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Showing posts with label electric cars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label electric cars. Show all posts
Despite huge government subsidies, the sales of electric cars are horrible

Despite huge government subsidies, the sales of electric cars are horrible

GM had predicted that there would be 45,000 sales of Volts this year.  Nissan had predicted sales of the leaf at 20,000.  Yet, during the first six months, only 8,817 were sold.  20 percent are being sold in California in part because of benefits such as being able to drive in the carpool lanes with only one person in the car.  But, even if the Volt sales are horrible, the Volt is outselling the all-electric Nissan Leaf by more than 3 to 1.


Another electric car catches fire, destroys home and other cars

Another electric car catches fire, destroys home and other cars

A Texas man got a rude surprise from his new electric car:

A $100,000 electric car is suspected in sparking a fire at a Sugar Land home last week, according to media reports.
Fort Bend County chief fire investigator Robert Baker said that a newly purchased Fisker Karma sparked a fire that quickly spread to the rest of the home.
“The Karma was the origin of the fire, but what exactly caused that we don’t know at this time,” Baker told the news outlet.
Since the fire was determined to be accidental, Baker said the investigation has been turned over to the insurance companies.
According to his lawyers, Jeremy Gutierrez said his two-week old Karma caught fire soon after he parked the luxury sedan at his home in Sugar Land. The car owner said he smelt rubber rubber before seeing flames coming from the vehicle. The fire spread from the car to the garage before damaging other parts of the home. . . .
More than twice the cost, able to travel a fraction of the distance: why not to buy electric cars

More than twice the cost, able to travel a fraction of the distance: why not to buy electric cars

Component costs alone are $38,462? Add in assembly, shipping, and inventory costs and I guess that the margin is actually lower on this electric car than the gas powered vehicle.  From Bloomberg:

Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), the electric-car company led by Elon Musk, fell to the lowest price in more than three months after Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) said its RAV4 sport- utility vehicle with batteries and motor from Tesla costs twice as much as a gasoline version. . . .
“The details of the RAV4 EV that Toyota gave out yesterday were a little disappointing,” said Ben Schuman, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon, . . . . The manufacturer’s suggested retail price “is a little bit high to make it appealing to a larger buyer group.”
Toyota said yesterday the electric RAV4 that goes 100 miles (161 kilometers) per charge will sell for $49,800 when it goes on sale this year in California. The Toyota City, Japan-based company, a Tesla investor, plans to deliver 2,600 units over the next three years, . . . .
The base price of a 2012 RAV4 with a 2.5-liter gasoline engine is $22,650 on Toyota’s website.
Toyota in July 2011 agreed to pay Tesla a total of $100 million to supply lithium-ion battery packs, motors, software and other parts for the RAV4 project, part of a three-year contract, according to a filing by Tesla with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Based on Toyota’s 2,600-unit sales goal for the model, it’s paying $38,462 for components per vehicle. . . .
Expensive Electric Cars Selling Very Poorly

Expensive Electric Cars Selling Very Poorly

From CNET:

In terms of price, the Focus Electric costs just under $40,000 before a $7,500 federal tax credit. The Nissan Leaf's price starts at $35,200. The electric Chevy Volt, which has a gas engine to extend the range, costs just under $40,000 and the low-end version of Toyota's 2012 Plug-in Prius is $32,000.
Next year, Ford intends to release the Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid, a mid-size sedan Ford expects to top 100 MPGe and the Fusion Hybrid sedan which Ford projects will get 47 MPG.
The introducing of the Focus Electric brings more competition to the electric car segment. At the same time, all electric cars which run on expensive batteries face competition from hybrids and more efficient gasoline powered vehicles.
In its first year, sales of GM's Chevy Volt fell short of the company's targets, having sold 7,671 in 2011 and 9,297 to date. Nissan, which is now making the Leaf available nation-wide, said in February that it sold 10,000 Leafs in North America.


Sales apparently even slowed further in January:

Sales of the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf dipped in January, with Volt sales apparently hit by a now-closed safety investigation.
The volume of these high-profile electric cars sold is closely watched as a barometer of consumer demand. Several more battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models from other automakers are expected to come out this year and next.
General Motors said yesterday it sold 603 Volts in January of this year, more than the 321 it sold in January last year. GM shipped 1,529 Volts in December last year, its best month since production, although the yearly total of 7,671 was less than it had hoped.
Nissan sold 676 all-electric Leaf sedans in January of this year, less than the 954 it sold in December last year. The company hit a volume of 10,000 in North America this month. . . .


