Chevy Volt Debuts to Enthusiasm in California

By: Ucilia Wang

The Chevy Volt made its West Coast debut at the AltCar Expo & Conference in Santa Monica, Calif., drawing curious and enthusiastic onlookers Friday.

General Motors (GM) unveiled the plug-in hybrid electric car in Detroit last week as part of a celebration of its 100^th birthday. For the AltCar Expo, which showcases commercial and concept cars, GM shipped the same silver Volt from Detroit and parked it inside the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

GM plans to launch the Volt in November 2010. The automaker has engineered the Volt to drive using only the electric motor, but the four-seat car will use a small gasoline engine to generate electricity to help power the motor for longer distances. The design is different than today's hybrid-electric cars, such as the Toyota (TM) Prius, which are propelled by both the electric motor and the gasoline engine.

The silver Volt is the only one in North America, said Shad Balch, a GM spokesman at the expo. The carmaker is road-testing the Volt engine and lithium-ion battery pack in Detroit by transplanting them into the body of Chevy Malibu.

The model on display at the expo doesn't have its battery pack or the gasoline engine, Balch said. It does have a small battery pack to move the motor.

The regular lithium-ion battery pack would weigh 400 pounds and would be located in a T-shape beneath the seats, Balch said. It would take about six hours to recharge, at an estimated cost of 2 cents per mile.

In the current version, electrical charging would take place near the driver-side door, but GM is considering making it possible to charge from the passenger side as well.

The engineless Volt wasn't available for a test drive, for obvious reasons, but onlookers could open the driver-side door to peek inside the car. Some lucky ones got to sit in the driver seat to get closer views. Volt drew admiring nods and comments from expo attendees - many of them wanted to know how much it would cost to own one.

GM hasn't announced the pricing yet, but GM executives have talked about a price tag of under $40,000. GM CEO Rick Wagoner had previously said that the company would like to sell the Volt for less than $30,000.

The exhibit took place the same day that GM said it has received a preliminary nod from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] to certify the Volt as the first electric car that can get 100 miles per gallon.

GM had tussled with the EPA over fuel-economy testing and, to a large extent, over whether the Volt will be considered an electric car or a hybrid. The EPA had initially considered requiring the Volt's battery to be fully charged throughout the test.

Keeping the Volt's battery fully charged would require its gasoline engine to be running pretty much the entire time, which would likely result in a fuel economy of 48 miles per gallon. The Volt can go 40 miles on a fully charged battery before the gasoline engine has to kick in to replenish it.

The Prius, meanwhile, has a fuel efficiency of 48 miles per gallon in the city and 45 miles per gallon on the highway. The car uses a nickel-metal-hydride battery, which can last only 2 miles per charge.

An EPA spokeswoman told Bloomberg that the agency hasn't finalized its testing policy for plug-in hybrid electric cars yet.

The AltCar Expo ended Saturday. Click here to see slideshow featuring other green cars.

Comments

[Schweizer:]

The world needs a $15K electric car. At $40K, it's a novelty. The $25K difference can buy 9000 gallons of gas which provides 225,000 miles of driving, equal to 10 years of average driving. Who was the dope who ran the numbers at GM? Clearly this is a novelty and little more.

2008 Sep 29 05:52 AM

[User 272270:]

Its a new technology...in time they will be able to produce at cheaper cost. You remember how much your first computer cost? Look at the price of a computer today. It amazes me about how people keep posting negative comments towards GM on the Volt bashing it for no reason. Any engineer in any company knows that new technology will always be expensive at first...Seems there are numerous people who hate GM for the Volt stating that 40k is too much. However on the other end Honda announced a fuel cell civic for 100k...but doesn't get the same type of comments. GM is on the right track...I would buy a few of these new Volt's if available.

2008 Sep 29 08:37 AM

[2222:]

I agree with 272270. Give the home team a fair shake here. The technology is a huge step forward and maybe it will be a little expensive at the start but has the potential at higher volume to be a great commuter vehicle that reduces the cost per mile by 50%. Anything that moves us toward reducing our addiction to imported oil is a step in the right direction. Bashing GM (our home team) by ill-informed readers who quote suposed 'facts' is really getting old. GM has great prodcuts that get over 30 mog. Do your homework.
If this is the futre, I'll take one (even at this price) tomorrow in red!!!

2008 Sep 29 10:14 AM

[William Taylor:]

Of course we can make excellent cars that get 60 mpg now and we can cut our highway speed limit down to 50 mph now and that would save all the gas we need to save now. I don't believe Li on batteries will ever "get there" but perhaps there is the long shot Estor and the Zenn Car company!

