Ya I am sure these will be selling above MSRP when they first come out.
The lowest I ever saw them shooting for was 30k.
We discussed all this here:
http://www.nyspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52767
I even ran the numbers for the mathematically challenged who thought at 40k with the 7k tax credit it might still be a good deal.
Those numbers would look even worse if I factored in a lithium battery replacement in the operating costs over 11.5 years, or the fact that your 40 mile range is bound to decrease as the battery ages.
I believe the estimates were 40 to 60 MPG solely on the gas to electric generator depending on driving conditions.
and I’ll say it again - the premium that is paid to be green.
Informed / intelligent people will not buy the volt (or prius, as previously argued) to save on gas. The numbers just don’t allow for that.
People will buy it because they buy into the “save the planet” movement.
Mind you - they cannot buy into the movement too greatly, else they wouldn’t be supporting cars at all.
IMO - its akin to: Vegans are the only real vegitarians.
^ Put another way, the only true green solutions are also economic solutions. Translated, give the majority something that will save them money and save the environment and they’ll line up to buy it.
Or trick them with MPG ratings that are almost impossible in real world driving like the Prius and good bunch of dumb ones will line up to buy it. 
Remember where you’re posting…
Most daily commutes are <40 miles. With that in mind, you can drive to work, drive to the mall for lunch, back to work, and home using 0 gas. Plug in and ready for tomorrow. And if you run low, the gas generator kicks in.
If I were to get one, it would DRASTICALLY reduce my gas bill as I would almost never need the generator. That’s assuming it works as expected. And the battery lasts. And you really get 40 miles out of it and not 30. And how different speeds/driving styles effect the charge. Etc etc etc.
I was on topic for gen-auto. The Volt had the potential to be exactly what I said, an economic solution that helped the environment. At 30k sticker minus the 7k tax incentive you’re talking about a 23k car, well within range of the 18.4k and right in range with the Camry/Accord crowd who might give up a little space for gas savings. With $4/gallon gas a middle class person with basic addition and subtraction skill could see the Volt would save them money over the life of the car. AKA, you solved their economic problem of gas prices and at the same time helped the environment. That was my point.
The problem being that $14600 buys an awful lot of gas, even at these prices.
holy shit Jay, are you serious?
All that I meant to imply is that you’re talking it up to the members of NYSpeed where people fawn & drool over 500whp euro sleepers but couldn’t justify spending $12k on it.
…which is a great cross section sample of the american public in a loose reference to who & why would spend the coin to buy the volt - outside of those that blindly follow Leo Decarpio.
That was my point. Not that you were “offtopic” :roll:
Ah, took it the wrong way.
But yeah, this place is full of idiots. Want to start a new board? 
the same can be said for ~90% of america. and that is a gracious % IMO.
want to start a new country?
I agree CFL only became popular when a 5 pack was $15 or less and they proved that they would last longer and save plenty of money over conventional bulbs. No one bought them when they were $15 each.
Most people will only save the environment if it saves them money or is extremely convenient (ie. recycling programs).
Exactly.
Perfect example.
:tup:
Totally agree. But if you are in the market for a car now, it’s a legitimate option. I am not going to go sell my Evo, take a loss, and then buy this thing to save gas money. Fuck I wouldn’t do it even if it did make financial sense.
You see this happen with big ass SUV drivers. “Holy fuck!” they think to themselves, “I can’t afford the 3,000 a year gas bill”. So they turn their SUV in, take a 5-8k loss on it, so they can putz around on a 4 cylinder and spend 2000 a year instead.
wonder what your home electric bill would look like? Or have the outlet you plug into powered by solar panels. better yet…plug it in while at work and never worry about your house electric bill.
i pay between 100-150 for gas a month. it would take me a while to justify the volt being 10k+ more than the vehicle i currently have.
Can anyone find any information on the power consumption for a full charge? It saves gas, but what is the electric bill going to look like. Like greenbull said you could plug into sloar panels, but they really don’t generate tons of power unless it is plugged in during daytime hours or you have a very large battery cluster at home >= the batteries in the car.
No, it’s not. That’s my point. Look at cold hard numbers in my previous post that I quoted from the other thread.
Cliffs: If you’re buying tomorrow you’re talking about a difference in price of $14600 between a Volt and a Civic. That would buy enough gas to drive 91250 miles @ 25mpg with gas costing $4/gal.
And that’s not factoring in the difference in sales tax.
PS: For what it would cost you in electricity, I got my figures here:
http://engineeringtv.com/blogs/etv/archive/2007/05/24/episode-41-the-chevy-volt.aspx
That’s one of my big questions as well. If it spikes my home electrical by a huge amount per charge, how does that equate to cost savings and the always popular “carbon footprint” measurement. If you get 100% of your electric from a coal plant versus a nuclear plant, how does that factor into the equation?