Update: Read General Motors response here.
Thanks usa1.
JALOPNIK.com
The Chevy Volt has been hailed as General Motors’ electric savior. Now, as GM officially rolls out the Volt this week for public consumption, we’re told the much-touted fuel economy was misstated and GM “lied” about the car being all-electric.
In the past, and based on GM’s claims, we’ve gone so far as to call the Volt GM’s “Jesus Car.” And why wouldn’t we call it that? We were told the Volt would achieve 230 MPG fuel economy and would always use the electric drivetrain to motivate the wheels — only using the onboard gasoline engine as a “range extender” for charging the batteries. It now turns out that not only were those fuel economy claims misleading, but the gasoline engine is actually used to motivate the wheels — making the Volt potentially nothing more than a very advanced hybrid car and pushing some automotive journalists like Scott Oldham at Edmunds.com to claim “GM lied to the world” about it.
What did you really expect?
The press and the American public needs to review basic physics (or learn it for the first time) and they will be able to eyeball or back-of-the-envelope ID this type of bullshit themselves.
1000 pounds of the best batteries made by man does not come close to the power available in 100 pounds of gasoline.
The didn’t lie.
They were wrong.
Overly optimistic of how people would drive.
Big difference.
What’s your point? Are you actually admitting in public that you were foolish enough to believe the mileage claims or you think the public does? I might go for a ride with a friend and check what he gets in his vehicle but I’m not going to put much faith in what a car company says and if the government is doing it for the greenies you’d have to be crazy to believe it which is what this amounts to.
Check out how Scotland did on windmill power, about 1/3 as much electricity as predicted, but the costs went way up because they had to keep those steam plants on line while paying for windmills that were off line. Ditto for Germany. They trusted the meteorologist to be able to predict long range climate and weather and surprise!
The meteorologists failed big time! Well maybe failed is the wrong word. They got their consulting fees from the companies that sold the windmills so maybe they were a success. You’ll pay us to predict wind? Okay the wind will blow! Where’s my check?
This kind of crap is par for the course. Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware.
Is anyone REALLY surprised by this?
Tom
How re-volting! ;-|
Well I don’t know about surprised about the PR numbers not happening – they were wildly optimistic. But what happened to US innovation? I can get a prius today for much less money, and get much better numbers.
I’d also argue the final result is one ugly car. I’m no huge fan of the prius shape – but it’s way more attractive. So I don’t see this selling very well.
I guess I am surprised they couldn’t come close to the already pre-existing prius. And if you weren’t surprised by that – it just goes to show how low your expectations of America (or at least GM) really are.
Not too surprising, electric cars are one of those things that sound good in theory, but never really pan out in reality (sure you may only go 40 miles to work, but thats assuming you never want to use your car for anything else). The volt hybrid sounded like an ok compromise, kind of a hybrid that can run on all electric when you were only going a few miles, but some of their claims sounded… well fishy from the beginning.
Unless battery technology can make some serious leaps in capability and technology pure electric cars are doomed. Hybrids are still too expensive, and gasoline engines are dirt cheap to produce.
I would love to see an good alternative fuel, for a while I though hydrogen might have been it, but it has a bunch of technical limitations that make it dead on arrival, but I am still hopeful some real viable alternative will come about, just probably not in my lifetime.
I’m glad I ordered a Nissan Leaf! I should take delivery in December…
John
@John
You must live in California and never go more than 100 miles at a time. That would never work here in “fly over” country.
In 2008 when the sales of automobiles dropped sharply because of rising gas prices and economic conditions GM and Chrysler both were bailed out by our government. Ford didn’t receive a bailout but they had secured a line of credit just in case they needed it. Anyway, GM and Chrysler had to tell Congress why they needed a bailout and why they should continue operating their business. One of GM’s major defenses was that the Volt is in development and is a major product that would have many sales and it would be the first practical all-electric U.S. made vehicle. Now it turns out they were lying all along and it’s just a more advanced hybrid.
Of course, Government Motors lied to us.
Just consider the source.
They are run by Captain Deficit. The same fellow who promised “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” and “if you like your private health insurance plan, you can keep your plan.”
I would hold off ordering one of those new GM Fusions for a bit longer.
