DaV8or
There's no way GM should allow user overrides of the battery charge parameters. Doing so shortens battery life span. You can imagine all the people using the over rides all the time to extend range and them bitching to the world when their battery craps out in four years instead of the ten years GM promised. Remember, we live in America, where no one is responsible for their own actions.
I just don't get the BEV version idea. Why would anybody pay more money for less capability? In any case, there's nothing stopping you from buying a Volt and then ripping the ICE and related components out yourself. In addition, I'm sure it won't be long until some after market supplier will sell you a battery pack to go in it's place. I don't believe at this point in battery technology, that GM needs a BEV version.
It seems very simple to me, but perhaps I'm missing something. In all likelihood GM will not be offering solely 10 year warranty on their battery. Some long commuters (50+ miles) will plug-in at work and GM has no control over the battery calendar life. Their warranty will probably be full of disclaimers and something like"x" KWh or "x" years, whichever comes first. For me and nearly everyone else with less than a 20 mile commute (much less in my case), we will never get 100K miles out of the battery. Most, also like me, can only hope to get significantly less. Less than 25 mile commute represents more than 50% of drivers. So, we will already be at significant cost disadvantage compared to those able to get more out of the battery. I sincerely hope that GM will offer a reduced warranty to coinside with the ability to overide default charge/discharge limits. Otherwise, it will cost me a lot of extra $ for nothing or I'll have to use an aftermarket hack or I will buy a warranteed solution from a competitor.
I agree that it would make no sense to pay more for less. It would only make sense to offer a BEV for less money if it has the same battery pack. Many have posted on this site, that they drive BEV's now with similar or less range and many others have expressed interet as well. This is not for me. I need the range extender. Removing a 50+KW genset, exhaust, gas tank, etc. etc. should represent a significant savings. For those people with no interest and no need for the range extension, the Volt with RE will force them to pay significantly for something they don't want. Similar to my dilemma with battery usage, not offering these options leaves more of an oportunity for competition.
BEV option and user overides for battery usage add very little to development risk or cost. Why not offer them?