Quote:
Originally Posted by robchalmers
to answer my own question
$22000 / 2.876gal (gasbuddy.com)
=7649.513 gals
Urban MPG, where the Volt would be on electric say 20MPG for joe public?
=7649.513*20
= 152,990.3 miles :O
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Next step is to compare a comparable MPG vehicle for under $20k such as the Chevy Cruze at 40MPG or even something with slightly less fuel performance that the price difference is coming from and you are driving even more to make it up. Of course the cost of electricity stretches it out a tad. It depends on how far you can get on the 13.2kwh from the wall(slightly more power pulled from the wall than the 10.4kwh more or less that is supposed to go into the pack). Where I live 13.2kwh is about $13 between June-September and about $11 in the winter. I figure with my driving I'll have better than 40, especially after seeing the hypermiling results above 50 miles and having plenty of range left I think I'd do better than 40 miles no problem and my commute would be cheap.
It wouldn't be worth it though
buying new, however buying one used for a cheaper price down the road might make more sense. GM says they are planning to make the 2012 CARB EAT-PZEV compliant and provide a 10/150k warranty that is required for that standard. If so, getting the 2012 used would be a better idea and even more so if you can find the unfortunate(or fortunate if under warranty) person who has had a battery replacement on their car. Still not sure what the warranty covers on the battery from any of the auto manufacturers, be it Chevy, Nissan, or Ford. Unless I had those details, I wouldn't plan on buying any of these cars. What if Nissan told you 7 years and 78k miles down the road that your 45 mile range on a bad day was in spec but you needed to go 50 miles to get to work and back, what now? I have a hard time with not seeing these answers visible.
Making a used car buying decision will be easier or much more difficult depending on how these LG Chem cells perform at high mileage. Chevy, Hyundai/Kia, and Ford are all using these cells. They each have their own specifications they are made to such as the Hyundai/Kia cells are put together with less internal resistance to provide more power but less energy density and the Chevy and Ford cells with be geared for energy density. I wish I knew how much they are paying for the cells, it could be close to $300/kwh. Better than the $350-$400 or so for these lower volume stuff from China without massive bulk discounts. They must be getting massive volume discounts and the machines assembling them in such massive quantity must have them at a low cost for these manufacturers. It seems that Toyota(under Tesla's help) and Tesla have gone the Panasonic route and Honda is up in the air so far. Hopefully we can find out soon who Honda is using, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't LG Chem considering it seems to be the current go-to. Chevy did lots of testing to end up with LG Chem, I'd be interested to see the performance characteristics I'm surprised with how the lithium world has taken off and A123 and pretty much every other LiFePO4 manufacturer other than SAFT has been hanging without significant improvements in performance lately. It seems that LiMn might just be the way to go although in the past LiMn has been known with having a low cycle life of around 500-1000 cycles, putting into consideration that the Leaf will pull deep cycles I'm curious how well it will fare because 1000 cycles at 100 miles is 100,000 miles, puts you right outside the warranty. Time will tell. -Your prospective used electric vehicle buyer.