This one has got to hurt. After a record-best 1,529 units sold in December, sales of the Chevrolet Volt dropped to just 603 in January, part of an overall decline in GM model sales compared to the last month of 2011. The good news in this less-than-half drop? If you look at the year-on-year trend, the Volt almost doubled its sales. In January 2011, Chevy sold 321 Volts.

Over on the Nissan Leaf side, the numbers are also down. Nissan sold 676 Leafs in January, which is less than the 954 Leafs sold last month. But, if we do the same comparison that we did with the Volt, things look good. All the way back in January 2011, Nissan sold 87 Leafs. For more on Leaf sales, read this. We’ll have our By The Numbers post on overall green car sales up as the information rolls in. Official press releases from both Nissan and Chevy are available after the jump.

Continue reading Chevy Volt sales drop to 603, Nissan moves 676 Leafs in January

Chevy Volt sales drop to 603, Nissan moves 676 Leafs in January originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the wake of last week’s bruising hearing on Capitol Hill about the safety of the Chevrolet Volt, which itself followed an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that concluded plug-in vehicles do not “pose a greater risk of fire than gasoline-powered vehicles,” former General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz has written a column for Forbes that strikes back against the media (especially conservatives) who are attacking the car he thought would be one of his most important legacies.

Politicians and members of the media on the right, from Mitt Romney to Neil Cavuto, have talked smack about the Volt, and Lutz says this “has attracted my attention and ire.” In typical Lutz fashion, he doesn’t mince words, writing:

The Oscar for totally irresponsible journalism has to go to The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News, with, as its key guest, Lou Dobbs. Amid much jocular yukking, the Volt was depicted as a typical federal failure. … Boiled down to the subtext, Dobbs’ message was this: “All Volts catch fire, and therefore all Volts have been recalled.” That simply isn’t the case. …

To top it off, these two media pros lamented the fact that the same government that had forced GM to produce the Volt was now extending $7,500 tax credits towards its purchase, thus squandering even more of “our taxpayer” dollars on this failed Socialist-collectivist flop. Truth? The $7,500 tax credit was enacted under the Bush administration!

Don’t let Lutz’s words make you think he’s taking a left/liberal stance. He’s still a self-declared “conservative Republican” who hates that right-wing talking heads are spiraling downward into this sort of “deliberate misstatement of facts.” They “have managed to make me embarrassed to describe myself as a conservative,” he writes, adding, “Let’s leave the ‘invention of facts’ to the left-wing climate-change alarmists.” There, that should offend pretty much everyone who’s not in the dead political center.

Bob Lutz: Hey right-wingers, stop attacking the Chevy Volt originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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General Motors has launched an advertising campaign touting the safety of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in electric vehicle, just as its CEO testified to Congress that a recent Volt fire that took place after a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash test would never occur under real-world circumstances, Bloomberg News reported.

GM CEO Dan Akerson (pictured) said in the campaign that he “couldn’t be prouder” of the technology the company uses to produce the Volt, the wire service reported. The campaign includes full-page ads in 19 U.S. daily newspapers, including the New York Times, as well as a television ad that will debut on News Corp.’s Fox News Channel, Bloomberg said. GM has also released a new “normal” ad promoting the Volt that calls it “the car America had to build.” You can watch the 30-second clip after the jump.

Akerson spoke Wednesday in a hearing with the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending. Both he and NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said the car was safe and defended NHTSA’s handling of the situation against accusations from some Republican members of Congress who’ve been critical of the Obama Administration and its relationship with GM.

NHTSA said late last week that it finished its two-month investigation into the crash test that resulted in a fire three weeks after the fact last summer, and concluded that neither the Volt nor other electric vehicles pose more of a fire risk than conventional vehicles.

Continue reading GM launches ad campaign touting Chevy Volt safety

GM launches ad campaign touting Chevy Volt safety originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh, how easy it is to go viral on the Internet. All you have to do is be really, really bad at math. Or have an agenda. Here’s how to play the game:

Start with a car that is already in the news and for some reason has turned into a political hot button. Something like, say, the Chevy Volt. Then, make up a completely bogus number about how much each one costs taxpayers and put it out there. Get Drudge involved. Sit back, relax and see your nonsense spread like wildfire.

