[gascort]

So will anyone actually buy it? I think it's (economically) a disaster that GM has created, pumped up to make themselves look good, and they're going to blame America for not buying it. Why?
It's about the same size car as their Cruze, which I will use for this comparison. Both cars can be appointed with nice safety/creature comforts, and the volt and Cruze achieve about exactly equal MPGs once the volt's battery has been spent.

Case 1: Volt drives up to ~35miles per charge gas free, costing ~$1.50 average. Use this every day (to its max) every day per year, assuming you just charge at home. You will spend $550.
Case 2: Use the Cruze to do the same driving, 35 miles per day, 365 days. You use about 350 gallons of fuel, for a cost of $1050 annually.

We all know there are some environmental gains from using electric (made from fossil fuels or nuclear, etc.) over gas. We also know there are some environmental penalties associated with mining, transporting, creating, and recycling the Lithium batteries... These are probably equaled out in this car.

So you get a car that's a techno-toy, don't do much total good for the environment, and have spent about $15K extra on a car that saves you $500 per year in gas. That's a 30 year payback. Fewer than 1% of cars last this long, and most of them didn't have an expensive battery with an 8 year warranty.
** If you charge at work and at home, and use the 35 miles each way, you save $1000 each year and you only need 15 years to pay back your additional purchase cost.**

Just getting steamed with all the Volt propaganda. I hope I'm wrong about GM's intentions with the car, and if so, I believe they have tried to do the impossible and failed; it's not a $37k car.