Following up on a previous post about Chevy's new, heavily-subsidized, electric car, the Volt:
Item: Relying primarily on its battery-powered electric motor, unless the driver draws on the "secondary" gasoline engine, the car must be recharged every 25-50 miles. General Motors presumes that "Chevrolet Volts are likely to be charged off-peak in the evening or overnight when electricity consumption is lower"--and the government-owned automaker claims this would save consumers $1500 per year (see page 9 of the Powerpoint here).
Item: The Chevy's battery can be recharged via a portable 120 Volt unit that plugs into a normal AC outlet (see page 2-3 of the Powerpoint here)--but that takes about 10 hours (see page 7 of the Powerpoint here).
Item: The battery also can be recharged via a 240 Volt home charge unit (see page 2 of the Powerpoint here)--but that requires purchasing the optional unit for $490.
Item: The 240 Volt unit cuts recharging time to only 4 hours (see page 7 of the Powerpoint here)--but that requires instillation by a skilled and licensed electrician, which GM estimates costing an additional $1475.
Item: To be fair, consumers may not pay the full freight for installation--that may be reimbursed in part by state and Federal tax credits.
Conclusion: Reader OBH said in comments on the previous Chevy Volt post:
Beware of technical tricks.OBH was talking about actual energy saving and carbon reduction, which drops when one examines electric generation, production inputs and disposal for an electric car's entire inputs and life-cycle. Yet the same is true regarding the Chevy Volt's operating cost as well--it's about $2000 more expensive than claimed. Oh, and those (additional) tax credits for purchasers of faster charger? That may make consumer prices less expensive--but that's still is a cost paid via cross subsidies from taxpayers as a whole to the smug socialists who purchase a Volt as proof they're progressive.
The only -- repeat: only -- way to examine this whole process (and that's IF we [acknowledge] that the carbon footprint is relevant to jack or that other stuff -- a very BIG "if") is to utilize some variety of full-life-cycle accounting.
(via Instapundit)
5 comments:
Volt.
Rhymes with Dolt. Which you'd have to be to buy one of these things.
Let's also compare and contrast Steven Rattner, then and now.
http://www.observer.com/2010/wall-street/steven-rattner-settles-sec-banned-industry-years-fined-millions
Obama's former Car Czar settles with the S.E.C. on kickback charges connected to the New York State pension fund.
> That may make consumer prices less expensive--but that's still is a cost paid via cross subsidies from taxpayers as a whole to the smug socialists who purchase a Volt as proof they're progressive.
Or, alternately, a way to charge Peter for Paul's vehicle.
Sorta like the whole Cash For Clunkers program, but even more stupid and less functional.
> Rhymes with Dolt. Which you'd have to be to buy one of these things.
a) cute.
b) I think "dolt" got applied when people started buying the Prius.
Given that one can easily show that it isn't cost-effective if:
1) one assumes the high-end of typical car usage -- 12,000 miles per year
2) one assumes the typical car ownership period of five years
then in that case, the Prius only saves you money if gasoline prices leap (yes, in a single bound), from the first day you buy the car through the entire period of ownership, to US$7 per gallon.
Yes. $7...
Anything less -- like, oh, THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF GAS PRICES IN THE USA -- and you're losing money.
Yes, that pretty much sounds like a "dolt" to me.
Don't know if I trust this review from Motor Trend: Chevy Volt returns 127 MPG in an extended real-world test
http://dvice.com/archives/2010/10/chevy-volt-retu.php
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