I am fortunate to be a member of the Chevy Volt Customer Advisory Board and have been driving the Volt since early November 2010. I have been having an incredible experience with the car and I will share my thoughts/experiences when my three month trial period ends in February 2011. In the meantime, I wanted to share a Letterman style Top-10 List I created entitled, “Top-10 Reasons to Buy an Electric Car” which I thought the GM-Volt.com web community would enjoy. I originally created this Top-10 List with the hopes that it would appear on David Letterman’s show, but it turns out his writers could not accept outside material, so I thought the next best place for the premier of this Top-10 List would be on GM-Volt.com. I realize that the daily topic is usually quite serious, but I thought a little comic relief might be fun for a change of pace.
Let’s see who can come up with the 11th best reason to buy an electric car.
#10. Great Way to Stay “Current”
#9. The Neighbors Objected to my NUCLEAR Powered Car
#8. It Comes in Many Colors, Yet All of Them Are Green
#7. Save Some Money…Ask Your Dealer to Deliver it Free of “Charge”
#6. If Your Kids Drive Too Fast, Just Flip the Circuit Breaker
#5. Impossible to “Pass Gas” in an Electric Vehicle
#4. If You Crash, Can You Be Charged with Assault and Battery?
#3. Outdated Gasoline Stations Can Become Polar Bear Safe Houses
#2. Better Than Trying to Drive Your Electric Refrigerator
#1. Hey Letterman, I’m a Volt…Can You Give Me a Plug?
This entry was posted on Saturday, January 15th, 2011 at 9:00 am and is filed under Public Opinion, Volt Nation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
+5
Jan 15th, 2011 (9:11 am)Very nice. Thanks for the laugh. Congrats on your volt. A lot of envious people out here.
+13
Jan 15th, 2011 (9:17 am)It’s an “outlet” to stop writing OPEC paychecks!
Don’t worry, I won’t quit my day job…
+2
Jan 15th, 2011 (9:19 am)Nothing wrong with asmile first thing in the Morning, Thanks
+2
Jan 15th, 2011 (9:39 am)No.11 A good way to avoid all that complicated leasing mumbo jumbo.
+1
Jan 15th, 2011 (9:46 am)Congrats on your Volt. Enjoy!
+9
Jan 15th, 2011 (10:13 am)11. Better than riding a Llama!
Raymond
+4
Jan 15th, 2011 (10:20 am)You’ll pass gas stations, and the occasional Charger…
+6
Jan 15th, 2011 (10:29 am)#11. In an electric car “PASSING GAS” is not only acceptable, IT’S SMILED UPON!
PUMP OUT THE VOLTS! ( Go Seahawks! ),
James
+1
Jan 15th, 2011 (10:36 am)#12. You can tell Palin and McCain to ” drill baby drill THIS! “
+24
Jan 15th, 2011 (10:44 am)#13. Suddenly, those snobby Prius owners are ” gas guzzlers ” !!!
+3
Jan 15th, 2011 (10:46 am)Great job, Robert! *And* congrats on the CAB spot. Your cups runneth over (stifles one-liners about Elvira and Dolly).
I also look forward to your review of your time with a Volt. I can’t tell for sure, but it looked like a snow pile in the background of the pic, so cold weather performance/AER will be of great interest to me (I’m in Penna).
Be well and thanks again for the chuckles,
Tagamet
+3
Jan 15th, 2011 (10:49 am)Or: You can tell *Insert politician of choice here* to NUKE this!
(Just going for “Fair and balanced)(g) I +1′d yours too.
Be well,
Tagamet
+5
Jan 15th, 2011 (10:52 am)#14. Some Jihadist nutjob won’t get his ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADE for Christmas!
+2
Jan 15th, 2011 (10:55 am)I’ll trot out an oldie but a goodie:
#14 Thanks to the Volt, Sheik therapy, now Chic!
Be well,
Tagamet
-14
Jan 15th, 2011 (10:59 am)(click to show comment)
+3
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:03 am)#15. Simon & Garfunkel may just get together for just ONE MORE farewell tour and sing SOUND OF SILENCE in your honor.
