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red states rule
07-28-2010, 06:31 PM
Wow!!!

How will be the first one to step up and buy the latest electric car? For the tiny sum of $41,000 you can drive 40 MILES before needing to stop and recharge the battery




GM Volt's price induces some sticker shock

By Peter Whoriskey
Wednesday, July 28, 2010; A10



The long-anticipated Chevrolet Volt, General Motors' electric car, will cost $41,000, the company announced Tuesday, leaving consumers to decide whether its environmental appeal is worth a price far above that of similarly sized conventional autos.

Electric-car technology has been around for years, but the high cost to make the vehicles has prevented automakers from producing them for the mass market. The price announcements for the Volt and its electric rival, the Nissan Leaf, have been highly anticipated as a result. Nissan, the only other major manufacturer expected to bring such a vehicle to market this year, said the Leaf will cost $32,780.

GM and Nissan are relying on a $7,500 federal tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles to offset some of the added cost, and they're hoping that the allure of their novel power source will make up the rest.

"The Volt is a game-changing product," said Tony Posawatz, GM's vehicle line director for the Volt, which is expected to hit showrooms in November 2011.

Although the prices are high, enthusiasts say that electric cars can reach a large, untapped market for vehicles with little or no tailpipe emissions.

The Volt can travel 40 miles on its battery charge and an additional 340 miles on a gasoline-powered generator. The all-electric Leaf has a range of 100 miles.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, then-Sen. Barack Obama pledged to put 1 million plug-in vehicles on the road by 2015.

But some analysts said they doubt that electric cars can reach a broad audience in the near term. Hybrid cars took about eight years to reach the million-unit sales mark in the United States, according to Energy Department figures.

"I'm not sure the Volt is going to be a volume vehicle," said George Magliano, director of automotive industry forecasting for North America at IHS Global Insight. "The technology still isn't there to make them cheap. At the end of the day, the consumer pays a hefty premium to make a statement."

To move the industry along and bolster U.S. manufacturing, the Obama administration has put its weight, and billions of dollars, behind an effort to develop electric cars and batteries in the United States.

In developing the Volt, GM is seeking to fulfill its promise to Congress during the government bailout to move beyond gas-guzzlers. The company had been planning the Volt long before it neared bankruptcy last year, however, as an attempt to leapfrog Toyota in the quest for fuel-efficient vehicles.

The president has expressed optimism that automakers will be able to lower the price tag of electric-vehicle technology. Earlier this month, he suggested that major reductions in battery costs, one of the primary reasons electric cars are more expensive, are on the horizon.

"Because of advances in the manufacturing, [battery] costs are expected to come down by nearly 70 percent in the next few years," Obama said at the site of a planned battery factory in Michigan. "That's going to make electric and hybrid cars and trucks more affordable for more Americans."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072705834_pf.html

Sweetchuck
07-28-2010, 06:49 PM
GM and Nissan are relying on a $7,500 federal tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles to offset some of the added cost, and they're hoping that the allure of their novel power source will make up the rest.


Cash for clunkers II.

red states rule
07-28-2010, 06:50 PM
Cash for clunkers II.

Only tree hugging liberals will buy this lemon. I suspect alot will be seen along the side of the road when the battery dies

Sweetchuck
07-28-2010, 06:52 PM
Leno's not buying one, I'm guessing.

http://detnews.com/article/20100719/AUTO01/7190366/Chevy-Volt-doesn-t-get-Leno-charged-up

red states rule
07-28-2010, 07:06 PM
Leno's not buying one, I'm guessing.

http://detnews.com/article/20100719/AUTO01/7190366/Chevy-Volt-doesn-t-get-Leno-charged-up

Of course not. Why would he give up his limo? The Chevy Volt is for the idiot tree hugger liberals who actually think buying one will save them money and Mother Earth

red states rule
07-28-2010, 07:20 PM
Who would pay $41,000 when you can get several of the Obama Special

http://www.grouchyoldcripple.com/archives/crapmobile.jpg

-Cp
07-28-2010, 07:32 PM
Wow!!!

