jeffery Immelt's GE is about to buy a Fleet of them) because that's what Crony Capitalism is all about. "You scratch my back with some Scratch, and I pull down my pants, bend over, and buy your CRAP, so that you don't look so bad."

Not only is it the Automobile version of the NEW and Improved Government Mandated, Healthy School Lunch, (where 99% of all of the Vegetables end up in the GARBAGE) but they rank just below Radioactive Waste, when it comes to disposing of its' Vaunted Nickel Cadmium Battery. One need only visit the DEAD ZONE in Canada, where the Factory that makes them, is situated. Think: Chernobyl, after the blast. And, of course, a Coal Fired Power Plant is needed to feed the Beast.

Nobody wants it. No-one can Afford it, which is why Domestic Oil Drilling on Federal Lands is VERBOTEN. The American people will not succumb to Pharaoh's wishes, so they must be punished. High Gas Prices are the Plan. If he can't Convince us that he knows best? He will COMPEL us. Out of his own Flack's Mouth, he says that "Lowering the Gas Prices is not an objective of his Administration. Au Contraire. It is his Administration's fondest wish that the beating their taking at the Pump, will FORCE THEM to do as they're told.

"We Reward our Friends, and PUNISH our Enemies."

It's gonna be a HOT Summer.

And, I don't mean the Weather.

tdiinva| 3.5.12 @ 7:43AM

I don't disagree with your post but the Volt uses Lithium-Ion and not NICAD batteries.

Timothy L. Pennell| 3.5.12 @ 2:45PM

You are correct. Lithium-Ion.

Just as TOXIC.

StanO| 5.24.12 @ 5:44PM

No their not, not to defend this butt ugly car, but Lithium Ions are much easier to deal with the Ni-Cad (Nickel-CADMIUM)

Gladius| 3.5.12 @ 7:04PM

These are the people that are going to run our health care. We're doomed!!!

Holdfast| 3.5.12 @ 9:42PM

Actually, only about 52% of Americans actually pay Federal Income Taxes, and the top 10% of earners pay a huge chunk of that, so really the top 2% are recycling their own tax money (in the most useless way possible), while taking a nice bite out of their near neighbors in the next 8% or so. And all of this is blessed by St. Obama (PBUH)

Bill| 3.19.12 @ 1:13PM

Unless you believe that ones social security money goes into a "lock box", your statement is false. FICA taxes are income taxes. They go to the same place as income taxes. A rose by any other name and all that. If you do believe Social Security money goes into a lock box, I wonder if you might be interested in purchasing this bridge I own in Brooklyn. I'll give you a great price.

Darin| 3.5.12 @ 6:51AM

How many of those sales were to government agencies? Obama and his cronies are likely trying to force agencies to buy this car, and since Congress controls the purse strings, agencies may be forced to comply. I just hope the associated HAZMAT teams have been trained in dealing with the chemicals in the batteries when there is an accident or a Volt catches on fire.

Al Adab| 3.5.12 @ 3:13PM

I believe the major fleet customer was in fact the US government. Next however, we will be faced with a mandate that any family wishing a second car must purchase a zero emissions one - like the Volt. Rather like the CFL mandate with GE the sole manufacturer and campaign contributor.

beebop2| 3.6.12 @ 5:54AM

Thank you for this opening.

My school teacher sister and her government husband are the only two drivers in their demobrat household and own FOUR vehicles -- THREE of which are SUV's .... how surprised are they going to be down the road .... ;)

Bill| 3.19.12 @ 1:18PM

I don't think it will be that obvious. First it will be a mandate that all third cars must get 30 mpg or better unless one pays a huge fee. Only one percenters own three cars, so make them pay a fee if they want to pollute. Then it will be all second cars. Then the it will move up to 40 mpg, then zero emissions. Then, it will move onto first cars.

