Tesla unveils supercharger locations

[rd_aaron]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

The Leaf and Volt were only available to the public in September of 2011.

The iMiEV was only available in December 2011.

All three had delivery backlogs as production ramped up.

Of course sales were low in 2011! But that doesn't mean anything, whatwe need to see is 2012 and 2013 sales numbers.

US numbers but:

Meanwhile, General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt had its all-time best month in August at 2,831. That's up 800 percent over the 405 the company sold in August 2011 and more than the 1,849 sold in July.

For the first eight months, GM has sold 13,497 Volts, up 325.5 percent over the same period last year.

Volt sales have been boosted by California granting solo drivers of the extended-range electric vehicle access to carpool lanes. GM spokesman Jim Cain says one in three Volts are now sold in the Golden State.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz27b0rA48Z

Since September 2011 a total of 988 Volts have been delivered to customers in Canada through August 2012.

I talked to one of the Chevrolet guys at the Calgary Auto Show last year, and he said they can't build Volts fast enough for the amount of orders they are getting in.

[You Need a Thneed]

The Prius Plug in Hybrid should be added to the list too. Essentially, the Volt isn't an electric vehicle, but a plug in hybrid. I think the newest Priuses look good enough.

[polak]

You guys act like 1,000 cars is a big number...

In the states, the Chevy Volt has sold 13,497 units YTD.

The Camry sold 280,536 and the F150 sold 408,656.

http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2012/09...-rankings.html

That is not taking into consideration the ridiculous leases and discounts that GM is giving out to try and inflate the Volts numbers.

GM's discounts on the Volt are more than four times the industry's per-vehicle average, according to TrueCar estimates. Edmunds.com and J.D. Power and Associates say they're about three times the average. Discounts include low-interest financing, cash discounts to buyers, sales bonuses to dealers, and subsidized leases.

Americans have been slow to embrace electric cars. But the Volt's August sales show they're willing to buy if prices are low enough. Even so, electrics have a long way to go before they enter the mainstream and make money for car companies. Electrics and gas-electric hybrids account for just 3.5 per cent of U.S. auto sales this year. GM is losing thousands of dollars on every Volt, raising the question of how long it can keep eating the steep losses.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/autos/gm-offer...sales-1.967341

Oh and you have governments buying these things which also inflates sales.

You are kidding yourself if you think that every car company is going to go out and lose thousands of dollars on every car they sell so that EV's become widely popular.

Like I said, I don't disagree that electric or hydrogen cars will become the norm eventually, I'm saying that until you can buy a electric car for the same price as a gasoline equivilent you won't see mass adaptation and that means the battery swap idea is even further down the road.

That is all.

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

I'm wondering how Ford's Focus Electric and C-Max Energi (Plug in Hybrid) are going to do. Both of those look pretty good, IMO. For a family car, I'm quite interested in the C-Max.

I guess it's a practical car but for the most part I would say that asthetically it wouldn't appeal to the majority of the market. Then again, hybrids and electric cars seem to be designed for the "hippie" market who likes that sort of look, this is where the manufacturers should break from the mold.

[You Need a Thneed]

Comparing an emerging technology where production is ramping up, to the best seeling cars on the road isn't exactly fair.

How do you think pricing on batteries is going to come down? It isn't going to come down by not selling electric cars.

You do realize that Auto Manufacturers lose money on many different kinds of cars that they sell, right? Those losses are covered by profits on other lines.

[polak]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Comparing an emerging technology where production is ramping up, to the best seeling cars on the road isn't exactly fair.

How do you think pricing on batteries is going to come down? It isn't going to come down by not selling electric cars.

You do realize that Auto Manufacturers lose money on many different kinds of cars that they sell, right? Those losses are covered by profits on other lines.

I'm just trying to illustrate how far off things like battery swaps are from being a norm.

Yes I know that car makers lose money on plenty of their models, I included that because there were posts earlier claiming that every car maker is jumping on the EV bandwagon which is far from the truth.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by polak

I'm just trying to illustrate how far off things like battery swaps are from being a norm.

Yes I know that car makers lose money on plenty of their models, I included that because there were posts earlier claiming that every car maker is jumping on the EV bandwagon which is far from the truth.

Oh, I don't think anyone is disagreeing with you that widespread battery swap stations are more than a decade out. However, someone has to start the ball rolling, or it will never happen.

List of Car makers with EV's or Plug in Hybrids planned in the near future or available already:

Chevrolet
Nissan
Mitsubishi
Ford
Toyota
Honda
Mazda (Japan only)
Tesla
BMW
Fisker
Volvo
Kia
Smart
Mercedes
VW
Chrysler
FIAT

That list is certainly not exhaustive either.

[Rathji]

I was looking up electric cars last night due to this thread and realized that Ontario, Quebec and BC all have sizable government rebates on them.

With the rebate the 2013 electric Smart car was about $18k.

That's getting into the realm of affordability, even though Smart cars are notoriously cheap to begin with.

[Daradon]

Pretty cool and a step in the right direction, but I think a lot of travelers would find a 30 minute charge every three hours too time consuming. I guess it depends how far you are going.

Still though, the technology can only get better, this would be one revolution I would love to see.