By 2021, the Chevy Bolt EV's battery cost of $100 per kWh would save GM nearly $2,000 in manufacturing costs, despite being projected to be more capable in terms of both energy and charging speeds. However, with battery prices projected to fall well below $100 per kWh in the near future and GM's moving electronic component manufacturing facility in Hazel Park, MI, the Bolt EV's pathway to profitability was obvious. That means that, at the leaked $145 per kWh price that GM was paying LG for battery cells, the Chevy Bolt EV's battery alone represented more than one third of the total cost to build the Bolt EV. According to a UBS tear-down report of the 2017 Chevy Bolt EV, it cost GM $28,700 in parts and labor to build. Even if the ZEV credits end completely, the only thing keeping the Bolt EV from being highly profitable was battery prices. The Chevy Volt Offered No Pathway to ProfitabilityĪn all-electric car like the Chevrolet Bolt EV has a clear path to profitability. What is more, while there was a clear pathway to profitability for the Bolt EV however, the same could not be said for the Volt. With the release of Chevrolet Bolt EV, which would be responsible for earning the lion's share of GM's ZEV credits, the Volt program in the United States became very hard to justify. Essentially, as ZEV requirements become stricter, the financial benefits GM sees from building PHEVs decreases. However, even if Corporate Average Fleet Economy (CAFE) standards and ZEV credit system remain in place (which is no longer even certain), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) such as the Volt provides GM with increasingly fewer ZEV credits over time. The only thing that was saving the Volt from what would have normally been an easy decision to cancel the program were the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) credits that offset GM's cost for building the Volt. These complicated supply chains made it difficult to build Volts profitably, and as a low-volume, low-margin vehicle, it was destined for the chopping block. The Chevrolet Volt is extremely complex and expensive to build, and its supply chain looked like someone threw a pile of spaghetti noodles onto a map of Michigan that spilled off onto the rest of the Midwest. Through that lens, maintaining the Volt and Voltec programs made absolutely no sense. Regardless of their affinity for a brand, concept, or vehicle, they have to demonstrate to their investors either immediate profits or – at the very least – a pathway to profitability. While GM is often painted as an evil corporation bent on the destruction of humanity, the reality is that they are a profit-driven company that owes primary allegiance to its investors. However, I will also explain what GM did wrong by cancelling the Volt program in the way they did and what they could have (and should have) done differently. In this story, I will explain why GM was right to end the Volt program, their reasons for not applying the Voltec powertrain to other platforms, and the reasons the electric vehicle community shouldn't be concerned about GM "killing" their electric cars. However, from an objective viewpoint, GM's decision to cancel the Volt and the Voltec program was correct. These accusations gained additional traction thanks to GM's not having an immediate, plug-in replacement for the Volt. Thanks to a fervent and vocal anti-GM enclave of the EV community, the Volt's cancellation prompted renewed claims that GM was – once again – attempting to "kill" the electric car. There's a chance the Model 3 may catch the Volt before it formally departs in March, but for now the Volt is the undisputed #1.As a Chevy Volt owner for over seven years, I completely understand why many Volt owners are upset at the news that GM was cancelling the Volt and not pursuing any other Voltec-based vehicle platforms. Tesla sold some 138,000 Model S (since mid-2012), while Nissan sold 126,747 LEAFs. right now with 148,556 sales (InsideEVs data) through the end of October. Several production plants will be closed in 2019, including the Volt's Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant (in March 2019).Ĭhevrolet Volt ends its run as the most popular plug-in electric car the in U.S. Now, all of this comes to an end as General Motors no longer finds a business case for passenger cars. The Volt was hot and the undisputed tech leader in the EV space. Many disputes were waged back in those days as to whether the Volt was all-electric, or plug-in hybrid/series-hybrid. Most of us were eager to get sales results on the 1st or 2nd of each month and, back then, all we had to really compare was the Volt with the LEAF. We were highly excited when the Volt and Nissan LEAF came out in December 2010. Chevrolet Volt was the first volume plug-in hybrid on the market.
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