First Volt battery pack comes off the line

thats one huge nice person battery.

i wonder what happens to it in a crash?

 

Leave it to GM to design a battery pack that is so *tall* that it severely intrudes into passenger space and can basically only be put into large vehicles. It shows where *their* priorities (still) are. Big vehicles.

 

Thanks for reminding me.

I'd called the local Bill Heard GM dealership years ago about getting a two-mode test ride. Then I learned I had to buy a two-mode to get a ride. But over a year ago, Bill Heard went out of business and there is a new GM dealer in Huntsville, Landers McLarty. Still, I had a two-mode test drive last January in Detroit, a Saturn VUE two-mode.

The Saturn VUE two-mode would be excellent competition to the Ford Escape hybrid. But it was canceled during the GM bankruptcy. BTW, I've already test driven a Saturn VUE, belt-assisted hybrid.

It looks like a production Volt might come out the end of this year. I'll wait until January 2011, to see if I can take it for a test drive. Until then, the Volt is all hat and no cattle ... like the hydrogen fool-cells.

Bob Wilson

ps. I'm convienced that Bob Lutz along with Wagner are hybrid and electric car toxic. There may be another board member(s) who collaborated with them. Regardless, I don't see GM 'getting well' until Lutz is gone.

 

Me too!
The battery pack structure on the plug-in Prius looks very strong.
http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-h...le-range-1-5-hour-recharge-9.html#post1022776

Ken@Japan

 

Thanks. I see what you are saying. The title of the original article and the thread was deceiving. Yeah, I see the fine print now.

 

so to see this will keep the spare tire place not intact?
the volt is a 40 mile plugin the prius 13.. how do you wanna fit ~3 times that pack in a prius to also have 40miles ev?
we are not yet sure how the battery pack from the volt looks inside.
the shape is the same like in the EV1.
nothing wrong with the shape.

i see 3 fuse connectors?
so its a 3 series-packs parallel? the cabling also looks tinner? maybe its a higher voltage then in the non plugin prius?

 

OK, a comment that I clearly know nothing about. The picture of the Volt battery appears phony? Certainly nothing more than a mock-up. Look at the Prius battery picture .... much more believable: Cables, connectors, mounting brackets and etc.

Let us not forget, however, we, the public, own GM. We should hope the Volt is a tremendous success.

Lastly: I see no threat from the Volt (vs. the Prius). It is a "nitch" vehicle that will not "fit" that many drivers. The "nitch" is so confined .... 40 mile range; power source at home, and ideally at work; and when I think of A/C, hill climbing, night driving, wipers, and radio ..... I doubt seriously it will achieve 40 miles on a charge. How often do we see "Momma" sitting at the elementary school parking lot waiting to collect their child with the A/C blasting away? You cannot do that and achieve 40 miles on a charge.

Just compare the variety in fuel efficiency that Prius drivers report .... from the high 30's to 60 .. 70? All predicated on different driving habits, driving environment, traffic, weather; terrain; load and etc. I suspect GM's rhetoric is setting the stage for many severely disgruntled buyers. Can you imagine the claims under the "lemon law?"

I suspect the Volt has more to do with congress demanding a "green" vehicle, that GM engineers designing a reliable, efficient, comfortable 150,000 -200,000 mile, 10 year, automobile.

 

I really do hope GM gets it right and the Volt is a huge hit and game changer! But I don't think that will be the case. A small four passenger sedan for 30-something grand is not what your typical GM customer is looking for! For years GM has been fiddling with this idea but not really serious about it because the Bush decade was all about big, gas sucking V-8 monsters. Only in the past couple of years has the GM dinosaur sort of woken up to the new reality! Their customers however, still want the trucks and suv's "real" Americans drive. GM should have been diverting their resources to a good hybrid system for those vehicles! A Silverado or Suburban that could get high 30's to low 40's mpg city/highway for that price range would do much more for GM and the planet!

 

I refuse to pay $40,000 for any vehicle. I have colleagues that spend $100,000+ on their vehicles to impress people, but I won't spend over about 30. (I have about 27k in my Prius after the leather and stereo install.) I don't need to impress people with an expensive car. I take that $80,000 I *didn't* spend and put it in savings. When my colleagues are working till their 65-70 I'll be happily retired in the Caribbean.

$40,000 is too much for the Volt. Toyota did it right. And with this iQ car coming out, yeah that's awesome.