First 4,400 Volt buyers to get free chargers

[rhodomel]

First 4,400 Volt buyers to get free chargers

June 17, 2010 9:28 AM PDT
by Candace Lombard

"General Motors will offer the first 4,400 buyers of its Chevrolet Volt the option of having a 240-volt charging station installed in their home when the car is released this fall, the company said Thursday.

The Volt is General Motors' upcoming plug-in electric car that promises a range of 40 miles on electricity alone before one is forced to switch to gas for fuel. GM refers to it as an extended-range electric vehicle, or EREV, instead of a hybrid because the gas engine generator is not directly tied to the car's transmission.

The 240-volt charging stations will be free to Volt buyers; the cost will be covered by a grant from the Department of Energy under the Transportation Electrification Initiative funds inside the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act...."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20...ag=mncol;title

[Altazi]

First 4,400 Volt buyers to get free chargers

June 17, 2010 9:28 AM PDT
by Candace Lombard

"General Motors will offer the first 4,400 buyers of its Chevrolet Volt the option of having a 240-volt charging station installed in their home when the car is released this fall, the company said Thursday.

The Volt is General Motors' upcoming plug-in electric car that promises a range of 40 miles on electricity alone before one is forced to switch to gas for fuel. GM refers to it as an extended-range electric vehicle, or EREV, instead of a hybrid because the gas engine generator is not directly tied to the car's transmission.

The 240-volt charging stations will be free to Volt buyers; the cost will be covered by a grant from the Department of Energy under the Transportation Electrification Initiative funds inside the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act...."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20...ag=mncol;title

"Free"? Not really. You're just subsidizing your neighbor's free charger. Time for the government to quit handing out MY tax money as freebies. I can't afford it anymore.

[omnimoeish]

These really aren't necessary. With the Leaf, hardly anyone will be driving 100 miles, then coming home and driving another 100 miles. Even with the Volt, while it's feasible to burn through 40 miles in one day and get home and have 3 hours before they need more, it really doesn't seem cost effective to spend $2,000 for this charger for something that will be rarely used and you will never see that much benefit since you have unlimited range anyway and the amount of fuel you'll use will be extremely minimal. I mean, this MIGHT save 5% of people $20 a month in fuel in the Volt. I would guess even heavy drivers will never save $2,000 worth of gas.

The bottom line is that politicians are looking for some kind of solution, some kind of gesture to indicate they are doing SOMETHING about our ridiculous oil addiction that's now destroying our coastline, our economy, our atmosphere, and tying up our military. In comparison to any metric, $98 million grants are nothing compared to other costs of oil addictions and other government waste.

I think the most important thing a politician like Obama could do is not just give a speech every 5 or 6 years and remind people that oil addiction is bad (Bush had that one down). We need well respected people to educate the general public on the facts, and there are many, how Saudia Arabia has enough oil value sitting in the ground to buy every stock on the NYSE (and believe me, they are), and it's only going up in price, I would guess if it was made common knowledge how much money is spent on foreign oil, ethanol subsidies, military expenses in the middle east, climate change research, so on and so fourth, a lot more people would be sick about it enough to start buying Volts or Leafs and demand that GM build more than a token 10,000 a year GLOBALLY.

[pKIO3]

Seems like a waste of resources. Have we ever seen a charging curve at 110/120 volts? Most batteries of this type charge the first 80% really quickly and then slow down for the last portion to protect the battery. If you use up the 40 miles and plug it in at 110/120 volts you may get a significant partial charge in a lot less than 8 hours. Although I'm not sure what a effect this short charge will have on the battery life if done often.

[George S. Bower]

The bottom line is that politicians are looking for some kind of solution, some kind of gesture to indicate they are doing SOMETHING about our ridiculous oil addiction that's now destroying our coastline, our economy, our atmosphere, and tying up our military. In comparison to any metric, $98 million grants are nothing compared to other costs of oil addictions and other government waste.