This is exactly what James Hohman, the assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, did recently. You may have seen the headlines: “Each Chevy Volt Costs Taxpayers $250,000.” “Are Volts for dolts? It’s starting to look that way.” “Report: Every Chevy Volt has over $250,000 in government subsidies.” When we first saw this story, we looked it over and figured the math was so skewed that no one would dare repeat it. But then everyone did, so we now think it makes sense to throw some cold water on the whole issue.

Fact: Each Volt does not – emphatically not – have $250,000 in taxpayer subsidies in it. The way that Hohman got to this figure is by taking the amount of state and federal assistance used to make the car (through loans to build or update manufacturing facilities, for example) and then divide by 6,000. Why 6,000? Because that’s around how many GM has sold thus far. It’s actually 6,142 for 2011 as of the end of November, but exact numbers are not Hohman’s strong suit. It’s only by ignoring the fact that the government money spent in getting the Volt to market will influence way, way more than 6,000 units that you have a case. But this is not what is happening, and Hohman should know as much.

Thankfully, some voices of reason have spoken up to clarify the issue, and we wanted to join that chorus. We can only hope that the smackdown spreads as quickly as the hyperbole did. Anyone want to bet on this happening? Didn’t think so.

Bad math makes claim that each Volt cost taxpayers $250,000 go viral originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 26 Dec 2011 08:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spontaneous combustion concerns weeks after a crash may prompt General Motors to spend about $1,000 per Chevrolet Volt to fix, according to a report from Reuters. The proposed fixes, which would cost a total of $9 million, would likely include reinforcements around vulnerable areas of the car’s battery pack, lamination of electric circuitry and better protection for the coolant system to stop leaks.

After a severe crash that causes damage to the Volt’s battery pack, coolant can leak out, and if the battery is not discharged, a fire may start. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration discovered the fire danger this past summer when one of its crashed Volts caught fire three weeks after testing. Two more batteries later caught fire when put through simulated crash testing by NHTSA.

Despite the fire risks, both NHTSA and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have said they have no plans to change their safety ratings for the Volt. Both organizations gave Chevy’s electric car top marks for safety after initial crash testing.

GM has repeatedly said that the Volt is safe to drive and poses no immediate risk of fire after an accident. Yesterday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood echoed that sentiment. Buyers have been offered loaner cars while the automaker investigates a solution and has vowed to buy back Volts from any owners who no longer want the car due to safety concerns. So far, a “couple dozen” Volt owners have taken GM up on the offer.

Chevy Volt battery fix may cost $1,000, will hang on to top IIHS rating originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the wake of a post-accident fire at a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration facility and with a safety probe underway, GM is considering a redesign of the battery used in the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt.

GM Chief Executive Dan Akerson has said he is open the possibility of redesigning the battery, while insisting that the vehicle is safe to operate and presents no danger immediately following a crash. The company is also working with the NHTSA on proper post-crash safety procedures. GM will delay the introduction of the Opel Ampera (which uses the same battery) in Europe until investigation of this incident is complete. GM recently reported that they had 6,000 pre-orders for the Ampera.

Where many EV manufacturers source their batteries from other companies, GM builds their own battery packs at their Brownstown, MI plant. The liquid-cooled 16-kWh lithium units have been a critical component of the Volt design from the outset. The individual cells in the battery are provided by LG Chem Ltd. of South Korea.

The original incident involved a Volt that was damaged in a side impact, and which caught fire three weeks later. Further testing has confirmed a risk of fire following an accident if the liquid coolant is allowed to escape from the battery packs and the electricity stored in the batteries is not discharged.

