Uh no, for areas that are $0.12 Kwh (which is the US Average) the Volt costs 40 cents to charge 40 miles. Not even remotely $2 a night. Electricity is REALLY cheap at night, almost 1/3 the price of day time power.

I think this is where people will get hosed.

Let’s say that it costs $2 a night to charge my Volt. That’s $60 a month.. $720 a year added to the cost of the car.

Maybe that’s less than the gas, but it sure needs to figure into the Total Cost of Ownership.

American’s (myself included) rarely consider the cost of electricity when we bring home something with a plug on it.

If GM stops talking about it, so will we.

@paulie – I realize the emo I might generate dropping Lyle Dennis’ name, but he does have a video of his ride in the pre-prod Volt. From a co-worker I hear tell that the Volt will go like a bat out of hell because the ‘tricity is always on – it will accelerate faster than an ICE. It sounds like it will be fun to drive.

@tced2 – from GM’s Volt website, they say it will take 6 hours on a 110 outlet to charge 8kWh.

@gslippy – How can you compare the Volt to anything when it isn’t on the road yet? All is TBD in reality.

@lw and krhodes1 – cost to charge is whatever your kWh rate is, so in Maine at 20 cents per kWh, and using 8kWh to charge it will cost $1.60. Here in Michigan, I have a lower rate at night when usage is off-peak.

You’ve hit on it. This country is literally full of suckers.

Are you dumb and want a Volt? Go buy one…

Are you smart and want a Volt, but realize that it costs too much to make / sell? No problem. Some dumbnuts is buying one.

Dumbnuts will make a couple payments, figure out that he can’t afford it (and he won’t even understand why it was a bad deal).

Then you can buy it lightly used for $20K and enjoy a great deal.

The first year of depreciation on the Volt will fix the price. The US government owned banks will eat the 20K (using your tax dollars and/or raising fees on your checking account) and all is well.

Electricity also cost less if you use a lot and promise not to use it when there is great demand. Battery powered cars use a lot of electricity and you don’t mind that most of the charging is done between 3 and 5 am

Can I have some numbers please? 1/5 the price of gas based on what price for gas, and what price for electricity? For example, electricity is more than 10X more expensive in my area than in parts of Wyoming, and gas is more than $1/gal cheaper in parts of NJ than in parts of CA. So how many KwH is it going to take to charge a Volt? We already know that a full charge will take one “up to” 40 miles… Though somehow I expect that miles number to be a WHOLE lot lower in the dead of a Maine winter at night.

Electric powered cars are most efficient when the accelerate as fast as the battery allows, gasoline gas don’t work that way as fast acceleration isn’t the most efficient way. That is why the expected driveability of a Volt will be so much better than a Prius.

Since when does the Prius run on normal tires? You can put normal tires under it but than it wont be as fuel efficient. Also electric engines are highly reliable that even Chrysler would have trouble to F it up.

Also the Volt wins with fuel, you need to drive to a gas station to fill her up while with the Volt you can stay home.

It is cheaper to drive a Volt X miles so it wins that to.

Range depends on the model. Volt will come with different battery sizes

The pet rock
Fall-out shelters
Leisure suits
Barack Obama
Escalades (already mentioned)
Detroit Lion season tickets
KISS
Evel Knievel’s Snake River Canyon jump
Atlantic City
Bottled Water

What these 10 things all have in common is that many, many people who otherwise should have known better have ‘bought’ them, allowing the proprietors to pocket large sums of money.

You forgot the biggest American disgrace of all:Bush’s second term

Don’t forgot to factor in the cap & tax bill that is coming to an electric bill near you!

At that point, people will begin to rationally evaluate other factors:
Range: Prius wins (600 miles vs 350 for Volt)
Fuel economy for 1 tank of gas, highway driving: Prius wins (51 vs 44 mpg)
Quality: Prius wins (historically speaking)
# Fuels: Prius wins (gasoline only)
Maintenance: Prius wins (e.g.: standard tires vs 21″ special tires for Volt)
Driveability: Prius wins (single performance curve)

I don’t think Toyota should lose much sleep over this one.

The pet rock
Fall-out shelters
Leisure suits
Barack Obama
Escalades (already mentioned)
Detroit Lion season tickets
KISS
Evel Knievel’s Snake River Canyon jump
Atlantic City
Bottled Water

What these 10 things all have in common is that many, many people who otherwise should have known better have ‘bought’ them, allowing the proprietors to pocket large sums of money.

What articles are you reading? The Prius is #1 on Consumer Reports’ best value list.

Simply: people who are impressed with mileage and technology and “being green” will buy this car. It is not made for enthusiasts, and isn’t going to be marketed to them. It will be marketed to celebs who want to make a “buy American” and “buy green” statement, however, and THAT will generate enough PR to justify the profit lost.

GM has probably written off the whole project as “promotional expense” already!

drifter: “If became GM’s problem when they decided to make a car who’s succees is contingent on the availability of the battery.”

drifty,

I expressed myself poorly and you’re fairly well right. GM’s at the mercy of the battery industry and the pace of battery development. Yes, the battery industry is motivated to improve price/performance/etc, but GM has no control over it.

Worse, when improved batteries are avaialable, GM doesn’t own the technology; it’s available to anyone. GM has no strategic advantage.

KarenRei: “But that’s where depreciation comes into play… (operating cost)…”

Yes, but it’s not as big an effect as you might think. Gas prices must spike really hard to make a significant difference in vehicle prices. Vehicle depreciation based on mileage and condition is probably almost always a bigger factor than operating cost to the seller.

You don’t get the savings directly, but you do get them indirectly.

Now, there is an argument to make that depreciation rates aren’t linear, and so those late on the depreciation curve make out like bandits while those early on the curve lose. But that’s more of an argument about not buying *any* car new.

While I understand what you are saying, the savings the car accumulates after the original owners sells it don’t end up in his pocket, so he really doesn’t care. The car has to make a case within the original ownership period.

Now, if you try to sell a car that uses little gas at a time when fuel prices are high, that will likely net you extra money on the sale, so that is a consideration.

I am always amused by folks who tout used cooking oil for fuel. While it works just fine, where does the new cooking oil come from? And will it be in quantities to run the entire auto fleet of the nation? And what about our cholesterol levels and waistlines creating the used cooking oil? Aren’t we supposed to be staying away from this?

re:photo
I cringe when I see a photo like this. Using a 110 volt outlet for anything more than casual charging of an auto battery will take hours and hours of charging time.