+5
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:19 am)Now that you mention it — I saw a bit on CNN this holiday season that the world’s most expensive Christmas tree ( $11 million! ) would be displayed in a hotel in oil-rich Abu Dhabi!
Here is a quote: “Khalifa Khouri, owner of Style Gallery, which provided the jewellery, said that the tree held 181 diamonds, pearls, emeralds, sapphires and other precious stones.”
Go figure, huh?
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/abu-dhabi-hotel-unveils-11m-christmas-tree-367719.html
And to justify my joke : You were aware that CIA and FBI findings have shown the largest donations to Al Qaida and radical Islamist terror organizations prior to 9/11/’01 originated from Saudi Arabia and oil producing countries din the Middle East idn’t you?
PUMP OUT THOSE NORTH AMERICAN CARS OF THE YEAR!
James
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:28 am)Reason #11….. You’ll have fun shocking the hell out of your friends when you step on the
ga– ../.):choke-choke:(… uh, ACCELERATOR pedal……
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:28 am)Remember the humorous thread???
Be well,
Tagamet
+1
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:29 am)Kind of lends credence to the statement on the bumper sticker I just made up: ” BUY an SUV, SEND A TERRORIST TO CAMP “
Cheers,
James
+1
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:29 am)15. Now that you are well grounded, you can press on.
.
+5
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:30 am)Good one. I think this should be #1. +1
+2
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:37 am)You can convert a Hummer and give Prius owners dirty looks.
-1
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:38 am)You’ve inspired me to come up with this one, best suited for late night viewers….
Reason #69: The only lubrication from a Sheik you’ll ever need from now on will be found in little packets. Ba-DOUMP!
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:39 am)16. The grin.
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:40 am)The challenge to make up bumper stickers (to put on a Chevy Volt) is an idea worthy of a separate post (hint hint).
.
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:42 am)stuart22,
+1
Thanks you ladies and gentlemen, tip your waiters, and I’ll be here all week!” (lol)
Be well,
Tagamet
+2
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:42 am)#16. CHICKS DIG ‘EM!!!
+1
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:44 am)… And in that same vein:
#70 (If you’re David Letterman): Gives you something else sexy to plug into …
:-O
.
+2
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:52 am)#17. It could save the ad guy who came up with “It’s More Car Than Electric” his job.
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:53 am)#18. They may just choreograph a DANCE for you!
+1
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:58 am)#19. That Big-Chinned Late Night Talk Show Host on another network has one at home as a daily driver.
Jan 15th, 2011 (12:00 pm)I’m a HEMI owner and I would be interested to see street (not track) 0-30 performance. Light-to-light is an important number to some of us.
Jan 15th, 2011 (12:01 pm)You can take the whole family…
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2010/12/28/the-globe-union-endura-an-electric-car-for-the-whole-family/
Jan 15th, 2011 (12:02 pm)….And the NUMBER TWENTY REASON to buy an Electric Car is…..
…..PEE WEE HERMAN WOULDN’T BE CAUGHT DEAD IN ONE!
– ba boom, crash!
James
( I got a million of ‘em! ) lol
GREAT POST, Bob!
Jan 15th, 2011 (12:05 pm)So would you be Click or is it Clack?
+2
Jan 15th, 2011 (12:12 pm)#21. Can You Hear Me Now? ” NO! ” Can You Hear Me Now? ” NO! ” Can You Hear Me Now? “Noooo!”
+1
Jan 15th, 2011 (12:12 pm)I think we should all agree that James is the official gm-volt.com punster. Very impressive James!
And of course thanks to Robert for “kicking” things off.
Jan 15th, 2011 (12:14 pm)Very cute idea. Love the assault and battery one and the riddle like play on words…So what car comes in six colors and yet all of them are green children? Nice homage to Letterman’s top ten.
-2
Jan 15th, 2011 (12:36 pm)#22. “Dem Tata Nanos And Ford Pintos Blode Up Reeeal Gooood!”
