Chevy Volt To Resume Production One Week Early Following Record Sales 443
surewouldoutlaw writes "On the heels of the news that the Chevy Volt had a record month, selling 2,289 units in March, the Detroit-Hamtramck plant where the car is made will be resuming production of the car one week early, reducing a five-week shutdown to just four weeks, the United Auto Workers union said Tuesday. The shutdown had been put in place to re-align supply with demand. Volt workers have also begun to lash out at Republican presidential candidates' criticisms of the car: 'They're attacking our car to get at the President...But our car is going to change the way America does business. It's a breath of fresh air.'"
Volt is a game changer. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Air flow. It's easier to shape the rear to get close to minimum drag with a hatch back.Thus better gas mileage.
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Hatchbacks don't always have better airflow. Consider the VW MK4 Golf, Jetta, and Beetle. All are basically the same car, except the Jetta is a sedan, the Golf is a square hatchback and the Beetle is a round hatchback. Which one has the lowest Cd and therefore the best fuel economy? The Jetta!
(The Beetle, counter-intuitively, has the worst aerodynamics because the air stays attached all the way down to the rear bumper and sucks the car backward.)
Re:Volt is a game changer. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Too bad my electric is coal. According to greenercars.org a coal-powered EV is worse than my gasoline-powered Insight. (Or a diesel-powered Lupo 3L.) (Or a natural gas Civic.)
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...with the same gas mileage as my 20 year old toyota. :-\
http://gm-volt.com/2010/10/10/popular-mechanics-finds-chevrolet-volt-gets-32-mpg-city-and-36-mpg-highway-in-extended-range-mode/ [gm-volt.com]
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Yes, that is their goal. Unfortunatly, the batterys cost a ton. They can't sell them at voulme while taking a 10k hit on each one sold.
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The volt is NOT an electric car, it is a serial hybrid that can be plugged in to charge. But with a range of only 30 miles most people are going to power the thing with gasoline for most of their travel. If the volt could get something like 100 miles range and still have the gas engine for back up that would be different. Where I live most jobs would require an average of 20-40 mile commute ONE WAY. The Leaf could do this, but it would be too close for comfort unless I could sneak an extension cord our
Re:Volt is a game changer. (Score:4, Interesting)
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I can only imagine how bad the highway mileage would have been if there was the 'gasoline to motion to electricity to motion' in there too.
Not too bad at all. In that configuration the generator motor can run at it's most efficient RPM the whole time. And there's no inefficient gearbox needed anywhere.
It's exactly how a diesel-electric locomotive works. And they have a long history and are very common.
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I wish Americans would stop using "gas" when they mean gasoline. Over here we have cars running on actual gas, as in, vapor hydrocarbon.
I'm so sorry our language confuses you. Let me see if I can gather everybody up in the country and get them to change a fundamental word in their vocabulary just to make you happy.
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Yes, we can't have the GOP schmucks kill the tax rebate on "green" cars, can we? I mean the federal government has just loads of cash sitting in piles doing nothing. No, wait, the government doesn't have piles of cash sitting around. The federal government has a debt that is somewhere around the annual wealth production of the entire nation.
This tax rebate comes from somewhere. I'll give you a minute to figure out where.
That's right, it comes from taxes. The government is giving these people money
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You are correct. I misspoke. I don't wish the GOP gets into power as much as the Democrats lose power. I despise the two party system that has developed in this federation since it inevitably leads to voting for the lesser evil. I don't like the GOP, i just like the Democrats even less.
I also agree that the GOP is improving. At the same time I see the Democrats getting worse. Recent events have lead me to believe that socialists have taken over the Democrat party. At the same time I've seen a shift t
Who Bought Them? (Score:2, Troll)
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My guess is government car fleets are being stuffed with these shit-cans for blatantly political reasons.
Fascinating. Your guess is noted.
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Why would you guess and not look it up?
Anyways, for a lot of cities, there driving is in short runs, so it would be a good purchase for them.
Our organization is trying out electric cars, because some many trips are less then 20 miles.
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It still sucks. (Score:2)
I get an average of 50mpg in my 2007 Civic Coupe. This is with very mild driving changes like driving 65 and not being a retard and drag racing light to light. The Price difference for a car that is the exact same size as my Civic but costs 5X more and supposedly has 20X the technology only get's marginally better gas mileage.
Who is buying the Chevy Volt? It's over priced and under delivers.
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You aren't thinking it through. (Score:4, Insightful)
Since this car will burn exactly ZERO gas for 80% of vehical use, it gtes FAR better gas mileage then your car.
