Chevy Volt Discontinued

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https://electrek.co/2018/11/26/gm-chevy-volt-factory-shutdown-electric-investmet/
 
The Volt was a good gateway car to BEV's. It showed people that 30-40 miles of battery range is really all they need around town. It's sad to see it go.
Similar story for the i3 REx. BMW is not going to sell the REx in Europe anymore. I bought the i3 Rex because I had range anxiety. No more. My next car will be a BEV.
 
BMW is not going to sell the REx in Europe anymore

Yeah, the 2019 BMW i3 BEV will have a range just in excess of 150 miles (which is about what the older year i3 Rex's get in total), which makes sense for Europe, with typically shorter commutes, etc.

For North America the magic range number everyone really wants to see seems to be 200 miles - so will likely see the Rex in the US for a while yet,

In Europe, BMW sells about 20,000 i3's a year, vs about 6,000 a year in North America.
 
I'm glad I got the REx (60Ah) instead of a 94Ah BEV. I've used the REx a few times where if it hadn't been available, I either would have been stranded, late to wherever I was going because I would have had to stop and recharge at a Level 2 charger, or would have had to drive the gas car instead of the i3. The 120Ah would have been capable in every case, though. (But one: it's not out yet, two: I couldn't afford a new one. :-D )
 
My neighbor has a Chevy Volt that I have driven before. I like the car, it's by far one of my favorite PHEVs. I'm not a big fan of the current crop of PHEVs, maybe I've just been too spoiled by the i3's ~80mile range. If I had a Volt as a daily driver, I'd wouldn't have range anxiety, but I would have gasoline-burning anxiety! The fact that the Volt can also act as a parallel hybrid makes a decent choice to take on a long road trip. I wonder what the discontinuation of the Volt will have on PHEV sales, I wonder if other brands like Toyota or Honda will pick up potential Volt owners with the Prius Prime and Clarity PHEV, perhaps Bolt sales will go up a bit too, as there might have been people on the fence that picked the Volt for whatever reason. Of course, there's people that might've bought a Volt that will now go buy pure gasoline cars too, so we will see. In the mean time the recent acquisition of my i3 REx has put me out of the car market for a little while, so there will be more options beyond 2021 when I may look at replacing my car. I don't see myself owning another gasoline powered car, and I'm not totally opposed to owning another REx-type car (where the ICE plays a very minor role in the overall powertrain), but if the current crop of PHEVs stays at about where they are (or even double their range to circa 80 mi), then my next car will probably be a BEV type.
 
When interviewed about the end of the Volt, GM executive Mark Reuss indicated that GM would not be looking at building any more PHEV's. He sees that as a dead market. His comment was:“Hybrids are just countermeasures to an ICE. You can't spend money to force the customer to carry around extra stuff they may not need. Or, you can spend your money on getting the real answer, which is providing the customer a zero emissions, sustainable, affordable solution”. Hints were that a BEV SUV was in the works for 2021 - 2022.
 
Battery tech may see some breakthroughs, but as of today, given the current charging infrastructure, IMHO, if you want one vehicle, a hybrid has some advantages. I own the i3 that I use most of the time. But, when I do need to go somewhere further than it can reasonably take me, an ICE, or preferably a more efficient hybrid has some significant advantages. One with enough battery capacity to handle the day-to-day operations without running the ICE is my goal, at least until the charging network and battery tech improves.

A huge battery today just takes too long to recharge if you need to put lots of miles under your tires in a day, and a small one means stopping way too often. While hydrogen has the energy density, it's still not a viable option as there's only a few places in the whole country where you can fill one up. Flow batteries may offer some neat options for a fast refill, but again, infrastructure and getting them ready for prime time is going to take awhile.

We're in a period of transition. If you can afford more than one car, you may be able to pick the best one for the job, but there is not one solution today that fills all needs. Admittedly, carrying around the extra hardware for a hybrid has issues, but then, that's also my objection to the REx...it compromises the BEVs functionality, and the range is still not enough for me to be convenient. The Volt had some good ideas, but it was also a GM product...IMHO, they've gotten a lot better, but still have some issues.

There are not all that many CCS charging stations out there, although more are being built. Plus, few of them can charge at the current maximum rate of 350Kw at 800vdc, nor are there vehicles out there in any kind of quantity that can accept it. As a result, take something like a Tesla with a large battery, if you're not near a CCS or supercharger, and need a full 'tank' to go somewhere, you could be talking about over a day at some EVSE units as many of the public ones out there are 208vac and maybe 20-30A. That, to me, is just unrealistic. Not everyone is going to limit their travels to the interstates or other areas where the plans are to place fast charging...but, you are likely to find a gas station and the vehicle can be fully ready to go in minutes rather than hours.

This will change over time. It's sort of a chicken and egg conundrum...you need the demand to supply the charging infrastructure, but that won't be prevalent until there's enough vehicles requesting it...which one comes first, the demand or the supply...in our current environment in the USA, the government isn't promoting any new stuff. What is being built, mostly started before the current administration.
 
With GM and Ford (RIP Focus) discontinuing their sedans and other cars, this makes Chrysler-Fiat the last "American" manufacturer offering a full size sedan.

The Volt was an interesting period in GM history. Its design was influenced by the 2008 economic recession. As far as PHEVs go, it was definitely one of the more solid concepts- it certainly outclasses the Prius Prime. When the Volt came out, it was seen as quite an achievement. Tesla had delivered a handful of Lotus-based Roadsters prior to the Volt's arrival, but the Volt was among the first Lithium Ion powered plug-in cars. Lithium Ion batteries have come a long way in cost since 2010, and so the Volt's power train configuration looks less appealing than it once did. The other early mass-market Li-on car is the Nissan Leaf. While I like to make fun of the Volt (and I assume others on this forum share similar opinions), but for many American's the Volt was a great entry into the plug-in segment of cars. It's a comfortable enough car, with enough cargo space, and space for four adults. Nine years have passed since the first Volt left the assembly line, and while the car has evolved a little bit with a bigger battery, and a bigger interior, the market has shifted. Charging stations are more plentiful than they were. Cars with larger batteries are now available, without breaking the bank, and public opinion has changed, such that pure electric BEVs are viewed in a much more positive light than PHEVs. It was a great car, with bridging technology so that way the average American would feel like "I can buy this".
 
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