Add your comments
Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.
When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.
Please note that gratuitous links to your site are viewed as spam and may result in removed comments.
Follow the Audi Mileage Marathon starting Monday morning
Paris 2008: MINI Crossover Concept
Paris 2008: Aston Martin One-77 (partially) revealed
Paris 2008: The GT by Citroen. No, the whole thing this time
Paris 2008: Lamborghini Estoque LIVE
In the Autoblog Garage: 2008 Chevy Corvette Z06
Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy
Paris 2008: Le Day 1 Wrapup
Knight Rider: The Liveblog -- Season 1, Episode 2
By the Numbers - September 2008: Nobody Wins Edition
Reader Comments for
Subscribe to this threadReal photo of the real Volt powertrain mule
(Page 1 of 1)
FrankTheCrank @ Apr 17th 2008 3:32PM
$35,000???
Are they serious about that price? If that is the case, it's going to be a niche auto. And Toyota and Honda will continue to eat everyones Hybrid lunch.
Seminole @ Apr 17th 2008 3:44PM
Except the Volt is not really hybrid in the sense of what we think of one as, but rather mostly electric vehicle. It has a small IC engine, but just to extended highway range. It's expected to be able to operate at 40 miles on batteries alone, and up to 400 with the small gas engine. The Prius can only go about maybe a few miles on pure electric, and the Civic is not capable of electric only driving. So this makes it a completely different car than what the Civic and Prius are. Rather this would more directly compete with the Tesla, and undercuts it by about $65,000 if the $35,000 price point is correct.
tankd0g @ Apr 17th 2008 3:49PM
It's a serial hybrid and there's a reason it hasn't been done before in a car, it's a bad idea. There is no way in hell the Volt is going to get anywhere near Prius milage when the gas motor is both powering the car and charging the batteries unless the car is seriously limited in performance while in this mode. Net result, overall milage will be the same as a Prius unless you are one of these people who only drives 20 miles each way to work, have $48k and are too lazy to ride a bicycle.
The Other Bob @ Apr 17th 2008 4:22PM
tankdog-
And you base this knowledge on what? Because you are an auto engineer or just smarter than the hundreds of engineers at GM working on this thing?
Seoultrain @ Apr 17th 2008 4:15PM
tank, the IC engine in the Volt never powers the wheels. Only the electric motor is connected to the wheels, and when the battery gets low, the gas engine starts and runs a generator which charges the batteries.
And you drive more than 40 miles round trip to work? that sucks, dude.
And seminole, no one of reasonable intelligence is cross-shopping the Volt with the Tesla roadster. $35k absolutely kills this car.
Seminole @ Apr 17th 2008 4:21PM
Seoul, I was making a comparison to the only other real electric vehicle out there. $35,000 is a lot easier to swallow than $100,000.
Now given it won't be able to touch the Tesla's performance, but it still is a competitor in a sense.