The Bruce| 3.5.12 @ 11:18PM

The majority of Volts sold were purchased by the government and GE.

r.c. leaf| 3.5.12 @ 7:09AM

The sheer arrogance of Obama when he declared
that car companies should build cars that "Amer-
icans want to buy." Given their choice, they want
something akin to what he had hiding in his garage. A big, powerful, luxurious Chrysler 300.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 3.5.12 @ 7:18AM

Another perfect example of failed central economic planning.

Brian Mc| 3.5.12 @ 7:30AM

On a sidenote, I watched some of the "Alone in the Wilderness" documentary over the weekend about the Iowan who moved to Alaska. While he was building his cabin I found myself wondering whether the Feds would allow this activity today.

So, you want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Just try and do it without a social security card and driver's license and see how far you get. We are frogs in the kettle to be sure. This article just strengthens that notion all the more. There is no turning back as we deplore the temperature of the water.

Mike Hawk| 3.5.12 @ 3:42PM

A Volt would be useless in Alaska.

Nick099| 3.5.12 @ 7:39AM

Excellent article. I am a long-time auto enthusiast. It is refreshing to read an article about the Volt in which the writer is not lying, pandering, or irrational. Most of the popular car magazines these days unabashedly promote, in one form or another, the mythical "green auto" baloney.....knowing full well ( they have to..no one can be that dumb?) there is no such thing, and will not be, for a very, very long time.

SC Mike| 3.5.12 @ 7:46AM

The Volt’s cold weather performance ain’t great, but neither does it shine in the hot, humid South. The AC uses a fair amount of juice, so expect that gasoline engine to run a bit more.

Did I mention that it requires premium fuel?

Old Soldier| 3.5.12 @ 7:47AM

For the same money as the Volt, I could buy a BMW 335d. The "d" is for diesel. The Volt battery goes dead about 30 minutes after leaving home - although I've never seen the math on what it does to a power bill. Once the battery is dead, the BMW diesel gets far better mileage, AND is a fun, fast car to drive.

Who in their right mind would buy this thing?

StanO| 5.24.12 @ 5:50PM

I agree with you, but the Volt is only going to cost about 32k (remember our contribution!) and gets about the same mileage off battery, and normally diesel is no gimmee at the pump either.

What do I care? I can't afford either one!

PCP Smoker| 3.5.12 @ 7:48AM

I'm curious. Could this car be driven at normal highway speeds, say 60 mph, with the heater, radio, and wipers on? Say on a "rainy night in Georgia" during the winter. If so, for how long?
Peters is right. Why buy a Volt when a BMW is also an option?

Meister | 3.5.12 @ 8:02AM

The Trabant wasn't nearly as bad as some would have us believe. A new electric version has been under consideration for some time but no one has pulled the trigger - yet. Now that, unlike the Volt, just might have some potential. Neue Trabi, anyone?

Intelligent Design| 3.5.12 @ 8:06AM

GE said it would buy 25,000 Volts, wasting shareholders' capital. CEO Immelt is still sucking up to Obama, and they both belong in the garbage truck of history.

Mac Jehoff| 3.5.12 @ 10:17PM

Barry should get 25,000 volts, right between the ears.

C. S. P. Schofield| 3.5.12 @ 9:02AM

The core problem of the Volt is that the Green Dreamers are never into details, and won't listen to people who are. The price of the Volt isn't necessarily a killer; the early CD players cost $1000 or so, and while they didn't sell like hotcakes they did sell steadily enough that the technology got cheaper. I see no reason to believe that all electric cars, from this day forward, will necessarily cost as much as a luxury sedan, or suffer from all the Volt's limitations. But for electric cars to become a real force in the marketplace, several things have to happen. The Electricity transmission infrastructure has to be heavily reinforced, to support widespread charging stations. And far more importantly, more generation capacity must be built. Any more towards these goals will be fought, tooth and nail, by the same people who claim they want widespread use of electric cars. They imagine a Utopia, but aren't willing to really put in any skull sweat on how to implement it. It marks them as permanently immature. It takes an adult to make dreams into reality, and there simply aren't enough adults in the Green movement.

