2011 Chevrolet Volt gets an EPA certified rating of 93 MPGe and 37 mpg in gasoline mode

Yup I'm going to walk away and not bother...

I have a sex life

 

:tea: Here's to hoping you don't develop calluses.

 

I was at the Montreal Auto Show last Sunday, and of course GM had a Volt on scene.

Out of all the cars at the show, only two really stood out as attention grabbers. The Volt and the Leaf - the Leaf just because they had a Polar Bear mascot (really!).

Oh I gave the Volt a good look up & down, played with the benches bending to see how much cargo space, the actual comfort, the bells & whistles. A sweet car it sure is!
The GM people were touting it as a true Plug-In hybrid with excellent range.

Lots of people were asking can I buy one? When? How much?

Canadian rep answers: No, we don't know, we don't know

At least the Leaf said by end of summer 2011 in Quebec. With a charge time of 24 hours on a regular 110vac plug. No pricing on the charging box that reduces that to 3 hours.

The Hyundai Hybrid is a straight-line competitor to the Camry Hybrid.

Other than that - the Volt was striking, good looks, great interior.

 

I saw one on the back of a truck carrier on the freeway and it looked nice. A bit gimmicky with the chrome plating (think Ford Focus) but the profile looked great!

 

I think a lot of this "drama" would be greatly diminished if some folks here would get away from their keyboards, calculators, and spreadsheets and go drive one. :cheer2:

 

React with your feelings, not your brain. Isn't that how we got in the SUV mess?
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If not SUVs, that is definitely how we got into this population problem.

 

Well, that's how hype works. It plays with your emotion.

 

It's how humans work.

A car can have the greatest fuel economy, carry a family of on vacation, and meet all a person's needs, but if they don't like it. Well, then they shouldn't buy it. They will be living with the choice nearly everyday after all. It's basicly my experience with the Matrix, and it's the usual advice given here to people you have tried the Prius but found it lacking in some way afterwards.

It's like discovering a totally balanced, ecologically sustainable food that will feed the world and cure cancer, but it tastes horrible. Some will see the benefit and choke it down. Others, and I'm guessing most, simply won't eat it.

Heck, if the general population was reasonable and rational, we wouldn't need most of the laws we have now.

 

Sounds about right.

To me it's not that the Volt is a bad car, it's that when compared with its inevitable competition it suddenly loses its luster. It's too bad it couldn't come out a couple years before the Leaf was on anyone's radar or before the Prius. When you're comparing it to a larger car that gets 51 mpg city the mathematics of it simply become more difficult to swallow.

It's too bad the plug in prius won't have similar EV range because then we could see where Toyota prices it and do a pretty good apples to apples comparison.

 

News of the day LA Times articles states a Purdue U. study has found CA's tiered electric rates would make owning a PHV or BEV ' more expensive to own' or 'Power rates might make electric cars a costly choice'. Next breath is the Leaf and Volt as being such cars.

Great, just what consumers need to hear. At least article states a Prius and Cobalt would be more cost effective choices of vehicle to own.

 

An EV+PV analysis would be interesting

 

Watching recently a show about home wind turbines and one guy who installs said that among his clients the highest rate they pay for electric is over $.40/kwh. That is absurd. I am sure it's during peak hours but realistically there's just no point owning an electric vehicle unless you're paying more like 1/4 that. With current cost of these things the argument can be made--though it's a huge stretch--that they can at least break even with a prius under certain conditions, but that's only if you're paying a dime a kilowatt hour. Raise that to $.20 or more and forget it, there's just no point.

 

I'm not sure what your 'point' is, but if you mean 'less expensive,' no current EV beats a Prius because of the more expensive purchase price.

 

Hence my inclusion of "though it's a huge stretch", but yes under ideal conditions a Leaf could conceivably be cheaper net cost of ownership than a Prius, unless your kwh price is through the roof. A township by me pays $.03-.04 per kilowatt hour all the time, 24/7, 365. For them it wouldn't be that hard to find a cheaper cost with a Leaf than Prius.

 

Can you provide a link to your area's utility for others to see those rates? I only ask because the only time we've ever seen rates that high is when power is based on tier fees ... those being the highest tier for major users. Even then, those prices are typically for commercial users. I've never seen residential that high, so it would be interesting to see what circumstances bring about those costs.


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It's not my area, but somewhere in California. I don't have a link, nor can I find one (tried). I wouldn't believe me, either It was a comment made on some HGTV-type show recently and the guy didn't elaborate on the conditions. It may have been industrial, it may have been on the top of a mountain during the height of day running on gas generators, I don't really know. Hopefully most in California don't pay anything close to that!

Now, check these out for Fairport, NY, though:
Village of Fairport:Electric Rates

Yes, those numbers are real!