Study Indicates Volt May Simply Be Too Expensive To Be Successful

well, the price per kwh probably ranges from 5c-20c depending where you are. I've never heard of anyone paying 30c.

but this car was never meant to displace the prius anyway. More than anything it is a technology demonstrator. Besides, they said the same types of things about the prius when it was first coming out, so it should be taken with a grain of salt.

— holmstar (View Profile)

Posted on 3/2/2009 10:55:15 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 5   

TheSailor the average american owns a car for what 3-5 years. It will take twice as long and maybe even more to become profitable. It is just a waste of money. A 20k gas car will save you more money in that time frame. The only reason to buy this desperation build of a car is if you ignorant and buy only american cars. Although you will look like an idiot spending twice as much than a Prius or Insight which do the exact same thing.

— veyron1001 (View Profile)

Posted on 3/2/2009 11:15:43 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: -1   

The biggest and yet unanswered question about the Volt is lifetime of its battery. This will be the turning point, the go or no go.

— downtoearth (View Profile)

Posted on 3/2/2009 12:01:07 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

DOWNTO EARTH, no different turning point than it is for the Prius or any other hybrid. The Volt has more tech and longer lasting battery life than any system on the market when it arrives. To comment on is the Volt being to expensive to survive, well for one, GM is bleeding money from every orifice but that aside, the Volt will not be profitable the first generation out, neither did the first Prius. The logic in GM doing so at this time of economic crisis can be argued, but they can not afford NOT to do this. For the long term, Volt will position GM as a viable option to the competition and a strong one at that. The Honda FCX, for example is a leased vehicle, cost almost a staggering $2 million per vehicle, but the leaser will never be able to own one. http://gm-volt.com/2009/02/16/has-hydrogen-run-out-of-gas/ Check out this article on the FCX Clarity ( I tried to post this article on this site but the powers that be didn't have an interest in doing so) Now the FCX Clarity makes no sense what so ever. Great concept, but takes way too many resources to make it viable at this place in time given our current technology and infrastructure. Hybrids economically has been proven illogical financial purchases, but to a larger extent, there returns for many out ways the financial output. As a people, we are striving to make this world safer for our children and this is the beginning results.

— inspirion7 (View Profile)

Posted on 3/2/2009 2:36:33 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 0   

"Forty miles might be a sweet spot for making sure a lot of people get to work without using gasoline, but you’re doing it at a cost that will never be repaid in fuel savings,"

How will this never be repaid? If you're not filling up at the gas station and electricity is fairly cheap then how are you not saving?

— _43LE (View Profile)

Posted on 3/2/2009 11:26:39 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

General Motors Corp Volt is not an electric car, is a hybrid. The threshold to beat of any electric car, although this is not strictly speaking an electric car is 100 miles per charge, not 40 miles per charge. The configuration to pursuit is a 4 or 5 passenger sedan zero emission vehicle (ZEV). There are many 2 passenger electric cars or hybrid to come out soon or available for lease now (Mini Cooper EV, Think, Subaru R1e, Subaru G4e, Smart EV, Tesla, Fisker) in the market but these are mostly in the expensive toy category and some of them are not ZEV. GM story is the same as Subaru and most others "we have one, is still expensive, and is not available for sale now".

— topneuro (View Profile)

Posted on 3/2/2009 11:39:26 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: -2   

Why does it have to be cheaper than the prius, for one its larger, better looking, and never thought out as an economy hybrid for the masses, as long as its not Cadillac money I dont see what the problem will be maybe mid to high 20's mid 30's fully loaded, its alot of car for the money, boy GM cant win for losing people make any excuse to not buy their product, and than create rediculous articles just to shed negative lights on their positive gains. If cheap and hybrid is all you want the insight is cleary the best choice anyway

— bmwdrvr (View Profile)

Posted on 3/2/2009 11:49:22 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

This car has to be looked at as a long term investment. After 1 year of ownership and you can literally count on your fingers the number of times you stopped at a gas station, how can that not be looked at as savings? The way I see it, you'll pay more up front for the tech but eventually get it on the backend(and more) in gas savings. And hopefully the battery holds up, by the time the car comes to market GM will have been testing it for 2-3 years. This is a make or break model for GM, they absolutely cannot screw up this car.

— PlanB (View Profile)

Posted on 3/2/2009 1:50:12 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

I love to here about all of the pointless excuses many people have not to buy a good Gm car, and there are many that are good and in many cases better many foreign cars.

— 1UAW (View Profile)

Posted on 3/2/2009 5:23:30 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

The problem with the Volt is that its retail price is too high compared to the competition. The new Prius, the current Prius and now the Insight will all be thousands less and effectively get you nearly the same mileage.

If GM is getting all this free gov't money, they should be selling the Volt at a loss to gain marketshare.

— huu76 (View Profile)

Posted on 3/2/2009 6:24:05 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

The people most likely to buy this car won't be doing it to save money...these first-time Volt buyers will pay extra for this cool, new, slick technology...this is no different than people who pay a couple hundred dollars more for an Apple computer over a PC laptop...this is why I think the Volt will succeed...

— Lexus1555 (View Profile)

Posted on 3/2/2009 9:03:17 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Its an environment thing. Not entirely fuel savings.

— woood (View Profile)

Posted on 3/2/2009 10:44:53 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

1uaw,
How good do you think that gasoline will be if it potentially sits in your tank for a few years?

The Prius can run without a gas engine as well. Not quite as far but its still able to do so. There's also a plug-in Prius coming soon too.

True, hardcore environmentalists will buy it, but all things being equal, it still has a price disadvantage. The 2nd generation one will inevitably drop in price, but until then, it won't become mass market because there's too many good alternatives that are just as clean. Don't forget, 1/2 the US powergrid is hooked up to coal powerplants so its not as though the electricity is completely free of sin.

I do hope the Volt succeeds, or atleast doesn't get cut by GM because they want to make money off of it. It's both green and good looking.

— huu76 (View Profile)

Posted on 3/2/2009 11:42:24 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

I can't wait until the movie for this car comes out:

Breakin' 3: Electric Boogaloo

— StarSearch (View Profile)

Posted on 3/3/2009 9:51:50 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1