I'll bet if the batteries are that expensive to maintain and replace then these cars will be theft magnets and insurance rates will be sky high.

WW

 

the only way this volt will be successful is if chevy removes the emblems and replaces it with a toyota prius

 

Pretty much ends this thread.

 

I'll feel bad for people when they get their electric bill for always having this thing on the charger!

 

Hi!

If you are going to feel bad for them, I assume you are not interested in buying an electric car at any time in the future.

Too bad for you, as an electric car will cost WAY less to run than an ICE car.

And, when the car is plugged in to the "Smart Grid", the electric company will pull power out of your battery at peak grid load times, and pay you a massive premium for the power they need. Then, it will charge your car at less than peak times and charge you very little for the power (that's why it is called a "Smart Grid").

PLUS, if you have your car plugged in at home, and there is a power failure, you can use the battery as a generator to power your house in an emergency.

cliff
NBO

 

An electric that cost the same as a comparable conventional car would. A car with a 13000 dollar premium (Volt at 40K vs Accord EX-L at 27k ) doesn't pay off until you drive 108000 miles with $3 dollar gas.

I am going to wait for Mr. fusion.

 

And what happens when you need to use your car right after the peak time and now have a dead car battery???

 

Hi!

"Smart grid". Not "Stupid grid".

cliff
NBO

 

I looked at the DOE website on the smart grid. Sounds like a good idea that won't be ready for a while.

Seems like right after the big power outage in 2003 everybody said the electric grid was just barely keeping up. Unless it's been wholly redone in the past 6 years, I'm guessing millions of new electric cars might cause some problems.

WW

 

I saw a TV piece on the 230mpg claim. It seemed very realistic as long as the vehicle is on a short drive. It's believable to me that I could do even better as I only live 10 mi from work. My theoretical Volt should use zero gasoline over a normal week.

GM claims actual city mileage better than 230 but wanted a conservative number.

Also, the Volt's 40k price tag will rapidly decrease as soon as all the rich green-happy housewives have one.

Anyone think that gas is going to stay at $3 a gallon? As airline pilots maybe we should think about buying an electric vehicle as a fuel hedge to keep our expenses low when we're furloughed because of future oil price raises.

As far as waiting for "Mr Fusion", in Arizona we have the countries biggest nuclear power plant relatively cheap electricity. If the country would get off its butt and build some more, then your electric car would be virtually nuclear powered.

I'm not really as green as I sound...I've just spent too much time defending Persian Gulf Arabs from other Persian Gulf Arabs and I'd be happy to see us quit shipping all our dollars over to that worthless part of the planet.