You might want to spend more time doing research on what you are going to write, then at least you will have some facts, and can leave out all the wrong parts.

The Big Oil comment and lack of Manufracturing Support says I am glad Government is not the answer but the Super CEO's who have vision. Pay them more!

Pontification goes over a little better with proper grammar and spelling, "al de".

al de: I think you're trying to applaud America's CEOs, but I'm not so sure. What are you saying ?

...short on facts and long on delusions...

Reasonably priced is the key. A Nissan Leaf which if it had a gas only engine would sell for 15K goes for 36K. After tax incentives it still will cost you 27K. You can buy a lot of gas for 12K (not counting interest on the car loan). At $4 a gallon that's 3K gallons. At a average of 30 MPG that's 90K miles before it starts getting close to being practicable. Not counting electric costs. It's not really practicable at all. You pay a lot less for fuel and a lot more for the car. So instead of paying BP or Exxon you pay the bank that lent you the money to buy the car.

Richard,

Are you saying that if they build what people want, they may climb above the number one spot in sales, which they have always had? Gee, to think they have that with nothing that sells. Which car comapny do you run, and what spot does it hold?

Edward, We all know GM was sales leader for years and not making profits for years and years. The only reason why GM is profitable now is because of the taxpayer bailout where we are out 10billion plus and that does not include interest. I for one would like to know if the taxpayers are on the hook for the sale of each one of these battery powered Sparks as the Volt is at the cost of $7500 each. We need to stop subsidizing these types of products and let those who want them to pay for them. Where will the lost gas tax revenues come from, oh thats right they will just increase the gas tax on the already overtaxed taxpayers, thanks GM!

hey sick boy don't forget to mention all the $$$$ given for prius buyers over the years and thenissan leaf also, I see you have NO PROBLEM HELPING FOREIGN AUTO MAKERS , but not our own! YOU AND YOUR ILK MAKE SICK!

Excellent point!

how about the Chevy Cruze, a Malibu, or a Corvette?

Any of those float your boat?

T Gunns did you not see what I typed?

" We need to stop subsidizing these types of products and let those who want them to pay for them."

That means foreign or domestic, did I say Im only against domestic no, I am against the UAW now as they have and continue to fleece Americans.

I have stated the same in many other comments about these types of autos, no taxpayer subsidizing of any of this. I helped GM with my purchases in the past, that is done with, we will now purchase from any manufacture that builds them here in the US, with Non-Union labor and high US part content providing we like the product.

UAW, while we're at it, maybe we should stop subsidizing big oil and let gas rise to its true price (somewhere around $13/gallon).

They wouldn't be able to produce enough electric cars!!

I love my Cruze and Malibu, they handle great, ride great, are stylish and get 40 and 35 mpg respectively.

There are so many Toyota fans in Southern California that they fail to ask the GM owners if they like their cars, they do but the brain washing over decades that Toyota is the best overrides the truth.

You lack of knowledge is astounding. Buy one and become an advocate. GM first to 100000 mile warrenty! Why because the Car last! And by the way the ride and inerior are georgous. Go Bob Lutz!

warranty means nothing if the company backing them fails. GM is poised to fail within two years, and this time the taxpayers won't accept a bailout. You can only pay someone $55 an hour to screw the same screw in for so long before the company fails.

If you consider cheap plastic and a bumpy ride compared to forign made counterparts a good car, by all means, keep giving government motors your money.

I won't ever buy from a company that accepted taxpayer money until they pay back each dime, including the preffered non voting stock the us government still holds. Pay back all of it.

BETTER BUY A BIKE cause every industrialized nation bailed out their auto industry during the same time!

Hey T Gunns, just so you know, Ford never took a penny from the government. They prevented a bailout on their own... just sayin...

@T Gunns

Does that somehow justify the action?

Hey look! 100 people are jumping off a bridge, we should too!

Seriously laughed at your comment Gunns

If you didn't know the Volt was only selling in 6 locations so far, has sold about 2000 cars though those 6 locations, and has been for sale for less than a year, it proves you are just spouting stupidity out your a$$.

As of September 2011, GM is still working on getting the Chevy Volt production-lines up to full speed. They've only been able to supply them to 6 markets (Ragtopz, not exactly the same as saying 6 locations but you had the right figure). Volt was supposed to go national in September.

They're selling pretty much as soon as they come off the line though. They're still about $40,000 not including the $7,500 tax credit. Total US sales were a little over 4,000 between Dec. 2010 and Sept. 2011.

When production increases, sales will go up and price will come down.

