2010 has just started and as you would expect, a lot of surprises are bound to come within the year. But the biggest surprise perhaps comes with the inclusion of the 2011 Chevy Volt in the annual model guide by General Motors.
Orders are said to be accepted starting September with the production date scheduled to commence by November 1. Seems interesting but there seems to be a discrepancy as far as the dealers are concerned. Apparently they won’t know their final allocation until two weeks after the start-up time. Regardless, this latest GM hybrid car is coming out this year folks. Be ready for it!
If you, like me, have ever looked at that Chevy Volt and wondered how it works, just stay tuned because we’ve got a look at it in easy video format.
So the crew out at Chevrolet took some of our tax dollars and put together this informative little video–and I mean little, too, it weighs in at just short of three minutes runtime–explaining just how exactly that electric car works.
I personally had a big problem when they announced, in the most chipper manner possible, that with a full battery and a full tank of gas you could get three hundred miles range. Why does this annoy me so, you wonder? Well, I already get over three hundred miles on a full tank of gas and I don’t need a battery to do anything more than start the car. Of course, my gas tank might be a bit bigger–twelve gallons, roughly–but it has better range than this magnificent electric car.
But still, the look at the Chevy Volt is highly informative and pretty easy to understand, too. So satisfy your curiosity about this new paradigm in American automobile engineering below!
It was recently made known that thanks to a $100 million federal grant, GM will be investing $236 million into the development of their own electric motors. Sure, we’ve all heard of the Chevy Volt and other GM produced hyrids but we’ve yet to hear of an all electric car developed by the company.
Unfortunately, we probably won’t be seeing an all electric car from GM anytime soon as our sources tell us that these in-house developed electric motors will make their debut on GM’s “dual mode rear drive hybrid vehicles in 2013″.
GM planned to launch the Chevy Volt electric vehicle only in California and Michigan, and later to the rest of the country, after they’ve been established there. The program has now been expanded to Washington D.C., which will receive over 100 Volts for demonstration and testing purposes, and there will be installed over 500 charging stations in the state. Similar programs are underway in California and Michigan as well.
With all of the advanced technology featured in the Chevy Volt it leaves a lot of questions regarding its price tag. Considering it’s supposed to be GM’s killer car they are going to have to price it at a point where it’s easily available to consumer for it to make any impact. Luckily, GM’s Jon Lauckner has given us a bit of insight into the matter saying that it’s likely to cost under $40,000.
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll make note that GM has previously said the car will cost right around $40,000 but if Lauckner is to be believed we will see some green backs cut off that tag. However, the actual price of the vehicle won’t be known until later this year when GM will officially decide the matter.
Yesterday we showed you the Volt mobile application and today we bring you news of the car’s first battery pack rolling off the production lines. The deed was completed by GM’s Brownstown assembly plant and announced by CEO Ed Whitacre.
In lieu of this announcement, Mr. Whitacre also announced that there may be some production ready Volts hitting dealerships sometime before November. And, while just a few could possibly be sold before November and all throughout the car’s first year of production, GM hopes to produce and sell around 60,000 Volts a year as time goes on.
Those of you who doubted that the Chevy Volt would ever hit the market, check this out — It was recently made known that GM has invested 336 million dollars into a Detroit plant that used to build the Buick Lucerne and Cadillac DTS to refurbish it and make it ready for Volt production.
The plant’s assembly lines will reportedly kick into gear sometime in March of next year to build pre-pilot Volts to make sure everything is working correctly.
This investment is apparently part of GM’s $700 million grand total of investments to get the Volt market ready. This grand total includes investments in the Flint South engine plant and battery pack assembly plant in Brownstown Township.
Electric cars are great for addressing the issues surrounding alternative power for vehicles but like anything, they are not exempt from some areas. They will be quieter and eco-friendly but the safety of disabled people may be in question. This pertains for that issue on blind people who are walking the streets. The issue was first hurled at the Nissan Leaf which added futuristic noises at low speeds to warn pedestrians. Now the Chevy Volt has announced its own initiative, adding low horn audio signals that will be controlled by drivers.
On one hand, the Leaf has shown to be safer considering it makes sounds wherever it is though a bit irritating. The Chevy Volt leaves it up to the driver but some questions in mind such as driver responsibility comes into mind especially if they don’t keep their eyes on the road. Well there is always a loophole somewhere and hopefully they don’t pop out once these cars are in the streets.
GM’s Chevy Volt has yet to hit dealerships and already tremendous amounts of buzz has begun circulating partially due to advertising efforts.
This is only the beginning says GM’s Bob Lutz as when the car is closer to hitting dealerships GM will be “pulling out the heaving artilery and get Volt buzz going”. In other words, GM is going to pour unheard of amounts of money into the Volt’s advertising campaign in hopes that it will catch out.
Do you remember back in August when we let you know that the Chevy Volt would supposedly get 230mpg? Well, it seems that the vehicle would only be getting 223mpg if it wasn’t for its sleek aerodynamic design, or so GM says.
What you see above is a video breakdown of the aerodynamics surrounding the Chevy Volt letting us know that through various redesigns GM managed to tact on another 7mpg to the car’s overall range. Anyways, watch the video and let us know what you think in the comments. Are you excited for the Chevy Volt? Would you have still bought it if it only got 223mpg? Do you even believe the car gets 230mpg? Let us know.
