Mark Fox's Weblog

With the expected November 2010 launch date approaching, General Motors has announced the price of the Chevrolet Volt will be $41,000 before a $7,500 federal tax credit. Leasing will also be available at $350-a-month lease for three years, with $2,500 due at delivery, with GM receiving the tax credit.

As a plug-in hybrid and not an electric car, the Chevy Volt is not a direct competitor to the all electric Nissan Leaf which is priced at $32,780 before the tax credit but many will make the comparison. Crunchgear.com has a comparison.

For discussion see the the fan site, GM-Volt.com which has a post with hundreds of comments.

Wired is reporting that GM is building the first pre-production Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid today. Unlike previous test vehicles, this vehicle will be fully functional with the final Chevrolet Volt body, interior and power train. Assembly the vehicle by hand will take two weeks. GM plans to build eighty this year and “several hundred” more next year on a prototype assembly line.

In CNN article on the future of electric cars notes that in its business plan presented to Congress as part of the bailout talks, General Motors has laid out its expectations of the costs of the Chevy Volt. The articles states:

In the business plan it sent to Congress, GM said it is spending almost $750 million to develop the Volt, much of which is going into battery research. GM executives have said the Volt's extended range electric drive technology will probably not be profitable for the company in at least its first generation. That pushes any return on investment out until at least 2016, GM CEO Rick Wagoner told a Congressional panel on Friday.

The article notes why GM is spending this money:

In a recent survey of car shoppers on Kelley Blue Book's KBB.com Website, Toyota was perceived as the company that built the most fuel efficient vehicles by 70% of people, compared to 52% for Honda, the company that actually has the overall most fuel-efficient line-up of cars in the U.S. GM was perceived that why by only 20% of car shoppers. Toyota was also perceived as the most environmentally-friendly car brand by more car shoppers than any other.

I bet General Motors really wishes it had never produced the Hummer and that it had kept producing the battery powered EV-1.

Reuters is reporting that General Motors has chosen Detroit-area based Compact Power Inc, a division of South Korea's LG Chem Ltd to supply lithium-ion batteries for the Chevrolet Volt beating out cell maker A123 Systems and battery integrator Continental AG.
An announcement is expected in November after final details of an agreement are worked out (via GM-Volt).

Meanwhile General Electric (GE) has invested another $30 million in A123 Systems, increasing its investment to $55 million making it owner of 9% of the company. A123 Systems has been mentioned as a possible supplier for Chrysler’s electric vehicles and no doubt will be working to capture GM's business in the future.

No matter which company wins in the end, electric cars are good for GE, a major supplier of systems and components for electrical generation.

General Motors unveiled the production design of the Chevrolet plug-in extended-range electric vehicle at its centennial celebration Tuesday in Detroit. In comparison to the concept car shown in January 2007, the Volt is rounder, more aerodynamic and less angular. General Motors expects to have the car ready for sell in late 2010 under a 2011 model year name. No price has been set through a price of $40,000 or more before government incentives has been mentioned. The hometown Detroit Free Press had extensive coverage of the announcement:

• The announcement
• More on the Volt
• Specifications
• Discussion of the Volt’s new exterior look and interior styling and reactions by other web sites

Brian Walsh of Time Magazine likes the Volt but also notes that it faces a lot of obstacles including the demands that recharging electric cars will make on the power grid. The LA Times looks the Volt’s iPod inspired interior and the reviews the business issues facing the Volt.
Fan Site GM-VOLT has a number of posts including founder’s Dr. Lyle Dennis’s declaration that it was “absolutely beautiful” and links to GM supplied pictures.

As part of its restructuring that will close four North American plants producing SUVs and trucks and increase production of smaller vehicles, General Motors has announced that its board has approved production funding for the Chevy Volt electric plug-in hybrid. It is expected to be ready by the end of 2010 if its lithium ion battery packs meet requirements. Production is planned for the Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly Center provided GM gets certain tax breaks with Edmunds.com claiming that an annual production volume of 100,000 units a year after 2010 is planned. (via GM-Volt.com)

If the survey results for the Chevy Volt fan site gm-volt.com are to go by General Motor needs to improve its pitch to females as it's readership is 98% male!

One idea would be to note that a plug-in hybrid could vastly reduce the number of times you need to stop at a gas station for gas, something that

The household income is high which is good if the Volt comes out at $30,000 or even $40,000 as it has been suggested:

• Above 250k - 4.6%
• 150K-249,999 - 12.2%
• 100K-149,999 - 28.2%
• 75K-99,999 - 22.4%
• 50K-74,999 - 21.6%
• 25K-49,999 - 7.8%
• Below 25K - 3.2%