How will be the first one to step up and buy the latest electric car? For the tiny sum of $41,000 you can drive 40 MILES before needing to stop and recharge the battery

Please be informed of all the facts before making such assumptions:


Volt is an electric vehicle with a range extender. Well, what does that mean? It means Volt runs on electricity from its battery, and then it runs on electricity it creates from gas. Let's assume you have a fully charged battery. Now, depending on the weather, the electrical features that are turned on and how you drive, you can drive up to 40 miles on the electricity stored in the battery — totally gas and emissions free. After that, its gas-powered, range-extending generator automatically kicks in to provide electrical power. So Volt can go for several hundred additional miles, until you can plug it in or fill it up again.

http://www.chevrolet.com/pages/open/default/future/volt.do?seo=goo_|_2009_Chevy_Awareness_|_IMG_Chevy _Volt_Phase_2_Branded_|_Chevrolet_Volt_|_chevrolet _volt

Sweetchuck
07-28-2010, 07:40 PM
Please be informed of all the facts before making such assumptions:


Volt is an electric vehicle with a range extender. Well, what does that mean? It means Volt runs on electricity from its battery, and then it runs on electricity it creates from gas. Let's assume you have a fully charged battery. Now, depending on the weather, the electrical features that are turned on and how you drive, you can drive up to 40 miles on the electricity stored in the battery — totally gas and emissions free. After that, its gas-powered, range-extending generator automatically kicks in to provide electrical power. So Volt can go for several hundred additional miles, until you can plug it in or fill it up again.

http://www.chevrolet.com/pages/open/default/future/volt.do?seo=goo_|_2009_Chevy_Awareness_|_IMG_Chevy _Volt_Phase_2_Branded_|_Chevrolet_Volt_|_chevrolet _volt

And it doesn't need turn signals. All you need to do is stick your left hand out the window to make a left hand turn.

:laugh2:

red states rule
07-28-2010, 07:40 PM
Please be informed of all the facts before making such assumptions:


Volt is an electric vehicle with a range extender. Well, what does that mean? It means Volt runs on electricity from its battery, and then it runs on electricity it creates from gas. Let's assume you have a fully charged battery. Now, depending on the weather, the electrical features that are turned on and how you drive, you can drive up to 40 miles on the electricity stored in the battery — totally gas and emissions free. After that, its gas-powered, range-extending generator automatically kicks in to provide electrical power. So Volt can go for several hundred additional miles, until you can plug it in or fill it up again.

http://www.chevrolet.com/pages/open/default/future/volt.do?seo=goo_|_2009_Chevy_Awareness_|_IMG_Chevy _Volt_Phase_2_Branded_|_Chevrolet_Volt_|_chevrolet _volt

When will you accept delivery of this revolutionary car?

$41,000 seems very "reasonable" to your average enviro wacko

For that price you could buy a couple of Toyota hybrids

Gaffer
07-28-2010, 07:42 PM
Your not plugging it in at my house. And I bet there's not a lot of businesses that will let you either. Better make sure that tank is full. It doesn't say how long the battery has to charge does it. Most batteries take 6 to 8 hours. What a pain in the ass waste of time.

red states rule
07-28-2010, 07:49 PM
Your not plugging it in at my house. And I bet there's not a lot of businesses that will let you either. Better make sure that tank is full. It doesn't say how long the battery has to charge does it. Most batteries take 6 to 8 hours. What a pain in the ass waste of time.

If Obama gets his Cap and Tax electricty rate will go skyhigh - then watch the libs reaction when they get their light bill

Gaffer
07-28-2010, 08:00 PM
If Obama gets his Cap and Tax electricty rate will go skyhigh - then watch the libs reaction when they get their light bill

I don't think most of them understand how much more they will be paying out just for the basics. They think they will pay a few cents and save the planet. They don't realize the cost will be going into the hundreds of dollars per household. Not to mention the fees and not being able to sell your house without a government certificate. They are going to eliminate home ownership too.

