cost of ownership for the chevy volt
 

I received this cost of ownership account and at first I thought this must be false then I did some internet searches to get to the bottom of it and low and behold it turned out to be true.





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

battery 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.

The gasoline powered car cost about $15,000 while

the Volt costs $46,000.........

So Chevy wants us to pay 3 times as much, for

a car that costs more that 7 times as much to run, and

takes 3 times longer to drive across country.....:confused:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dumbest way of counting anything i have ever seen.

Total rubbish. :rolleyes:

Hard to believe isn't it.
But its a FAIL !

I only had to read as far as "faux noise" to know what was coming...

Frank -

I only had to look at one number, $1.16 per kWh :

Are You Paying More Than Average for Electricity

http://www.lowerelectricbilltoday.co...ctric-Bill.jpg
In the above example the range is between 9.07 and 12.34 cents per kWh. When you divide the claimed $1.16 cost by the actual costs you get a *range* of error between 543% and 1278% :

Now let's look at a Canadian power bill :

Ontario’s Power Trip: The 20% hydro grab | FP Comment | Financial Post

http://financialpostopinion.files.wo...-bill-eps1.jpg


The bill is based on 2480 kWh of usage (for two months). Taking the highest and lowest costs leads to this :

When you divide the claimed $1.16 cost by the Canadian article cost you get a *range* of error between 773% and 966% :

CarloSW2

I think your messed up your KWH cost, I haven't looked at my wife's bill in a year or 2 but last time it was closer to $0.12/KWH, so just saying 0.16/KWH X 16 = $2.56. $2.56/25 miles = .10/mile, little cheaper per mile than my Stratus, but not much, and it didn't cost 40k.

Edit: CFG beat me to it, too slow typing.

Carlos: exactly... but there's so much more wrong with it too!

Battery charge time isn't trip time especially if you don't need to charge the battery to keep going- just drive, drive, drive, gas up, and drive some more, just like any other car.

Or, it appears Faux didn't include fueling time for the gasser.

The electricity AND gas prices are whacked.

IIRC the Volt's battery is good for much more than 25 miles... unless one is driving like a complete ass, and desperately trying to slant their story...

I'd like to know where the utilities vary the electric rate per kwh by season??? :rolleyes: At $1.16 his vs $0.09 mine- a discrepancy of almost a factor of 13?!?- I wonder if that buffoon is as big a failure at reading as he is at driving and writing.

I read that and there is more to the writing. I read fox news everyday but I dont read it or anything as the holly trinity. I read and make my own opinion. But the point ( that I got) no matter how you look at the numbers... he car is not worth 40k+

now would one of us that hypermile and are aware of our driving habits get better numbers. hell yes we would. did this person just jump in and drive it like stole it like the rest of the population does hell yes he did. So half of me agrees with you guys. the other half don't.

The average person is a consumer
The average ecomodder will recycle, reuse and repurpose.

You want examples of vehicles not worth $40,000, look at Yuck Ons, Escapades, lots of these fancy-boy pickups that aren't meant for work, any BMW or Merc...

Frank -

Yeah, but I was going after the low-hanging fruit. Now here is an excellent Canadian $ kWh :

Electricity - Utility Rate Comparisons

The range is about 7¢/kWh to 15¢/kWh. Canadian is practically 1/1 to the US dollar right now, so you don't have to convert it.

CarloSW2

The Stuxnet virus must have had the unintended consequence of driving imported Iranian nuclear electricity prices sky high.

snopes.com: Cost to Operate the Chevy Volt

Snopes to the rescue again! Try it, you'll like it (unless you have beliefs/opinions that are in direct conflict with facts/reality).

Alright "ecomodded", what sort of vetting did you really do? I googled "eric bolling volt report" and practically the whole first page of hits called the report (and ridiculous email) out for the crap they are.

The Volt is rated 37mpg highway (gasoline) and 36mpg equivalent (electric). To get only 30mpg it must have been driven hard, as has been said. But then to use a slow speed like 60mph for your estimate of driving times seems like a lazy way to make calculating hours of travel time easier, without realizing that if the car had actually been driven at 60mph on the highway it would likely have pulled about 40mpg. Nothing about the story is accurate, except that the car is made by Chevy, is called a Volt, and costs the too high $40K.

