Chevy Volt lacks a spark so far

NY Times:

The Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid, will not arrive in showrooms until late 2010. But it is already straining under the weight of an entire company.

Executives at General Motors, the largest and apparently the most imperiled of the three American car companies, are using the Volt as the centerpiece of their case to a skeptical Congress that their business plan for a turnaround is strong, and that a federal bailout would be a good investment in G.M.’s future.

In ads that ran this week, the company said of the Volt: “This is not just a car. It’s a vision of our future.” Another claimed that the vehicle would “completely reinvent the automotive industry.”

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The Volt is a big long-term bet. New vehicles typically cost $1 billion to develop, and the Volt requires new technology that probably inflated that price tag even more.

G.M. says the car, which is scheduled to arrive in showrooms two years from now, will be able to travel 40 miles on a charge, but it will also have a small gas engine to extend the range to as much as 640 miles using both the battery and gasoline (the 1.4 liter, four-cylinder engine is intended to run a generator that will power the car and recharge the batteries once they are depleted). It is expected to cost about $40,000.

To some, the Volt will remain a niche vehicle until its cost drops sharply and its range rises dramatically.

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I could almost make it to Brenham and back on the battery. I could make it halfway to Houston on the battery. I certainly could not tow much with it.

With gas dropping down to $1.80 a gallon now it would be hard to justify paying so much and getting so little. Democrats might like to punish us by raising the gas tax to make such vehicles more marketable but the maintenance of the batteries would drive up the cost of driving beyond that of my new pickup when amortized over the life of the vehicle.

This seems like a roll of the dice on a very marginal vehicle.