SUre, if you tkae a trip to the full extent of 375 miles and average out the MPG for JUST THAT TRIP, it gets the same as your alleged 50MPG civic.
But if you extend it to all the trips you will make, its a different number.
If my wife had one of these, it would almost never burn gas because she generally doesn't go further the 12 miles during her dauily routine.
The question is: How much gas will you burn in a year?
Last year I drove about 5000 miles in 25 mile chucks(just over 12 miles each way to work). For those drives, I wouldn't have burned any gas.
I drove 8000 total.
So if I had a volt, I would have used gas for 3000 miles* Which would have been 85 gallons of gas at 35MPG**
So I drove 8000 miles, and bought 85 gallons of gas.
just under 100MPG by the end of the year.
Obviously if you are driving 100 miles a day to work, your use would be different, but I am a pretty average driver as far as vehicle use.
*actually less, because of a lot of other short trips besides work.
** Volt is 35/40 I really should use the 40 because all the extended driving would be highway.
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I read of a guy who transplanted a VW turbo-diesel engine into a Saturn compact with some aerodynamic mods. He is now getting MPG in the low 70's. NOT a hybrid!
I'm an R and see nothing wrong with Volt (Score:2)
An electric car that, if you drive long distance, becomes a gasser. Seems okay to me. Just two problems:
- pricetag. I'd probably choose a pluggable Prius or Insight or Civic instead (~$20,000 each).
- government funding. I don't like paying for stuff I'm not using. Hopefully it's just a temporary subsidy to jumpstart GM's hybrid production, not a permanen form of corporate welfare.
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- government funding. I don't like paying for stuff I'm not using. Hopefully it's just a temporary subsidy to jumpstart GM's hybrid production, not a permanen form of corporate welfare.
No... its a subsidy to get you to use electrons produced in the US (mostly with coal produced in the US) instead of oil produced by countries who hate us.
Good for an electric, but that's relative (Score:5, Informative)
selling 2,289 units in March
Before everyone starts celebrating, keep in mind that some of the more popular [chicagotribune.com] gas car models out there average 40,000-60,000 units a month in sales. And the Prius hybrid sold about 30,000 units last month.
Re:Good for an electric, but that's relative (Score:5, Informative)
Apparently more popular in Europe (Score:4, Interesting)
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The Opel is a much nicer looking car too. The volt was nice when it came out, but it took so long to get to market the style doesn't really have much impact.
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The Opel is a much nicer looking car too. The volt was nice when it came out, but it took so long to get to market the style doesn't really have much impact.
This isn't a static solution. The Volt next generations are well underway in their designs and testing.
Bad press... (Score:5, Insightful)
I have a hard time understanding why people continually crap on GM about the Volt. It's a very novel approach to the hybrid, offering significantly more electric-only range than other hybrids without the range anxiety of something like a Nissan Leaf. As for pricing; yes, it's expensive, but it's also fledgling technology. Electric-only automakers like Fisker and Tesla talk big but have little to show for all the boasting. The practical issues facing electric-only vehicles are still quite daunting.
I also don't understand the conservative backlash against this car. Here we have an American corporation trying to respond to market demand and a changing world by actually innovating. They didn't just slap together a half-assed Prius knockoff. They actually went for something new, but still practical.
The nonsense I hear repeated time and again is that the US government somehow forced this on GM. Automakers don't just pull cars out of their asses. Years of planning go into a car before the public even knows they're in development. The Volt concept was unveiled in 2007, well before they turned to the government for a bailout.
Interestingly enough, in my part of the country I've already seen a number of Volts, less than 10 but still more than the lone Nissan Leaf I encountered recently. I find it interesting given that I live in a region I'd say easily favors foreign automakers. So I found it surprising to hear that the Volt wasn't doing well. Of course it doesn't help you've got people on both sides of the aisle dumping on this car.
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Miles per dollar (Score:3)
The Volt's gas mileage for my wife would be about infinity
B But the gas-equivalent mileage is far less than infinity because your power company charges more than zero for electric energy. How many kWh of electric energy does it take to charge the Volt for 20 miles of driving? How much does this energy cost? How many gallons does the Volt burn in 20 miles of extended range driving? How much does this energy cost? From these I can compute miles per dollar and a gas-equivalent mileage for electric driving.
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Very Few (Score:3)
Accord to forbes:
"Only 160 of the March sales total of 2,289 were fleet orders."