My boss has a $40,000 Saab and I asked the same question when he bought it, what kind of person buys a $40,000 car that only gets 30mpg??? but wait! he can't plug his car in... but he did buy it because it would save gas by being able to save the $40,000 pickup truck as a work only vehicle.

Well, Chevy also wants you to buy a car that (depending on model) costs anywhere from $49-$111K, gets a max EPA rating of 16/19/26 mpg (and that's for the low-end model), and only carries two people, yet for some strange reason this doesn't seem to upset anybody at all: 2012 Chevy Corvette | Sports Cars | Chevrolet

Of course, if you're really concerned about total cost of ownership, you go on Craigslist and find a good 20 year old Honda.

A good friend of mine bought the first Volt in the state of Wisconsin.

We typically talk fuel mileage, and here is what he had to say:

In the winter, he typically gets high 30's.

Spring, summer, fall, he gets mid 40's.

He tends to drive the car much faster than I do with my Insight, and his mileage shows it.

If I had to guess, I would say it would relatively easy to get 50 mpg with the way I drive.

By the way I did drive the car about 20 miles, and it's eerie how smooth and quiet the car is!! The coolest thing is: you plug it in!

Jim.

3-Wheeler -

Thanks for the info. How long is your friend's commute?

CarloSW2

Hi Carlo,

His typical commute is less than 20 miles each way, as he has not added any gas to the Volt since November of last year!

His only cost during this time is electrical energy!

Jim.

A friend of mine bought a Volt as well and he figures that he'll have to add gas twice a year, to keep it fresh, because the gas engine does start up every few months just to make sure the bearings are lubed, but the Volt also has a fuel system that is designed to prolong the fuel life so it doesn't go stale as fast.

I got to ride as a passenger and it's a nice car, about what I'd expect for a car that costs that much.

I sat in one at the stealership; didn't like all the video games on the dash but I guess that's everything these days. :rolleyes: Other than that my impression was that it looks nice; perhaps a bit small inside.

...one damn "fancy" golf-cart...the weight must be hell on golf greens and paths.

For me, it would be tough to decide between the Volt and the Leaf. I like both.

Ideally, someone would design an all electric with the shape of the Insight.

Maybe I'll have to convert mine to electric someday.

Jim.

Not a difficult decision for me. The Volt will never pay for itself. It doesn't make sense to have essentially 2 power systems in 1 vehicle from a maintenance, reliability, economy, or financial standpoint. You would be better off buying a cheaper gasoline only vehicle that gets good mileage.

The electric only has credibility. For families with 2 cars, one of them could be electric for commuting, getting groceries, errands, etc. The other would be gas and would be used whenever both vehicles are needed at the same time, or for trips exceeding the range of the electric.

The Leaf interests me, but it's too expensive, too new (too ugly), and isn't appropriate for a single guy like me. Maybe when (if) I'm married...

The numbers are actually fairly (great word) accurate. Apart from the cost of the hydro to charge the battery that is. A simply error with a decimal point? perhaps on purpose by the Author who may be venting his displeasure with the volt.

Crunching the numbers before a purchase seems like a good idea to me. Thanx

Here is a link to a favorable review of the Volt done by Popular Mechanics where they find the car gets 32 mpg city. Whats with that ? just about any car on the road gets that kind of mileage.
Perhaps the car should be branded to people who want the latest gadget more then the greatest economy:confused:


I think they should make it with a 600 mile / 1000 km range and be fully electric.
Then with about 5 Grand of solar panels and batteries you have your own charge station.
$5000 divide by 4 years or 48 months would cost
$104.166667 dollars per month to operate. Crunching those numbers it actually make sense to invest in your own charge station,the batteries should last 5 or more years at the charge station.

Popular Mechanics Finds Chevrolet Volt Gets 32 MPG City and 36 MPG Highway in Extended Range Mode

That's only if you don't plug it in, the whole car is designed around the idea that the gas engine will rarely be used and if you look at the average persons needs, the gas engine should only start up a few times per year.
How often does the gas engine on your car start?