Production will increase when demand rises, demand will rise when electric cars move beyond a niche product and become practical both in cost and usefulness. Do that and price will come down, but simply producing them for a market that only exists via subsidies and fiat, and exists marginally at best, is a business model failure. Unfortunately it's the model of the left and our current President without whom, as unofficial CEO of GM, this car wouldn't exist in the first place.

Sorry if that were true, there would be excess inventory of Volts sitting around, which is CLEARLY not the case.

As of August 1 2011, GM's Detroit-Hamtramck plant had produced 4,488 Volts. Out of those, all but 100 had sold.

GM plans to "quadruple" production of the Volt in 2012.

The other electric car (i think it is called volt) by chevy sold what ? about 300 in three years

You obviously didn't read the article which mentioned total sales of 3,895 Volts. Sales of the Volt started in November of 2010, so it's only been on sale for a year. Mind you, sales of the all-electric Nissan Leaf have been nearly double that of the Volt.

but simply producing them for a market that only exists via subsidies and fiat, and exists marginally at best, is a business model failure. Unfortunately it's the model of the left and our current President without whom, as unofficial CEO of GM, this car wouldn't exist in the first place.

The Volt project started in 2006, well before the "bailout" and long before Obama became President, Neither Volt nor Spark is Obama's doing. Both the auto company "bailout" and the tax subsidy for electric drive cars were signed into law by President George W. Bush, so don't blame Obama for carrying out the existing laws someone else signed.

These electric cars are all hype. The volt ain't gonna make gm a dime. They were talking about the electric vehicle in 1913 in the newspapers. GM needs to build big nasty trucks with margin.

I live close to railroad track, and everyday every 30 minutes about 140 rail cars of clean energy fuel (black coal) rolls by me to the coal power plant near by, powered by four diesel locomotives - that is your green energy.

100 ton-miles worth of energy taken from a coal-fired power plant still pollutes less than 100 ton-miles worth of energy taken from a gasoline-powered automotive engine at current average mpg ratings, due to the higher efficiency inherent in power plants that can run hotter than automotive engines and, due to not needing to be mobile, can have a lot more insulation so that less heat can escape before it can be made to do work. Coal may not be "green", but just by using grid energy instead of current-technology automotive engines you are saving twenty-odd percent on emissions even for coal.

I saw one on the road and it is definetly the coolest looking green car out there.

Um ... questionable thermodynamic “qualities” aside, I'm pretty sure anyone who actually looked at the emissions of a "green energy" coal plant would be unhappy to have one in his backyard. Here's a short list of the contaminants:

Lead, mercury, arsenic, sulfur dioxide, NOx, CO2 and ... wait for it ... uranium!

The shipping, refining and burning of petro-products is just about as bad.

More reading, less radio and T.V. personalities might be the way to go….

I don't think any of those are barriers for many Americans actually. Not for me, and I commute 40 miles round trip... well within the range of most of these vehicles. Particularly a system like the Volt which essentially has a gas generator on board as backup.

You are exactly right Titan! My commute is 115 miles round trip. What I would like to know is how much my electric bill would go up plugging one of these suckers in every night and if it would eventually eat away at the "savings" in gas.

Mean Girl, the problem isn't the cost of gas or electric it's that you live 57.5 mile away from where you work. I understand jobs are hard to come by but that commute is just nuts. It's the reason we import so much oil and export so many US dollars. If you do the math something like public transportation, a small gas powered car, moving closer to work or getting a new job closer to home are your only choices. A electric car won't save you anything unless you already drive a expensive car. The Leaf is 27K after tax incentives and the Volt is over 31K. A Chevy Malibu is about the same size as a Volt and costs 10K less. How much gas can you buy for 10K?

Go drive it. Saves on Oil and will be the approach for the future! Can the American Public stand the gas prices no! So Big Oil your on the way OUT!

I would love to own one (preferrably something a little better looking than this thing though).

Electric cars, including the Volt, have been in development for YEARS-long before you could blame it on Obama. The stupidity spouted here about the next industrial revolution just amazes me. When gas is $8a gallon, and SUVs are a distant memory, what will you be driving??

Ever wonder why they refuse to use the healthcare system they want to force on everyone else?

Same with pensions etc.

The same government that forced the production of the Volt and now the Spark on GM,

Wrong on both counts. The Chevy Volt project got started in 2006, with the first prototype shown in January 2007. The Chevy Spark project started in 2008 and was shown at the Geneva auto show in 2009. That was well before the "bailout", and long before Obama took office in January of 2009.

BTW, both the "auto bailout" and the electric auto tax subsidy were signed into law by President Bush Jr. before he left office, they were not something Obama did.

