Shots Fired: GM Takes Aim at Nissan LEAF

The race for the best selling electric vehicle is starting to get a bit messy as GM is throwing a few shots Nissan’s way.

Mark Reuss recently spoke out on his opinions of the Nissan LEAF.  Says Ruess:

“[The Leaf] has a finite range and requires infrastructure and charging to run it, where the Volt is really an extended-range electric vehicle. The Volt can really be the only car you own. You better be living within a certain range for the Leaf. … It’s a lot different market, a lot different car and a completely different driver.”

Not too bad, right? A well thought out, logical answer. But Reuss unfortunately didn’t stop there when maybe he should have. He continued:

“I’m not sure if I’d put the Leaf in the hands of my three kids. Say, what if they can’t charge it? What if they get to school and can’t charge it? The Leaf is a single-purpose car”.

Not good enough for his family? Ouch. Reuss’ comments come on the heels of the recent sales release stating that the LEAF outsold the Volt in the month of April. Coincidence or carefully timed remarks?

This isn’t the first time GM has stacked the Volt up against another fuel miser. Their CEO recently said he “wouldn’t be caught dead” in a Toyota Prius and that it was a “geek-mobile”.

Sticks and stones, or will this turn people to GM showrooms?

[Nashville Business Journal]

Green Wars: Nissan LEAF Edges Chevy Volt in April

The electric car race is getting tight between the Nissan LEAF and the Chevrolet Volt. The duo have been on sale for a few months now and in March it looked as though the Volt was taking a very early lead with 608 units sold compared to the LEAF’s 298 units sold in North America.

Last month, however, it seems Nissan has gained some sales as the LEAF beat the Volt. Nissan sold 573 versions of the LEAF and GM sold 493 Volts. That brings the total count to 1,044 units sold for Nissan and 2,029 Volts sold for Chevrolet since their respective debuts in 2010.

The Volt and the LEAF aren’t officially on sale yet in Canada, however both have already been taking orders. The Volt’s Canadian pricing was also recently announced at $41,545. If you live in Ontario you’ll qualify for an $8,230 rebate from the provincial government and if you’re in Quebec, the provincial rebate is expected to be $7,769.

[Nissan, General Motors]

GM CEO Calls Toyota Prius ‘Geek-Mobile’, Wouldn’t Be ‘Caught Dead In One’

David Akinson, CEO of GM, is apparently following in the footsteps of his predecesor Bob Lutz by making controversial off the cuff remarks.

His latest came at a public appearance at the Economic Club of Washington where commented on this thoughts of the Toyota Prius. Here’s what he said:

“We commonly refer to the geek-mobile as the Prius. And I wouldn’t be caught dead in one”.

Shots fired.

I would never own a Toyota Prius either but I’m not ignorant enough to say things like that about it. You can’t deny that the Prius is a phenomenal technicalogical breakthrough in fuel efficiency. You can’t deny that it’s currently the most fuel efficient car available in the world. Maybe you should wait to see how well the Chevy Volt does before opening your mouth.

But maybe Akinson is just being truthful. In which case, I’ll offer him another thruth:

I wouldn’t be caught dead in 95% of GM products.

[Autoblog Green]

GM’s Been Lying About Chevy Volt For Years?

GM’s supposed savior, the Chevrolet Volt, is very nearly ready to hit the production lines and dealer lots – as early as next month in the States in fact. But a new revelation has Volt enthusiasts and auto journalists alike fuming.

Since the announcement of the Volt about three year’s ago, GM marketed it as a full on electric vehicle that had a gasoline engine meant to be used as a range extender. In other words, the gas engine did not power the wheels at all, it just generated power for the electric motor in the event it ran out of juice before you were able to plug it in. GM was asked time and time again whether the gas engine powered the wheels at all, and while GM didn’t outright say no, the typical non-answers and PR language for years made it seem like indeed it was just a range extender.