Economic Sense != Best For Society (Score:4, Insightful)
That may very well be true, but since when do we measure benefit to society by only looking at what's cheapest?
Not educating our children would be cheaper too, should we close all schools to balance our budgets? Should we close all fire departments to save a few bucks in the short term?
Why do intelligent people make the argument that trusting the market, and the "invisible hand" will always have the best outcome? It's as if people have replaced (or augmented) their trust in God with this idea of "the market is always right". Surely this is as far from a scientific argument as one could get?
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Sure, the government makes mistakes, but I don't see how a scientific person can buy into this idea that somehow market forces will solve all our problems.
I'm not saying that more government is always better... but clearly government has had, and will continue to, provide massive benefits to society. Why should we accept what the market di
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Because the market has a better chance of gravitating toward the "common good" than an economy planned by bureaucrats?
How? Market forces gravitate towards what is cheaper, and more efficient (in terms of monetary costs). How is that necessarily the "common good"? In some cases it may very well be, but having faith that it will always be the best solution relies more on faith than any scientifically minded person should be willing to accept.
Nihilism (Score:4, Insightful)
The ability of the GOP primary to generate bile is amazing. If you had told me a year ago that the GOP field would pile abuse on an American made car that is (fairly or not) a poster child for American innovation, and it turns out is also a success competing against imports, I would have told you that was crazy. But there it is. Not exactly the Party of Ideas.
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Value is in the eye of the beholder (Score:2)
*You buy a normal ICE car that averages 30mpg (there are plenty that do)
*You keep the car for 5 years and drive 1250 miles a month (15000 miles a year)
*Fuel price is presently $4/gal and will rise by 1% every month for the next 5 years
Given these assumptions, your 5 year fuel cost is $13611.61.
So now let's assume that you pay $22k out the door for the above car (which is a good estimate for a ICE car comparable in size/features to the Volt).
Your 5 year TCO (just figu
Opel Ampera - European twin of the Volt - owner... (Score:5, Interesting)
...here. What seems to be missing from all the discussions is that the Volt/Ampera is a very good, comfortable and well-equipped 'European style' car first. Its smooth and elegant power delivery is actually way more useable in daily traffic than an IC with much better figures on paper. Granted, it may not be for everyone for various reasons, but if the electric range suits your daily commute, your energy costs are half and your driving comfort double those of a clattering, noisy, smelly and soot spewing diesel that needs 4 jerky gear changes to reach 100km/h. It isn't cheap, but the price is roughly the same as a similarly equipped same old same old lease-slut BMW 320d ED.
I was sceptical about GM, but it turns that they have done their most decent job in years. Give it time; it's qualities will become evident as more people discover it irl and more versions appear.
Street creds: 528i, 525i, 944S2, Z3 2.8, 645Ci.
Re:sure it is (Score:4, Insightful)
How does it cost more, other than the fact you get a charging station installed? This reminds me of all the naysaying about Priuses and how quickly their battery banks were supposed to fail. They are not failing.
The problem is that it isn't the Volt, it is that having an American car maker on the label makes it not good enough. Had the same car had a "H" logo on it, or perhaps a three pointed star, people would be buying this vehicle left and right. However because it is from a US automaker, it is perceived as crap.
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It's not perceived as crap, it's perceived as a poor value because it takes longer than the life of a normal car to gain back the premium price you paid.
Gas mileage != economy. Total cost of ownership = economy.
Re:sure it is (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, as long as gas prices stay static during that same period...which I sure as shit wouldn't put any money on.
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Even at $6/gal or $8/gal, how many miles do you have to drive to break even having spent $10k-$18K more than a Prius or Civic Hybrid, or similar gas vehicle? Don't forget to include the cost of the electricity for charging the vehicle. Let's assume $0.12/kWh and that the price of electricity magically remains constant for the entire time.
Re:sure it is (Score:5, Funny)
Well, when obama took office gas was below $2 a gallon...and nobody ever said that would happen again only 12 months before that when it was over $3.
Well shit. Gas was $0.30 a gallon when Kennedy and Johnson were in office, then look what happened when the Republicans came to power.
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In the end that was offset significantly by the retention of value. In particular the second gen model that ran from 2003-2009. Toyota being able to keep up with demand is a more recent phenomenon, as such the secondary market was very kind fo Prius owners in the 2000s. People who got the tax credit and got out about 3-4 year in did quite well.
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The average age of a car in the US is now 10.8 years [usatoday.com], which means that the life of a normal car is even longer than that.
