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The Chevy Volt was a great transitional vehicle, and I often wonder why they didn't build more cars like it. It had an all-electric drivetrain with a gas genera

The Chevy Volt was a great transitional vehicle, and I often wonder why they didn't build more cars like it. It had an all-electric drivetrain with a gas generator, which gave it slightly worse gas mileage than a true hybrid but had 50-mile all-electric range (300+ miles total), which was plenty for my daily needs. The only problem was an annoying bump with cupholders on top where the middle passenger would want their feet. If you want a city electric with the option to go on longer trips without worrying about charging, a used Volt is still an interesting option. That said, I think all-EV is the right move even if it causes some short-term pain. Charging will get there before too long, and this lets GM focus their engineering effort. I imagine they've considered reviving some Volt-like cars to get them through the awkward transition phase. I'm a late-stage early adopter and love my 2023 Bolt, which is quite popular and inexpensive—my sister got one, and then my parents got one too. They stupidly canceled the Bolt, but were wise enough to un-cancel it for 2025. But they did make one really weird mistake: abandoning CarPlay. Why would they do that?

pests 3y ago
> CarPlay They are trying to avoid Apple/Google getting too strong of a foothold as they don't want to be like how Google treats their Android partners. Probably claims about user privacy and no need to involve a third party who is only going to collect data and profit off it.
- kevinventullo 3y ago
  That’s a double-edged sword. I will personally never buy another car that doesn’t support CarPlay.
- CiaranMcNulty 3y ago
  I thought the new GM ICE was going to be developed by Google?
somerandomqaguy 3y ago
Depends on who you ask. > According to [Tim] Babbitt, CarPlay and Android Auto have stability issues that manifest themselves as bad connections, poor rendering, slow responses, and dropped connections. And when CarPlay and Android Auto have issues, drivers pick up their phones again, taking their eyes off the road and totally defeating the purpose of these phone-mirroring programs. Solving those issues can sometimes be beyond the control of the automaker. You can start to see GM's frustration. Babbitt's thesis is that if drivers were to do everything through the vehicle's built-in systems, they'd be less likely to pick up their phones and therefore less distracted and safer behind the wheel. He admits, though, GM hasn't tested this thesis in the lab or real world yet but believes it has potential, if customers go for it. - https://www.motortrend.com/news/general-motors-removing-apple-carplay-android-auto-for-safety-tim-babbitt/ https://www.motortrend.com/news/general-motors-removing-appl... > “The primary reason is that we’re looking to create a comfort level around the [EV] charging experience. With Android Auto or Apple CarPlay environments, the vehicle energy model or road segment data is sending energy usage and everything else associated with it to the phone, and it’s pretty difficult to off-board it from the phone,” Buffa explained. “So what we have built in[to the Blazer EV’s infotainment system] is really accurate data around battery health and battery monitoring and everything else that comes with it. And as you get into the mapping, it does route planning extremely well. For example, if we were to drive from here [San Diego] to Las Vegas, almost instantaneously the car is going to plot a route that looks at not just the state of the vehicle, but the state of the chargers along the route. It’s also going to start the battery preconditioning as necessary, so when you reach a DC fast charger, you’re actually at the optimal temperature to start using the full charging capacity.” - https://gmauthority.com/blog/2023/12/heres-the-real-reason-that-gm-is-dropping-apple-carplay-android-auto/ https://gmauthority.com/blog/2023/12/heres-the-real-reason-t... > GM projects annual software and services revenue opportunities in the $20 billion to $25 billion range from a projected 30 million connected vehicles by the end of the decade. OnStar is already the industry’s leading connectivity platform with more than 16 million connected vehicles on the road today, with software and services generating a projected $2 billion in annual revenue. Part of GM’s software and services growth comes from OnStar Insurance, projected to have a potential revenue opportunity of more than $6 billion annually by the end of the decade. - https://news.gm.com/newsroom.detail.html/Pages/news/us/en/2021/oct/1006-investor.html https://news.gm.com/newsroom.detail.html/Pages/news/us/en/20...

pests 3y ago

> CarPlay They are trying to avoid Apple/Google getting too strong of a foothold as they don't want to be like how Google treats their Android partners. Probably claims about user privacy and no need to involve a third party who is only going to collect data and profit off it.

kevinventullo 3y ago
That’s a double-edged sword. I will personally never buy another car that doesn’t support CarPlay.
CiaranMcNulty 3y ago
I thought the new GM ICE was going to be developed by Google?

somerandomqaguy 3y ago

Depends on who you ask. > According to [Tim] Babbitt, CarPlay and Android Auto have stability issues that manifest themselves as bad connections, poor rendering, slow responses, and dropped connections. And when CarPlay and Android Auto have issues, drivers pick up their phones again, taking their eyes off the road and totally defeating the purpose of these phone-mirroring programs. Solving those issues can sometimes be beyond the control of the automaker. You can start to see GM's frustration. Babbitt's thesis is that if drivers were to do everything through the vehicle's built-in systems, they'd be less likely to pick up their phones and therefore less distracted and safer behind the wheel. He admits, though, GM hasn't tested this thesis in the lab or real world yet but believes it has potential, if customers go for it. - https://www.motortrend.com/news/general-motors-removing-apple-carplay-android-auto-for-safety-tim-babbitt/ https://www.motortrend.com/news/general-motors-removing-appl... > “The primary reason is that we’re looking to create a comfort level around the [EV] charging experience. With Android Auto or Apple CarPlay environments, the vehicle energy model or road segment data is sending energy usage and everything else associated with it to the phone, and it’s pretty difficult to off-board it from the phone,” Buffa explained. “So what we have built in[to the Blazer EV’s infotainment system] is really accurate data around battery health and battery monitoring and everything else that comes with it. And as you get into the mapping, it does route planning extremely well. For example, if we were to drive from here [San Diego] to Las Vegas, almost instantaneously the car is going to plot a route that looks at not just the state of the vehicle, but the state of the chargers along the route. It’s also going to start the battery preconditioning as necessary, so when you reach a DC fast charger, you’re actually at the optimal temperature to start using the full charging capacity.” - https://gmauthority.com/blog/2023/12/heres-the-real-reason-that-gm-is-dropping-apple-carplay-android-auto/ https://gmauthority.com/blog/2023/12/heres-the-real-reason-t... > GM projects annual software and services revenue opportunities in the $20 billion to $25 billion range from a projected 30 million connected vehicles by the end of the decade. OnStar is already the industry’s leading connectivity platform with more than 16 million connected vehicles on the road today, with software and services generating a projected $2 billion in annual revenue. Part of GM’s software and services growth comes from OnStar Insurance, projected to have a potential revenue opportunity of more than $6 billion annually by the end of the decade. - https://news.gm.com/newsroom.detail.html/Pages/news/us/en/2021/oct/1006-investor.html https://news.gm.com/newsroom.detail.html/Pages/news/us/en/20...