Electric car saving GM jobs

[Willinois]

Yesterday General Motors announced it's laying off 767 workers at its Hamtramck assembly plant because of low demand for the cars made there, the Buick Lucerne and Cadillac DTS. According to the company website those cars get 16 and 15 miles per gallon in the city, respectively.

Thanks to the recent UAW contract with General Motors, there's a guarantee that the plant will at least remain open. The contract also tells us that the saving grace of the plant, and the potential for jobs to be restored in the future, is the new Chevy Volt that will be built there starting in 2010.

The Chevy Volt will be a plug-in hybrid, which is the technology I think offers the best combination of fuel savings, low emissions, and convenience for those driving more than short distances.

This is a good sign for GM. I've been waiting for a Saturn hybrid that isn't an SUV for years, only to be disappointed by the meager mileage improvements and much higher cost of their new Saturn hybrid sedan.

I've heard auto-industry lobbyists make bizarre claims that cleaner car regulations will limit consumer choice, as though consumers are still demanding cars with terrible mileage in the days of $3.00 per gallon. It looks like, with the changes at the Hamtramck plant, that GM will finally start responding to market demand for more environmentally conscious cars.

Hopefully, this will be a turning point for the company and an end to the backward claims that producing environmentally friendly cars means losing jobs. As we see in Hamtramck, just the opposite is true. I wonder how many jobs could have been saved had they produced a good plug-in hybrid sooner?

Cross-posted from www.thereisaway.us

[skids]

1. I hope they go forward with the "battery lease" idea...

Everyone I talk to about electric cars is uber-paranoid about the cost of replacing the batteries. I think the lease program I've seen them suggest would be a good way to take that FUD away.

Though I hope there's an option to just buy them as well.

[nebula]

2. The batteries last 20 years

before they require replacement.

Even then, the cost of replacement is rather reasonable.

It's practically a non-issue.

[skids]

3. Yeah, I know. But people don't see it that way...

...it's more like a 10 year lifespan in a full EV which put more strain on the battery systems. But still 10 years is a long time in battery development in the age of nanotech. During that period the Cobasys patent is going to run out, all the Li-phosphate producers are going to have much higher demand levels, and who knows what might or might not come of ultracaps.

But it's like talking to a brick wall, people are obsessed with the price-as-of-today. Even the ones that would probably be trading in in 5 years :shrug:. It's just fear of the unknown really, but I'd rather not wait for a slow trickle of happy EV owners to eventually belie the FUD. The lease program cuts it off at the knees, so I thought it was a good move.

[Willinois]

4. And if the companies really wanted to market the car

they could give people something that compares the cost of a replacement battery to the amount of money they won't be spending on fuel changes and other maintenance costs associated with a normal combustion engine.

Although, I'm not sure how much savings there will be for a plug-in hybrid in that regard as compared to an all-electric that has no gas engine at all, so maybe its negligible.

[skids]

5. Yeah well sad to say, these days...

...the vast majority of Americans think solely in terms of monthly payments. The only time they think of overall cost is in looking out for big bills that are going to make them struggle on their monthly payments (hence the concern about battery replacement costs.) The concept of putting aside money they save for later is entirely foreign to the current consumer mindset. "Can I afford this?" has become "Can I afford the monthly payments on this?".

[razzleberry]

6. 10 yr claim .... link?

[skids]

7. These are to be the Chevy volt batteries.

http://www.a123systems.com/newsite/index.php#/technology/life/

...The actual service life in an EV, where the depth of discharge is greater in a hybrid, will be shorter in kWh than what is posted for hybrids, but longer than the 3K-5K "full depth of discharge cycles" since rarley will the batteries be fully drained. The calander life is "10+ years" but will not be the limiting factor, given current driving patterns of two cycles a day (charge at home, drive to work, charge at work.)

Battery condition will start to impact the range of the vehicle noticably at approximately 10 years, though that will vary greatly depending on the amount of driving the owner does,

[Yael]

11. Where can I read more about Battery Lease?

[skids]

20. .

http://www.gm-volt.com/2007/09/05/will-gm-lease-the-chevy-volt-battery-pack/

[Yael]

21. Thanks!

[tinrobot]

14. I wouldn't mix GM and leasing...

GM leased the EV1 and look at what happened.

I'll buy the batteries (and the car) outright this time.

[MelissaB]

8. Off to the greatest for more eyes!

:kick:

[lildreamer316]

9. Weird. The Cadillac DTS that I had to rent got 36/gal on the highway.

Can't beleive it got so little city mpg. What a difference.

[Willinois]

15. The GM website says 22 highway.

All of those numbers are estimates that vary depending on actual usage. Was it the rental company that claimed 36 mpg?

[lildreamer316]

16. Nope. My own calculation.

We calclulated how many miles we had traveled vs. how many gallons we put in and took into account the tank size. Did it twice on paper to make sure. I even posted about it here.(husband travels the same route in our Honda every day to work)
Blew me away...

[CRF450]

18. Milage estimates are never that accurate. I know someone that got well over 30mpg in a DTS too.

My Trans Am is rated 19/28. I average around 23mpg, and have gotten up to 31mpg on the interstate going 74mph! My Dakota is rated 15/19, I average around 16 or 17mpg and have reach 21mpg on the highway.

[Nihil]

22. Wow! Is that empty or with a full load of billy-goats?

:P

[CRF450]

23. Not BS'ing here

This aint the 60's anymore where 300hp+ muscle cars can only get 12mpg. Hell, look at the Corvettes now, these are 400hp 6.0 v8 to 505hp 7.0 v8 monsters that can get up 30mpg on the highways, and can take on Lambos that get half the fuel milage.

[OnionPatch]

10. It's funny how they keep telling us what we want.

I keep reading little articles about how "Americans don't want small cars." At the very same website (MSNBC) there was a poll asking if you would want to purchase a smaller car for better mileage and something like 70% of the respondents said yes!

I just bought a new Toyota Yaris, which is a low-priced car that gets 40mpg. I had to go to three different dealers because they were having a hard time keeping them in stock! At one point, I test drove one and went to do the paperwork and found out someone bought it out from under me, the second the salesman pulled it onto the main lot! Yet there was not a sign in the place promoting the Yaris, I've never seen a commercial for a Yaris and only big SUVs are sitting in the display area of every dealer I visited. They kept trying to push the 4-Runner on me (and I almost laughed in their faces.)

It's pretty obvious that someone doesn't want Americans to drive small cars but from what I see, this is what people want. Thankfully. Now if the auto makers would get their heads out of their asses and provide us with what we really want, there may be more jobs and less carbon in the atmosphere. But of course this isn't what they're concerned about.

[phantom power]

17. Because the move to small efficient cars is trashing their profit margins.

That, and the Big Three don't want to retool their factories for small engines and small cars. They're just pissing against the wind on this trend. They're going to end up retooling, but they'll do it only after they've lost even more market share, and will be forced to lay off even more workers.

Then again, there is an even deeper trend on the horizon, towards fewer and fewer people being able to afford a car at all. I have a feeling that in 10 years or so, the only growth-industry in personal transportation will be bicycles.

[CRF450]

19. Most dont, but they'll buy them anyways for the fuel milage.

Honestly, I cant see myself driving a small econo car. They just dont appeal to me at all. A performance rwd coupe does. Most of them get pretty decent mpg now.

[Bread and Circus]

12. I'm from Michigan, and I'm committed to my next car being a Volt

[bedpanartist]

13. I played a gig in Hamtramck two weeks ago

not a lot of people up there spending disposable income.