I think the most important thing a politician like Obama could do is not just give a speech every 5 or 6 years and remind people that oil addiction is bad (Bush had that one down). .

Unfortunately,

If gas is cheap then Americans won't conserve fuel out of the good of their hearts. So, if you accept the premise that we must "get off oil", the only way to do it is to make gasoline more expensive. So, how do you do that.????

Impose higher MPG mandates on the car manufactures?? (Already done by Obama at least partly).

Put a floor tax on gasoline and use the proceeds to fund alternate fuel vehicle technology(EV's+ other)???? (A proposal Rooster would accept)

Cap and trade on carbon.????

Did I miss one??

You can't just put a feel good speech on the air by the president every 6 months---it doesn't work.


Here's a counter intuitive approach:

Increase the government subsidy on gas so the pump price goes down to 1$/ gallon. This would encourage Americans to use more gas. Something they are already trained to do anyway. Then just wait for the oil to run out and bingo you've got the incentive to conserve.

[hermperez]

These really aren't necessary. With the Leaf, hardly anyone will be driving 100 miles, then coming home and driving another 100 miles.

GASP!.. are you saying all we need is 100 miles of range?.. what about all these people saying we need 500 miles of range and 5 minute full recharge?

[hermperez]

"Increase the government subsidy on gas so the pump price goes down to 1$/ gallon. This would encourage Americans to use more gas. Something they are already trained to do anyway. Then just wait for the oil to run out and bingo you've got the incentive to conserve."

That could get expensive.. how about an "infrastructure fee" on gas?.. with an exception for small light cars (put the limit at 2200lbs for now) since they do less damage to the road. The owners of said cars would file a form with the IRS every year with their gas expenses (must keep the receipts) to get a tax credit.

This would encourage people to file taxes, employ accountants, and get a bit of money back to the people that actually pay taxes.. the bit of money would simply be the tax that was collected the previous year, minus some token money for bridge repairs and so on. It would also encourage people to buy small cars, perhaps the premium small car market would take off in the US.

Yes I know its not progressive, but its time the poor carried their fair share.

[George S. Bower]

"Increase the government subsidy on gas so the pump price goes down to 1$/ gallon. This would encourage Americans to use more gas. Something they are already trained to do anyway. Then just wait for the oil to run out and bingo you've got the incentive to conserve."

That could get expensive.. how about an "infrastructure fee" on gas?.. with an exception for small light cars (put the limit at 2200lbs for now) since they do less damage to the road. The owners of said cars would file a form with the IRS every year with their gas expenses (must keep the receipts) to get a tax credit.

This would encourage people to file taxes, employ accountants, and get a bit of money back to the people that actually pay taxes.. the bit of money would simply be the tax that was collected the previous year, minus some token money for bridge repairs and so on. It would also encourage people to buy small cars, perhaps the premium small car market would take off in the US.

Yes I know its not progressive, but its time the poor carried their fair share.

Gee Hermperez you are starting to sound like a liberal. An "infrastructure fee" is nothing more than a tax......

I think that's a decent idea.

Now, as far as getting the poor to pay their fair share: in Arizona we have a state lottery. This is how we get the poor to pay (well almost) their fair share.

Also in Arizona we have a very very conservative state legislature. We have a severe budget problem. So how did our "conservative" state legislature fix the problem???

They passed an additional 1% sales tax.

[hermperez]

"Now, as far as getting the poor to pay their fair share: in Arizona we have a state lottery"

Lol, in Florida we use the proceeds for education.

[George S. Bower]

"Now, as far as getting the poor to pay their fair share: in Arizona we have a state lottery"

Lol, in Florida we use the proceeds for education.

I left it out but that's the only way the republicans got it to pass (the 1%state tax) was to say it was all for education. Before the election I would have bet 4 to1 that there was no way it would pass.

Therefore:

The new plan=

We do the infrastructure plan but don't tell anyone it's for alt fuel. We will tell them it's for education. That way it will pass and then we can just redirect the funds to alt fuel where it belongs.