Mike Hawk| 3.5.12 @ 9:22AM

Generation capacity is being shut down. How are you going to charge these turkeys, with windmills??

The Bruce| 3.5.12 @ 11:29PM

Well, remember, we're not allowed to judge the pie-in-the-sky failures of liberals and their dreams of utopia -- we're only supposed to look at their "good" intentions, now matter how many millions die or how many trillions it costs.

Bill| 3.19.12 @ 1:22PM

If the price of electricity were decreased, say through an expansion of nuclear energy, the lifetime price of the Volt would go down. If greens really wanted us to be free from gas cars, this is the first step. If electricity were all but free, people would be all over electric cars.

Willis| 3.5.12 @ 9:05AM

The Volt is just another tiresome example of the "change we've been waiting for". My daughter recently leased a Chevy Cruze Eco, no money up front (not even for taxes or transfer-a true sign and drive), 39 months for under $200 per month. And she regularly gets 50 mpg at turnpike speeds on regular fuel. The gauge only goes to 50, so that may even be a tad understated.

PolishKnight| 3.5.12 @ 3:55PM

I guess it's a good deal all around. Your daughter gets reliable, efficient transportation and Chevy gets $7800 for barely over 3 years on a car that's about $20K loaded off the lot. I'm usually against leases, but this isn't a particularly bad one. She can always negotiate to buy the car, without penalty, for $9K or so and see if the dealer goes for it?

Bob Grant| 3.5.12 @ 9:51AM

Many here have commented on the performance of the Volt Battery in extreme cold/hot conditions but does anyone know these extreme conditions can affect the lifespan of the battery?

Based on my understanding of Lithium battery technology, the environment itself can have a negative affect on the battery, regardless if it's in operation or not.

RickZ| 4.10.12 @ 11:41AM

My Lithium-Ion batteries (laptop, cell phone) are good for something like 500 charging cycles. The battery capacity goes down, as it ages.

So, if you get 50 miles on your Volt today, in two years, it will get 35 or 40. Then, it's up to your tank of Premium Fuel.

Air Conditioner, (Electric) Heater, Headlights use a bunch of battery power. Stereo, Fan not so much. Defrosters do use more than a little.

StanO| 5.24.12 @ 5:54PM

Generally speaking for most all batteries heat=higher efficiency, higher discharge rates, shorter life. Cold=lower efficiency, low discharge rates (that's why car battery commericials always seem to show someone not starting in the cold), and longer battery life.

Slacker| 3.5.12 @ 11:33AM

It is gratifying to see Government Motors experience failure.

It never made any sense that innovation would come from GM. As if a bankrupt piece of shit GM was going to outclass Toyota and Honda. The comical part is how quickly the Volt nosedived.

lyman goon| 3.5.12 @ 2:06PM

Don't forget that the 2011 purchases were largely govt fleet or GE fleet buys. They are unlikely to make 2012 buys so look for a huge drop in 2012 demand.

Joe D.| 3.5.12 @ 2:08PM

So let me get this straight. We spent $3 Billion to help GM (Government Motors) build a play toy for guilt ridden upper middle class or rich people. That makes complete since, NOT!

kwan| 3.5.12 @ 2:50PM

Da Community Organizer wants 1,000,000 of these electric Alinskymobiles on the road by 2015. But it looks like reality has again crashed another of Baraq's green fantasies. But all is not lost if the Supreme Court votes that it is perfectly alright for the federal government to mandate what we "must" buy (remember ObamaCare) we may all soon be driving Volts or tossed into federal prison.

WhiteBikerTrash| 3.5.12 @ 3:00PM

If Eisenhower's administration had subsidized the Edsel. Think of what we could be driving today. $80,000.00 Yugos?

gearjammer| 3.5.12 @ 3:03PM

The day a sane person buys GM bonds is the day GM becomes a success story.

cicero| 3.5.12 @ 4:18PM

The whole purpose behind the green movement was, as stated, twofold: 1.)the world was running out of oil, and 2.) our automobiles were polluting the admosphere/ overheating the atmosphere. Well, it seems that everyday there is a new news story affirming that we are, in fact, floating on oil, and won't run out for at least the next 3 centuries. It further seems that our cars no longer pollute the atmosphere, and that global warming was a hoax. So, what is the excuse for the Volt?

