Unofficial GM Volt "Handraiser" Waiting List Tops 33,000, Potentially $200+ Million
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 08.12.08
Showing GM There's Demand for the Volt
Gm-Volt.com, an advocacy/enthusiast Chevy Volt website has created an unofficial waiting list to show GM that there is high demand for the upcoming plug-in series hybrid.
The latest news is that the list has now passed 33,000 "handraisers", people who have shown various levels of interest in the Volt. According to Lyle of GM-Volt, they have enough people on the list to generate about $200 million in sales for GM (though it's always hard to know if people who said they would buy will actually do it when the car comes out). "Top level GM officials are aware of this list and have mentioned the possibility of working with it."
Unofficial Volt Waiting List Version 2.0
To make the list even more useful, it has been updated with a new interface and database (thanks to help from Karl Cox). If you want to sign up, you need to go to this link: Volt Waiting List. Once there, you simply give them your email address and then follow the instructions.
For more news on the GM Volt, check out:
Chevy Volt
GM Volt Gains a Cylinder, Loses a Turbo-charger
GM's Chevy Volt Price Goes Up; Stereo, Wipers to Blame
Chevy Volt: An All-Electric Gasoline Hybrid?
The Buzz Around the Chevy Volt
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That's cool. I signed up to the list for the hell of it. I imagine this thing will run around $45k - $60k when released. I know they said something like $30k, but that doesn't seem likely.
But then again, you can think about it this way. You pay $27k for a honda accord and $2.5k in gas each year. After 5 years, you've spent $39.5k. So, for this car to be cost effective, it'd have to come in under $40k. Now, that is a very crude analysis that ignores the cost of oil changes and electricity and repair and what not, but it's good enough.
So, any kind of tax incentive for driving a clean car would be huge in selling this thing. Most americans don't care that they're driving around in a clean car. They just think with their wallet.
Some good tidbits from the Volt FAQ:
Unfortunately, most Americans, and most others are constrained to just thinking with their wallets.
If someone wants to turn on the cash spigot, I will cover my roof in solar panels, get a few wind tubines, and go off grid. Until then, I will drive what I can to get by, ... usually a bicycle.
vsk
so anyone else think there will be a delay on the release date of 2010 ?
It's a Chevy. A $45,000 Chevy.
It will be delayed and picked on by the car guys. Even though it's not a Prius, you'll be considered a snob for driving a hybrid.
They're going to get about 10% of that in actual sales.
The roof is too low and it costs too much.
I appreciate that they're trying to make an effort, but I expect them to be completely outclassed and late. As usual...
I admire GM for the volt project, its a good sweet spot for a sedan, a useful all electric range coupled with the ability to go as far as you like on gasoline/ethanol power. Most peoples trips are under 40 miles so they would hardly fill up.
Having said that, because GM screwed itself long ago by canning the EV1 project they are now on an incredibly short time frame to get this thing out the door. They have numerous technical and marketing difficulties.
1/ Weight, because they are conservative in nature the volt will be pressed steel (instead of some weight saving plastic panels used by other companies), together with the electric drive motors AND gasoline engine AND electric generator AND battery pack AND gasoline tank this thing will weight 3500-4000lbs. This is heavy and will sap their vehicle efficiency making their goals hard to reach.
2/ Range, 40 miles is pretty far in electric power terms with lithium ion batteries, they also can't run them down completely and must leave 30% reserve at a minimum. Expect their range claims to drop to 20 miles with peoples lead feet.
3/ Time, with no real R&D under their belts, meeting their 2010 goal is going to be very tough.
4/ Cost, because the volt is so complicated and will have the most expensive batteries in production today the sticker shock on this puppy is set to rise.
5/ Finance, considering the estimated price for this thing people will want to get it on finance and for a long period of time (72mths min) they will also want a good warrantee especially for those expensive to replace batteries. This puts GM in a tough place if they can't afford to offer these things to the customer.
It will be very interesting to see where this all goes.
It just costs too much for me to express any real interest. Gas could be 5 bucks a gallon and the car payment on this thing would still be above and beyond what I'd be paying for gas+car payment on a regular car.
Has anyone figured out if this plug-in solution would actually generate LESS greenhouse gas emissions? After all, most electricity in the US is generated with gas or coal electric plants... You need to take into account the (in)efficiency of these plants, as well as of the electric motor.
I live in France where 80% of the electricity is produced by nuclear plants. And although cleaner for the air in the short term, even that has its own potential long-term problems/dangers.
So until photovoltaics ramp up seriously or we find a source of hydrogen under the ice caps, I can't see how an electric vehicle can save the World. That said, I'd love to have a Tesla!
Well i want to say congtats to GM, over the years the US has been the lead source for automotive technology, with this car it puts us right back there.
The only way I could see this not being good for GM is if they drastically under-estimate demand, and there's a huge waiting list, and people finally get tired of waiting and go out and buy a Prius.