-Cp
07-28-2010, 08:05 PM
When will you accept delivery of this revolutionary car?

$41,000 seems very "reasonable" to your average enviro wacko

For that price you could buy a couple of Toyota hybrids

I never disagreed that it's too expensive for most people.. :)

PostmodernProphet
07-29-2010, 07:50 AM
we had a newspaper headline last week that the new factory being built in town to make lithium batteries has signed a contract with Ford to provide batteries for their new line of electric cars......

darin
07-29-2010, 08:15 AM
I saw a Volt last month on my way to work. I thought it was a sharp-looking car. The problem with this stuff - the Volt is a business venture. GM didn't design the car as a gift to the world - they built it to make money. A LOT of money.

I believe we all know folk who, a few years ago, traded their perhaps paid-off SUVs and large cars for newer 'fuel efficient' cars. I believe it was Road and Track who did some work to show just when hybrids and other fuel-efficient cars start paying for their higher-than-normal costs. For the Ford Escape hybrid, as compared to a non-hybrid version, the increased fuel-efficiency will 'pay for itself' after close to 100,000 miles.

Now - with the Volt...

If people buy this car to save fuel they are silly. Let's do some back of the envelope math:

If I were to trade in my Subaru + $13,000 (KBB for my car + difference in that value and cost of the volt) for the Volt in the interest of saving money on fuel I'd have to consider I could drive 112,000 miles on $13,000 of gas ($13,000 / 3 ($3 = 1 gallon of gas) = 4333 gallons x 26mpg). Driving that far would only get me to the actual cost of the Volt. Now, I'd have to pay additionally the cost of the fuel for the Volt, both in Gasoline AND electricity rates.

Add to that the myth of the volt being 'better for the environment" and you've got another reason to avoid the car. Plugging the car in to a socket connected in Detroit, that electricity would be derived from goal-power.

Thus, you'd be trading very few gasoline emissions for coal-burning emissions.

Volt is a gimmick car - even if Good technology. It's a gimmick because it does little/nothing as far as helping "the environment" - or the wallets of the owners.

namvet
07-29-2010, 08:46 AM
and when the batts need replacing how much????

-Cp
07-29-2010, 12:13 PM
and when the batts need replacing how much????

Prolly no more expensive than a Transmission for most cars.. .

namvet
07-29-2010, 12:17 PM
Prolly no more expensive than a Transmission for most cars.. .

you Prolly right. a money making scam.

Mr. P
07-29-2010, 12:20 PM
Prolly no more expensive than a Transmission for most cars.. .

Yep, several thousand for sure..BUT who buys a new car KNOWING that they'll have to replace a transmission? No one I know.

namvet
07-29-2010, 12:28 PM
I assume from the high retail price this is 1st generation??? I always wait till 3rd or 4th.

-Cp
07-29-2010, 12:42 PM
Yep, several thousand for sure..BUT who buys a new car KNOWING that they'll have to replace a transmission? No one I know.

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-batteries-none-the-worse-for-wear-cga.htm

And Toyota claims that not one has required a battery replacement due to malfunction or "wearing out." The only replacement batteries sold--at the retail price of $3000--have been for cars that were involved in accidents. Toyota further claims that the nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery packs used in all Prius models are expected to last the life of the car with very little to no degradation in power capability.

namvet
07-29-2010, 01:46 PM
http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-batteries-none-the-worse-for-wear-cga.htm

And Toyota claims that not one has required a battery replacement due to malfunction or "wearing out." The only replacement batteries sold--at the retail price of $3000--have been for cars that were involved in accidents. Toyota further claims that the nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery packs used in all Prius models are expected to last the life of the car with very little to no degradation in power capability.

they'll claim anything to get you to buy it. but now lets put it to the ultimate test. the consumer. he/she will do the QC. just sayin