home
The heavily-anticipated Chevrolet Volt, GM's plug-in electric vehicle, will finally arrive for the 2011 model year. The Volt uses a battery and an electric motor to drive the wheels; when the battery's 40-or-so-mile range runs out, a small gasoline engine will supply electricity to keep the car running. Primary charge for the battery comes from plugging the car in. A new EPA fuel economy test for range-extended EVs gives the Volt a city fuel economy rating of 230 -- that's two hundred thirty -- MPG.
The Chevrolet Volt will be entering our region via Thailand but don’t count on it solving your fuel price woes as it is estimated to be priced at nearly 3 million Thai baht (roughly RM300,000), thanks to current Thai import duty structures. The Volt will be launched in the US in 2010, and the Thai arrival is expected to be as early as 2011.
I suppose the only way for prices to come down to a more affordable level would be local assembly in Thailand. Hybrid or electric car assembly have typically been in places where the manufacturer has a strong foot, but with even Toyota beginning to set up overseas hybrid assembly plants, it could be possible for GM to set up an assembly center for the Volt up north.
Home
