I for one was very excited about the Volt concept but to see what they have done to it for production has completely turn me off. I would never buy it. What a shame.
Kelvin
Kelvin, thanks for your letter. We learned some more “disturbing” news about the production Volt last week.
The Volt’s gasoline engine will not recharge the batteries during daily operations. The only way you can recharge the lithium ion batteries is by plugging them in to an electrical outlet! Once you’ve driven 40 miles (approximately) on the battery pack, the gasoline engine will generate all the electricity needed to run the car.
The battery pack alone will carry you for those first 40 miles; but after that, it might as well be a brick.
The regenerative brakes will create a little charge for the batteries; but not enough to recharge them fully. So if you can’t plug in the Volt’s battery pack at night, it becomes a useless dead weight.
I wonder if the plug-in Prius, due on or before the same time as the Volt, will be the same or if the Prius will be able to recharge its own battery pack as you drive. My money is on Toyota to make the more consumer-friendly design decision.
If the Volt is the future of GM, I fear for its future!
Todd Bianco
Sr. Editor
Editor:
“America has never seen a car this size before and their first question usually isn't about (fuel) economy, it's about safety," said Dave Schembri, president of Smart USA. "And that's why we think these results are so very important."
Someone needs to educate Dave on American car history. I owned a Berkeley and had it not been for my wife expecting we’d still have it. My BF has an American Bantam which makes the Smart car look huge. The Bantams sold in the thousands during the 1930’s. I could have put a pic of them in this letter but I used the space for my beloved Berkeley instead. 
There were other mini cars such as the Iso Isetta manufactured by BMW as the Isetta and imported by the thousands during the late forties and early fifties., the Messerschmitt two-seater manufactured by the famous manufacturer of Nazi fighter aircraft in WW II and lest we not forget the Crosley which was manufactured from 1939 to 1952 in Cincinnati, Ohio and Marion, Indiana. Variants were raced in the SCCA’s Class H (the Crosley Hot Shot still holds all the records) and campaigned by Nick Braje who made speed equipment for the tiny 4 cylinder engine. And I guess the Fiat Topolino (had one of those too) and the Honda 600 were mentioned while “Dumb Ass Dave” slept in class.
It’s so typical of these corporate Gen X’s to pontificate without having a fucking clue about history. Dave Schembri is an example of putting his mouth in gear before his brain is running. P.S., I’d take a Crosley Hot Shot any day over this “Smart Car piece of crap. Not only would a Hot Shot run circles around this Smart Car but it would also get better mileage doing it and be a hell of a lot more fun to drive.
Thanks for letting me rant.
John D.