How quaint. . . . (Score:2)
Re:sure it is (Score:5, Insightful)
MSRP: $31,645
Source: http://www.chevrolet.com/volt-electric-car/ [chevrolet.com]
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That's after a "possible" $7500 tax credit. Actual MSRP is $39,145... and that's a starting price.
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Include sales tax, and you'll need to have the charging station installed in your house if you don't want to have to wait 10 hours between charges. Most dealers were charging markup over and above MRSP for them as well. (though after much lower than anticipated sales, maybe that is no longer true.)
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Include sales tax
Yes, because other vehicles are exempt from sales tax. /rolls eyes
--Jeremy
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We're talking about the price of this car, not the price of other cars.
Here's an article where Edmunds said they paid $49,000 out-the-door for a Volt
http://www.insideline.com/chevrolet/volt/2011/long-term-test-2011-chevrolet-volt.html [insideline.com]
They may have given away some leverage, but they clearly did not get the car for $30,000 as some have claimed.
Re:sure it is (Score:5, Interesting)
EV TCO is already favorable compared to your average compact
That's true, but the Volt has the unfortunate position of having a couple extra thousand dollars worth of complexity added so that it can run on both gas or electricity.
The sad fact is that the only people who a volt makes sense for are the same people who could do alright with an electric conversion that might cost them $10,000 - and they could buy a $11,000 Versa to park in the driveway for those "long trips" that theoretically kill the electric car . Then they could take $15000 and bury it in the backyard and still have money leftover vs. buying a Volt.
I'm intrigued by cars like the all-electric Leaf - but until battery prices come down (or until they offer a lower-range version) they are wayyyyy overpriced. My wife only needs to go 15 miles per day total. She currently drives a Camry. She puts less than 5000 miles on the car each year. With low mileage like that, it would take forever to pay for the Volt/Prius difference - but a safe electric car with maybe 40 miles of range would be ideal if they could price it close to other (gasoline) cars in it's class. Hauling around hundreds of miles worth of battery for her 6-mile commute is silly.
Re:sure it is (Score:4, Interesting)
> and they could buy a $11,000 Versa to park in the driveway for those "long trips" that theoretically kill the electric car
Or even better?
free/subsidized rental cars of a similar model with zero paperwork.
IE, Toyota signs a deal with Budget to stock a number of (what is the Leaf, the Matrix?) cars as normal rental models. If a Leaf owner comes in, they simply hand in their keys and take a set for the rental model.
Yes? Would this do it?
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"Price after tax savings. Net price shown includes the full $7,500 tax credit. $39,145 MSRP with federal tax savings from $0 up to $7,500."
Always read the fine print.
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Re:sure it is (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:sure it is (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly.
My sister called me a few weeks ago. She works 3 days a week as a nurse working 12 hour shifts at a facility about 60 miles from her house. She has a vehicle that gets about 20mpg and is in great shape. More than that, it is 100% paid for. She wanted to know my opinion on getting a new car.
So even if she had a car that was able to get 40mpg, her gas consumption would go from 9 gallons a week down to 4 gallons at best. 5 gallons at $5 a gallon is $25 a week or $100 a month. A new car payment would be better than $250 a month.
I told her as long as her current car was safe and dependable, don't go buy a new car to "save money".
Since electric cars are still more than $20,000 more than conventional vehicles, plus you are asking tax payers, many who make less money than you to subsidize an additional $10,000 or more of your auto purchase. that does not seem like much of a bargain to me. Batteries have to be replaced every 5 years. You are not really doing this to save money.
All of the extra nasty non-green things that goes into manufacturing your lightweight car, motors and batteries PLUS using electrical current generated by coal burning plants. All you have done is moved WHERE the environment is polluted at from your exhaust pipe, to someplace else. You are not really saving the environment either.
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So sell her car that's "in great shape" and use the money to buy another one with better mileage (diesel if she can get it). Why get a car payment?
You can easily get a car in *great* condition (only a couple of years old) for very reasonable money here in the UK that will do 50-60mpg (40-50 US mpg) - we do have better and more mature diesels though. Still, I'd be surprised if she couldn't find a really good second hand car that she could buy outright that does better than 20 mpg.
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20MPG? What does she drive? An F-150?
Re:sure it is (Score:5, Interesting)
Exactly.
My sister called me a few weeks ago. She works 3 days a week as a nurse working 12 hour shifts at a facility about 60 miles from her house. She has a vehicle that gets about 20mpg and is in great shape. More than that, it is 100% paid for. She wanted to know my opinion on getting a new car.