#11, are you referring to Obama? I know it was a long time ago, so you might not remember, but the auto-bailout was passed on December 18, 2008. George W. Bush was president at the time. Are we going to start blaming the Great Depression of 1929 on Obama too?
A large corporation such as GM would never lie to or mislead the American people. BTW all of the bail out money has been paid back didn’t you catch the commercials that told us?
#5 +1
#13 Bush might have been President for the final month, but it is Obama who owns Government Motors.
Obama is the one who fired the GM CEO.
Obama is the one who unveiled his plans for the auto industry in March 2009.
Obama is the one who hired Auto Union activist Ron Bloom to be the “Car Czar”
Obama is the one who hyped this electric car boongdoggle.
Yup, this is Barack’s baby through and through.
Shocked! …or, I mean, BURNED!
Or, really, who cares.
To suppose that GM, of all companies, had the capacity to put something on the road representing a true technological leap was a wild supposition to begin with.
#6
Any car uglier than a Prius is so ugly that it breaks over the line to ‘cute’.
Prius is on the line so it is the ugliest car ever made without transgressing into cute territory.
Surprise? Hey sweeny the company makes CARS they have for years. I suspect they know something about driving habits. Overly optimistic? BS they sold a bill of goods they knew they could not deliver. That’s called a lie. The public and media were stupid enough to buy it.
Well this is what you get when the Federal Government owns a stake in a loser company that should have died a quick death.
As usual, the article is not very informative. If I live 10 miles from work and can recharge every day at home, what would my mileage be?
Saps here thinking every car in a 2-3-4 car family should be capable of 300 mile trips without refueling show ZERO flexibility.
More lies from Big Business and more non enforcement from Big Government, leading inevitably to Big Failure.
And the band played on.
#15, but if Obama didn’t do those things and GM had gone out of business, then you would be sitting here complaining now that 300,000 people lost their jobs and the unemployment figures would be high and many more small towns would be in poverty and on and on. There’s no chance for satisfaction. Remember, Bush signed the auto-bailout which gave the government control of the company in the first place.
#21–SS==you will wear yourself out demonstrating JB’s hypocrisy and out right lying. He’s a one note Elephant with nothing to contribute. “Its all Obama’s Fault” appeals to the teabagging wingnuts in this know nothing season.
Voting against their own interests and proud of it even when they increasingly admit BushtheRetard was a failure = Silly Hoomans.
What did you expect from GM? It’s still GM.
#20
If you live 10 miles from work you can ride a bicycle to work which eats up no gas.
It is hard to justify in most households, a “commute only” car especially that car is as expensive is a car with unlimited range, more horsepower and more room.
#15, benson,
#13 Bush might have been President for the final month, but it is Obama who owns Government Motors.
Obama is the one who fired the GM CEO.
Obama is the one who unveiled his plans for the auto industry in March 2009.
Obama is the one who hired Auto Union activist Ron Bloom to be the “Car Czar”
Obama is the one who hyped this electric car boongdoggle.
Yup, this is Barack’s baby through and through.
Damn girl, you’d blame your hemorrhoids on Obama if the opportunity came up. I can understand being the a**hole and crap, but can’t you critically think?
@#2
Off by 200MPG that’s being very opitimistic about driving habits.
Sorry but there is no way in hell they were accidentally off in an estimation when the numbers are that far off.
Thousands of dollars in subsidies to buy a forty thousand dollar car. Lower income people weren’t going to be buying this car.
Looking forward to buying an American made GM hybrid or the first all electric car some day.
Kudos for GM in investing in the logical future of automobile transportation – all electric.
For now, I have a Prius and very happy with the gas mileage but look forward some day to American leadership in this category,
“…And why wouldn’t we call it that?…”
Why would a corporate mockingbird not just report corporate claims as fact. I can’t think of one reason. Oh, hang on, maybe normal healthy scepticism or journalistic integrity?
#1 Nobody is arguing that the energy density of gasoline isn’t high than that of a battery – or will every be.
The point being that an all electric auto industry is a key component for innovation in battery technology, reduction in pollution and reduction in the amount of money being sent to Arab nations. Granted, trucking and air travel are not practical use for all electric transport but autos is a logical place.