( sorry, too much coffee this mornin’ ) – it IS Seattle, ya know…
James
Jan 15th, 2011 (12:39 pm)#9
LOL +1
Jan 15th, 2011 (12:51 pm)Thanks Robert for some good laughs early on a Saturday morning.
My concern is that David Letterman hates the Volt and has made a mockery of it. Need proof, it’s right here in the video:
http://tv.gawker.com/5710962/bill-oreilly-and-david-letterman-hate-electric-cars
I’d rather watch Volt owner Jay Leno for enjoyable late night laughter.
+4
Jan 15th, 2011 (12:56 pm)And now for what David Letterman would really want to say on his show for an electric car top ten:
“GM needs more cars to crush.”
There, I typed it. Now you can vote this one into -1 oblivion where it belongs.
Jan 15th, 2011 (1:04 pm)Actually “A Salt & Battery” is a fish and chips place in Manhattan at 112 Greenwich Avenue.
http://www.asaltandbattery.com
Jan 15th, 2011 (1:24 pm)As pictured, Michael is solidly on the far Right (heehee).
Be well,
Tagamet
Jan 15th, 2011 (1:54 pm)nice !! great ones
Jan 15th, 2011 (1:55 pm)Robert: Could IBM’s WATSON could answer any of your top 10 in a jeopardy challenge?
+1
Jan 15th, 2011 (2:08 pm)According to Bob Lutz, a green car is used to pick up chicks w/hair on their legs. I forget what talkshow he was on when he said that (prob. Letterman). We all love Bob, but man does he have the ability to taste shoelaces.
Jan 15th, 2011 (3:20 pm)You were OK until you capitalized right. Getting political again.
+1
Jan 15th, 2011 (3:57 pm)Oh, loosen up.
Be well,
Tagamet
Jan 15th, 2011 (3:58 pm)Was he referring to European women?
Jan 15th, 2011 (4:16 pm)If he was, then we have a lot of European women in central PA (lol).
Be well,
Tagamet
Jan 15th, 2011 (4:43 pm)#48
Works for me, LOL. +1 for a long memory. As statik used to say, “friggen Lutz!”
Jan 15th, 2011 (4:43 pm)#50
Perfect! +1
Jan 15th, 2011 (4:53 pm)Here’s my Top Ten that I posted here after Letterman had the Volt the first time on his show:
Top Ten Reasons to drive an EREV Chevy VOLT
10: All-Electric Mode is so quiet your spouse will never hear you sneak out of the garage in the middle of the night.
9: The VOLT’s on-board generator means fewer stops at the gas station’s MINI-MART, so you lose weight too!
8: You’ll spend LESS each month on gas, allowing you to spend MORE on your crack habit.
7: It will leave more gas available for Schwarzenegger’s private jet.
6: You can make a ‘tidy profit’ off the guys in your car pool.
5: It’s the perfect car for ‘geeky guys’ who want to impress ‘geeky girls’.
4: Let me say it again, You’ll spend LESS each month on gas!
3: In Hollywood, SMOG Alerts “out”… SMUG Alerts “in”.
2: We all enjoy watching Oil Sheiks “cry like little girls”.
1: If it’s good enough for Obama, it’s good enough for me!
-1
Jan 15th, 2011 (5:00 pm)You both need to recognize a joke when you see it.
I was poking fun at Mr. Lefthanded.
Jan 15th, 2011 (6:02 pm)I checked my decoder ring and rules clearly say that jokes are *never* to be followed by a frowny face.
Be well,
Tagamet
/darn Steelers can’t hold on to the freakin ball…
+1
Jan 15th, 2011 (6:04 pm)#11 … Pedestrian friendly alert sounds like slot machine paying out.
NPNS
Jan 15th, 2011 (8:29 pm)OT: but a good description of how steep the mountain that remains is:
http://www.bcsea.org/blog/guy-dauncey/2011/01/14/reality-check-on-plug-revolution
Be well (and GO STEELERS),
Tagamet
Jan 15th, 2011 (9:14 pm)Wouldn’t it be nice to have Dave give Volt a plug? How bout it Dave??
+1
Jan 15th, 2011 (9:19 pm)wow! that’ a great top ten. Watch out Letterman!
