Your Tax Dollars at Work: The Volt as a Halo Model to the Cruze

In the 1960s, customers who could only dream of owning a Corvette often left their local Chevy dealers with the keys to a new Impala or Bel-Air. Now, it seems the same thing is happening with the Chevy Volt don’t-call-it-a-hybrid and the Cruze small car.

Year-to-date sales are up some 32% across the range, though only 567 of the 80,000 plus cars the Detroit automaker sold in June were Volts. The remainder were cars like the Cruze, which has earned the crown of Chevy’s biggest seller.

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Big Brother: Chevrolet and OnStar to Monitor Volt Drivers’ Charging Habits

General Motors and OnStar announced a new program that will be applied to the Chevrolet Volt and which will use the car’s built-in telematics system to send data from the vehicle to the power grid.

This will enable the carmaker to track the charging habits of the vehicle’s drivers so as to better manage the car’s energy supply.

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NYPD Goes Green with 50 Chevrolet Volt Patrol Cars

Police officers in New York City will now be able to boast that they drive environmentally friendly cars and, as an added bonus, approach possible offenders silently. That’s because 50 Chevrolet Volts have been added to the 40 Nissan Altima Hybrids of the NYPD fleet, as a part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC project for lowering emissions and creating, in his own words, “a greener, greater New York City”. Read more »

Union of Concerned Scientists Releases 2011 Hybrid Scorecard: Prius = Good, Touareg Hybrid = Bad

The Union of Concerned Scientist, a non-profit science advocacy group in the U.S., has released its second annual Hybrid Scorecard. The organisation criticised hybrid car manufacturers for not delivering on the technology’s promise, for placing performance above fuel efficiency and environmental benefit and burdening hybrids with features that put them out of the price range of average Americans.

A total of 34 hybrid vehicles from the 2011 to 2012 model year were tested for their fuel efficiency, environmental impact, value-for-money and their so-called “forced-feature premium”. The latter is features that don’t improve fuel efficiency but probably make the cars more appealing to money-conscious consumers.

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CNN Says Toyota Prius Plug-in will Top Chevy Volt, 12 Months before the Former Goes On Sale

If you are a GM diehard or a Chevy Volt fanboy, I suggest you cover your ears and start humming loudly to yourselves. CNN Money recently featured an article from Fortune magazine’s Motorworld declaring the upcoming Toyota Prius Plug-in hybrid a better buy and a better car than Chevy’s range-extended electric vehicle. Shock, gasp, horror, blasphemy etc.

To quote Motorworld senior editor Alex Taylor III: “[The Prius Plug-in is] more efficient and less expensive than the Volt, and Toyota actually stands the possibility of making a profit on it -- something General Motors concedes it can't do with the Volt.”

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Nissan Leaf Outsells Chevy Volt in Electric Car Battle During the first half of 2011

The battle for supremacy in the electric car category has begun –even though at present there are only two prime contestants. According to Bloomberg, the Nissan LEAF sold 3,875 cars the first half of the year, compared to 2,745 of GM’s Volt over the same period.

From January through May, the Volt was only 17 cars behind the Leaf, but in the following month, sales of the Volt plunged to just 561 cars, while those of the LEAF took off with a record 1,708 units, giving Nissan’s EV the lead. The LEAF costs $33,000 before a $7,500 federal tax credit, while the Volt costs $41,000 before government incentives.

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GM Rumored to Debut New Plug-in Hybrid Crossover at 2012 Detroit Motor Show

At a recent event called “Charged 2011 – EV Symposium Silicon Valley”, General Motors’ western region group manager for environment and energy communications, Dave Barthmuss, told Brad Berman from Plugincars that the company may surprise us at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show with a new model, hinting at a plug-in hybrid crossover. Read more »

2011 The Chevrolet Volt will initially be released in California

After the first 40 miles a 4 cylinder gasoline/E85-powered engine generator will create on board electricity to a 53kw generator which will enable the Volt to travel a further 300 miles. The power from the generator is sent either to the batteries or the electric motor depending on how much the battery is charged and how much power is required for the car. There are many other features in the Chevrolet Volt as well such as liquid crystal element display, which is completely configurable by the driver along with a seven inch display for viewing vehicle information.

It has a touch screen with climate controls for information and entertainment. There is the provision for an optional navigation system with its own on board hard drive for storing music or whatever you like. There is also a standard Bluetooth device to be used with cell phones and Bluetooth and USB connectivity to enable fast music streaming. The Chevrolet Volt has been scheduled and is expected to be released in late 2010. The price of the car is estimated at around $40,000.

In an industry often chided for dragging its feet when it comes to saving the environment, GM has taken a stand to be the champion of the new electric car. Having failed once before in the 1990s with the EV-1, GM is taking a huge risk by promising an as-yet undeveloped car in just two years. GM needs to build the battery to power this revolutionary car. Between engineering and testing, this could constitute a lengthy and expensive process - and the possibility then exists that GM may not follow through on its promise.

In addition to the science of it all, there's the publicity. GM's name hasn't been inspiring trust and building confidence in the past decade. They've been slow to respond to a changing market and suffered through expensive strikes and internal problems. If this special project succeeds, it may be their ticket out of the hole they dug themselves. If it fails, well, at least they would have inspired their competitors to go out and build us a plug-in hybrid.

The Chevrolet Volt is generating a tremendous amount of press. Try this link to follow all the Volt news, see additional pictures, read updates on the Volt's price (recently bumped to $40,000), and eventually find the release date and availability data.

The Volt will initially be released in California, followed by New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Michigan and Texas. 12 to 18 months later, nearly all of the 600 Chevy dealers nationwide should be selling the hybrid car, The Volt.

2011 The Chevrolet Volt will initially be released in California

After the first 40 miles a 4 cylinder gasoline/E85-powered engine generator will create on board electricity to a 53kw generator which will enable the Volt to travel a further 300 miles. The power from the generator is sent either to the batteries or the electric motor depending on how much the battery is charged and how much power is required for the car. There are many other features in the Chevrolet Volt as well such as liquid crystal element display, which is completely configurable by the driver along with a seven inch display for viewing vehicle information.

It has a touch screen with climate controls for information and entertainment. There is the provision for an optional navigation system with its own on board hard drive for storing music or whatever you like. There is also a standard Bluetooth device to be used with cell phones and Bluetooth and USB connectivity to enable fast music streaming. The Chevrolet Volt has been scheduled and is expected to be released in late 2010. The price of the car is estimated at around $40,000.

In an industry often chided for dragging its feet when it comes to saving the environment, GM has taken a stand to be the champion of the new electric car. Having failed once before in the 1990s with the EV-1, GM is taking a huge risk by promising an as-yet undeveloped car in just two years. GM needs to build the battery to power this revolutionary car. Between engineering and testing, this could constitute a lengthy and expensive process - and the possibility then exists that GM may not follow through on its promise.

In addition to the science of it all, there's the publicity. GM's name hasn't been inspiring trust and building confidence in the past decade. They've been slow to respond to a changing market and suffered through expensive strikes and internal problems. If this special project succeeds, it may be their ticket out of the hole they dug themselves. If it fails, well, at least they would have inspired their competitors to go out and build us a plug-in hybrid.

The Chevrolet Volt is generating a tremendous amount of press. Try this link to follow all the Volt news, see additional pictures, read updates on the Volt's price (recently bumped to $40,000), and eventually find the release date and availability data.

The Volt will initially be released in California, followed by New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Michigan and Texas. 12 to 18 months later, nearly all of the 600 Chevy dealers nationwide should be selling the hybrid car, The Volt.