The Chevy Volt as explained in an email. I assume the numbers are correct:
Add the Volt to a long list of failures of businesses run, operated or influenced by the federal government—–AMTRAC, US Post Office,
at least 6 green energy companies, including the 500 billion Solyndra failure, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, etc, etc, etc.In addition to the wonderful advantages listed below, the government gives a big tax incentive to those who purchase the Volt.——
and they are still not selling.Interesting statistics—-the Volt costs approx $46,000—–the average income of a Volt buyer is $176,000.
This means that the “average” American taxpayer—(forget the 50% who pay no federal income tax)—-is paying to subsidize the more
wealthy thinking.buyer.A wonderful example of “progressive”
Cost to operate a Chevy Volt
Eric Bolling (Fox Business Channel’s Follow the Money) test drove the Chevy Volt at the invitation of General Motors.
For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted only 25 miles before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine.
Eric calculated
· the car got 30 mpg including the 25 miles it ran on the battery.
· So, the range including the 9 gallon gas tank and the 16 kwh battery is approximately 270 miles.
· It will take you 4 1/2 hours to drive 270 miles at 60 mph.
· Then add 10 hours to charge the battery and you have a total trip time of 14.5 hours.
· In a typical road trip your average speed (including charging time) would be 20 mph.
According to General Motors,
· the Volt battery hold 16 kwh of electricity. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery.
· The cost for the electricity to charge the Volt is never mentioned so I looked up what I pay for electricity.
o I pay approximately (it varies with amount used and the seasons) $1.16 per kwh.
o 16 kwh x $1.16 per kwh = $18.56 to charge the battery.
o $18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the Volt using the battery.
Compare this to a similar size car with a gasoline engine only that gets 32 mpg.
· $3.19 per gallon divided by 32 mpg = $0.10 per mile.
· The gasoline powered car cost about $15,000 while the Volt costs $46,000.
So Obama wants us to pay 3 times as much for a car that costs more than 7 time as much to run and takes 3 times as long to drive across country.
HappyinHowell: 
Mr Misno: 
Marsha: 
Brian Wilson: 
Steve: 
Larry Crouse: 
Brian Wilson: 
Monty Pelerin: 
Bob Snyder: 
Syrin: 
Where on Earth are you paying $1.16 /kWh? The most expensive electricity in the USA is Hawaii, @ $0.2512 per kWh, more than double the next most expensive state. http://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/
This comes to about $0.16 per mile for the Volt – about the same as gas in Hawaii. Cheaper most other places at the moment. There’s a lot of reasons NOT to own this car – but your numbers are bogus when it comes to fuel cost per mile (Total cost per mile over the lifetime of the car counting cost, insurance, total money spent to go down the road is probably much higher for the Volt).
The environmental impact of electric cars is much higher when you factor in the environmental impact of mining the metals and disposing of them after the car is scrapped. Basically you’re paying a premium for someone else to do your polluting for you.
There was an error in the email. See my previous reply in the comments.
Gasoline really needs to get into the $7.00/gallon range for this to really work out. If we keep doing what we are doing, this will be reality very soon.
Beyond that, there are issues with battery degeneration over time. Eventually it will, like any battery, stop holding a significant portion of the charge and need to be replaced. How soon this might be is hard to say, but best guess is between 5-7 years out, but only time and actual road experience will tell here. Point being no one really knows, but when it happens, then what?
The vehicle is a nice idea, but currently its cost is far too high and until it becomes economical to do this, we should not be doing it at all.
How about some input from an actual Volt owner. I get 80+ miles per gallon and with a 240Volt Charger I can completely charge my volt from a depleated battery in less than 4 hours. The only way I’ve ever experienced 25 miles in a charge is when I’m driving like a maniac breaking and accelerating hard. However, if I’m conservative in my breaking and accelerating I can milk 40-50 miles to a charge. Following this biased reporting, there has been an email circulating with really bad math referencing Bolling’s reporting for credibility. It’s already been debunked. See http://forums.phishhook.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=864434&start=0
Thanks for your input and experience. Several readers have questioned the data that was in the email.
Perhaps we should demand Obama use the Volt to travel around the country. That would take care of many of our concerns.
I predict GM will make the volt as long as Obama is in office, then discontinue.
Someone should compare a Chevy Volt to an electric golf cart. They easily carry 2 people around a course, which must be a few miles of driving. Perhaps adding a few batteries to a golf cart would produce a better vehicle than a Volt. It would certainly cost less.
They already have glorified golf carts that act as an electric car — they are called NEV’s and they can only go up to 25mph max because they don’t have standard automobile safety equipment. Some even look much like a car, but they are much cheaper than a full electric car like the Volt or Leaf.
If you can make a golf cart reach 70mph highway speeds and able to meet automobile crash test standards, you should do it, you’ll make a bundle.
I believe Eric made an error in the price of electricity. National average is (2010 prices) $0.115 (11.5 cents) per KWh, and the highest price I see is 28 cents/KWh in Hawaii. http://www.electricchoice.com/electricity-prices-by-state.php
Assuming the charger and battery are net 80% efficient in converting input electricity to stored energy, 16 KWh into the battery requires 20 KWh from the power company, and at the national average it will cost $2.30. At 25 miles per battery charge, the cost per mile is 9.2 cents. New York metro area has expensive electricity, around 19 cents/KWh, so it will run closer to 15 cents/mile.
If we assume the average price of gasoline is $3.50/gallon and 25 miles/gallon fuel consumption, the price per mile is 14 cents/mile.
The Volt is still grossly over-priced and underwhelming in performance, but it’s not as bad as Eric Bolling suggests. Depending on where you live, the cost/mile is similar to gasoline.
No adjustment in these figures for cost of battery replacement, etc. Just incremental running cost.