Jan 15th, 2011 (11:02 pm)If it helps 0 to 60, energy is energy.
Jan 16th, 2011 (1:41 pm)At first, I thought “It’s More Car Than Electric” slogan had no punch. But come to think of it, when people buying electric cars will complain about the range issues and their ‘range anxiety’, GM will be able to clearly dissociate it’s electric car (the Volt) from the pack.
Thus the “More Car Than Electric” slogan they came up with, selling the car as an electric car but at the same time reminding people that it’s really a car allowing you to go anywhere, not an electric that will limit you.
It’s actually a subtle and clever slogan. It does the job.
Jan 16th, 2011 (1:44 pm)GM should offer – maybe they already did – Letterman a ride home from the studio, to show him that this car is not limited to 40 miles. Need a funny angle to sell Dave to the idea though.
Jan 17th, 2011 (12:13 am)Way to go James Let’s hope the Hawks can win the Super Bowl only time will tell?
Jan 19th, 2011 (11:46 am)The slogan “It’s more than electric” is actually unintentionally quite amusing, for the Volt certainly is more than an electric car, and that’s its whole problem. It’s simply a solution to a problem (VERY expensive batteries) that simply no longer exists. I pointed out several years ago, after
rethinking my initial enthusiasm for the Volt, that GM was taking a big risk betting that battery prices would remain high. Without high battery prices, the Volt makes no sense, at least not economically, and the horribly complicated Rube Goldberg design never did make any engineering sense to this engineer’s mindset. GM will achieve exclusive repair business for the Vot because there is no possible way a repair shop would touch this car, except to fix a flat tire. That means very high maintenance costs, even if the Volt doesn’t experience that passel of bugs down the road that I foresee. GM has somehow managed to marry in one vehicle, the worst aspects of both EV and ICE technology. I note that virtually everyone buying a Volt has the same motivation – personal guilt about carbon emissions. While the Volt may convince
their unknowing neighbors, we who study such things know full well that driving a Volt for its lifespan , even if no gasoline is ever burned, will usually have zero or even negative impact
on carbon emissions or have such an insignificant effect that any money spent to achieve it would have been either totally wasted or much better spent on something that has a measurable effect, such as solar panels. For the many Volt owners who are unaware, the Tesla drivetrain will shortly be blessed with a new technology laptop commercial battery of greater capacity and more stability (not that Tesla has had a single problem during 9 million miles).
Those batteries will allow the Model S to enjoy a conservatively estimated 300 mile range and level 3 recharge time of less than one hour. Since the roadster rated at 240 miles recently set a new record of 347 miles on a single charge, it’s a safe bet that many will easily surpass the 300 mile range of the Model S optional battery pack. After carefully examining all the data and
viewing the videos made by Chief Engineer Rawlinson and Franz von Holzhausen (stylist and creator of the only GM cars worth looking at during the past 50 years, the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky) , the Model S is everything the Volt is not – intelligently designed from top to bottom. THEIR batttery pack is not only located beneath the floorboard, but contributes greatly to the car’s structural integrity, which is reportedly superior to anything that the BMS 7 Series or high end Mercedes cars possesses. The battery can be replaced in FIVE MINUTES (some claim one minute). The battery pack is INTELLIGENTLY designed and easily expandable,
allowing for those owners who opt for the 160 or 230 mile range to rent an extra battery section to achieve 300 miles (actually more) of range. The Model S takes advantage of every single design opportunity presented by EV technology. Although not much larger than the Volt,
(and not as heavy) the car can seat 5 adults and two children and folddown seating allows for very ample cargo capacity. Unlike the Volt, the steering and suspension is state of the art and the electric motor doesn’t require a clutch or multiple gears. Also unlike the Volt, the car is a work of art, and will hold its value over the years. Even though it costs 25% more than the Volt, it’s difficult to understand why anyone would ever buy the Volt if they’re looking to
go electric. But, people get attached to something, think its great (I once thought the Volt was great) and get emotionally attached , and of course, never want to admit that something better came along or that they were wrong.