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Chevy Volt discontinued: Chevrolet's last Volt rolls off the assembly line

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Re: Chevy Volt discontinued: Chevrolet's last Volt rolls off the assembly line

#71

>>Sales averaged less than 20,000 per year, not enough to sustain the costly undertaking. That to me sounds like a decent number. I guess they were selling them at a loss.

They also never advertised it at all. The only people who knew about them either researched them or heard about them from word of mouth. The total absense of advertising for a vehicle that so many people loved has always reeked of lack of commitment from one side of the house. That doesn’t even factor in how Chevy dealerships would actively try to talk you out of them.

I heard about it when it first came out and frankly the name itself was a turnoff. I had no idea that they were selling so many. Maybe with some better branding it could have done better in the market.

Re: Chevy Volt discontinued: Chevrolet's last Volt rolls off the assembly line

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the shifter physical design was moronic The gear shifter? I thought electric cars didn't have those? I thought they were push-pedal-and-go like a go-kart?

I think they might mean the shifter to change from park/drive/reverse/neutral

Editors at Wikipedia call this a "Selector"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear_stick

Re: Chevy Volt discontinued: Chevrolet's last Volt rolls off the assembly line

#73
post #56

This was really shortsighted. PHEV is currently the best technology. I think the push for full EV is premature for mass market. It works for niche cases like Tesla, but not something that can be truly mainstream. With current battery tech and infrastructure, EV is a 50 mile technology. It has nothing to do with battery tech itself, doesn't matter how light or dense the battery is. The limit is infrastructure. 50 mile…

> how to extend the range to something everyone is used to, like 200-300 miles for road trips? There's two options, more batteries or an ICE engine. quick-change batteries would work for now

I think it comes down to the fact that batteries are big and heavy, so they end up being pretty integral to the structure of the car. A strong quick release /engage mechanism for that sounds rather difficult to do. Especially where the car can't flex when full of people/stuff during the swap.

Re: Chevy Volt discontinued: Chevrolet's last Volt rolls off the assembly line

#74
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely disagree. I have a Volt, and having a gas engine is not a "little benefit" to me. It's a huge benefit, despite the fact that one tank of gas lasts me about 6 months on average. I never have to worry about running out of electric charge and trying to find a charger, and I can go on long trips without having to worry about whether or not I have the range.

So why bother with an electric at all?

gas is expensive

Re: Chevy Volt discontinued: Chevrolet's last Volt rolls off the assembly line

#75
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See page 42 of the source report. UBS and Munro predict a 33% reduction in battery costs due to broader industry pricing trends, with a further reduction of 10-25% on powertrain components due to economies of scale and technology improvements. The report argues that the Bolt is already profitable on a contribution basis (sale price - cost of goods sold), meaning that GM make money on every Bolt they sell. What makes…

If demand is so high it seems like they could achieve profitability just by raising the price.

Not so simple in such a highly price-sensitive marketplace as the consumer auto industry.

Re: Chevy Volt discontinued: Chevrolet's last Volt rolls off the assembly line

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what will change between now and 2025 to enable profitability on Bolts?

A military conflict or global crisis driving up the price of gasoline.

Or the biggest and much more predictable thing in our era: anti-climate change liberal government policy intervention in the marketplace shifting demand regardless of the technological and mass-production economics.

Re: Chevy Volt discontinued: Chevrolet's last Volt rolls off the assembly line

#77
That’s too bad, the Volt’s powertrain made a lot of sense for those aren’t able to get an EV due to it being impractical (Many apartments).

What’s interesting is that Honda’s hybrids have basically the same drivetrain as the now discontinued Volt. They too discontinued (edit: some) of their plugin hybrids, which is also too bad.

Looks like the Prius plugin is gonna be the car to pick for a plug-in hybrid. I wish it looked much better, but judging by their success, Toyota seems to know what it’s doing with the Prius’ styling.

Re: Chevy Volt discontinued: Chevrolet's last Volt rolls off the assembly line

#78
post #56

This was really shortsighted. PHEV is currently the best technology. I think the push for full EV is premature for mass market. It works for niche cases like Tesla, but not something that can be truly mainstream. With current battery tech and infrastructure, EV is a 50 mile technology. It has nothing to do with battery tech itself, doesn't matter how light or dense the battery is. The limit is infrastructure. 50 mile…

> how to extend the range to something everyone is used to, like 200-300 miles for road trips? There's two options, more batteries or an ICE engine. quick-change batteries would work for now

The lost route IMO was modular batteries. Say your Model S has a bank replacable modules instead of a single monolith. These can be pulled and swapped with pre-charged cells in minutes. This also allows older packs to be pulled from circulation, removing the fear of aging batteries causing depreciation on the vehicle.

Re: Chevy Volt discontinued: Chevrolet's last Volt rolls off the assembly line

#79

This was really shortsighted. PHEV is currently the best technology. I think the push for full EV is premature for mass market. It works for niche cases like Tesla, but not something that can be truly mainstream. With current battery tech and infrastructure, EV is a 50 mile technology. It has nothing to do with battery tech itself, doesn't matter how light or dense the battery is. The limit is infrastructure. 50 mile…

>With current battery tech and infrastructure, EV is a 50 mile technology. It has nothing to do with battery tech itself, doesn't matter how light or dense the battery is. The limit is infrastructure. 50 miles is about what you can charge with a level 1 charger overnight.

The vast majority of first-time EV buyers also install a 240v charging station, which typically costs about $1200 including labour and will fully charge most cars overnight. Frankly, you'd be mad to spend $40,000 on a new EV but hamstring it by cheaping out on charging.

> The problem with more batteries is charge time. It's not good enough right now.

It's already good enough for most users, assuming you have reasonable access to suitable rapid chargers on your route. Very few people drive continuously for three or four hours, stop to refuel and immediately return to their car - human biological functions are a meaningful factor. You might be surprised at how long it actually takes you to refuel, pay for your fuel, visit the restroom, buy a coffee and stretch your legs, especially if you've got kids in tow. Rapid-charging an EV does take longer than refuelling a car, but you can do other stuff while it's charging.

Most ICE car owners only infrequently take long journeys. Most EV owners who do take longer journeys find that charging times only add a few minutes to the duration of their journey and are not a significant inconvenience. Charge times do remain a major obstacle for people who drive substantial distances for professional reasons, but they represent a small minority of car buyers.

Re: Chevy Volt discontinued: Chevrolet's last Volt rolls off the assembly line

#80
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how to extend the range to something everyone is used to, like 200-300 miles for road trips? There's two options, more batteries or an ICE engine. quick-change batteries would work for now

Tesla tried battery swap and abandoned it. If even early adopter Tesla customers won't accept this idea, it's very unlikely the mainstream will.

I suspect it would have to be imposed on the market through regulation and standardization. Otherwise you'll see endless quibbling on the swappable module specs, or 30 different types which would make it impractical to stock a replacement station.
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