2008 Sep 29 10:45 AM

[SDLovell:]

I have an idea... make the companies with electric cars drive a 100 mile course and see how much fuel is actually used. Test every car on the same 100 mile course twice and average the results. Require that no car be within "x" feet of the vehicle on highways and that a preset number of stops and launches be performed. Regulate launches with robotics or simply dyno test these vehicles under normal driving conditions. Robots can control the accelerator and brake pedals to gauge engine performance... and a formula can factor in the coefficient of drag to find the expected normal values.

Give the data some meaning! I'm tired of estimates based on engine displacement. just put actual values on these cars and let the consumers have the real data obtained during the tests. We consumers can tell how much fuel is used with OBD II readers, but the EPA can't manage to set up a scientific study for testing the same things? Ridiculous!

2008 Sep 29 11:19 AM

[nakedjaybird:]

User? - ya, right. The price of the novelty coming down like computers. The price of an automobile has NEVER COME DOWN.

2008 Sep 29 11:53 AM

[nakedjaybird:]

And if it could, build me another baic model t, just for transportation with no polution abatement stuff of gadgets. Just transporation. Forget the safety stuff too. Show me the cost of the model t - actually, I'd like a 50-60's model car, today. No more fluff than that. How about a '65 Impala Super Sport 4 on the floor, 327 ci.

2008 Sep 29 11:56 AM

[User 272270:]

Jaybird - You dont understand the concept of new technology vs research and development to make new technology more cost efficient. This concept is simple - the computer cost a lot more when it was first introduced, after years of R&D the computer industry developed new technologies to make parts more affordable which overall made the computer cheaper. You cant compare a 'traditional' vehicle to an electric vehicle relative to price / make it cheaper. A traditional vehicle, it is nearly impossible to make better = make cheaper. Now imagine a new electric vehicle…it is priced high to begin with (like the computer was) because the parts (batteries etc) cost a lot more...in time these companies will be able to produce the parts cheaper which means the overall price of the product will decrease. This concept is true when comparing new technology like the Volt vs the concept of the first computer and making parts less expensive and the overall product being sold at cheaper cost.

2008 Sep 29 12:25 PM

[AlexS:]

I basically agree with the novelty concept. I don't think a comparison with computers is valid. Computer costs came down because of ICs, and computer costs came down with computer size (a PDP8 used to fill the room, as I recall, in contrast with a pocket-sized iPod). A Volt is basically a Prius with a lot bigger battery, and a more expensive battery. A Prius, in turn, is a conventional car with a large battery and a small engine. Unless you see the possibility of the Volt battery shrinking drastically in size, I think the comedown in costs is not very realizable. You're still talking about generating electricity rather than just passing it along, as in an IC.

2008 Sep 29 05:31 PM

[User 272270:]

The Volt is a completly differnet car compared to the prius. The Prius is a parallel hybrid - it uses the electric motor and gasoline engine to drive the wheels. It is designed to deliver its best fuel economy in congested, European stop-and-start driving. At slow speeds, the Prius uses mostly electric power...at highway speeds the prius is just another gasoline engine. The Volt is a series hybrid, meaning only one power source - the electric motor - drives the wheels. The result is a much more effiecient vehicle in regard to mpg.

My comment above is a fact. These batteries for the Volt are pushing 15 grand a piece because no one to date has figured out how to produce these at cheaper cost. These batteries are actually the length of the entire fram of the car. If these batteries were to cost half of this, that is more room that could make the overall price for the Volt cheaper...also the more volume built will also make it possible for GM to lower the price tag for this car. The only thing that will make this car not come down in price (even if technology is built cheaper etc) is the fact that the demand is so high for this car - which then would make this car remain at the same price and/or actually cost more. The Volt will be costly to build, and GM might have to sell it at a loss for years - like Toyota did with the Prius - until the expenses fall as volume rises.

2008 Sep 29 11:17 PM

[moc1166:]

Jaybird is right! You can speak in theory all you want but the execs at GM are not going to lower the price of the Volt. They will price it at the highest the market will accept and then continue to raise the price. As far as building at a loss, are you serious! They have such economies of scale that it is almost impossible for them to build at a.loss. Their concern is the level of profit not loss. They do not lose on anything they build. They can make the numbers say whatever they want them to. The fact is, if the battery is 15k then the rest of the cost in the car will not be more 6k. Everything else will be profit. Belive what you want. They have plants (or did have) that could build 1200 a day. Do not be fooled by everything that is being reported. GM is a great company with great employees from the person on the line up to the engineers to the staff that supports the process. The problem with GM is its leadership. Union as well as management.
November 2010! Give me a break!