Mike Hawk| 3.5.12 @ 6:20PM

Oil is an abiogenic product from the center of the earth that percolates to the surface at seismically active zones. It is not a 'fossil' product. It is the gift of mother earth and God to man to use for his betterment.

oncebitten| 3.5.12 @ 7:20PM

Amen. Did anyone ever stop to think why the Gulf of Mexico has so much oil. Can anyone say massive comet impact. Fracture Zone brought all that nice crude to the surface.

Bill| 3.19.12 @ 1:33PM

I love alternate scientific theories. A lot of very smart people have pushed for oil as an abiogenic product in the past. I think the evidence points to the consensus belief, but the presence of methane on other planets does create interesting debate. I guess I look at it this way. We have more than enough oil for now and we will adapt to other fuels if oil runs out.

albert constantine jr| 3.5.12 @ 5:03PM

There are a number of discoveries that are in some part subsidized by government research that went on to have commercial application and success. One needn’t travel to the moon to enjoy Tang or other powdered drink mix, and one does not need to establish a distant early warning radar system to microwave a bag of popcorn.

It does seem that most successful innovations did not derive from discoveries that were themselves the end, but rather, the technology was developed to further a worthy government goal, such as defense or space exploration, and commercial spinoffs derived from the knowledge gained in that pursuit.

I’m pretty sure that if the USDA set out to discover Tang as part of the WIC program, for example, the home of all participants would be identifiable by the large drums of a foul smelling off color sticky substance that the research would have produced.

Capt. Illini| 3.5.12 @ 5:08PM

...now getting back to the turd analogy...what GM was asked to do was pick up the clean end by manufacturing this movement. Unfortunately they've come to realize that the whole experiment is dirty, and they are now in deeper analysis trying to figure out a way to consume this malady while smiling, and telling us it tastes like chicken...

SUBVET| 3.6.12 @ 6:23PM

GM = barry

threeleafclover| 3.5.12 @ 5:31PM

You know everything else about cars, Mr. Peters - do you know what UAW workers on lay-off status get paid? Brings a tear to your eye to read their contract!
A tear, accompanied by hysterical laughter.

bobmontgomery| 3.5.12 @ 5:40PM

So what do you do? Well, if you're a poor, black person in America, or a black person who wants to help black people, you change your party affiliation from D to R, and as you do so, you warn the R's that they had better mean what they say about the free market and American exceptionalism or you'll join up with a bunch of poor white people and form a third party.

threeleafclover| 3.5.12 @ 5:41PM

We know what Obama drives. A golf cart and - us crazy! What does Warren Buffet drive or get hauled around in? How about Barbra Streisand? Bill Maher?

I may have found the solution to the Energy Problem, every breast -beating environmentalist and Obama supporter put their money where their loud mouths are -and buy a Volt.

The last Enviro I had personal contact with was when I caught him scrawling with a ballpoint pen of my Bush/Cheney bumper strips. I snuck up behind him and stage -whispered "That comes off in the car wash". He scuttled off to his vintage VW bus - the only thing holding it together was Peace signs and Save the Whale bumper strips.

Obama got elected on White Guilt. But tell me, how did Environmentalists get to run the world?

bobmontgomery| 3.5.12 @ 5:48PM

Same way. Guilt. Same way that kids get to tell their parents how to parent. Same way that sexual deviants get to tell the church what to preach. What is needed on the part of traditional Americans is to take up the mantra of Jesse Jackson ,,,I AM...SOMEBODY!

Pat| 3.5.12 @ 6:13PM

Folks who drive Volts find us ordinary American peasants revolting - in the pungent body odor sense, not the armed rebellion sense - but they’re never above confiscating our money to subsidize their self-righteous cause of the month. Feudal lords felt the same way about their serfs, they simply took their crops, their livestock and sometimes their daughters under the never challenged pretext they were special human beings, while their serfs were …. well, what admirable things can one say about serfs?

