AD #3305 – How GM Blew Launch of Bolt EV; Russian Auto Industry Collapsing Over Sanctions; Judge Hands Musk a Setback

April 18th, 2022 at 11:48am

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Listen to “AD #3305 – How GM Blew Launch of Bolt EV; Russian Auto Industry Collapsing Over Sanctions; Judge Hands Musk a Setback” on Spreaker.

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Runtime: 10:34

0:08 Federal Judge Hands Musk a Setback
1:11 France In Uproar Over Tavares Pay Package
2:02 Russian Auto Industry Collapsing Over Sanctions
3:20 Volvo Invests in Fast Charging Startup
4:15 Lexus RZ 450e Debuts on Wednesday
4:44 Tesla, Kia No Longer Offer Charging Cables
5:26 Who Uses the Most Gasoline?
6:54 Shanghai OEMs Able to Open Again
7:19 How GM Blew Launch of Bolt EV

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25 Comments to “AD #3305 – How GM Blew Launch of Bolt EV; Russian Auto Industry Collapsing Over Sanctions; Judge Hands Musk a Setback”

  1. Kit Gerhart Says:

    If I bought an EV, I’d expect it to come with what you need to charge it using both 120v and 240v home outlets. It’s almost a given, that anyone buying an EV is going to have provisions for charging at home, and will want to do so.

  2. Anthony Carl Mamut Says:

    Mr. Reuss, “Corvette-like”? Friends of ours sought help from MI A.G. to have GM purchase back.

    Partly, the dealer packing the sell-price, partly under-performing range-wise. (Tesla replacement ordered.)

    Like me, both of them grew up Detroit “automotive” families.

    We have to get right.

  3. Bob White Says:

    False and misleading is almost everything that comes out of Musk’s mouth…

  4. Roger T Says:

    GM and also the dealers weren’t excited about the Bolt. My Houston Chevy dealer steered me away from the bolt saying – “you don’t want that. It’s electric, like a microwave”. I left the dealer at that moment :)

  5. Bob White Says:

    Musk taking control of Twitter is clearly an attempt to fully control his message and to silence the fact checkers.

  6. Albemarle Says:

    We are enjoying our Bolt with the new battery. No question GM dropped the ball on the Bolt, not just the launch but also the lack of effort at updating.

    It sounds bad not to have a 120v charger included but they’re about a useful as teats on a bull. Even at 12 amps & 120 volts, our Bolt would take 2 days to charge from 0% to 100%. We don’t carry ours anymore. Easier to find a public charger than sit in one spot for days.

  7. MERKUR DRIVER Says:

    5) People who think they will find “facts” on Twitter are the problem. I am not sure Musk can ever fix that problem.

  8. Kit Gerhart Says:

    2 I know someone with a Bolt who really liked it, at least before the firestorm. I have seen him since then, so I don’t know his thoughts on what happened. I suspect we will know in a few months if the new batteries do, in fact, fix the problem. I assume the the similar Hyundai and Kias with the same batteries were recalled, and while there are few of them in the US, there are a lot of them other places in the world. Over 100,000 Kona electrics have been sold.

  9. Kit Gerhart Says:

    6 If I had an EV and 120v charging, it would work for essentially all of my driving, except for highway trips. 12 hours of charging a day, even at a low estimate of 3 miles/hour, would give 36 miles of charge a day. That’s 13,140 miles/year, more than I generally drive any one vehicle in a year. Yeah, plugging it in overnight would be less convenient than getting gas once every 450-500 miles.

  10. ChuckGrenci Says:

    If you remember, as referring to what Mark Reuss said about enthusiasm with Bolt owners, this same enthusiasm was very similar to what Volt owners represented (most owners really, really liked the vehicle). As Mark said, or at least alluded; had GM supported the launch and sales of the Bolt, it could have been a much better experience for owners. GM dropped the ball with Volt support as well. Third time, the charm???????? Currently there is a push for Hummer and Lyriq though even now the pre-order patrons are kind of in limbo, and hard data about when they might get their car is nebulous at best. Mark Reuss, you need to get on this launch for Lyriq, Hummer and the upcoming Silverado EV; even when the news may not be as positive as you’d like to convey, explain (informing) your buyers goes a long way to at least them knowing what’s going on.

