Thom, do your math again but this time compare it to a BMW 3 series sedan.

Why would anyone buy a BMW when they could have a 96 Honda?.. because they can afford it and it will impress the chicks
Battery tech will improve quickly, price will not come down but you will get a lot more capacity at the same weight and cost.. the Volt and the myriad of other EV coming will make that happen.

I googled Chinese vehicles and Oklahoma and came up with http://www.TigerTruck.com……wow……Oklahoma assembled Chinese electric vehicles.

Buh Bye GM. We’re sick of yer stupid decisions AGAINST consumers. Why was the aluminum drum brake assembly ditched after the Buick Gran National? Made the brakes last too long by ditching heat…….yer about selling parts and making money….not saving or helping America.

Look at what the Federal Govt. buys for vehicles now……it ain’t GM….they’ve gone to contractors and leasing because you can’t design an efficient or long lasting vehicle. Innovation into Govt. is coming via contractors to save money.

Why isn’t GM sold at http://www.encs.com anymore? Why no public release?

GM will never rise from the ashes. Corporate greed killed GM.

They’ll merely lease it like the EV1. Did you know people that leased the EV1 offered $100,000 to KEEP the vehicle after lease? GM said NO and took it back and crushed them.

No thanks….I’ll buy me a Chinese electric vehicle currently being assembled in Oklahoma….and be able to keep it.

I read your post three times. I can’t figure out where you’re coming up with your figures. It’s so convoluted and wordy as to be confusing. What’s this thousands of dollars tacked on the the Volt as a “premium”?

I’ve done my figuring on my own and I don’t approach your costs whatsoever. I save a fortune in gas, tuneups and the like! Your figures seem very, very biased.

I did the math on this car compared to a 1996 Honda Civic VX and Prius. Assuming $4.00 a gallon, a 15,000 mile annual mileage, 150,000 mile or 10 year life time (no battery swap out) and half the mileage around town, back and forth to work and the rest on trips of some sort I get real world cost that aren’t going to be simply ignored to save a few bucks on gas. I didn’t include things like property taxes and insurances on the vehicles. The more expensive the vehicle the more these cost per year. It all adds up along with the real cost of battery replacement in a 10 year or older vehicle. For the Volt I assumed it would spend 5000 miles of the 15,000 totally on battery which would mimic my annual use but at 12,000 miles a year instead of 15,000.

My Friends Honda VX delivers a reliable 50 mpg on the highway under most conditions and mid 40s around town. The Prius ranges between 47-55 mpg for a co-worker. There is less than a 10% fuel cost difference between the two but at least an $8000.00 cost difference if the VX was produced again today. The Volt cost what the Honda VX would cost over and above the Prius or $24,000.00 more than the Honda VX or similar high mileage gas only car. At $4.00 a gallon, be it gas or E85, 80 cents per 40 mile charge on the Volt batteries the following are the annualized cost of ownership broken between fuel + annualized Investment premium over the conventional 50 mpg car.

Honda VX annual cost for fuel (15,000 miles / 50) * 4.00 = $1200.00 total annual cost.
Toyota Prius annual cost for fuel (15,000 miles / 55) * 4.00 = $1100.00 fuel + annual premium (8,000 / 10) = $1900.00 total annual cost.
Chevy Volt annual cost for fuel (10,000 / 50) * 4.00 = $800.00 + ((5000 / 40) * .80) = $100.00 = $900.00 for fuel + annual premium (24,000 / 10) = $3300.00 total annual cost.

Assuming the battery swap cost at 150,000 miles for the Prius will cost just $2000.00 that adds another $200.00 per year to the annualized cost if you intend to keep the car beyond 150,000 miles. For the Volt, I suspect the Lit_ion battery pack will cost at least twice as much or $4000.00 and add another $400.00 per year. If owners don’t replace the batteries by that 150,000 mark the resale value of the vehicle will be discounted just like high mileage is due to the high cost of the battery change out.

When all is said and done, the Volt will never pay for itself within a normal life time of use even solely on batteries for the entire 150,000 miles. The chances it could actually run exclusive on batteries are remote for a mass produced vehicle in general use. The repair cost (battery swap) on a ten year old vehicle is not going to be well received no matter how much mpg the vehicle gets. The embedded gas engines in both the Prius and Volt are also going to have normal maintenance cost over their life that the battery/electric motor portion is going to compound as the vehicle ages. Money does not grow on trees and the Volt would require a fountain of money to own. Household economics will win out over wishful thinking in a free market.
My friends 1996 Honda Civil VX has nearly 400,000 miles on it’s original engine, cost $12,000 in 1996 and averages close to 50 mpg over the 30,000 annual miles and 90 miles a day he puts on it. Try that math with the Prius or Volt’s when all the cost factors are included, fuel, annualized ownership cost ((purchase price / life span) + (annual proper tax + insurance cost / life span) + ((life span miles / 150,000 * battery swap cost) / life span)).

Be it the EV-1 or the Volt, it won’t add up when all the cost factors are added up. The battery technology is simply not capable of replacing a gasoline engine at this point in time for general purpose use. If the Volt is the best GM can do at the suggested price of $40,000.00 it will suffer the same fate as the EV-1. By GM’s own statement this is not suppose to be a niche vehicle but they are pricing it as just that. There are going to be a lot of high mileage vehicles in the market place that make the economics of the Volt a sure loser for GM. Don’t be surprised that the silver bullet here doesn’t live up to its billing.