The Volt's unexpected range increase

Sounds like you’re just this side of demanding satisfaction on the field of honor. How about cracking a beer and watching the Masters instead?

Making an honest mistake is one thing but taking someone to task when it is you yourself that has their head up requires a bit of notice, what I don’t rate an “oops sorry”? There is just no explaination for mcparadise’s comments besides simple incompetance, and incompetance just does not go very far in this “biz”.It was posted several times the range was 1000 miles before fuel was needed, the 1000mpg was existed only in mcparadise’s head, then he is so sure of himself he does not even ask if perhaps I had made a typo.

You do make a lot of typos.

Well if you’re only filling it up every 1000 mi. and given all the ethanol in gasoline these days then better add a regular supply of Stabil to the cost of owning one.

Oh, I don’t know. My son called me a throwback to the Celts, before we learned the Irish were from Spain, and not Celts. But, charging across the football field on a horse, to run through the guy who offended me, with a long lance, sounds like a great idea to me. Heh, heh.

It doesn’t say filling up after 1000 miles. It doesn’t say 1000 miles per tank. It says 1000 miles before using ANY gas.
Also, pumps labeled 10% ethanol don’t always have 10%. It means UP To 10%. Often times that up to 10% is actually 0.

OK 1000 mi. before using any gas, WHATEVER, that is even worse and even more to my POINT. That gas is gonna get awful stale. That was my point, get it? Add Stabil and dry gas to the cost of ownership.

In any EPA air attainment area (a lot of metro areas) ethanol is a mandated “oxygenate” (another joke that even the EPA admits is useless on any modern OBD II car) additive since MTBE - the toxic waste product that big oil pushed on us because it saved them having to dispose of it was finally exposed and outlawed.

Around me, nowhere near corn country they use a lot of ethanol, you should see what that $hit gas does to small engines that are stored w/it and in a marine environment, after one week, it’s nearly useless. I’ve resorted to AV gas for small outboards.

I live out in the farm sticks and what’s ironic is that some farmers around here who don’t mind collecting on the corn for ethanol program will refuse to use it in their own vehicles and equipment.
Pay me for it but I ain’t stickin’ that crap in my car, no sirree.

Corn has been heavily subsidized since the Reagan administration. Well before ethanol was added to gasoline.

The article was brief to a point of being misleading BUT it was stated that 1000 miles were traveled before the gas engine needed gas. I interpeted this to mean the gas tank for the gas engine to be empty after 1000 miles is traveled. I concluded this 1000 miles was achieved from starting with a fully charged battery and then the miles obtained after the inital charge on the big battery was too low, came from either the gas engine charging the main battery or perhaps the main battery was out of the picture and all propulsion was via the gas engine. Like I said the story was brief to a point of being misleading. One thing that was never stated by anyone was that the vehicle obtained 1000 miles per gallon.

I came across a 2007 article on the Volt,and things sure have changed. This article measured mileage from a fully charged battery until the battery self disconnected with 30% remaining charge(this was after only 25-50 miles) then it was all on the gas engine, with the main battery only being charged through regenerative braking(or plugging it in, in a real world situation, not a test situation). In 2007 testers were only getting an additional 300 miles on the gas engine. Now I am really wondering what changed so as that another 650 miles were allowed to be traveled before the gas engine needed gas.

I do not follow how this discussion got diverted into a gas stabilization discussion as I don’t even begin to think of gas stabilization issues before the gas has been sitting for 1 month (and that is pretty conservative as some articles I have read say 6 months is safe).

Don’t expect to be always treated fairly on this or any other internet discussion board.
Still, it’s better here than on USENET.

The Volt was not created to save GM. It was created to raise C.A.F.E. standards and hopefully reduce oil consumption, per consumer demand.

GM is doing quite well in China. Overseas sales have surpased all previous American sales records.

The cost of electricity is the same as running a clothes dryer per month per average household. We will only know the true fiqures when Volt owners fess up.

“It was created to raise C.A.F.E. standards and hopefully reduce oil consumption, per consumer demand.”

That’s like saying the Lamborghini was created to raise speed limits.

“per consumer demand”? If there was demand for it there would be no need for govt subsidies.

There is consumer demand for the Volt, but that demand will rise and fall based on several factors. Two of these factors are the price of the car and the price of gas. I dislike the declaration of a sucessfull product based solely on customer demand (or the declaration of a failure based on low customer demand). Fox News is in great demand (based on market share surveys) but that still does not make it a quality product.In America much is forgiven or overlooked as long as you can bring in the money. I saw this demonstrated in the garage with employees that were complete jerks, but they were productive jerks so they were kept around.

Fox News is in great demand (based on market share surveys) but that still does not make it a quality product.

In the “amoral economist” sense, you could say Fox News is a brilliant product: they realized there was a consumer demand (i.e. telling right-leaning viewers what they already believe anyway) that was under-served. So, they tapped that market.

(I mean, with the popularity of rightist talk radio, the concept of rightist TV news really should have been a no-brainer.)

Corn liquor’s fer drinkin’, not drivin!

“There is consumer demand for the Volt, but that demand will rise and fall based on several factors. Two of these factors are the price of the car and the price of gas.”

I would remind you of my mention of the tax subsidy for Volt purchases. I would call that a factor.

With regard to Fox News, it’s a successful product, whether you like it or not. Pornography is also a successful product, whether I like it or not.
“Jersey Shore” is a successful product.
The Apple Macintosh is a successful product.
I could go on.

Impala 61, are you telling me the VOLT doesn’t contribute to C.A.F.E. standards?

Sure , the VOLT gets a government rebate. I’m sure that was because of “Government Motors”

How about the other electric vehicles that do not have a government rebate?

Consumers do want an alternative to petroleum powered vehicles.Especially people who live in cities or suburbia and only drive 10 miles to work or less.

Exactly my point, don’t use consumer acceptance of a product to be the main tool used to evaluate the same product, the masses can sure pick some losers, at times it seems like mob law is at work. Sadly here in America all you need are good numbers (as in Fox example) for Fox to be able to say “our credebility is established by the numbers that watch us”.

Back to the inital subject. How did fuel stabilization become something that a Volt owner need to pay attention to? Second, what caused the expected range possible with the Volt’s gas engine to change so dramaticaly?

The Volt gets no more preferential treatment than the plug in elec. vehicle from any other manufacturer. And it’s a tax credit so if you don’t pay taxes (in this case to get the full credit, at least $7500 in taxes after all other credits) you are SOL (I guess GE won’t be buying any Volts ;)) I guess you could say the Volt is not really a pure plug-in like the Leaf so then you may argue the Volt gets preferential treatment and should only truly qualify for the same credit as a hybrids.
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/article/0,,id=214841,00.html
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/article/0,,id=219867,00.html

There were lots of credits (up to $4000) in '09 & 10 for diesels/hybrids/GNG cars/trucks but most are gone for 2011.
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/article/0,,id=225054,00.html
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/article/0,,id=223736,00.html
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/corporations/article/0,,id=214283,00.html
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/corporations/article/0,,id=214280,00.html
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/article/0,,id=201018,00.html