  11. Lambo2015 Says:

    1 When you install a home charger it comes with a cord much like the public charging stations. So I could see how the cord provided would only be used for plugging into 120V outlet. In most cases never used. I think I would want that extra sense of security too tho.

    3,5 Perhaps Elon owning Twitter would allow false stories to be posted. Not much different than any other media site. Kinda like free speech so do your research.

    Mark Reuss only said, what everyone already knew. To his point I wouldn’t say EVs are mainstream even still. However why build an EV if your not even going to attempt to sell it? Very obvious it was a half-hearted attempt on GMs part.
    I truly think most companies are putting way to much stock into being first on the EV front. Any company could sit back and wait for EVs to truly come into their own, like Toyota or Honda has done. They are dabbling but waiting until you can release a truly well developed from the ground up EV I don’t think puts you at a disadvantage. Let everyone else throw tons of cash at their EV lineup and then swoop in later and release something that is truly remarkable. But the stock holders want to appear on the leading edge of technology so they all dive in producing ok EVs that are still evolving rapidly. Creates a lot of waste but I guess when you can pay a CEO 80 Million there is lots of cash to go around.

  12. TERRY Says:

    Volvo will charge enough electric energy to store 100 miles of range in 5 minutes. That stinks. My 2021 Cadillac CT4-V in 5 minutes at the pump will store 280 miles of range, using gasoline. In less than 10 minutes (somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes), my car will have stored 560 miles of range. [32.0 mpg, 17.5 gallon tank). This was a combination of highway and some city driving from start to end, to the same starting location (so elevation is factored out). Measurement was over 1,771 miles.

  13. Kit Gerhart Says:

    The Chevy dealer where I bought my Corvette seemed to have little interest in selling either Volt or Bolt. In a few weeks, I’ll visit the Cadillac/Buick/GMC dealer in the same town to find out what they are saying about Lyriq. Hummer is such a niche product, that it will probably sell itself to the few people who would want to pay $110K+ for something like that, but Lyric is almost “mainstream,” with a base price similar to Tesla Model Y and top trim Mach-E.

  14. Kate McLeod Says:

    When the Bolt launched it was the only way an average person could go electric. And Mark Reuss is right–it was almost as though the produced the car and then hid it out of sight. Hopefully, GM won’t do what it did to Saturn–another vehicle that was beloved by its owners and starved by GM.

  15. wmb Says:

    What seemed to hurt and evenytually kill the Volt, was all the focus on whether it was a true EV, with a ICE generator to recharge the batteries, or if it was in fact a hybrid. GM insisted it was an EV, which in most situations, as I understand, it was. Yet, the way the mechanicals worked, at times, in certain (extreme) circumstance, it would in operate like a hybrid! This no way kept it from being a great car and it has a strong fan base to boot, but all of this backlash seemed to hurt the car’s reputation and street cred. Even though it did get a 2nd generation, GM didn’t give it much support. It seemed as if all that negative press and the lack of success for it’s stable mate, the Cadillac ELR, put it on the chopping block. It is kind of like the Pontica Fiero. Right after GM/Pontica fixed the styling and put a decent engine in it, they put it out to pasture! IMHO, GM should do a BEV CUV/Crossover styled after the Camaro or Corvette and call it the Volt. This way they get to capitalize on the brands Halo or muscle cars, without enraging those two fan bases. The Volt still has a number of loyal fans and their is a lot of equity in its name. This way, too, GM can make the vehicle live up to what they aways said was, a true EV!

  16. Bob Wilson Says:

    The credibility of ‘funding secured’ is an issue for the trial. It sounds more like a soft ‘gag’ order to not taint a jury pool. Regardless, the judge may have been a little premature.

    As for GM, need to see a Bolt-class car demonstrating the low-end Ultium system. Show vehicles with the upper and lower Ultium limits and we can then understand if GM truly has EV engineering.

