The numbers for the Volt continues to have lackluster sales:
"The car company had hoped to sell 45,000 Chevy Volts in America this year, according to the Detroit News, but has only sold about 1,626 over the first two months of 2012."
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/ gm-laying-1300-due-low-volt-sales/406771
...The numbers for the Volt continues to have lackluster sales
Well, this time I can't argue. Sales are not where GM hoped.
I would still say that it's too soon for GM to give up hope. Volt has only been available nationally since November. And international sales are just beginning. Sales have obviously been damaged by poor PR from the crash test fire story. But this won't likely be a factor at all for international sales. A summer of high-priced gas is coming, as well.
Bottom line, let the electric car come about naturally in the marketplace when the time is right. Forcing it at the wrong time only leads to wasted effort and wasted resources. They need to cut out all subsidies and let the electric car happen on its own terms with the right set of people at the right time rather than showering money on undeserving companies. It will happen, but it won't happen efficiently with the government screwing around with the marketplace.
I'm going to say the same thing I said last year at this time when the electric car was also tanking:
The people who made this movie and the people who believe it need to face facts: the marketplace killed the electric car. You, me, and your friends killed it. Not GM. Not gas companies. We did. We weren't interested and that's why it died. They all owe GM and gas companies a great big apology.
...Forcing it at the wrong time only leads to wasted effort and wasted resources.
I don't disagree with your sentiment, but I think some misinterpretation is taking place.
I don't see the arrival of EVs as "forced". GM made the decision to develop the Volt after finding out Nissan was making a big bet on electric cars. Nissan is certainly not controlled by the US government.
Nearly every foreign automaker has an EV project in the works today. That's not something GM or Ford can ignore.
In fact, two things are driving the arrival of electric cars today - rising gasoline prices and new battery technology.
One of the principal reasons this is happening today, around lithium battery technology, instead of 10 years ago around NIMH battery technology, is that the battery patents today aren't controlled by a single entity (an oil company, in the NIMH case.) In fact there are multiple lithium battery formulations, each with its own advantages - and many of these patents are held in Asia. This makes buying up all the relevant patents to control the technology too difficult.
The conservative voices I hear today trying to punish American automakers for designing and making electric vehicles are, unfortunately, effectively trying to hand this emerging market segment to the Asians and Europeans.
China has made it very clear they are putting a million EVs on their streets in the next few years. Regardless of your opinion of the technology, you really think GM should ignore that business opportunity?
...They need to cut out all subsidies and let the electric car happen on its own terms
I'm not in favor of the $7500 EV subsidy passed in 2008 (not in favor of oil subsidies either, BTW.) If you remember, Bush announced the subsidy amount before the prices of the Leaf and Volt were announced. This allowed the carmakers to effectively set their prices around the subsidy amounts, and take that money for themselves.
All this kind of thing does is give another black eye to EVs, while saving the buyers very little actual money.
...The numbers for the Volt continues to have lackluster sales
Good news, Volt set a sales record in March. If the sales trend holds as extrapolated forward, it is still possible for GM to meet the original 45,000 sales target for 2012.
We'll just have to wait and see.
GM announced that the laid off Volt assembly workers will be called back a week early.
And back down again:
http://green.autoblog.com/2012/05/01/chevy-volt-sales-drop-to-1-462-ni ssan-leaf-sales-fall-to-370/
Also, the car you cite for motivating GM to make the Volt, the Leaf, sold 370. Sorry, but those numbers are truly pathetic. If every worker in the Leaf plant bought one of these cars, these are the types of numbers you would expect.
The trajectory of EV's currently is not upward, it is downward. That means the product is not taking off, it is dying. Time to abandon ship and wait until the next batch of fools make a movie that tells us EV's are a great idea.
I'll say it again, the EV's day will come, but not with government idiots trying to tell us when it will happen. They need to sit back on the couch and let the marketplace determine when the EV will happen.
...Sorry, but those numbers are truly pathetic.
Not every successful car sells huge numbers. Volt beat Corvette for sales last year, for example.
If Volt's US sales are "pathetic", as you put it, then so are sales of hybrids in general, as Volt's number puts it in roughly 6th place last month, out of about 50 US hybrid and electric car models. See sales numbers for hybrids:
http://www.hybridcars.com/news/may-2012-dashboard-46746.html
Volt's May sales number (1680, not 1462, your article points to April's number, not May's) is also not the whole story. That's just the US sales.
International sales are gradually ramping up this year, and they are a key part of Volt's sales strategy. It's very hard to get complete numbers from Europe, but here's a page (in French) that has most of them:
http://roulezelectrique.com/?p=615
Translation: 211 in Canada, 358 in Netherlands, Germany 126, other countries 21. Numbers from England aren't available (Ampera just went on sale there last month.) we also don't have numbers from Australia and China.
Adding up what we know, there's at least 716 European sales, making a grand total of at least 2396 Volt and Ampera sales for May. Growing international sales have filled in for softening US sales the last month or two. And there's every indication international sales will continue trending upward.
The french-language article also points out that Volt's Michigan assembly plant ran at full capacity last month, turning out 4995 Volts / Amperas. GM must be looking at a very positive sales forecast.
I personally took a Volt plant tour last month, and this appears to be true - the lines were fully manned, and Volts were rolling off the line every few seconds.
...The trajectory of EV's currently is not upward, it is downward.
If your statement were true, you might be able to make a case for your conclusion. Fortunately, it is not true - not in the least. Here's a chart of Volt sales - which is incomplete - running just partway through March:
http://tradewhen.com/chevyvoltsales-to-mar-2012.jpg
If the rest of March were filled in with total Volt / Ampera sales, the line would be off the top of the chart - and it would stay there right through today.
Charts like this will zig and zag, because that is the nature of charts. However, the long-term trend is unmistakable - it points sharply upward.
You seem to be Volt obsessed. I was talking about the Leaf. See where I mention the Nissan Leaf numbers, then say those numbers are pathetic? It's because they are pathetic. The trajectory is downward.
Curious, why are you all about the Chevy Volt and you don't seem to care about the Leaf? I thought you were a non-denominational fan of EV's.
...You seem to be Volt obsessed. I was talking about the Leaf.
The context of your comments seems to refer to both cars. I responded about the Volt since I had that info readily available. Yes, I admit that I care more about the Volt because I own one.
Leaf's US sales could certainly be better, but it's hasty to take a short term dip in sales and turn it into catastrophe. Automakers will look at the year-over-year sales trends instead.
Also, again you are just looking at US sales numbers. Leaf is doing much better in the rest of the world. Japanese Leaf sales alone readily surpass US sales, for example. Worldwide, 27,000 Leafs have sold so far. It's been on the market for about 1 1/2 years. That number comes from this article:
http://www.plugincars.com/nissan-leaf-sales-inflection-120047.html
For future reference, electric cars will certainly do better in other parts of the world compared to the US for the foreseeable future. Subsidized gasoline prices here do a lot to lull US auto consumers into not worrying so much about what driving costs. Americans also have many more rural drivers who have to regularly drive long distances, compared to Europeans.
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