chevy builds a homer.

LOL remember that Simpsons episode where Homer ends up designing a car that bankrupts his brothers car company?

http://www.winnipegsun.com/money/2010/07/27/14843056.html

I actually like the risk they are taking with the Volt, and personally find the lease rate quoted to be pretty attractive. $350 for 36 months, with $2,500 down is not bad at all for a $41,000 sticker price. That means they are assuming a depreciation of $15,000 over 3 years or roughly 10% a year. Considering most cars lose 15%- 20% annually as a rule of thumb, your likely better off with the lease just from a depreciation stand point. Then factor in the fact that the technology is untested in the real world and it makes purchasing even more of a gamble. Then consider that you can drive 60km daily on nothing but electricity and have ZERO gasoline cost and only your hydro to worry about. A full charge of the battery will run roughly $1 at our electricity rates (16KWH battery x $0.063)

So if you drive say 500km a week your looking at roughly $8-9 weekly for your driving costs (hydro) with no major maintenance costs to worry about with the lease. The closest you can get with that would be a diesel TDI amd your fuel costs would still be double that, and a lease payment would still be similar. Your total cost of driving would still work out to around $115/weekly including insurance, your payment, and fuel (hydro). That's pretty damn cheap if you ask me. My fuel bill alone is more than half that.

I think they are going to sell every car they can make.

"I think they are going to sell every car they can make."


heh.. no doubt..

its the initial no frills cost that will scare people away tho.

I agree..the purchase price is on the steep side and will keep a lot of people away but if we have similar lease rates in Canada then it becomes a pretty good value proposition from a leasing stand point. There's no way in hell I'd pay $41,000 for that car when the battery technology is a big question in our climate, but I would consider leasing one.

I'm a sucker for new tech toys though, and the Iphone app that can control the car seems like the best idea since sliced bread. You can set when your car charges, set the climate control to kick in for a specific time (say 15 min before you leave for work), unlock or lock the doors, run diagnostics etc. all from your phone. That's pretty cool...not enough reason to go out and buy a car...but damn cool.

actually...those lithium ion batteries are pretty good in our climate...we use Lion tools in the heart of winter...with no noticeable change in performance.

it might be necessary to have an engine warmer for extreme days...but we already have block heaters...so not much difference there.

I was gonna ask how they would handle Winnipeg winter's.

grumpyrom wrote:I agree..the purchase price is on the steep side and will keep a lot of people away but if we have similar lease rates in Canada then it becomes a pretty good value proposition from a leasing stand point. There's no way in hell I'd pay $41,000 for that car when the battery technology is a big question in our climate, but I would consider leasing one.

I'm a sucker for new tech toys though, and the Iphone app that can control the car seems like the best idea since sliced bread. You can set when your car charges, set the climate control to kick in for a specific time (say 15 min before you leave for work), unlock or lock the doors, run diagnostics etc. all from your phone. That's pretty cool...not enough reason to go out and buy a car...but damn cool.

oh god no!

you must be kidding me.. control your car with an Iphone?



yeah... did we mention that as a lab test the engineers forgot to remove the control the car aspect.

oh.. and um security.. OOPS.. yeah we thought it was secure.

I predict.... 12 months.. MAX before someone hacks this

Not control the car, just some features of the car (climate control, entry etc.). No different than what Onstar or your current key fob are currently capable of. No need to be so alarmist, no security is 100% fool proof. If it was we wouldn't have cars with factory imobilizers getting stolen.

just because you think the car cant be controlled and just because the higher ups at chevy think it cant be controlled.. does NOT mean some engineer did not build some commands in, you know just for testing purposes.. and TADA.


also.. big difference between onstar control and this.

It’s Official: Chevrolet Volt Will Cost $41,000



It looks a bit odd to me. I wonder why they didn't make it look more attractive?

because it would have cost more.

Everyone knows to be green you have to hurt

I dunno about that. There are plenty of attractive cars that are inexpensive.

I think they are holding out for more expensive models but they should appeal to the masses rather than the elite. I could be wrong.

I am ordering mine! I will be the 1st person in Charleswood to own onw, and I have the re-charging for free because if you look at all grocery chains, and Walmarts etc, there is parking for management around the corner and lo and behold at least 1/2 dozen electrical plugs, so that is where I will be parking when shopping! WalMart, Home depot, Rona Safeways, Super Store, etc.

