First Chevrolet Volt battery rolls off the assembly line, wonders where its home is (video)
By Tim Stevens 
posted January 7th 2010 7:57PM
posted January 7th 2010 7:57PM
Itching to get your hands on the wheel and feet on the pedals of a Chevy Volt? You still have some time to wait -- but things are getting closer to reality at least. The car was introduced three full years ago, amazingly, and we're still about a year away from the things rolling off the production line en masse. The batteries, though, those are in production. The first line-produced cell rolled off the line in the repetitively named Brownstown Township, MI. Well, the first official battery, as surely the units in the 80-odd test Volts had to come from somewhere. In the coming months before the Volt itself hits production, cells from this line will be put through their paces, both on test benches and in those early, hand-built vehicles. Eventually, production-line batteries will be mated with production-line Volts, birds will sing, squirrels will dance, and rainbows will fly. Until then, we'll keep playing with the demo OnStar app.
I really hope GM doesn't screw this up like they did with the EV1.
Time, sadly will have to tell.
@bantam Government Motors = fail. Just like Barry.
@bantam
If you have watched "Who Killed the Electric Vehicle" documentary. You know the EV1 didn't fail, the oil guy is a prime suspect of overriding the decision.
@bantam
Why do people bring up the EV1? Who the hell was going to pay 80-100K for an electric car when gas was around a buck? Back then the economy was good, SUVs were in high demand and the majority of people didn't care about electric vehicles. The same people complaining about the EV1 are complaining about the 40K price tag on the Volt. It makes no sense at all.
@specialbuddy They bring it up because it didn't just fail based on it's own merits, but was forced out of the market. If it would have been allowed to actually get to people, prices would have come down over time.
Let's hope it doesn't explode
gotta love a plant where you have 1 american doing the work, while 2 other standing nearby chatting and watching.
maybe that's why the car costs so much??
@kingofwale
It costs so much because $2500 dollars of every car has to go to union health plans for those employees. Hard to stay competitive with massive union regulation.
@kingofwale couldn't agree more... I totally laughed when I saw so many workers standing around.
@Brando That, and Obama is a big eared moron.
@kingofwale
Or maybe you could take into consideration that maybe its the first battery of the first electric american car to ever come rolling off the line and people probably want to know what it is and make sure that the first one ever getting built is built right... But you probably didn't think, and you can just keep ridiculing the hard working auto labors and take all of their jobs away to keep giving them to foreign auto company's further plunging america into debt, but who cares at least you got a cheap car right? Thats all that matters at the end of the day and if your not american, hopefully the next time your country needs help we wont help you because we just don't have the money to do it.
@rdomke
wait me up when you are ready to give me some public bailout money.
and you know what? We DO pay for more expensive car... through our tax-money going to the Government Motor company
@Brando
The plant only hired 25 people so far, and I believe they said these workers are not unionized.
Reference:
http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/archives/2010/01/live_webcast_milestone_technology_event_for_chevrolet_volt.html
at 51 minutes and 52:18
@kingofwale You guys do understand that this was for filming purposes and obviously they are not working 100% yet...
how much does it cost
@tatester48 Bob Lutz estimated "$30–40,000".
@tatester48 $30 000 is there projected price point, I think
@tatester48 $40k minus $7k with the tax credit.
@Nerdtalker
Right now it's said to be $40k with $7500 tax credit but
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=201001071059dowjonesdjonline000487&title=gm-executive-chevy-volt-may-cost-less-than-expected-40000-price
I will stick with car companies that don't require wasted tax payer money.
@Quiglag
Good luck with that... every car company in the world pretty much benefits from some government program. But hey, if you dont want to buy GM, just say so.
@Quiglag
You're paying for it. Might as well get one.
@Quiglag
Serial losers GM and Chrysler won't repay about $30B of the $58B Obama loaned them in the bailouts last Spring. Between them they sold about 3 million vehicles in 2009, so that's a $100K _per car_ subsidy. Meanwhile Toyota, Honda, Hundai, etc. had a tough year too, but they don't get any sugar from Uncle Sam.
You people who defend GM and the criminals propping up their dead carcass amaze me.
@Ed T
Yeah GM really needs to make some changes. Yeah the union really needs to cut back spending. Which they have. All cars don't cost 100 K more like 10 to 30 k. You must have never lived in michigan and never had two parents who both worked for GM/Delphi and have had to worry weather they would lose all their pay tomorrow or the pensions they spent 35 years in the company building. So quit worrying about your foreign car company's because they have labor they can pay for 7.40 an hour. So when you buy one of those cars, it doesn't benefit us anyways because the government cant get any money back through the people.