  17. Kit Gerhart Says:

    14 I probably would have bought a second generation Volt, if I’d had home charging at my condo. It would work for most of my driving on electric power, and since it had mechanical connection from the ICE to the wheels at highway speed, it would get decent mpg on the highway. I don’t think many people even knew how it worked, and the Volt was horribly politicized early on.

  18. Kit Gerhart Says:

    14 The ELR was grossly over priced at $66K in 2016, after they cut the price substantially. It was $76K in 2014. No wonder it didn’t sell, even though it looked pretty good.

    Fiero was pretty close to what it should be when they dropped it, but it still didn’t have power steering, expected in about everything at that time, except the tiniest econoboxes like Geo Metro/Chevy Sprint.

  19. Norm T Says:

    Kit, my 2018 CT6 2.0E plug-in sees 45 miles of EV range in 12 hours. That is with 3.4 kw per mile where a more efficient FWD Bolt can see 5 kw/mile. I don’t see a reason why one couldn’t add 100 miles of EV range plugged into 120v 12-amp wall outlet or 1,350 watts like high output microwave for any EV.

  20. Lambo2015 Says:

    17 Actually the Fiero did get power steering in 1988. It was an electrically assisted unit. Where I was working at the time Pontiac had sent us a few development cars which had a turbo 4cyl with the new suspension and it was a great car. The problem was it out performed the Corvette and GM didn’t want that. The engine fires provided enough bad publicity that they just killed he car rather than try and overcome the bad press.

  21. Lambo2015 Says:

    GM has historically gotten involved in electrification yet not supported it. Seems quite foolish to build something and not even promote it. The Volt got so many people ramped up and the plant was visited by the president no less than three times during the Volt launch yet I don’t think I ever saw one commercial for the car. The dealerships were not interested in selling them the company wasn’t interested in promoting them. It really just seemed to be an exercise in sufficing the EPA and green energy. Kinda like maybe the oil industry told them to go ahead an build it but let it fail.

  22. Kit Gerhart Says:

    18 Did production Fieros ever have power steering? I knew they developed a system using an electric pump with a conventional hydraulic PS unit, but I thought it was for the ’89 model year, which didn’t happen. Maybe I’m wrong, though, and some ’88s got it.

    I liked the idea of the Volt, which actually is a short range EV, unlike most plug-in hybrids which have only partial power from the electric motor(s). Since the Volt mechanically connects the ICE to the wheels at highway speed, it would get decent mpg on gas when the battery was depleted, much better than the i3 REx which is purely series operation.

    https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=40924&id=43746

  23. MERKUR DRIVER Says:

    22) The fiero planned to have EPS and it was even on the early order sheets. Actual production Fieros were never fitted with EPS though as GM cancelled the option just before the 1988 model year release. A few of the MY88 pilot Fieros that had EPS installed escaped though and they come up for sale from time to time. They are extremely rare and single digit numbers. Of course there are no service parts for the Fiero EPS so if it ever failed, you are simply out of luck.

    The people that own Fieros however adapt EPS from Toyota as it is pretty easy to do. I left my Fiero alone as I don’t find turning the wheel at low speed difficult. I really like the feed back the manual rack gives at higher speeds though and I don’t ever want to change that. I think most Fiero owners get into trouble when they use heavy aftermarket wheels and tires, specifically wheels that are larger than stock. I have 15″ wheels on my Fiero but I chose a wheel and tire combination that is actually lighter than the stock set up. Turning, even at low speed, is a breeze with the manual rack.

  24. al Says:

    The bottom line is GM never knew how to market it’s product and probably never will.

  25. John Says:

    We have multiple cars, with a Bolt being one of them. We also like our local Chevy dealer. Because of the supply issues, and the dealership down on inventory, I did offer to sell the car back to them. They couldn’t buy it or even sell their new Bolts until the batteries were replaced. That was actually fine with me. I did ask my salesman what Bolt owners thought of their cars. He said they all love them, and none, other than me, offered to sell back to the dealer. I get it. Just not waiting in lines at the gas station makes it a good deal for me. The dealership has not replaced my batteries yet, but that’s fine with me. The stock batteries are doing fine. I’m good with keeping the car, as it meets all my needs, and range for local driving is not an issue.