GM Volt Forum banner

EV-Hater’s Guide to Hating Electric Cars: Third and Final Chapter

4K views 6 replies 7 participants last post by  c_harnett 
#1 ·
#3 ·
"People will get divorced over plugging in." Well, maybe if they have a BEV and can't get to work :) With a Volt and EREV, who cares if you forget. Save your marriage - get a Volt :)
 
#6 ·
I find this 'blog' stupid and doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense................but, for someone whose pen ran adrift, I guess it makes some sense!
 
#7 ·
There's more silliness there than I have time for but, starting with Chapter 1...
Ch 1
1. True. The Volt is a $40K compact car. You can put all the lipstick you like on that but it won't change the fundamental. For basic transportation, the Volt is equal to a Yaris plus a decade of gas and you can probably invest the money you don't spend on a Volt (INTC is currently yielding close to 4%) and fuel the Yaris forever.
2. Not true but this is not something you hear from me, EricLG or John1701A.
3. This has been shown to be true, unless your electricity mix is very green. Coal is extremely dirty. Even if your electricity mix is very green, once the Volt runs out of electricity, it's true until you refuel it. Comparison to the Prius, of course, which costs half.
5. True, so far. Although the Leaf has been making a better showing than the Volt.
7. The sensible people who have always thought oil dependence and consumption were bad things already ride the bus or have short commutes (e.g., me). The Johnny-come-latelies who were looking for a magic bullet are all thrilled with the Volt (look, Ma, no lifestyle changes to "get off oil") but a $40K compact car will have limited impact on oil consumption. To the extent that any of these half-measures reduce oil demand, the price of oil will drop and other consumers will find more ways to use cheaper oil. Econ 101. To reduce oil use, you must either make it scarce, regulate extremely heavily or TAX IT.
8. Who ripped this guy off? I have bought 3 timing belts, at 90K miles (per Toyota spec) for $200, $240 and $240 each. Installed. I had two "box" Volvos done for about $250 each. The Volt may have a timing chain but maybe it has a timing belt. But, a Volt not only has a gas engine to maintain (low use, sure, will increas the maintenance intervals) and an electric drivetrain to maintain. I hope the GM system is as realiable as HSD has proven to be but reliability is not an evoking response to the phrase "GM."
9. I remember a post from someone complaining about the noise from the Volt engine when it decided to run. No surprise there. Priuses are quiet enough for most people (my Sienna is nice and quiet, too).
Ch 2
1. Electric drive is cheaper. But some EV lovers act like it's free. Bzzzt.
3. We'll never reduce oil dependence with an overpriced compact car.
4. The tax subsidy is a large reason there are any Volt sales at all. This forum has hosted many questions about it.
5. The implication of this and the next few items is that the overpriced electric car will eliminated oil dependence and those that think this overpriced electric car is ludicrous are against oil indepence. Bzzt.
2B. This is funny considering most of the rant involves strawman arguments (e.g., THIS is how the "haters" think... Bzzt).
Ch 3
1&2. For a pure EV, lack of charging infrastructure IS a problem. It tethers the EV. Simple fact. Now, for a 2nd or 3rd car, this could be a problem (I might buy one, the Leaf being more reasonably priced, looks relatively attractive). And the TIME required for charging is likely a bigger problem. EVs will make more sense as 1st cars when they can be rapidly recharged. This simply hasn't happened, yet. Until it does, driving across the country 80 miles every 4 hours is going to look like a very bad idea.
4. I hate the use of tax money to support something that isn't ready for market. And the overpriced Chevy Volt is completely absurd. This tax subsidy was engineeered by the Michigan Congressional delegation and tailored to GM's requirements. If EVs are such a good idea that they deserve a subsidy, why cap it at 16KWH? Why not lift the cap and encourage risk-taking with 24, 36, 48 or 64KWH vehicles using entirely new ideas? Why indeed... it's because 16KWH was all GM had planned.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top