I will be charging mine at the sofa factory!

where is this sofa factory?

If the car is so green, why did they paint them red?

rosencrentz wrote:where is this sofa factory?

It's the Ellen factory. Consult Mossab handbook for address.

As the guy says in the commercials, "cheaper than free!"

At $41,000 the car is pointless. I suspect that it will be closer to $50,000 all in when purchased in Canada.

Cheaper to buy a fuel efficient car and spend a bit more money on gas.

Even the Ford Fusion Hybrid is only $31,000 in Canada and does over 50 mpg.

agreed

at $1 per litre thats about $4 per 100km or 4 cents per kilometre
50000-31000= 19,000.00

19,000.00 / .04 = 475000KM worth of driving. Never mind still paying for the electricity to charge up your electric car. Also never mind that the average person only drives 10 to 20 k per year

That math only works if your purchasing the car. If you compare lease rates to a Ford Fusion Hybrid then you end up with a much lower per km cost for the Volt.

Bottom line if your holding onto a car for more than 5 years why would you buy either of these? Get something conventional for $25K that averages 30mpg and you'll still be ahead for the first decade at least. The point of introducing these vehicles is to promote the technology steadily untill it becomes mainstream and sold in the millions rather than the 10's of thousands.

Chevy is making 10,000 Volts per year, at such a low volume I don't see how they could go much lower than $40k to be perfectly honest. The batteries alone probably eat at least $10k of that if not more. Then you still have the electric and ICE engine and all the associated electronic controls for the system. To me it's an amazing piece of technology at a fairly reasonable price. Once they start making these types of cars in volume (say 250,000 annualy) then you'll naturally start to see prices dropping.

I have not looked and it appears you have at least done some research on this.

Do they have an estimated "life" of the battery yet?
How much will a new battery cost?
Do they have a battery disposal plan?

Deank wrote:just because you think the car cant be controlled and just because the higher ups at chevy think it cant be controlled.. does NOT mean some engineer did not build some commands in, you know just for testing purposes.. and TADA.


also.. big difference between onstar control and this.

Actually your dead wrong on this one Deank. The app that is available uses the Onstar system in the car for these control features. It just shifts the control from the Onstar service rep straight to the owner. Instead of them placing a call to your car (which is how Onstar works btw), you place the call yourself. So unless Onstar already has some nefarious ability to take over control of your car (which the worst they can do is turn it off) that hasn't already been previously discovered, then your being a tad bit paranoid.

As long as they use sufficient encryption then risk becomes no worse than the current security risks. In fact if you look at certain encryption technologies that there is HUGE financial gain to be made in breaking (for instance digital satelite, Direct TV, Dish, Bell etc.) all have arrived at a system that is currently unbreakable. I'm far more worried about the kid down the street breaking into my car, or someone getting my personal info and using social engineering with the Onstar agent to gain access to my car than I am about some app that allows me to pre-heat or cool my interior.

No security is perfect, but that's no reason to fear every new technology out there.

". It just shifts the control from the Onstar service rep straight to the
owner. Instead of them placing a call to your car (which is how Onstar
works btw), you place the call yourself."

A Call with a Sattelite vs a call with technology that everyone has in their hands is an enormous difference.

Deank wrote:I have not looked and it appears you have at least done some research on this.

Do they have an estimated "life" of the battery yet?
How much will a new battery cost?
Do they have a battery disposal plan?

I know they are offering a battery warranty of 8years,/100K miles. I'd assume they estimate that to be the average lifecylce at least. As for replacement cost, the numbers I've seen are all around $10k. That's why I think purchasing one outright is a little nuts. The math doesn't add up. I have no clue what they plan to do for disposal, but I'd assume at $10k a pop that they'd have some sort of recycling plan in place to recover the Lithium at least.

Better to lease and let GM take the risk of ownership while you only pay the depreciation.

Will the battery last 10 years? 20 years?
I spend $50 week on gasoline, and I don't have to worry about running out of fuel during the day!
At 60 KM per charge, that is ample for most days, but if I wanted to get to my daughters cabon, it is 100Km away! I was sure I saw a battery operated car that had a 240 KM span! it was a pretty good looking sportscar look, and it was appx $100,000 . Way more economical, and with harper's kick back you would get $500 off!