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  • FUCK GM

    Filed at 7:51 pm under by dcobranchi

    How to lose friends and negatively influence consumers:

    Government help at the local and national levels will be needed to make a car like the Volt a commercial success, said Lutz in a question-and-answer session following his speech.

    First, federal gasoline taxes would need to be higher to push the price of fuel up to the point that paying the extra cost of a battery-powered car would be worthwhile.

    “We’re not advocating that,” he said, “but if we don’t do that it’s going to get very difficult to sell these vehicles.”

    Shorter GM: Yeah, the car is uncompetitive, so we want the feds to punish every other car company and all consumers so that we might be able to sell a few more Volts.

    Fuck ’em and the car they rode in on.

    10 Responses to “FUCK GM”


    Comment by
    Audrey
    December 2nd, 2009
    at 11:57 pm

    You know… if they knew anything at all about business, they’d have figured out how to make a quality electric car at a cost-effective rate and to market it well enough so that even people who don’t give a fuck about fuel emissions would say “oo! I gotta have one of those!”

    But then… if they could do that they wouldn’t have needed the welfare — oh excuse me — the *ahem* government assistance that they got.


    Comment by
    COD
    December 3rd, 2009
    at 11:14 am

    The problem with electrics cars is that the battery technology to make them viable simply does not exist yet. They will never become viable until I can plug it in and recharge in an hour or two.


    Comment by
    dcobranchi
    December 3rd, 2009
    at 12:02 pm

    I’d say 5 or 10 minutes. Yeah, maybe 90% of your driving is local. But what do you do when you need to visit grandma who lives 400 miles away? A 100 or 120 mile range would mean stopping for an hour or two 3 times. Even if you only make the visit 2x/yr, it’s not bloody likely that ANYONE would be willing to rely on a BEV alone. So everyone would have to have 2 vehicles, one BEV and one ICE. Or you could go the route GM has chosen and make an ER-EV. But the Volt is going to sell at $40,000 base. How many of them do you think GM will sell, even with a $7500 federal incentive? Since you can buy a Prius for $22,000 I’m guessing not too many.


    Comment by
    JJ Ross
    December 3rd, 2009
    at 1:58 pm

    The only way I can keep my cell phone charged is with my car lighter adapter. So what do I do to charge this car, plug it into my PHONE??

    Very chicken and egg . . .


    Comment by
    Mary
    December 3rd, 2009
    at 2:46 pm

    Whether you are plugging it into the wall, or filling it at the gas station, it’s still energy being used. Coal and natural gas are used to make the electric power. Kinda like saying you don’t eat junk food because you make your own twinkies.

    And I’ve always wondered what happens when all the cute little electric cars make it to the junkyard – all those batteries – what to we do with them? Put them in a big pile next to the worn out car batteries?


    Comment by
    dcobranchi
    December 3rd, 2009
    at 2:51 pm

    The Volt will have Li-ion batteries. The lithium will be recycled.

    BTW, lead acid batteries are almost 100% recycled, too. They’re not allowed to go into landfills.


    Comment by
    Laura
    December 5th, 2009
    at 12:21 am

    Some people plug them into solar panel systems, which is what I plan to do when my Prius warranty is up and I convert it to a plug-in.

    A hybrid was my compromise for now. It gets 54 MPG and has a warranty that covers everything on the car, including regular maintenance, for 10 years. I did the math and figured out that I would be way ahead financially at the end of that 10 year period, even at today’s gas prices, compared with a similar quality conventional engine car.

    Sadly, I couldn’t wait any longer for an even better option. New developments in ultra quick-charge batteries (already discovered, but not ready for production) will make electric cars much more versatile. Not only can they recover more energy from breaking, these batteries will be able to take a full charge in a few minutes, so they could be “filled up” at a charging station much like gas engine cars are now. It will take a while to work out the logistics of storing/delivering power at stations and making them widely available.


    Comment by
    Laura
    December 5th, 2009
    at 12:21 am

    Um, that should be braking, not breaking. LOL


    Comment by
    dcobranchi
    December 5th, 2009
    at 1:00 am

    It gets 54 MPG and has a warranty that covers everything on the car, including regular maintenance, for 10 years.

    I’m going to need a car in the next year or so and have been looking around. The Prius just moved to the top of the list.


    Comment by
    Traci
    December 7th, 2009
    at 2:13 pm

    After buying 2 GM vehicles in 2000 we will never buy one again. Recently Dear Hubby has had 6 brake lines replaced in his truck as they rusted through without warning & suddenly left him without any real brakes in Wilmington traffic. He is lucky to not have a serious accident.

    6 lines are all that the repair place could reach as the others run under the gas tank & you have to take the whole truck apart to get to them. As I understand the brake lines are first on the assembly line & all other parts added afterward.

    My Impala is next on the list to get fixed
    Brake lines rusting in snow belt states have been a major problem since the 90s on GM vehicles from their top end Caddy to low end Chevy in looking at other internet posts
    BUT NO GOVERNMENT SAFETY RECALL!!!!

    I grew up in PA & dear hubby in South Dakota we always drove cars until they fell apart… never ever had we ever heard of or knew of anybody that had brake lines rusting out.

    On another note…. The GM/Saturn plant here in Wilmington has just been sold to a company that will make $85,000 electric sports cars.
    We won’t be getting one of those either.