Real jobs will not return until we get Unions out of a majority of our industrys and manufacturing. You can not be profitable and over value to your customers when your workforce is compensated an average of $56 an hour in wage, benefit and pensions to perform relatively low skilled repetitive work like assembling autos. The auto bailouts should have been done better, with more thought so we could actually be competitive building them here in the US rather than having them built in Mexico and other low wage locations to help suppliment the overcompensations the workforce has here. Its not about slave wages, its about fair wages for the work/task/skill performed or required.

These are the same people buying the houses cars tv's fashons baseball tickets and all the other things that probable give you your job!

Perhaps but they are not the majority, Unions only make up 15% of the workforce. Unions no longer do any good for the other 85% of Americans that are not in them but increase the cost of every single product, service and tax we pay for. That is the bottomline, when you over pay $34 an hour in wages, alone to a Chicago Garbage man and $56 in wages, benefits and pension to a UAWer, it makes for a non-competitive nation, businesses that have difficultly showing profits and overburdened taxpayers.

You don't need Unions but you need wages that allow the Home Owners money to make a purchase. Look at Texas. 5 million jobs created and all at the 5 to 7 dollar an hour wage. They can buy groceries and have to live outside!

This is why you need the American CEO's to do the hiring and creating of super jobs that pay and allow the public to purchase our goods. You need to live in China!

This is why Henery Ford paid the average worker money such that they could buy a CAR!

al de do not lie, minimum wage is not 5 dollars. You also fail to understand that the cost of living is cheap in Tx, you could have a dual income family of 2 both working at minimum wage and they could afford a trailer and food, car and gas etc..it can be done, not fun but it can be done. These same folks could get an education and find employment elsewhere and also will receive wage increases. It all not about slave wages, its about fair wages for the work, task, job performed, you want to flip burgers, change oil or bolt in seats your whole life than you have to make some sacrifices.

Real jobs will not return until we get Unions out of a majority of our industrys and manufacturing.

Unions aren't the problem. The problems are CEOs that don't even want to pay minimum wages so they offshore as many jobs as possible, and Legislators (mostly Republican) that have changed laws to make it easier and more profitable for companies to "offshore" than to hire US workers.

Change the laws and put tariffs on imported goods, and the jobs would come pouring back in. Unions are there to represent the working class, because the Republican party certainly doesn't!

Increased supply brings price down. When Volt production ramps up and sales go national, price will come down.

I can already see hurds of teenagers unplugging curb-parked cars for laughs. Next morning, you can get to work.

(Alarm activates... teenager gets a$$ whoopin :)

The winner is the American Public through competition. Each setting the Bar higher. Toyta has one coming out cheeper ..gets 15 miles a charge. But cost 30k. I agree need lower cost but this comes through getting out there and improving on what you have. Go America. Don't need to watch the failed Repubilcans and Politicians.! Don't really need them as Business comes back to owning the technology to move the industry. Fashion, Software, Trains, People movers, City developments where all items are at hand, and No John McCains fostering more wars to use 4trillion of our money!

My daily commute is only 90 miles, but twice a month I have to make a 416 mile drive. So any car I would own has to have at least that much range. A refueling stop of no more than 10 minutes half way is acceptable. But a recharge lasting hours is not.

In 1910, when electric cars were the most popular cars, the thing that killed them and gave dominance to the gasoline auto was RANGE. Gas cars had it, electric cars didn't. They still don't. They never will.

probably not. And even if they put some in, the garage is public access so pranksters will be unplugging cars and then you're screwed the next morning. Think it through.

....and how would the apartment garage keep track of which tenant plugged in their car and got the right electric bill for it......and why would they care if their tenants could have enough power to use their cars the next day.....this whole idea is limited to only a few people to utilize....the greenies have a lot of work to do before this can be used en masse'

So there are problems to be solved, that's not surprising with new technology. Besides, a lot of the "problems" mentioned have already been solved:
key or card controlled charging outlets solves the electric billing problem.
Wireless communication to your "smartphone" are already included in the Volt, Leaf, and other cars can warn owners if the power is cut for any reason, what the state of charge is, and it even allows owners to signal the car to pre-cool or pre-heat using outlet electricity, so the car is ready to go when the driver wants it.

Some prankster could unplug it, but that would likely set off alarms and alert the owner. More likely is that the prankster would be siphoning gas or drilling gas tanks instead.

