Automotive

Chevy Volt

33 Comments

I read that GM is forcing employees to drive the Volt.  Some employees are opting to pay for their own cars in order to avoid the Volt.  GM is offering to pay for public and home charging and doing everything they can to get people into the Volt cars… and employees are not pleased about it.  The stunning thing about the report is that after all the reinbursments for charging and everything, GM is chest pounding that they will save millions of dollars.

How?  If GM is paying for everything, it’s spending an awful lot of money to get people into a car that people are not wanting to get in.

Here’s an idea for GM.  Build a car that people actually want.  I don’t want a Volt.  I would never buy one.  Ever.  Here’s a promise.  I promise that I will never in my life buy a Volt.  Or a Prius.  Wait, maybe I would if I could get one for less than a pound of Tannerite.  I do like reactive targets.  But I would never buy one to drive.  Pretty much very few people want a Volt.  GM has made a car that only Metrosexual Hipsters want, because they don’t really want a car.  They want a political statement.  I want a car.  A real car.  Not a rolling iPod dock, not an Entertainment Center, not an “experience” or a rolling billboard for the Leftist’s Agenda.    No computers.  No BS frills.  A simple car that is fun to drive.

GM needs to build the Triumph TR6.

Think about it.  People would want it… they would buy them and GM wouldn’t have to pay out anything.  Sporty engine, light weight simple car with good handling, engine up front driving the wheels in the back…  People would enjoy driving and would be texting less and paying attention to the road more because they would realize that actual driving the car is more fun than the distraction devices in the car.  The car with an efficient little spirited 4 banger would get great mileage and would still be fun to drive.  I’d buy one of them!

33 thoughts on “Chevy Volt”

  1. Ogre, it’s all so sickening. I’ll do you one better: not only will I never buy a “Volt”, I’ll never ever buy anything Chevy.

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  2. They could never build or import the Triumph TR6 into the USA today. It does not have all of the federally mandated equipment. To meet federal standards all imported vehicles lose about 25% of their performance (including mileage). Compare the European versions of the SmartCar (an oxymoron) and the Mini-Cooper.

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    1. The Mazda Miata worked out well enough. I have faith that if GM wanted to… they could build a car like that. Retro styling, simple, light, and still fun to drive. It can be done.
      You are right about the loss of performance on imports… But it can still be done right.

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  3. One little problem with the Volts that B. Hussein Obama didn’t want mentioned – they tend to catch fire – http://patdollard.com/2012/01/obama-admin-shuts-down-investigation-of-chevy-volt/
    Wonder what will GE do when one of these things burns down one of their employees homes while charging in the garage.

    So if the government gives $10000 in taxpayer money as an incentive for this piece of crap, does this mean that GE is getting that refund? At $10K per car, no wonder they want every employee to drive one.

    Also, who’s building the charging stations needed for these things? Oh, that’s right – GE.

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  4. I believe it’s GE that’s “encouraging” employees to drive company Volts. Since GE takes some much “green” money from the government, they’re looking to bump Govt Motors’ sales since the Volt has proven to be a dud.

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  7. I feel like this drivetrain has some promise. It seems superficially similar to the diesel-electric drivetrains that run locomotives with the addition of running the power through a battery pack. I think I could get behind a vehicle with an onboard generator directing power to electric motors to drive the wheels. I’m no engineer, but it seems like it might be more efficient that way.

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    1. I did some hybrid-electric powertrain design back in grad school (took advantage of a govt stipend to promote hybrid research…I might be one of the bad guys…). The diesel-electric configuration only works for trains because they need the massive torque at zero rpm that electric motors offer. In autos, (except special situations like stop-and-go city buses where the average energy requirement is low and opportunity to recover braking energy is high) you end up on the loosing end of a series of losses – fuel to mechanical; mechanical to electric; (if you store the energy in a battery, you lose when you put it in and when you take it out) electric to mechanical

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        1. I’ve been away from this stuff for a while. Last I looked at it, the only thing that made sense in that configuration was a small turbine. They are most efficient when run hard and, in a low average energy situation like the city bus, small size and relatively low peak power isn’t really a liability.

          I think my thesis ended up concluding that hybrids are, theoretically, a great idea but batteries….they suck. Heavy, expensive, useless dead weight when you’re not using them, limited life, they degrade as they age, etc. One of my coworkers was looking at ultra-capacitors and they sounded attractive. I’ve read about super-duper flywheels…sounds like an accident waiting to hppen – a little unbalance at extreme rpm = a bomb on your vehicle.

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  9. A Triumph? Meh, their bikes were (and still are) awesome, but the cars left a lot to be desired in the not-leaking-oil-everywhere-or-breaking-down-randomly-or-spontaneously-catching-fire-and-burning-down-to-the-frame-rails department.

    No, what GM really needs to make is a modern Austin-Healey 3000.

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  10. Set and match to Ogre-San! The TR6 was the nicest, sexiest, coolest car of its era. I thought I was the only one who actually remembers it. Cool.

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  11. GM is requiring employees to as well? Couldn’t find any info about that. Linked article was just about the GE thing. Perhaps you’re confusing the two?

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      1. Yeah but the only Drudge article I can find is about the GE Volt requirement, not the GM one you based your post on.

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  13. The Volt is nothing more than a ultra expensive Trabant. as far as a new build TR 6 OH YEAH!!

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  14. So when people are finally forced to buy electric cars by this government run social engineering experiment, and electrical consumption goes up by say 60%, will the government then reconsider its punitive billing scales on electricity consumers?

    With one mouth they demand we use CFC bulbs to save electricity, with the other mouth they demand we buy electric cars which run on… electricity.

    And how is electricity produced again?

    “The government is good at one thing, It knows how to break your legs, and then hand you a crutch and say ‘see if it weren’t for the government you wouldn’t be able to walk.’” – Harry Browne

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  15. As a second generation MGA driver, Triumphs are technically against my religion. But still, that made me LOL. If only. To get a proper British sports car these days you just about have to go to the Japanese.

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  16. TR7 as designed by Pete Brock w/o the check mark on the side. The volt costs 43 K and compares to a Honda Fit.
    Geoff
    Who wants a Fit or aTDI

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  17. GM just tried and failed at building a roadster not too long ago. Remember the Solstice/Sky twins?
    I really doubt they’ll try again, especially with the new Toybaru coupe on its way and rumors that Nissan might bring back the 240 to compete. Lots of small 4-cylinder rear wheel drive competition all of a sudden… And Mazda seems to own the roadster space right now… to compete, you need to introduce something that is better than the Miata, not almost as good as.
    I suspect that if they set the Corvette team loose on the problem, they could come up with something awesome, but would they? The Solstice/Sky wasn’t it…

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