No More Chevy Volt
GM is ceasing production of the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt, and their explanation seems to hold water: given the significant developments in pure, battery EVs and the build-out of the nation’s charging infrastructure, there is an ever-diminishing demand for gasoline-powered range-extenders. Put alternatively, range anxiety is largely a thing of the past.
This rings true. Yes, the Volt provided both 50-mile battery-only commuting, and unlimited range on top of that with its on-board internal combustion engine. It was a car that could be driven to and from local destinations with infinite MPG (zero gas), as well as long trips to see grandma in Chicago. But now, with battery ranges over 300 miles, we reach an interesting question: How far does the average person really want to drive in one day? In the rare case that the answer is more than 300 miles, perhaps a rental is a good idea.
In any case, the Volt was an important part of automotive history, and we’re all glad GM came through with the goods.
Craig,
I liked the GM Volt, especially the more attractive, short lived European Ampera version.
GM never really tried with the Volt. The marketing was always half-hearted and inconsistent. The Volt was a car built largely for the Californian market and a concession to Obama-era rescue subsidies.
naturally, once the subsidies ran out, GM reverted to type and abandoned hybrid production in favour of SUV type products. Volt is only one of six sedan models cancelled by GM.
GM Bolt sales remain small and decreasing. GM never produced many of this slow selling loss making vehicle, whose best quarter saw less that 6000 vehicles delivered world wide.
Range anxiety remains a major deterrent to EV adoption. There are no 300+ affordable EV’s on sale, (can you name one?). Only the $150,000 plus, Tesla Model S 100D, equipped with a 100 kWh (360 MJ) battery pack can under perfect conditions and with a single passenger achieved 335 miles on a test track, without using aircon or heating.
Real world mileage, in normal traffic with four passengers and light aircon usage, about 250-270 miles.
The GM Bolt, makes the most of its 60-kilowatt lithium-ion battery connected to a permanent-magnet electric motor. This combination provides the equivalent of 200 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque in a vehicle that weighs only 3,563 pounds.
The Bolt is surprisingly accurate claiming a maximum range of 238 miles, but again with 4 passengers and driven in normal traffic condition with a combination of gradients and light use of heater or aircon, the bolt achieves real world mileages of 170-190 miles.
Charging is not a strong point for the Bolt. On a household setup, 240 volts will charge the battery in 10 hours, while a regular old 110-volt plug needs 30 hours to get it done. Even that fast-charging port only gets you 90 miles of range in 30 minutes before defaulting to the slower charge speed.
Unlike Tesla, GM has no supercharging net work.
Without subsidies a GM Bolt cost nearly $45,000 for what is essentially a small hatchback.
I’m afraid GTM and you own optimistic opinions are based on the same erroneous arguments that have persisted since 2006 !
In truth, GM’s Volt sold less than 150,000 units over a production run of 8 years. The Vehicles never made a profit.
Compare that to the nearly 8,000,000 highly profitable Toyota Camry vehicles or the 11,600,000 Toyota Corolla sold in the same period and you start to gain a sense of proportion. The Toyota Corolla costs less than half the price of new GM Bolt.
GM was never serious about the Volt, and sadly even less so with the Bolt.
Why invent an unrealistic and inaccurate scenario, then castigate others for not purchasing a vehicle you wouldn’t invest in for yourself ?
No “evil” oil company prevents you from purchasing an EV, no “Citizens United Conspiracy” of corrupt political lobbyists,..nope, it’s all your own decision not to buy a Volt, Bolt, Leaf, or even a Tesla so beloved of your friend Fritz.
I’m eager to promote the adoption of EV technology but disseminating false, misleading and over optimistic claims isn’t helpful and can be counter productive.
“15 “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
I still maintain that the what was initially envisioned for the Volt drivetrain was the ideal commuter car if only they eliminated 90+% of the battery, eliminated the plug, and followed through on the rest…
But of course, that is not what was tried.
The Volt was originally supposed to be an all-electric drive with an onboard generator for producing additional electricity. That is perfect. You have no transmission, limited complexity in the drive, and the ICE is always operating at the absolute optimal BSFC.
But first they determined that it had to be plugged in – which was far worse for the environment and nothing short of stupid given the battery mass and cost in 2010.
Then they determined that they needed to increase the top speed to 100 Mph – for no reason that I can determine. That top speed made the initial design goal quite difficult, because they would have had to increase the power of their electric motors and the size and power of their generator and the size and power requirements of their batteries… This started getting too costly, again because they wanted to hold to the absurd desire to have the vehicle be plug-in.
Their compromise was to throw the transmission back in, so now the car has a transmission, which is engaged to assist the electric motors whenever the car goes fast. The still had a large and heavy battery, and then they also had a large and heavy transmission… the worst of both worlds, and they had an inefficient dual-powered drivetrain that would receive torque from an electric motor and from a traditional transmission that was driven by a generator that had been jury-rigged into a vehicle engine which now operated at radically different BSFC loads.
The battery was only 16 kWh, so it wasn’t big enough to go far on a single charge, and it wasn’t efficient because it was geared into a dual-powered drivetrain. As an electric car, it was seriously sub-par.
But as a gasoline ICE hybrid, it only got 37mpg. That sucks. The Prius – the gold standard – has been 50 mpg or above since 2001. Now the Hyundai Ionic gets 58 mpg, and it has the same amount of passenger and luggage space that the Volt offered.
The Volt tried to be two things, both of which performed sub-optimally, and as it was not great at either it was shunned by people who wanted either. The fact that it was much more expensive than any non-luxury hybrid didn’t help at all.
Glenn,
Had you owned, or even driven a GM Chevy Volt/ Holden Volt/Buick Velite 5/ Vauxhall Ampera or Opel Ampera back in 2010 you would have been surprised at what a good car GM product had produced. (especially with the more attractive Ampera facia.
Sure the GM product represented a lot of compromises in it’s very ambitious brief, but the GM 5 door hatchback was surprisingly well made, and delivered a quality driving experience.
The design was largely and effort to satisfy the Californian and Obama era conditions and requirements prevalent in 2006-2010.
Prius hybrids are a totally different class of vehicle, and appealed at that time to a different class of consumer requirements.
Volt found nearly 200,000 buyer in 8 years of production, not great but a lot of that can be blamed on poor GM marketing, lack of support etc, rather than defect in the car itself.
Marketed properly, the GM offering was comparable with the upper models of BMW 3 series and could have performed well in corporate fleets for lower and middle rank employee vehicles.
For most of Volt/Ampera’s production run vehicle was unique in a class by itself. The Nissan Leaf, which if Japanese sale are omitted sold less vehicles, was no real competitor, nor was Prius.
There is no real market for “EV commuter” cars, this was recognized by GM and most manufacturers when the Mitsubishi iMev, bombed so completely.
Although it’s very rare for a motorist to ever travel at 100mph, but from a marketing dynamic it’s definitely a sales plus.
The GM Volt was a brave and competently executed PHEV for the time, and doesn’t deserve castigation by armchair pundits and know-it-all critics, with no knowledge or even personal experience in EV, hybrid or PHEV vehicles.
A more valid criticism might comparing the determined commitment and clever marketing by Toyota to promoting hybrid technology, to GM’s erratic and ineffective efforts.