Chevy Volt Halted. Who did not see this coming?

[Cat_Driver]

I'll tell you who didn't see it coming....all the people pushing alternative energy.

I saw the Volt failure coming they day they announced the price. Then I confirmed my convictions once I heard about how far it went on a charge.

I saw the demise of every American Solar manufacturing plant, as no one on the planet can compete with China in this area, but the powers that be thought throwing 500 MILLION dollars at it would cure the problem.

 

[Alan L.]

That car was just too expensive..Including all of the subsidies that shouldn't be there...The Volt isn't the only one getting them though...

The concept is ok for a commuter vehicle, they just missed the mark on cost.

I'm not a fan of coal-fired cars.

Good commuter car as long as your work is in the same neighborhood.

 

[Alan L.]

I am surprised they idled Volt production instead of just kept taking losses on it; I am eating crow on that one. But I believe it is important that we develop electric car technology, manufacturing process, battery supply/materials chain, and so on.

In ten or twenty years we might be nostalgic for the days of $4/gallon fuel. The developing world is ... developing ... and so is its oil consumption. On the other hand, oil production is flat. In the U.S. we have several different resources we can use to make electricity; coal, nuclear, hydro, blablah. Whether or not they are "clean" compared to dinosaur juice, I don't know; but at least the money from coal electricity stays largely within our country.

The market will decide if an electric car should be developed. Or at least thats the way it should be.

 

[westcliffe01]

The work force only gets to make what they are allowed. I'm not of the union mindset anyway. Any system that is not merit based is going to cause the business to fail. Anything made domestically has become an assembly operation except for chassis and a little sheet metal. So one can't even say that a Ford or a GM is US made when the vast majority of parts are imported to begin with.

If you have a conversation with an auto industry buyer about how they do business, then it is not hard to understand why virtually all the suppliers have either gone bankrupt, or been consolidated to the point that they are too big to be pushed around anymore.

Local vendors making parts for prototypes are expected to turn them around in a few weeks, then wait 60+ days on their money. Just imagine what the conversation sounds like when you have an urgent job with a deadline with those terms.. The only people who agree to those terms charge 2x to 10x what anyone reasonable would, but their cash flow can't carry them that long.

 

[/pine]

Personally, I think it's because they didn't want to lose any more money on it.

on the money...

I think we (American taxpayers) still hold 500 million shares of GM stock...to break even on the "investment" the shares would have to be sold at $53+ per share...The PPS of GM closed today at less than half that ($26.00)...
...the less loss they can show on their quarterly reports before the election the better (for those that are responsible anyway)...

 

[Stimw]

google works, I just found this-
General Motors streetcar conspiracy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Barnone]

Production in the US if flat because our governement will not let anybody drill new wells. They issue permits, but the regulations make it impossible to actually drill anything.
Eddie

False. We just had a well drilled on a section that we had sold but on which we retained the mineral rights.
No problem getting a permit to drill. Unfortunately it looks like the well is a failure. Luckily we did not invest in the well drilling. Cost $3million.

 

[powerpace]

google works, I just found this-
General Motors streetcar conspiracy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"See the U.S.A. in a Chevrolet" That was the jingle in the adds in the 50's and 60's. Oil and Car adds were the norm for TV and Magazine. Oh, and Cigarettes. Those were good for you back then. The Camel ads especially.

 

[/pine]

google works, I just found this-
General Motors streetcar conspiracy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interesting but not germane to todays America...just the cost of insurance for infrastructure maintenance contractors would make an electric trolley system unfeasible...compared to rubber tires-self propelled coaches that don't need tracks to get to the repair garage...

In wide spread metro areas...small scale "bullet train" systems that would relieve mass local commuting would save more energy and produce less pollution than metro RTS's...and the initial infrastructure costs would be less than overhead electrical grids... I would think...

 

[westcliffe01]

Several recent wells have been drilled in a 10 mile radius of where I live. 1 is currently producing and the "dividends" are proportional to the size of your lot over the claim. I'm not getting a dividend since apparently our lot was foreclosed on by the county at some point for unpaid taxes and all mineral rights are automatically assigned to the state at that point. For my 1/3 of an acre it would have been about $200/month (depending on crude prices). Some nearby parcels that are 40-80 acres the owners are getting several thousand per month, to the extent that the owners have quit their jobs, sold up and now are retired elsewhere.

I read through the paperwork and was actually surprised at how lax the law was regarding the "mud" storage and disposal (considering how toxic it is). It is kept in a plastic lined pond while in use and then it is mixed with a kind of cement to stabilize it when they are done, covered over with more plastic and buried. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy regarding our groundwater...