Cost to operate a Chevy Volt

[mandym]

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.


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


So they want 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?

 

[billwald]

Author has confused dollars and cents and even then he is is using expensive electricity. I pay around 8 cents a KWH. Snohomish County PUD pays Bonneville Power Administration around 4 cents a KWH. The spot price of electricity is posted on line (but I got angry at my MAC and wiped the hard drive).

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

They should put an external battery charger that's designed on a float system that's wired liner & is designed on a float system. They do that to power fire trucks for example.... the bottom line is to keep those batteries constantly charged.

I would also like to see the statistics of people with Volts in high temperature environments....no secret that higher temps kill batteries allot quicker. What Im saying, there are allot of potential flaws to that car & we know that GM never gets it right the 1st time.

 

[glfredrick]

Or, conversely, very cold temps that seriously diminish battery capacity. Anyone from up nort' will be quick to tell you about battery life once temps hit zero or below.

I keep wondering why they don't just run a smallish engine designed only to charge the battery, then operate purely on electricity to propel the vehicle. That would allow them to design an engine that ran at an optimum RPM for maximum economy, and perhaps also allow for diesel power, which puts out much more HP per volume than does gasoline.

If building a self-charging vehicle is not in the cards, why not one that operates via hydraulic pumps and motors instead. Virtually every piece of construction equipment does so now, so the technology exists.

As an aside, I drive a 1995 Dodge RAM 4x4 3/4 ton behemoth of a truck. It has oversized tires and I've modified the diesel engine to produce over 300 HP at 3200 RPM (redline) with close to 750 pounds/feet of torque. That is power on par with many tractor-trailer rigs running down the highway and I often pull over 8000 lbs. on a trailer and have no problem running with traffic with that sort of load.

I get 23-24 mpg running empty on the highway. 16-18 while towing. 16 while running without overdrive!

If I can get something that weighs in at about 6000 pounds and has the aerodynamics of a barn to pull that sort of mileage, one might think that a small turbo diesel in a lightweight car could average over 50 and still have plenty of power to run with traffic. A small turbo diesel with 300 pounds/feet of torque would allow a lightweight car the size of a Volt to run an overdrive unit that operated at a 50% reduction (most typical overdrive units today operate at about 15% reduction of engine speed).

I know of guys that have shoehorned the Cummins diesel that I am running into various cars and trucks. Without much by way of modification to the engine itself, they are running times at the drag strip that would be similar to fire-burning dragsters that could never be run on the street, and yet they can take their same vehicle out to buy groceries if they just keep their foot off the pedal. My truck will run with a newer Mustang in its current state, which is quite a shock to most of those newer muscle car owners. Turbo spools up and with a puff of black smoke, I am Gooonnnneee. :wavey: Have to back off the throttle so I don't get sideways on freeway ramps... :laugh:

 

[Bobby Hamilton]

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.


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


So they want 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?

In my scenario, I'd have to charge that battery everyday, on top of the gas that I'd still have to put in it.

So...we'll say 1 fill up a week (around 36 bucks) plus 18.56 per charge (using your scenario) X 30 (days in a month). So 4 fillups a month=144 bucks plus 30 charges in a month=556 bucks...total 700 bucks.

I drive a Ford Escape that gets about 23 MPG's...and I fill it up about once a week, slightly more. Right now that costs me 60 bucks give or take...so we are talking 240 bucks vs 700 bucks if the numbers from above are right? (not even comparing vehicles purchase prices)

When we get a comparably priced product that uses alternative energy then I'll take a peek. Until then, not even going to think about it.

 

[mandym]

The left does not care what it costs so long as oil is not used.

 

[glfredrick]

The left does not care what it costs so long as oil is not used.

Ah! So a coal-burning car is acceptable... For, that is precisely what the Volt burns, just at a distance separated by an extension cord.

 

[Bobby Hamilton]

The left does not care what it costs so long as oil is not used.

Then the left needs to make it so oil isn't an option.

Which isn't realistic.

 

[gb93433]

I keep wondering why they don't just run a smallish engine designed only to charge the battery, then operate purely on electricity to propel the vehicle.