@rdomke
Toyota pays its plant works in America $30 an hour on average, which is almost exactly the same as what the American Car companies pay on average to their workers.
Yes, UAW workers get better benefits, but the real difference between the companies is when you compare their executive pay packages. US CEO's make a ridiculous amount of money compared to the overseas companies. So when trouble comes around they have more money on hand rather than sunk into real-estate and personal property of their executives.
Honda, Toyota, and Suzuki also employ a LOT of American autoworkers. The Honda plant in Ohio is huge.
Of course Toyota is closing the NUMMI plant in California. Oh wait, that is just cause GM pulled out (they were partners in that plant) without warning, and is using a clause in their Bankruptcy to get out of any costs from closing it. Toyota has to shoulder all the costs for that plant closing.
Rather than pulling the BS wanna-be patriotic line, maybe you should do a bit of research into how these companies really work.
@Ed T
You do realize Toyota and Honda got money from Japan (their home counntry) and Nissan got US DOE funds for the Leaf?
@Ed T You do realize that GM will have paid off its loans to the government by June right?
http://www.mercurynews.com/drive/ci_14000373
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BE41R20091215
http://www.industryweek.com/articles/gm_will_repay_government_loans_by_end_of_june_chairman_whitacre_says_20656.aspx
Those were just the first three articles I found on Google... now, stfu.
Chevy takes forever to get new cars out. I will be shocked too death if the Volt comes out within the 3 years.
@danhawk911 yeah cause building the volt they just had to retool some old car a bit. like, whatever
@danhawk911
Prepare your estate. The Volt is due out this coming November.
@letstakeawalk
Yeah, it'll be the Chevy Vega of 2010, a real game changer. An entire new generation of customers will learn to loath GM.
@Ed T Dude, anyone can make up random facts on the internet. Fail harder.
I'd be terrified to drive with that thing underneath me, knowing the possibility of an explosion.
@Cydoniac yeah, it's not like your current tank full of GASOLINE can explode or anything. and you're supposed to sit in the driver's seat, not outside on the hood.
@ravissimo The battery is in the trunk.
@Cydoniac I googled "prius battery explosion". Read through three pages and only found one incident, and that was with one that had been modified, adding extra third party batteries.
@VetteDude
Wrong, the battery runs down the middle, which is why it is a 4-seater, the battery takes the place of the middle back seat.
It looked like the battery was done when they started. I guess most of it was made somewhere else.
@DDragon
They mine the material in canada. Pretty much destroy the environment their. Ship it over seas to China, where they process the material, no environmental regulation their. Ship it back to the US where some union lackey tightens the screws for $60,000 a year.
It's less damaging to the environment to drive a hummer for the rest of your life.
@Brando You don't know the difference between 'their' and 'there'?
I wonder if I can hook that up to my Pre.
This must be the most relaxing assembly line I've ever seen.
This car will flop. It is too expensive and not practical. It should not be rolled out to the masses but made in limited quantities. Think trial programs and the such. I hate a waste of taxpayer money
Ya boy mike vick iz in da buildinnnnn!
@Mike Vick
Not to mention they made it look "avg" which killed it's appeal to me. I hate it when car companies tease us with cool concept cars and then give us a dumb down normal version for the final product. Why make a concept car if you don't plan to USE the concept to make the car? Why not design the car for production use not to show off your stupid idiot artistic talents. Ever since they showed that pathetic version of the Volt I was immediately turned off by GM.
@InternetJunkie06
dude, honestly i will graduate pretty soon and i'd love to buy "american" and i was considering this kind of car. but from the looks i hate it. i'll buy a ford or nissan. this car looks crappy. can't imagine going out picking up chics in that type of crud... chevy = fail. it is just sad. the concept was wayyy better
guy in center: I dare you to lick the terminals
guy left of center: I double dare you to lick the terminals
inb4 "Obama yada yada yada"
Thats oneeeee looongggg laptop battery life!
Why is GM acting like this thing is so revolutionary? There have been electric cars around for years (Tesla, Electric Smart cars). The only difference is that the Volt is supposed to be a bit cheaper (I think), but it's not like the underlying tech is that much different from what other companies have been using for a while.
@Steve B
This is a different class of vehicle than the cars you mentioned. Those are EVs (electric vehicles). This is a PHEV(plug-in HYBRID electric vehicle). Those other cars you mentioned are also either more expensive or not highway-capable. Let's compare apples to apples. Also, in the PHEV category, this car you can actually buy as a consumer(rather than only for company fleets) and has a lot better EV mode mileage than the 2010 Prius PHEV(40 miles vs 12 miles).