Are you trying not to get it on purpose? :confused:

Frank Lee I just can not take you seriously at all.
nothing wrong with your interest, frankly, Frank its that hat your wearing.

For a person who is retired or works close too home and does not go out a lot it may well be as you claim.
Outside of those ideal conditions the Volt falls miserable on its face, but i do not need to tell you that I am sure you must understand that as well.
After all it can only travel 33 miles on its battery.
my point is the car sucks.

Hey man, I love that hat, and the ladies can't get enough of it.

If you hate Volts so much, the answer is simple: don't buy one.

Well all things aside, meaning your hat, i think its obvious to say that I will not be buying a Volt. By all means please go out and buy one yourself ! but your not as stupid as your avatar denotes,I'm sure, so you will pass as will most. Lets put the blame where it belongs, and that's not with me its with the Volt, I am the bearer of bad news ! Next review I post I will write myself :-)

ecomodded -

If you are the sort of person who'd stop and charge for ten hours mid-trip, with a car that was specifically designed so that you don't have to do that! Then the Volt is not for you. The same way that if you were the sort of person that drove with the roof down in the rain and roof up in good weather, a convertible would not be for you.

Wow what a distorted article, at first I thought it was just straight out made up whole cloth for who knows what reason.

But then to find out that it's a real report by Mr Bolling on a business show just screams "follow the money". I've never heard of Mr Bolling but IMO he must be bought and paid for by some interested party, or he is simply a fool. So now my mind is spinning, who benefits in printing this type of distortion?

PS my business is investing, and I rarely and I mean rarely watch Fox business but if this article is an example of it's quality I haven't missed much.

volt
 

The way I see it is the volt is overpriced like they want to recover development costs too quickly or use it to get you into the showroom to then hook you with another in their range but the more that are sold the quicker the price will come down. It is certainly a good car for those with short commutes, that don't often do long journeys, and haven't got a second car. Once a few more range extended electric cars are around the competition will bring the prices down too. Why look at the battery only range it is clearly a duel fuel car on longer journeys with the benefit of being an electric one with decent performance for short ones.

How much does the average person drive per year? 10,000 to 15,000 miles per year, at 15,000 miles per year that is 41 miles per day or 8 miles per day on gasoline, if you are driving that far per day chances are it's on the highway where you would use 81 gallons of fuel per year, but even if it's in town, getting lousy mileage it's only 91 gallons of fuel per year, compare that to the 468 gallons of fuel that someone getting 32mpg would otherwise use and that is of course assuming that you do all of that driving without being able to plug in, like I am able to do at work, and if you drive 10,000 miles per year then you average out to 27 miles per day of driving without using gasoline.

I believe this is yet another of those situations where the facts have no bearing on the guy's opinion. Faux Noise viewers seem to have that a lot.

As i stated earlier in agreement with the fact that under ideal condition the Volt "Appears" to get good mileage, outside of the ideal condition AKA reality the cars mileage sucks, 32 city 36 hwy. Fail.
I hope we can agree that there is two sides to this coin. I do and agree that for the right individual the Volt will suffice if used as a electric short range (33mile) vehicle.
I just can not get past its gas motors economy. Compare the Volt to a diesel Jetta (similar size) with its 50+mpg fuel economy and the obvious stands out, the Volt is a fail.
and Frank buy one you will love it.. j/k

You want to compare the Volt's worst case scenario to a VW diesel's optimistic output. Reality is that if you compare new to new, a 2011 VW is high 30s under "normal" conditions. Yes, we can do a lot better, but your average driver won't. Or, if you prefer, compare ideal 2011 VW numbers (60s? 70?) to ideal Volt (up to 93 equivalent if all electric). If you prefer, Edmunds's True Cost to Own says a Volt's 5 year cost of ownership is about about $38,000. A base Jetta diesel auto is within a few options of being the same. A Passat is about the same as a Volt without the government tax credit. Is it worth it? From a purely economic standpoint, no. We could do a lot worse though.

what about the NYT. its more left leaning

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/bu...wait.html?_r=1

it comes down to like every thing on EM. To each their own. To me the volt should have been a Diesel.