GM is claiming this to be the "most complex, sophisticated vehicle ever built for the mass market".

I don't buy it.

 

Why don't you buy it? What makes it so simple? I suspect it might be true. If not the most certainly one of the most. I can't think of a more complex mass market car.

 

You actually know someone that pays $.40 per kwh for electricity?

 

I was wondering the same thing, I'm around a 1/4 of that

and to the person who asked about the difference between the prius/leaf and volt... Are you kidding?

It's bigger than the leaf ... well it's a sedan anyways. The leaf is full electric, so it's done after 62 to 138 miles, depending on conditions. The Volt has a gas motor as well, so it can extend its range to that of a normal car. The Prius is a full time (well not exactly, but more or less for this comparison) hybrid, while the volt completely finishes off batteries before using engine power to recharge the batteries and extend range.

...ok, I think I got all those points correct .. but yah, not the same thing. Each has it's own advantage. The great thing about the volt (for me at least) is that I can use it for daily without any gas. ...BUT, I can also use it on long road trips when need be. The prius is going to cost me gas money for a daily commute, albeit not a lot.

 

well it's slow and ugly, but at least it's expensive.

 

Yes. $600+/month now. In Bay Area, some Asian families team up (ie. parents/brother/sister/etc) to buy a larger home to stay together. Have you seen home prices even in recession? Now wonder why Asian families in San Fran can afford to live in $1Mil+ home with so little income?

I am already in tier3 with just wife and kid in a small 1400 sq house. That is $0.29/kwh in that tier usage.

See the PG&E tier usage page. http://www.pge.com/myhome/myaccount/charges/

Imagine your EV averages 3miles/kwh. @12k miles/yr, that is 333 kwh/month.

Your home use, say 400kwh/month. That leaves 100kwh @ $0.29/kwh + 233 kwh @ $0.40/kwh. $122/1000 miles. VS. using gas of $60/1000 miles with gas @ $3/gallon on a Prius.

The worst part, PG&E has been going up 10% every year for the last couple of years.

I would love an EV if I was living... say Georgia (@ ~0.07/kwh), but at $0.40/kwh, that is crazy.

 

San Fran and the rest of California are a bunch of nutjobs. A bunch of entitlement mentality crazies. What a rip-off. I pay 8 cent/kwh here in DFW and I don't have to live with 4 generation of family to own a nice home. Guess why that's so many people are moving to Texas.

I'm toying with the idea of doing the $350/month lease on the Volt just as a toy/run-about car and keeping my other cars. It's going to be a sweet ride. Turbine smooth electric power.

 

[QUOTE=QUIKAG,Nov 5 2010, 03:07 PM] San Fran and the rest of California are a bunch of nutjobs.

 

QUIKAG, no one here pays 40 cents a kwh here either. I sometimes go into Tier 2, but never above that. My rates are something like 12/8 per kwh in the summer/winter respectively, probably averages 11 cents as I use more in the summer. More expensive than Texas? Sure.

Electric cars are going to play hell on energy bills in much of California due the punitive pricing that the "investor-owned, public" power companies like PG&E and Edison have lobbied for.

 

It's not unusual for someone in the Dallas area to use 2 - 3,000 kwh per month in the summer. That would be a hefty bill in Cal. For the coastal areas, summer isn't too bad, but in the central valley I imagine summer utility bills can be tough if you run the a/c much.

Our impression is that no one in Cal. wants a power plant or transmission line anywhere near them. Eventually electricity will get expensive under that plan. Based on the wording in PG&Es site, it's hard to tell how much is supply and demand and how much is govt punishing people for using power.