2008 Sep 30 06:15 AM

[User 272270:]

This is simple high school knowledge- When there is a change in the supply schedule, occurring thought technological changes, or through changes in the business costs…An increase in technology or decrease in costs would have the effect of increasing the quantity supplied at each price, thus reducing the equilibrium price (in this case the Volt). On the other hand, a decrease in technology or increase in business costs will decrease the quantity supplied at each price, thus increasing equilibrium price. So the comparison between the computer and the Volt in regard to equilibrium price as I have stated is valid according to basic economic knowledge. If this price doesn’t come down- either business costs increased or there is a shortage in the market in which we would need to correct the disequilibrium, and the price of the good will be increased…which would then lessen the quantity demanded / increase quantity supplied thus that the market is now in balance. This is a fact, not theory or opinion…

Take a look at Hondas fuel cell car selling for 100k (or lack of selling)…it cost Honda nearly 2 million dollars…simple math = a loss on each FCX sold. So why do they keep building them? Re-read the paragraph above and now you understand why technologic advances are going to be a huge leap in making these new alternative cars more affordable. Now you understand why there is a good possibility that GM will also loose money when the Volt is actually being sold in the initial stages.

2008 Sep 30 11:07 AM

[nakedjaybird:]

Come on folks - a "cheap" vehicle is say a simple, no frills rider lawnmower. Take of the mower hardware and it's cost(price) and we have 4 wheels, transmission, motor, etc. to move us from A to B for a few hundred dollars. Golf carts maybe? Now just juice them up a little and we have basic transportation at very low cost(price) - SIMPLE. We don't need what Detroit (Japan etal) throw at us - nor at their price. But, we buy it because no one plays the technology game in autos. Nor in houses. Come on Vespa - make a better 3 or 4 wheeler.

2008 Sep 30 12:06 PM

[nakedjaybird:]

PS - and fuel economy (beating the Volt!).

2008 Sep 30 12:07 PM

[33Nick:]

I was there this weekend and the Volt exterior is like any other sedan, save for nice backlights. The inside was very nice, roomy and comfy. It won't be a five seater, as previously mentioned but 4 due to battery space.

Batteries will not only come down but have come down. New development in the Lithium field and derivatives with phosphates and such are finding their way in electric vehicles. Next step is ultracapicators, regardless who does the research. They have been used for decades on European railroads. There are some prototypes using both Lithium and ultracapacitstors.

The first gas engine were extremely expensive and had very poor mileage and horsepower. In time, everything comes down. Does anybody remember how expensive sealed lead batteries were in the 60s? How about NiMH?

I drove the AC Propulsion eBox, who has license their electric drive technology to Tesla and I was very, very impressed. Yes, expensive for now, but dang impressed.

As with everything, technology matures and becomes mass produced, innovations flourish while mainstream makers scramble leaving an open door for startups. History repeats itself in every industries.

2008 Sep 30 12:22 PM

[EV1:]

GM has generated some resentment back in 2000 when they killed their EV1 after the Zero emissions law was lifted in CA. The technology was there, and it could've been a lot better today. The VOLT is too expensive, don't forget that those who need an electric car are those who are struggling to pay for gas, and their price range for a new car is below $30K.

The reason for the battery costing so much is ExxonMobile, they own the patents for the Lithium Ion and they are licensing them at ridiculously high prices. When I was planning to convert a Porsche 914 to electric, I needed about 3,000 AA Lithium Ion batteries without a limiter, the cheapest price I could find was $4 per AA battery!!!! Compare that with a regular battery that if you bought 3,000 pieces of will cost about 10 cents a battery!

So it's definitely not in ExxonMobile's interest to sell you batteries to replace their gasoline.

2008 Sep 30 09:39 PM

[19709:]

If GM can deliver the VOLT, it will sell regardless of its possible $40K price. Why? Because a sufficient number of individuals who can afford the price will view it is a novelty and will park it in their driveways to draw attention. The long term success of the VOLT and hence GM's potential profit, will depend on reducing the cost of its major component - the Lithium Ion battery. As User 272270 points out, this is very likely to happen as it has with virtually every new technological development. By the way User 273014, GM will be buying at least some of the Lithium Ion batteries from Compact Power, Inc., not ExxonMobile: www.autobloggreen.com/.../
www.compactpower.com/

2008 Oct 01 03:06 PM