UPDATE: "GM temporarily halts production of Volt"

General Motors has temporarily suspended production of its Volt electric car, the company announced Friday.

GM, which is based in Detroit, announced to employees at one of its facilities that it was halting production of the beleaguered electric car for five weeks and temporarily laying off 1,300 employees.

A GM spokesman told The Hill on Friday that production of the Volt would resume April 23.
"We needed to maintain proper inventory and make sure that we continued to meet market demand," GM spokesman Chris Lee said in a telephone interview. . . .


Blames media for the low sales.

"GM blamed the lack of sales in January on “exaggerated” media reports and the federal government's investigation into Volt batteries catching fire, which officially began in November and ended Jan. 21," . . .
Problem with Tesla Motor's $40,000 batteries

Problem with Tesla Motor's $40,000 batteries

Apparently this problem has occurred at least five times in the short time that the Roadster has been in service. Between 2008 and December 2011, Tesla has sold more than 2,100 Roadsters in 31 countries.

Tesla Motors’ lineup of all-electric vehicles — its existing Roadster, almost certainly its impending Model S, and possibly its future Model X — apparently suffer from a severe limitation that can largely destroy the value of the vehicle. If the battery is ever totally discharged, the owner is left with what Tesla describes as a “brick”: a completely immobile vehicle that cannot be started or even pushed down the street. The only known remedy is for the owner to pay Tesla approximately $40,000 to replace the entire battery. Unlike practically every other modern car problem, neither Tesla’s warranty nor typical car insurance policies provide any protection from this major financial loss.

Despite this “brick” scenario having occurred several times already, Tesla has publicly downplayed the severity of battery depletion risk to both existing owners and future buyers. Privately though, Tesla has gone to great lengths to prevent this potentially brand-destroying incident from happening more often, including possibly engaging in GPS tracking of a vehicle without the owner’s knowledge. . . . .
Well, we can see who is benefiting from all those government subsidies for the Chevy Volt: The Wealthy

Well, we can see who is benefiting from all those government subsidies for the Chevy Volt: The Wealthy

From AOL Autos:

In order for the Chevy Volt to really be a success, the car needs to be affordable for the masses.

But for now, the car is mostly the province of the wealthy. General Motors, which makes the Volt, said Monday that the average income of Volt buyers is a whopping $175,000 a year. That rarefied space is usually reserved for buyers of German luxury cars.

"The Volt appeals to an affluent, progressive demographic," says Bill Visnic, senior editor for Edmunds.com "It's rare. It's hard to get one. ... It's the same reason that people buy the really rare exotic cars: Because other people can't have one."

GM hopes that the battery technology offered in the Chevy Volt catches on with the public so much that it can scale up production, making hundreds of thousands and driving down the cost of the expensive lithium-ion batteries. The batteries drive the Volt to be a $39,145 to $42,085 car before a $7,500 tax credit, so lower battery costs would make the car a bit more affordable. . . .
Electric Vehicle sales below predictions

Electric Vehicle sales below predictions

Who knows what next year will hold and the predictions are all over the place. What is clear is that electric vehicle sales are below predictions. From CNET:

Morgan Stanley estimates there will be 18,000 plug-in hybrids and pure EVs sold in the U.S. this year, which is slightly below its previous forecast but international sales are 30 percent below its prior estimate.
Those muted numbers were the reason it downgraded Tesla Motors to underweight today. "While we're still in the very early innings of vehicle electrification, the commercial progress of EVs in the marketplace has been mixed at best, and largely been unimpressive to date," Morgan Stanley's note said, according to Business Insider. . . .
Volt batteries catching fire kept quiet because of concern over the “fragility of Volt sales"

Volt batteries catching fire kept quiet because of concern over the “fragility of Volt sales"

Don't want to have anything discourage those electric car sales. Joan Claybrook isn't someone I give any weight to, but she is probably plugged into the kooky liberals who want electric cars. From Auto Guide:

Joan Claybrook, a former adminstrator at NHTSA believes part of the reason for the delay was the “fragility of Volt sales.” Yet she also believes that “NHTSA could have put out a consumer alert, not to tell them [customers] for six months makes no sense to me.”

GM designed a complex cooling system for the Volt’s lithium ion battery pack to help regulate its temperature (lithium-ion units are known for overheating), yet until July it hadn’t finalized a standard proceedure to power down the battery system, the Volt had already been on sale in the US for six months at that juncture.

The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, which crash tested a Volt back in February reported no incidents of fire as resulting from the accident, yet when a second crash test was performed in August, General Motors sent a technician to power down the battery. . . .
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