So even if she had a car that was able to get 40mpg, her gas consumption would go from 9 gallons a week down to 4 gallons at best. 5 gallons at $5 a gallon is $25 a week or $100 a month. A new car payment would be better than $250 a month.
I told her as long as her current car was safe and dependable, don't go buy a new car to "save money".
Valid, if you're out to save money in the short term you're not going to do it. However, you neglect to factor in things like maintenance. Don't forget the fact that electric vehicles are typically lacking in things like air filters, oil filters, etc. Maintenance for the late EV-1 was "rotate the tires and top off the wiper fluid". How much would you save if you didn't have to do all of the maintenance related to combustion engines?
Since electric cars are still more than $20,000 more than conventional vehicles, plus you are asking tax payers, many who make less money than you to subsidize an additional $10,000 or more of your auto purchase. that does not seem like much of a bargain to me. Batteries have to be replaced every 5 years. You are not really doing this to save money.
Again, agreed. If you do not have a lot of money to throw around you're not going to save money.
All of the extra nasty non-green things that goes into manufacturing your lightweight car, motors and batteries PLUS using electrical current generated by coal burning plants. All you have done is moved WHERE the environment is polluted at from your exhaust pipe, to someplace else. You are not really saving the environment either.
Yes, that's true. You move the "where" of the pollution. But this is more important than you think.
Let's say a thousand vehicles emit the same amount of pollution as one coal-fired power plant. Which do you think is easier to install and maintain filters on? One coal power plant, or a thousand individual vehicles that may or may not be as well maintained as you'd like?
Even with the "environmental damage" that occurs from mining and the like, it's still all centralized in certain places. That makes containing and reducing that damage much, much easier.
Re:sure it is (Score:4, Insightful)
However, you neglect to factor in things like maintenance. Don't forget the fact that electric vehicles are typically lacking in things like air filters, oil filters, etc. Maintenance for the late EV-1 was "rotate the tires and top off the wiper fluid". How much would you save if you didn't have to do all of the maintenance related to combustion engines?
That's a fair point, but since the general discussion here is about the Volt you do still have to account for maintenance of an ICE. Presumably it will require less maintenance than if it were the primary engine, but it's still there.
Re:sure it is (Score:5, Insightful)
Look, first generations of new technology are never about "saving money". Do you really think people bought the first iPhone because they could "save money"? or the first laptops? Or the first computers?
The people willing to pay the premium for a promising technology are the ones that help create the market that allows the price to eventually come down. To belittle those that live on the cutting edge, that are "first adopters", is really short-sighted and frankly stupid. Without them, we'd never get affordable tech for the rest of us.
That said, your sister doesn't sound like a "first adopter" type person, nor does her situation sound like a good situation that can be helped by buying a first generation eletric car like the Volt.
But for people who want to support these emerging technologies, put their money where their mouth is about being greener and more efficient, then it's a decent, even smart, purchase.
(and for the record, the pollution created by a coal plant generating the energy required to charge an electric car is less than the pollution created by burning gas in a non-electric car. And batteries last longer than five years, and are getting better every year. And tax incentives for new technologies help them get off the ground, and are a smart investment for the future).
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(and for the record, the pollution created by a coal plant generating the energy required to charge an electric car is less than the pollution created by burning gas in a non-electric car. And batteries last longer than five years, and are getting better every year. And tax incentives for new technologies help them get off the ground, and are a smart investment for the future).
Another point in favor of those who want to mention the "pollution" issues with gasoline vs. electric vehicles is that in the production of gasoline, almost as much energy is consumed to produce a gallon of gasoline as is made available from the refined gasoline itself. In the past, such energy was consumed from raw petroleum or by-products (like tars and heavy organic molecules also found in crude oil), but many of the current refineries simply use electricity to run their boilers and equipment as such en
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Why do people keep arguing "My commute is not well suited for an electric car, so electric cars are a waste of money".
Since your sister's round trip commute far exceeds the range of any current electric car (unless she has a charge station at work), she's better off with a hybrid, since even if she bought a Volt, it would be acting as a gas-electric hybrid for most of her commute.
The Prius is reported to get around 50mpg on the highway (consumer reports' milage in their highway test was 55mpg).