Wishful thinking al de, the fact of the matter is Detroit and our auto industry as a whole will have difficulty being profitable on the products they build here in the US due to overcompensations in wages, benefits and pension to the workforce that perform relatively simple low skilled work. This creates an overpriced product that offers little value and only increases the need to build more outside the US with low wage countrys to offset the losses on the ones built here. We only have the Big 2 now, Chyrsler is owned by Fiat and the profits will go to Italy. Had the bailouts been performed correctly, we would have a hugh return of autos being built here because the workforce compensations would be more inline for the actual work performed rather than seeing a specifc industry and their Union base are given favors because of their voting support. We could have far more folks making $20 something an hour and employed then far less folks making $35 an hour. We could have actually had Americans being proud of an industry, its products and its workforce instead of the divide that has occurred because winners and losers were picked at the hands of the taxpayers who had no real say in the matter.

The 20 an hour buys nothing and we become a second rate country. GM and Ford are making money as their debts are being paid off. Ford has cut their debt to around 10 bil. GM has 40 bil in cash. They are on their way to selling great cars with a profit and giving America 5 mil jobs so the spending can remain here. Your out of touch! Please do some Economic research. This will represent the beginning of Americas comeback! And without the help of Washington for other needs. Getting away from oil!

al de that $20 an hour works out to over $41k, sure taxes are taken out but you have $30k and you than add the other income from the girlfriend, spouse, etc. These types of jobs are dual income jobs, so the person making $20 an hour may have to share an apt. Everyone starts out low, some stay low because they chose to do the same repetitive job their whole life. Open your eyes, if we are going to pay the seat bolter-inner at the GM factory excesses than why are we not paying the McDonalds burger flipper the same and having to pay $55 for one happy meal. Some jobs just do not require much in training, skill or brain thought and as such compensate less.

BTW, If GM has $40 billion in cash then they should pay back the taxpayers who are currently out 10 billion plus interest, that is the right thing to do and many of us taxpayers demand they do. Its time GM, pay the taxpayers back every single cent plus interest, not just what the Obama administration says you owe.

We could have far more folks making $20 something an hour and employed then far less folks making $35 an hour.

You're so very concerned by the difference between $20 per hour and $35 per hour, so logically you should be even more concerned about the difference between $20 per hour paid to skilled workers, and $10,000 per hour (or more) paid to incompetent CEOs.

We get a majority of our Oil from Canada and Mexico. Gas could be cheaper if we would ramp up our drilling here in the US, it would also put far more to work.

I agree !

BS sick boy, ALL OIL IS SOLD ON THE WORLD MARKET, we buy from that same market!

T Gunns, more oil on the world market would mean more supply, more supply with the same demand means lower prices due to competition. Thus lower gas prices for the American people and more jobs.

Physically most of our oil comes from canada and mexico but we still have to pay world prices to get it to flow in our direction.

OIL MARKET IS NO LONGER based on supply and demand! wtf up

There are major problems with Hydrogen as an automotive fuel. It is bulky and very difficult to store, as the smallest of molecules it leaks readily and dissolves into steel. It is more expensive than petroleum fuels, and will always be more expensive than electricity. It ignites readily and burns invisibly and cannot be "odorized", thus presents serious safety hazards. But the biggest problem with Hydrogen fuel is that the oil companies are the biggest producers of hydrogen and have the cheapest sources of hydrogen, thus the oil companies intend to to be the ones selling that profitable new fuel when oil supplies run low.

The secret to using hydrogen as fuel is in combining it with carbon using the Fischer-Tropish process to form synthetic gasoline. The US has plenty of carbon in the form of coal. We have lots of hydrogen in the form of natural gas. Using synthetic gasoline technology we can make these materials into an efficient and familiar high energy density automotive fuel.

Bet you make more then 20.00 an hour as one of the writers says we Americans should make!

al de if your referring to me regarding wages you must understand Im not saying everyone makes $20 an hour. My message is that low skilled, redundant jobs, tasks be paid lower wages. We want an educated country and for folks to want to improve on a go forward basis. If we are going to pay garbage men $34 an hour in wages alone we are going to have an overtaxed non-competitive nation just as we currently have. Same for an auto worker, when we overcompensate the workforce to perform the same basic function that the company trained them to do, it makes for expensive products that have difficulty competing among the competition and a company short on profit.

You know you put it in a few words with nothing else needed to be said!

design change has to do with aerodynamics, less friction, etc.

The original concept turned out to have lousy aerodynamics, which would lead to poor fuel economy and poor "electric" economy, too.

If you're only concerned about looks, there are plenty of good looking gas guzzlers available. I

f you want good fuel economy, you might have to sacrifice looks for better aerodynamics.

and requires "real" skills. Not turning a screwdriver. To get hired, you need to add more value than you take.

The Volt had to change to meet crash and impact standards that changed. Tesla and other low volume automakers do not have to meet the same regulations as higher volume manufacturers.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/review/1055453_2011-tesla-roadster_safety_5