Volt owners care about our earth’s welfare, although a Cadillac Escalade is sometimes their “other” car – you needn’t carry this save the earth thing to extremes according to Algore. They hate firearms, but not those weapons carried by their bodyguards or the government personnel assigned to protect them.

300 thread count sheets are the bare minimum found on their beds, exotic coffee beans and an $800 grinder are a must have and a $2,000 bottle of wine to display to dinner guests, even though they personally can’t taste the difference between their expensive vintage bourdeaux and a Mondavi vintners’ reserve bottled last fall.

Novelty is important to them, they’ve seen the latest Broadway production as well as purchased the latest production in “Green” automotive technology. They’re different from us and we should take pity on them. And if they’d stop their Washington D. C. house servants from constantly stealing our money, maybe we would do just that.

Al Adab| 3.5.12 @ 6:27PM

A wise man once said, "If hypocricy were oil, this town (DC) would be Saudi Arabia." About sums it up I suggest.

SUBVET| 3.6.12 @ 6:27PM

A LIBERAL..."is a communist with a college education thinking negoro thoughts"

SUBVET| 3.6.12 @ 6:28PM

excuse me......."negro"

spikeacolchester| 3.5.12 @ 7:10PM

I have been in automobile busdiness for over 40 years. For safety reasons, there are very few automobiles I would not drive. But here is the short list: any hybrid and the volt. Why? Basically, these vehicles are an electric chair on wheels. Not to mention a toxic waste dump. What do the do with the old batteries? How are they disposed? Who pays for the disposal? Bad design, bad idea backed by "good intension".

Buck Ofama| 3.5.12 @ 7:29PM

You might have been in the auto biz 40 years, but you seem to have stopped learning when you started your job.

spikacolchester | 3.5.12 @ 10:01PM

Buck,
Not quite!
Read up on just some of what I have learned http://www.squidoo.com/hybridcarhazards

Buck Ofama| 3.5.12 @ 7:28PM

Maybe Ovomit can go to sleep too.

Michael L| 3.5.12 @ 7:43PM

When they resurrect this b---ard stepchild of Mr Obama and Government Motors, let's make the name a little more accurate. How about calling it the REvolt? Or, perhaps more straight to the point: The GM POS. Because it is.

magicbeans| 3.5.12 @ 8:01PM

Another "green investment" for Obama another failure at our expence. And what is his energy policy? More of these. Doesn't he know we're broke?

Wencil| 3.5.12 @ 8:52PM

Dick Lugar voted for the GM bailout. remember that Hoosiers.

TexEd| 3.5.12 @ 9:10PM

"It could be a long wait for those workers."
You're kidding! This is the UAW spending taxpayer money. These guys will be on full pay or part pay plus state benefits for, well, forever.

SpiderMike| 3.5.12 @ 9:11PM

It was Obama that killed the Volt when he said he could solve our expensive gas problem by sprinkling fairy dust on algae.

Appleby| 3.5.12 @ 9:27PM

I thought we were going to solve our starvation problem by eating algae. Oh wait, the only places peeople are starving are places suffering from distribution problems, i.e. tribal warfare...which are pretty much the same places where all the oil is.

Things that make you go hmmmm.

Appleby| 3.5.12 @ 9:27PM

I thought we were going to solve our starvation problem by eating algae. Oh wait, the only places peeople are starving are places suffering from distribution problems, i.e. tribal warfare...which are pretty much the same places where all the oil is.

Things that make you go hmmmm.

Appleby| 3.5.12 @ 9:27PM

I thought we were going to solve our starvation problem by eating algae. Oh wait, the only places peeople are starving are places suffering from distribution problems, i.e. tribal warfare...which are pretty much the same places where all the oil is.

Things that make you go hmmmm.

