The New 53-Mile Extended Reach Chevrolet Volt Is Here -- Well, It's Almost Here -- It's On Its Way To Canada (Really?) And California; EV Sales Plummet 27% Year-Over-Year -- September 2, 2015

(Memo to self: is "plum-et" spelled with one "em" or two "em"s?)

Wow, can you believe it! The 2016 Chevrolet Volts are finally here. The second generation, 53-mile extended range Chevy Volts are now on their way to California and Canada. (You might have to scroll to the bottom of that link to find that information).

[It used to go 60 miles on a single charge. See below.]

Well, that's not quite accurate. The 2016 Chevy Volt won't be in "full, national production mode until November."

But wow, 53-mile extended range. 

Back on October 27, 2013 -- almost two years ago, Chevrolet was telling us the Chevrolet Volt could run up to 96 miles on batteries. The link is here if you don't believe me. That story ran for months. And it was never corrected. The headline said 96 miles; the story was 96 kilometers -- a huge, huge difference. Ninety-six kilometers is ... 57.6 miles.

So, this debacle has gone from bad to worse. First, the Chevrolet headline said the first generation Volt could run 96 miles on a single charge, when in fact, that was a misprint (intentional?) -- the first generation Volt could only get 96 kilometers on a single charge, which is about 60 miles.

Now, two years later, they have an extended reach, new and improved Chevrolet that can go ... 53 miles on a single charge.

Are we making progress here? Like the government's revised GDP figures, I guess, pick a number, any number: 53, 60, 96. What does it matter anyway?

Speaking of progress, or lack of progress, buried deep in that link (this one) EV sales for August, 2015, this past month, were .... drum roll ... 27% below sales one year ago.

The very last sentence in that story: "The Chevrolet Volt's strongest sales year was in 2012."

Really? Three years ago.

Thank goodness the 2016, extended reach, 53-mile range new and improved Chevrolet Volt is finally here.

I'm holding out for a Tesla.