So, using 50
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No experience with a Volt but I have a six year old Hybrid Toyota Highlander. No battery replacement indicated anytime soon. I would pay a premium for an electric or hybrid electric car just for the driving experience -- instant torque on demand, no engine noise at low speeds or stopped. It really feels old fashioned when I drive my non-hybrid car. You are right, you don't save money replacing a used car with a new one, but unless you want to drive a patched up junker you have to replace it sometime. B
Re:sure it is (Score:5, Insightful)
plus you are asking tax payers, many who make less money than you to subsidize an additional $10,000 or more of your auto purchase. that does not seem like much of a bargain to me.
The trillion dollars we spent in Iraq and Afghanistan doesn't seem like much of a bargain to me either. I know which one I'd prefer to my tax dollars being spent on..
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No one is saving money by paying sticker $ for ANY car let alone a NEW car. I am about to buy a used Subaru to use as a commuter car. By the time I kill this one I will be ready for a used Volt. Only the Volt version that qualifies for the white California Clean Vehicles sticker. They are making too many car pool lanes around this state.
Moving the pollution argument is B.S. (Score:3)
Gasoline takes between 4kWh and 7.5kWh per gallon to refine. Electric cars can go between 16 (on the low end) and 41 miles (on the high end) on that same amount of electricity. Unless your replacing a gasoline car that gets better that 40mpg you are NOT just moving the pollution. Replacing a car that gets 16mph and you are completely eliminating the pollution from he petroleum refining process and burning at the vehicle, but also REDUCING the pollution generated by the local power plant as your using fewer
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Batteries have to be replaced every 5 years.
I haven't checked your other claims, but this is blatantly not true. The Chevy Volt battery is designed for 10 years, and under warranty for 8 years.
The oldest Prius's are now 15 years old and mostly haven't had their batteries exchanged.
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http://www1.salary.com/registered-nurse-Salary.html [salary.com]
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It's a nice car. It's quite, rides smooth, and roomy. It appeals to me nerd as well. It's like driving the future.
Have you driven one? I'm guessing not since your price is about 20K over the price of the car.
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The car really isn't all that "high tech" once you get past the electric drive train, though. Most of the features that it comes with can be had on a Chevy Cruze that costs roughly half the price if you leave out the tax rebates.
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It's quite what?
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It's based on the Opel Delta II platform. I personally think the Opel Ampera is a much nicer design. The volt is too conventional looking by todays standards. It's also far better equipped than the old Cavalier. The problem with the car is the interior was designed by GM. Lot's of features and buttons, but kind'a cheap feeling in my opinion. And I share that opinion on all GMs, from Chevy to Cadillac.
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Re:sure it is (Score:4, Funny)
Why do you hate America?
Re:Electric Cars are a bad idea (Score:5, Insightful)
It's a breath of fresh air, until all the electric plants burning coal have to ramp up production of electricity to meet the demand of all these tailpipe diversion cars.
One big smokestack is easier to regulate (and replace with something cleaner eventually) than a million tailpipes.
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One big smokestack is easier to regulate (and replace with something cleaner eventually)
The process is already underway. Coal plant construction is ceasing [npr.org] in favor of cleaner natural gas for both economic and regulatory reasons.
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Re:Electric Cars are a bad idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Still much more efficient than all of those cars burning gasoline. The central plant is more efficient, and has the benefit of being able to transition away to alternative generation means (nuclear/wind/tidal/solar/solar thermal/....(gap).... fusion) as they become more viable. This also cuts down on refuelling infrastructure - fewer gasoline tankers on the roads etc.
Baby steps, for a culture that is firmly entrenched in gasoline and other fossil fuels.
Alternatively, those Volts may be charged off the grid entirely (or with minimal grid load) - I have seen house installations where the car is charged up from solar PV installed on the house (running to battery banks to provide overnight charging capability).
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???
Are you including the ~25% of electricity lost in transmission from central plant?
What about the industrial costs of the batteries, and the fact that they lose range/ need to be replaced after a few years?
Oh and dont forget, the ELECTRICAL infrastructure in most of the country is in poor shape, if we were to get a large surge in people recharging vehicles
would have brown/blackouts and have to invest in upgrading there (probably a number of additional power plants as well)
Yes, I am including that. I should have specified.
Re:Electric Cars are a bad idea (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Now that IS an inconvenient truth.
Re: (Score:2)
It's a breath of fresh air, until all the electric plants burning coal have to ramp up production of electricity to meet the demand of all these tailpipe diversion cars.
Unless it's charged at night when there is a surplus of generation capacity.
Re: (Score:3)
Only if sales are monotonically increasing. I think a many folks were put off by that whole 'catching fire' issue a few months back, so now memories have faded maybe things are getting back to normal.