Well, now comes official word that the GM’s gas engine does in fact power the rear wheels. A lot of people feel quite miffed. Why? Well as mentioned, this was supposed to be GM’s halo car – a car that used a unique technology that no one had attempted in any production vehicle for the main purpose of ultimate efficiency. One of the main downsides of electric vehicles (EV’s) after all, is “range anxiety”. Meaning the driver always has a fear of running out of juice before they are able to make it back home or to a charging station. GM made it seems like it came up with a solution to that problem by having the gasoline engine act as a generator of sorts. Since that is no longer true, the Volt is not, by definition, a full electric vehicle anymore. It is a plug-in hybrid. Those interested in the Volt and those reporting on it, understandably, feel led on or lied to even. Chevy’s response is that they couldn’t reveal information about the Volt’s power train for patent publishing reasons, but now that they have it, they revealed the true nature of the power train.

My personal point of view is not quite as animated as other car blogs. Apparently Inside Line feels lied to, frustrated and have strong feelings of disbelief while Jalopnik went and photoshopped the Volt to look like the devil. However, as a fellow car enthusiast and automotive journalist, I must agree, this really is quite the disappointment. It’s not because it’s wrong for the Volt to be a plug-in hybrid, it’s because it has been force fed to us as a full on EV for years. It’s almost like having a friend who brags about working at the White House, but then you find out he’s just the janitor. Not a lie per se, but definitely misleading.

I have defended the Chevy Volt in the past against fools like Rush Limbaugh, but I’ve also been quite critical as well. This new revelation has me feeling a bit let down. I wanted the Chevy Volt to succeed and I wanted it to offer a breakthrough in power train technology. Turns out it’s just using technology that Toyota, Volvo, and Honda have been working on for years. It’s not so much the fact that the Volt isn’t a full on EV with a range extender, it’s the fact that it has apparently come to light that no one is working on such a feat when we thought GM was the whole time. Quite the let down GM. Here’s hoping the Volt will still save you as much as you think it will.

[General Motors]

Rush Limbaugh Knows Nothing About Cars, Has Opinion Anyway

If there’s one thing that drives me mad it’s when people who know nothing about a topic try to form an opinion on it anyway and then try to convince others that their opinion is right. This accurately describes Rush Limbaugh’s entire life.

If you don’t know who Limbaugh is, consider yourself lucky. If you are curious, well, let’s just say that he is an extreme right winged so-called political pundit who, for some reason, has his own radio show. As you can see by his picture, it’s obvious why no one wants to give him a  TV show.

Oh, and he’s also severely addicted to various pills. Nice.

On his radio show Limbaugh likes to talk about current events, of which he clearly does not follow or understand. Racist Rush, as I like to call him, decided to have a go at another topic that he is clearly ignorant about: Cars.

Specifically, Limbaugh decided to lay into the upcoming Chevrolet Volt. Limbaugh claimed that the Volt is stupid because it costs too much. I will admit, the $41,000 US starting price is about five grand more than anticipated, but since Rush’s hates the environment and will find any excuse in the book to slam efficient technology, he almost purposely failed to mention that the Volt can also be leased for a very reasonable $350/month.

He then declares that since there are government incentives on cars like the Volt of up to $7,500 off ($10,000 off in Ontario), there clearly must be no demand for cars like these.  Because it’s not like America was hit hard by the recession thanks to fools like your beloved George W. Bush and people need stimulus in order to buy new cars again, right Rush? Besides, as Autoblog pointed out, there were tax write -offs for Hummers and other huge gas guzzling SUV’s just a few years ago. How come you didn’t speak up against that then, eh Rush?

And to top it all off, and to showcase just how ignorant he is, Rush then decided to misinform all his listeners by proclaiming that the Volt is only capable of 40 miles (65 kms) then it runs out of juice. A little research goes a long way and if Limbaugh had the inclination or the wit to do so, he would’ve found out that the Volt can go an additional 300 miles on a regular gas engine when the electric motor runs out of power.

