http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/...ntcmp=features

36K for an electric car that is costing less than 15K to make. Granted you get a $7500 tax credit but thats coming from U.S. taxpayers not Nissan on the back end.

Its like furniture stores making prices up to pretend to give you a bigger discount.

They are fixing to drop the price by 25% soon.

Personally I think electric cars could be great transportation for those that drive very little on a daily basis but.......The manufactures need to offer these cars at similar markups to regular cars to get more people into them.

 

The Chevy Volt is the best of the plug-in electric cars IMO, you're at least not limited to a certain number of miles per day and it's a normal sized useable car.

 

I agree the Hybrids seem to be the best option. Im not sure WHY??? The auto manufactures arent making a DIESEL Hybrid. Just make one. They have Zero excuses.

Here is an unbiased article regarding the Chevy Volt. He says " It would take Hundreds and Hundreds of THOUSANDS of miles to makes up for the cost difference between the volt and the Cruz, the exact same car less a battery.



We have a club member that drives a Prius and get on average 50+ MPG. Prius are very cheap compared to a volt.

 

That also doesn't include the fact that aren't really environmentally friendly at all. Sure, you're not burning as much gas as our cars or the big muscle cars... but you are still using cars that contain things that are rather toxic to make -- like the batteries. And for the plug-ins...you're still using electricity, presumably from the general power grid which uses a variety of less-than-green ways to produce that electricity.

 

Keep in mind that the Volt price was just dropped $10k to ~$30k.

 

I test drove a leaf and really liked it for what it was. The price was crazy and the dealers were even worse. I really almost got a Volt. A buddy did and he's not bought a tank of gas yet. Sure you pay to be a groundbreaker, but it's still cool tech. The Prius is a great appliance as well.

And the grid is far, far, far easier to clean up pollution wise than a billion cars.

The better question than "why no diesel hybrids" is "why no diesel?" Other than a handful of TDI VWs and Audis, the occasional Merc or BMW and massive trucks, there are no diesels offered here in the US. Is it the sulfur diesel requirement? The lack of people buying them? The cost (drivetrain + fuel) premium?

 

Not according to Chevy official web site, Unless you are aware of a huge factory to dealer incentive?

http://www.chevrolet.com/volt-electr...-zipcode=75002

Dont include the $7500 tax rebate. You get that on a wide range of vehicles. Hell there is a company making elaborate GOLF CARTS, street legal and because they are 100% electric, you get the rebate. This goes back to my arguement about furniture being marked up 100% then claiming a sale to discount 50% off. what happened to the regular price to begin with?


Sean is right though, its a status thing, HEY Im being clean.. of course Bullett is also right, NOT really.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/...st-volt-sales/

Chevy is paying an extra $10k in incentives bringing them down to around $30k; it's in the article you linked, and a few other articles that came out last week. I checked them out at the State Fair this weekend and they're actually not half bad; probably my favorite of the electric/hybrid things.

 

Well if you could get one for around $22500 that not half bad at all. including the $7500 federal tax rebate.

 

You're better off leasing. You get the $7500 up front (as opposed to next year) even if you don't qualify (most people here won't have a $7500+ tax liability to try and offset). And you won't own it at the end.

Texas leases suck though since you have to pay the sales tax on the entire purchase up front/rolled into the payments. If you do decide to lease a GM vehicle, fight for tax credits. I effectively paid $0 in sales tax on the Caddy.

 

I agree there is nothing environmentally friendly about these cars. The lithium, the rare earth elements that make the motors. This is more propaganda sold to the public but the public does NO research.

 

Let me qualify my statements on providing background: I'm an electrical engineer by education and trade. My company has a fleet (20+) of Leaf's and Volts. They allow employees to check out one of the vehicles for business activities and other events. I was lucky enough to have a Nissan Leaf for 2 solid weeks, and I will have a volt for 11 days later this month.

Both of the vehicles are pretty extraordinary in their own way and a blast to drive if you giggle at the fact that you are accelerating and hearing nothing.

This is just my personal opinion, but as a person who prides himself on keeping up with the auto industry, tech, and everything in between, I personally believe that the downsides to building EVs are far outweighed by the advantages. One EV's worth of battery and motor components does not come close to equaling the damage that can potentially be caused by a poorly efficient ICE vehicle.

Not only that, but electric motors are INFINITELY more controllable, smooth, usable, and clean from the driver's perspective. You really need to spend day after day with an EV to truly appreciate the tech.

To actually touch on the topic of this thread, if I wasn't trying to save up for a laundry list of items, primarily a house, I would lease the Chevy Volt in a heartbeat. ~$200 for one of these cars is absolutely incredible.

-Acree

 

China currently owns 90% of the mines with rare earth elements use to make the motors and dynamic brake control systems in current wind generators and EV. They are the OPEC of the rare earth market. Also guess how they mine for rare earth elements. They bore a hole in the earth and pore acid down the hole, slurp the contents and extract the elements. Then we get into the lithium.......
Just saying not environmentally good for earth the carbon foot print or anything else they have tried to shove down our throats.

 

I wonder if the gas savings from daily-driving a Volt just to work and back would offset the lease + insurance...

 

Kracka, when I did the math on the M5, the gas + maintenance (remember it was high mileage) was > than the lease payment on the Volt.

The $200 lease doesn't work here in Texas due to the sales taxes. It will likely be closer to $300 or $350 by the time it's all said and done. Just keep that in mind. Still, in the M5 I was burning $220+ in 93 a month (17mpg)... $70 oil changes... $$ 18" tires... it adds up.

You'll spend about $15-20 in electricity a month unless you've got TXU (they're expensive).