Appleby| 3.5.12 @ 9:27PM

I thought we were going to solve our starvation problem by eating algae. Oh wait, the only places peeople are starving are places suffering from distribution problems, i.e. tribal warfare...which are pretty much the same places where all the oil is.

Things that make you go hmmmm.

Auto Manic| 3.5.12 @ 9:26PM

The whole focus on only MPG as a selling point is a great example of taking advantage of the economic illiteracy of people.

In dollar terms alone, not even counting the opportunity cost of lost time sitting in the car driving when you could be otherwise productive, a wise person would add up the insurance, the maintenance, and the cost, and divide that total by the miles driven. The most useful metric, IMHO, is cents per mile.

Of course, the best way to keep costs of driving low is to DRIVE LESS. But, ah, in America, the joy of driving---and sex---is instilled in us as kids.

Sitting quietly, spring comes, and the grass grows---as a hoary Zen saying puts it.

To a large extent, too many people are not the owners of vehicles, but are owned by THEM.

Probably the perfect contemporary example is the Chevy Volt, as well as the Toyota Prius. The people who are rich enough to buy them are certainly not doing so for MPG, or to save the planet---except stupidly and subconsciously, perhaps---but instead in order to show off.

Ah, I’ve always enjoyed seeing old men driving new Corvettes. The angle of the dangle, and a man’s NOT a man, for all that.

johnd2| 3.5.12 @ 11:34PM

A minor quibble ..

Algae will likely prove to be a future mega industry. The little rascals grow fast and can be designed to make all sorts of cool chemicals. That includes fuel. But it is still more expensive than gasoline.

Mark Murphy| 3.6.12 @ 2:33AM

What this country needs is a good coal fired car.

Bill| 3.19.12 @ 1:39PM

If you could design a viable engine that ran off lumps of coal, you would be a very wealthy man. I don't believe there's an efficient way to do so. So far, gasoline is the best mobile source of energy. Natural Gas is catching up. Electricity is still well behind.

POST American| 3.6.12 @ 5:21AM

-------Tavistock SOFT programming for cultural-------
--------------takedown, cover and SAP OP----------------
--------------------------ALERT!------------------------------

RE: 'Sleeps With the Fishes'
creating mind fusion around mafia and
capitalist efficiency.

Follows, of course, on the long, long, long
programmed and deeply, deeply driven in
'Godfather' cover op of 1972 --the year of
the CFR-Nixon/MAO sellout and yet unfolding
TREASON and sleaze op.

Again, unlike the fish,
full spectrum perception management
--never-- sleeps.

-------------YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED--------------

Richard Baker| 3.6.12 @ 6:55AM

Good comparison with the Trabant. Saw one at Don Garlits' Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, FL and it was a piece of junk. The concept of a $40k economy car is more about politics than automobiles. Yet another lefty/government pickpocketing scheme. Au revoir, Dolt.

Tim Shevlin| 3.6.12 @ 4:23PM

I was already to spring for a Volt last year, but, as you noted, the alternatives for the same money, plus the short range on battery-only for me were deal killers, along with other negatives. (and yes, I have continued to use my '95 great-running car for now). I'd still like a Volt, though I would settle for a demo model to make the economics of the purchase something close to sane. A point of disagreement: most development on the car occurred prior to the bailout, so I'm thinking that the screwed bondholders are the ones who paid the bulk of the cost.
I have always felt that there has to be a better way, in the modern world, to push technology ahead other than by war. I believe that the money spent on the Volt is a suitable alternative to war.

Bill| 3.19.12 @ 1:42PM

No, even the most misguided war (if waged by the good guys) is better than throwing money away on a product nobody wants. The best solution is not to do either, unless war is necessary.

RickZ| 4.10.12 @ 11:54AM

Yer throwing away $7,500 in Gub'mint Tax Rebates if'n ya buy one of them demo cars.

Plus, the (very expensive) battery is closer to replacement time.

In order to save the Environment, and to save GM, and to save everyone's Health, and to save the Kittens,
The Gub'mint should give you a free Volt when you sign up for ObamaKare.

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