First Volt ships

[Grendal]

There are hundreds to thousands of ICE car fires in a year and no one is freaking out over that. This is such BS fear-mongering. Someone on the EV side needs to start propagating the facts of this misinformation.

[SEGsby]

There is no 'misinformation'.

Volts (more than one) have caught fire as a result of a crash. Fact. Considering there aren't that many Volts out there in the wild, it's interesting to note the percentage of fires relative to crashes... I think that's the issue.

[Grendal]

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/...s-prompt-probe

"So far, no fires have been reported in Volts involved in roadway crashes, NHTSA said. More than 5,000 of the vehicles have been sold."

They beat up a number of cars and the battery pack has caught fire a couple times days after the tests. Again, this hardly compares to the number of ICE fires that happen just after an accident when a gas tank is ruptured. And I'm not saying it's something that should be ignored, either.

[NeilBlanchard]

The crash tested Volt that burned had sat for 3 weeks. Would a gasoline powered car be allowed to sit so long without draining the tank? By the way, are ICE powered vehicles crashed with full fuel tanks? They should be.

The Volts in garages are not blamed for the fires. In the latest one at least, it is specifically exonerated. I'm sure that the Volt like all cars, is imperfect. And it will get better over time. But I don't think there is anything in particular that is much worse about the Volt than other cars.

[BryanSR]

THIS is an email floating around the internet...
Cost to operate a Chevy Volt

Eric Bolling (Fox Business Channel's Follow the Money) test drove the
Chevy Volt at the invitation of General Motors.

For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted only 25 miles
Before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine.
Eric calculated the car got 30 mpg including the 25 miles it ran on the
Battery. So, the range including the 9 gallon gas tank and the 16 kwh
Batery is approximately 270 miles. It will take you 4 1/2 hours to
Drive 270 miles at 60 mph. Then add 10 hours to charge the battery and
You have a total trip time of 14.5 hours. In a typical road trip your
Average speed (including charging time) would be 20 mph.

According to General Motors, the Volt battery hold 16 kwh of
Electricity. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery.

The cost for the electricity to charge the Volt is never mentioned so I
Looked up what I pay for electricity.

I pay approximately (it varies with amount used and the seasons) $1.16
Per kwh.

16 kwh x $1.16 per kwh = $18.56 to charge the battery.

$18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the
Volt using the battery.

Compare this to a similar size car with a gasoline engine only that
Gets 32 mpg.

$3.19 per gallon divided by 32 mpg = $0.10 per mile.
Volt
$3.19 per gallon x 9 gallons = $28.62 + $18.56 to charge battery = $47.18 / 270 miles = $0.174747 per mile @ 20 miles per hour if you insist on using the battery @ $0.74 per mile. and it will take 14.5 hours including the time to charge the battery which means that cross country means a motel every 270 miles where you can sleep for 8 hours & still have 1.5 hours every day to fill the tank, SSSS & eat. Coast to coast that adds a minimum of $500.00 for lodging in the 10 days it will take to do the trip one way = $471,80 + $500.00 + 30 meals @ $4.00/per person. = $120.00. Assuming one person = $1091.80 in 2,700 miles = forty & one half cents per mile! it's cheaper to fly first class!

The gasoline powered car cost about $15,000 while the Volt costs
$46,000.

So Obama Chevrolet wants us to pay 3 times as much for a car that costs more that
7 time as much to run and takes 3 times as long to drive across country.

REALLY?
I think it is more POLITICAL than REAL!!!!!!! IMHO

[palmer_md]

I'd like to see how he got $1.16/kWh. That is the highest rate I've ever seen anyone publish. Usually they publish $0.12 for California, but I'm paying over $0.50/kWh for my rate because of the tiered rates. I do pay $0.12 for the first day or two of the billing cycle.

50 cents is one of the highest I've heard anyone mention, and certainly nobody has indicated a rate above a dollar. Even at $0.50 the math for an EV is ok. But you can't only justify it based on personal payback.

[smilingcat]

I just went WOW!! $1.16/Kwh of electricity? Maybe he need to get a new pair of glasses.

And getting only 25 miles per charge? How many jack rabbit starts and coming to skidding stop does he make per mile? Must be one of those who races from stop light to the next.

Or did he forget to disengage the parking brake?

unfortunately, their are too many who are so dead set against EV that they will do anything to propagate their "biased" agenda. And too many who will go "YEAH THAT's RIGHT!!" Those who are dead set on EV should immediately go out and buy a Hummer 1 or Ford Excursion or new Expedition.

[Dreamer]

$1.16 has to be a mistake. I pay $0.14/kWh plus a service charge of ~$10/mo. in Iowa.
And that includes an ~25% up-charge to support wind generation.

[NeilBlanchard]

That email is FUD, pure and simple.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/...vy-volt-e-mail

[PatQ562]

First off the Volt only lets you use about 8kWh from the battery, so the recharge burden is maybe 10kWh, or about $1.20 at a tier-one rate of 12 cents, or $4 at a top-tier rate. That is 4-15 cents a mile. At the lower rate (which an enterprising customer should be able to get after much tiresome nagging of Edison to get the EV nighttime program), you're paying about the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon assuming $4 gas. THEN you go into regular gas consumption mode which of course you can continue as long as you want on cross-country trips. The Volt gets a rather mediocre 30-35mpg in gasoline mode, since after all it's a heavy full-size car, so you only save the big bucks if you use it mostly for shorter trips.

So I don't much care for the Volt as a high-efficiency statement, but in commuter mode with a gentle foot you could probably motor for 3-4 cents a mile, much like a Leaf or iMiEV or whatever.

Apparently this is an actual quote from Fox News, thus another example of how they actually leave their viewers less informed.

Pat Q