Continue reading Chevy Volt battery may be redesigned for improved safety

Chevy Volt battery may be redesigned for improved safety originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Chevy Volt continues to increase its monthly sales figures, trending upward a little bit compared to October and way up over the doldrums of the summer months. In July, for example, GM sold just 125 Volts. In November, the company sold 1,139 units.

Even with this good news, it’s nearly a foregone conclusion that GM will miss its target to sell 10,000-12,000 Volts in 2011. The year-to-date total stands at 6,142, and we just don’t see the company selling 4,000 or 6,000 Volts by the time the ball drops in Times Square.

The all-electric Nissan Leaf, on the other hand, continued its dive in October to 849 units after its summer high point of 1,708. For November, the hatchback moved just 672 units even though company sales overall were up over 19 percent (year-on-year). So far in 2011, the Leaf has sold 8,738 copies in the U.S. and over 20,000 units around the world. The company has also set a goal of 10,000 Leaf sales in 2011, and will need to get December sales back to summer levels to meet that target.

Continue reading Volt sales climb to 1,139, Leaf drops to 672 in November

Volt sales climb to 1,139, Leaf drops to 672 in November originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s Turkey Day here in the U.S., so why not a post about ducks? Well, a post that mentions ducks, at least.

It turns out that old Chevy Volt battery covers are being reused as wood duck nesting boxes at GM’s Milford, MI Proving Ground. That’s just one of the wildlife-friendly tidbits that GM talks about in its announcement that six new GM facilities have been given Wildlife Habitat Council certification “for creating or enhancing wildlife habitats on their grounds.” This puts GM’s total at 21, which it says is the most among all automakers.

Here are more examples of GM new efforts to make little creatures happy on places where it does the dirty work of producing vehicles: nesting boxes for Eastern Blue Birds have been installed at the Arlington, TX Assembly plant; trees have been planted and local school children helped “creating habitats for amphibians and small mammals” at the CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, Ontario and lots of educational programs have taken place at various sites. You can see the full list after the jump. Now, go enjoy that bird.

Continue reading Ducks live in reused Chevy Volt battery covers and other intersting tidbits from GM

Ducks live in reused Chevy Volt battery covers and other intersting tidbits from GM originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s a fun bit of trivia: Jay Leno has driven his Chevy Volt over 11,000 miles and doesn’t have a single gas station receipt to show for it. According to the New York Times’ Wheels blog, Leno has had his plug-in for 11 months and, as he told the Times, “I’ve never had to put gas in it yet. … They gave it to me with a full tank of gas. I’ve used less than half of that.”

Given that Leno has an entire fleet of gas-swallowing rides in his garage, he could obviously just take the Volt out whenever he knows he can get there and back again without refueling. You have to be kind of careful to put 11,000 miles on a Volt without ever going more than 40 miles (plus or minus) at a stretch. Luckily, Leno said his commute is less than 35 miles a day, and so he uses the Volt as his daily driver. He then makes a fairly good joke at GM’s expense, and you can read it here.

Jay Leno drives 11,000 miles in his Chevy Volt, doesn’t ever fill up with gas originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When news of a fire in a North Carolina garage housing a Chevy Volt broke last week, green car enthusiasts – and, no doubt, General Motors – sucked in a collective breath. Had the lithium-ion battery pack in the range-extending hybrid suffered from some sort of defect? Or was perhaps the LiMn2O4 chemistry of the LG-supplied cells inherently dangerous?

Well, it now appears safe to exhale. The Volt’s halo remains in place as exculpatory evidence has been offered up by no less than the local fire marshal. Speaking with Green Car Reports, the Iredell County official said, “the source of ignition seems to be from outside the area of the vehicles.” Phew! To add to the evidence in the Volt’s favor, it’s also important to note that it wasn’t gutted and materials with low melting points were still intact.

Of course, there’s still the matter of the fire that occurred three weeks after being crash tested by NHTSA but it looks like it is safe to assume that if your plug-in car hasn’t suffered from a side-impact event, you’re good to go.

NC Chevy Volt fire likely not caused by plug-in car originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 16 Nov 2011 09:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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