GM only does something from an ecological standpoint when forced or mandated. Tesla did it because it was the right thing to do.

No Plug… No Sale…
And YES… motive matters.

If the cost is $40,000, and the rebate is $7,500, GM should set aside $125 million for the first 50,000 Volts (probably all the sales of 2011) to use as a “Marketing Campaign” ($2,505 subsidy to first 50,000 Volts, to get them out there; this *IS* the Marketing Campaign).

Forget about TV commercials, magazines, billboards: the people who are going to buy Volts the first year already know all about the car. It’s the price they are waiting on.

Then, after 50,000 are sold, the battery companies will have worked out the kinks in volume manufacturing, and will be well on the way to reducing costs. Perhaps $50 million will keep the next 50,000 under the $30,000 price point.

Then, there will be 100,000 happy owners out on the roads, from 2011 and 2012. Peak Oil might be hitting it’s stride, maybe gasoline is $5/gallon by then, maybe the battery makers have shaved the price, maybe GM has improved the design, materials, and factories by then to shave the price even more, maybe they can raise the price because now the Brand is established, and gasoline costs more.

The first two years are crucial. Having a $29,995 price tag would help immensely.

So when Kia announced their huge discount on the Sorrento I did some calculating.

I figured full price for a Camry (that’s all they were offering, and a three month wait) with the trade in I had been quoted from the local Toyota dealer. I then figured full price less the $5K for a Kia and the same trade-in value for my car.

I then estimated $6.00 per gallon from the day I drove off the lot (October, 2008), even though gas prices were way below that number.

The initial estimate made the Kia look good so I went and talked to them. I got considerably more off the price than expected, and $800 more for the trade in. I ended up with a fully loaded Kia Sorento AWD 6 cylinder for a tad over $20k.

Camry hybrid initial cost plus gas savings breaks even in 9 years. 9 years! And I’m way ahead of that estimate already because gas is nowhere near six bucks a gallon.

As much as I wanted a hybrid I simply could not justify the additional cost to buy one. If GM thinks I’m going to drop $40K on the Volt, they’d better think again and make it cost effective. I’m not about to support a bloated, slow witted company that is too stupid to realize what they should be building until someone hits them over the head with a big brick.

And if you think I should be supporting a US company please check on the origin of GM vehicles…

As far as teh batteries not being ready that is crap! GM sold their stak ein the batteries after they figured out they could make easy money on bloated SUV’s which would all require service etc. and could be made cheaply. They were short-sighted and now they are headig towards bankruptcy.

They should just update the EV-1 and reissue it as the EV-2.

35 miles/day
x 5 days/week
x 50 weeks/year
=8750 miles

/18.5 (my MPG)
=473 gallons of gas not purchased

x $2.30 (current natl ave for gas)
=$1088 saved in gas spending

/12 months
=$91 saved per month

On a 5%, 60 month car loan, $91 will finance about $4800, hence the opening statement that the savings from electric only mode is worth about $5000.

There are lots of assumptions, but I estimate that this is conservative overall, because the MPG on ICE is probably much better than I’m getting now anyway and electricity is virtually free compared to gas.

Thoughts?

Dan

Anybody who owns a Tesla is totally rad. That has got to be the coolest car on the planet at this time. By the time the Volt hits your neighborhood (2011) there will be better EVs from more advanced companies. Just wait and see. (or weep).