Volt Production Restarts As Inventory Glut Clears

General Motors Co. said it has restarted production of its extended range Chevrolet Volt at its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant — and is shipping low-emission models to California.

The new 2012 models will qualify for a $1,500 state rebate and be allowed to drive solo in the state's carpool lanes.

Volts with the Low Emissions Package, which is standard for California, began shipping from the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck plant this week and will start arriving at the more than 140 participating Chevrolet dealerships in California before the end of the month, GM said.

GM had halted production of Volt — which goes about 35 miles on battery power before a gasoline-powered engine recharges the battery — in December for its holiday shutdown, but hadn't restarted production until this month.

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Designer1 - 2/23/2012 6:14:12 PM

+5 Boost

Stopped or not, it's so sad to see where the bailout money went into, a completely failed product. Seriously 35 miles?? that's about 20 minutes driving. So, people are paying $41k+ for 20 minutes worth of battery life? I would rather pay $20k on a Civic or something that gets me 35+ mpg.

vdiv - 2/23/2012 7:28:42 PM

-3 Boost

That's your choice. The 37 miles are perfectly sufficient for me to go to work and back twice and it cost me $2 to fully recharge the car. It is not nearly as dinky, loud, or ugly as a Civic or an Insight.

For me it is a very successful product.

vdiv - 2/24/2012 10:18:55 AM

+1 Boost

At my current usage, less than $50 a month. I do partially charge it at public charge points that are free when running errands (picking someone from the airport, getting coffee, groceries) but that lasts less than an hour and only adds a few miles to the range. However considering that I was paying well over $200 a month for gas before it is an added bonus. I have also fully-charged it at a friends house while staying overnight and have compensated them for the favor.

Check these two online calculators to give you some idea of the TCO:

http://www.digifixpix.com/volt/volt_calc.asp

http://projectgetready.com/js/tco.html