Now, I’ve been a bit critical of the Volt myself in the past, but I know cars. They are one of my few topics of expertise. And with that said, despite my minor criticisms, I still like the Volt. And I want it to succeed. I’m very eager to try one out for myself, mostly because I understand how it works and it’s intriguing. I would never claim to hate something without first understanding it. But that’s how Rush rolls and he is exactly what is wrong with society today.

You don’t like the Volt, Rush? Just pop a few more of those pills and the Volt won’t seem so bad, will it?

[Detroit Free Press]

Chevrolet Volt Uses… Premium Gas?

GM, GM, GM. What were you thinking?

Why would you go and develop a car that is supposedly going to be your saviour as well as an industry game changer for fuel efficiency and the environment and then go and make it require premium gas?

That’s like encouraging people to practice safe sex, yet charging them a premium to use condoms.

And the things is, I don’t even understand why the Volt would require premium gas. Why would a tiny 80 horsepower engine need a high octane output? I will concede, however, that’s it might be possible to get added efficiency by using higher octane for the Volt’s generator. And if it is, and it’s also the reason why premium gas is required, then you need to explain that to the public, GM. Because right now it looks kind of foolish offering no explanation for people to spend more money for your supposed halo car.

However, it’s not like you’ll be going through loads and loads of premium since GM claims you can go up to 65 kilometres on the electric motor alone before using a single drop of premium. It’s still a bit of a disappointment nonetheless.

[The Truth About Cars]

Chevrolet Volt MPV5 Revealed in Beijing

Toyota reportedly has plans to make a minivan version of the Pruis, so naturally, Chevrolet wants to try something similar with the Volt. When the Prius first debuted, it pretty much had the hybrid segment all to itself for a long time, so Chevy wants to make sure Toyota doesn’t have that advantage again.

The only problem is the Volt MPV isn’t likely to be built because apparently Voltec technology isn’t suitable for any vehicle that is bigger or even smaller than the Volt.

Alan Taub, Vice President of research and development explains “with battery technology as it currently stands, extended-range vehicles that are larger than the Volt – luxury saloons, trucks and SUVs – aren’t really possible; they would simply be too heavy to be efficient. For those types of cars, fuel cells and biofuels are the future“.

This doesn`t necessarily perclude the idea of a Volt minivan, SUV or even a pickup truck becoming a reality some day though, we would just need to wait a while before they come to fruition. GM would have to develop new technology that would be able to handle bigger and smaller vehicles.

Check out more pics of the Volt MPV5 after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Chevy Volt’s Real World Efficiency Will Be…

About eight months ago, GM claimed they had a huge announcement. They were pretty secretive about what it would be. The only hint they gave us was the number 230.

It turned out that 230 meant the Volt’s mileage rating, i.e the Volt supposedly gets 230 mpg. Got an eyebrow raised due to scepticism? Don’t blame ya. 230 mpg is a marketing ploy that didn’t work. While GM technically isn’t lying about 230 mpg, it’s not based on real world driving. It’s just “expected to achieve city fuel economy of at least 230 miles per gallon, based on development testing using a draft EPA federal fuel economy methodology for labeling for plug-in electric vehicles.”

Right.

Well, now the next logical thing to do is give information that is actually relevant to consumers, GM. After a long time of making us wait with lots of speculation, GM announced that the Volt’s real world efficiency will be 50 mpg (4.7 L/100 kms).

Obviously this rating is for the gas engine only when those 60 kms that the electric motor will give you run out.

Not too bad, but we honestly expected a bit better considering the hype surrounding this car. In any event, can’t wait to experience the Volt for ourselves!

If You Don’t Really Understand How the Chevy Volt Works…

Check out the video above. It’s probably the most anticipated vehicle of the year with supposed revolutionary fuel efficient technology, and you’ll definitely be hearing more about it, so might as well brush up now.