The car will demand different amounts of power due to road conditions and weather. If they designed a system that delivered a constant voltage at different engine RPM's then I would think they could use a larger engine and the problem would be solved.

If building a self-charging vehicle is not in the cards, why not one that operates via hydraulic pumps and motors instead. Virtually every piece of construction equipment does so now, so the technology exists.

Some pieces of equipment are very inefficient due to the flow of the fluid required. It creates an enormous amount of heat. A lot of mining equipment that does not move much uses electricity at 7200 volts. The wire is about 2" in diameter.

If I can get something that weighs in at about 6000 pounds and has the aerodynamics of a barn to pull that sort of mileage, one might think that a small turbo diesel in a lightweight car could average over 50 and still have plenty of power to run with traffic.

When I was in Europe I saw a lot more diesel cars and trucks than here. A friend of mine who teaches aviation told me that the industry is going to diesel fueled engines because of the heat value of the fuel.

If the truth were known I think we would be surprised at the technologies over the years that have been killed by companies.

 

[preacher4truth]

I recently watched a documentary about the Volt and other Chevrolet vehicles.

The Volt costs about $2.00 to charge.

 

[InTheLight]

The Chevy Volt is pathetic, true. But electric cars are in their infancy. Hopefully in 20 years we will have a good laugh at the Chevy Volt as more and better electric cars are built and driven. I'd like to see a day where an efficient electric car is recharged from electricity from nuclear power.

The market should decide the fate of the electric car, not the government.

 

[gb93433]

Ah! So a coal-burning car is acceptable... For, that is precisely what the Volt burns, just at a distance separated by an extension cord.

A few months ago I met a man who is working for a company that is developing synthetic diesel from coal. Apparently is much cleaner burning.

 

[preachinjesus]

The Volt is a bad piece of technology forced upon the American taxpayer. In 20 years people will look back and talk about how bad a vehicle it was and what a ridiculous sham was perpetrated by GM to keep itself, and this hunk of junk on the road.

Just a ridiculous vehicle. Its a symbol of what's wrong with the American system. If you check the Japanese models they likely do a little better. As for me and my house, we just bought a turbo diesel from Germany that gets 50+ mpg on the highway. Its as clean an emissions vehicle as you can get.

 

[Bobby Hamilton]

The Chevy Volt is pathetic, true. But electric cars are in their infancy. Hopefully in 20 years we will have a good laugh at the Chevy Volt as more and better electric cars are built and driven. I'd like to see a day where an efficient electric car is recharged from electricity from nuclear power.

The market should decide the fate of the electric car, not the government.

If we are given a good product, then the decision should be ours to make, not the government.

 

[mandym]

General Motors Co. announced the temporary suspension of Chevrolet Volt production and the layoffs of 1300 employees, as the company is cutting Volt manufacturing to meet lower-than-expected demand for the electric cars.

"Even with sales up in February over January, we are still seeking to align our production with demand," GM spokesman Chris Lee said. The car company had hoped to sell 45,000 Chevy Volts in America this year, according to the Detroit News, but has only sold about 1,626 over the first two months of 2012.

http://campaign2012.washingtonexami...tial/gm-laying-1300-due-low-volt-sales/406771

 

[David Lamb]

The Volt is a bad piece of technology forced upon the American taxpayer. In 20 years people will look back and talk about how bad a vehicle it was and what a ridiculous sham was perpetrated by GM to keep itself, and this hunk of junk on the road.

As a non-American, could I ask what you mean when you say that this particular model of car "is a bad piece of technology forced upon the American taxpayer"? How are American taxpayers "forced" to buy any car, let alone this particular model?

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

As a non-American, could I ask what you mean when you say that this particular model of car "is a bad piece of technology forced upon the American taxpayer"? How are American taxpayers "forced" to buy any car, let alone this particular model?

There not...thats why GM just announced yesterday that they arent going to produce anymore due to poor sales. I dont know about you folks, but Ive not seen one on the road.

 

[Salty]

As a non-American, could I ask what you mean when you say that this particular model of car "is a bad piece of technology forced upon the American taxpayer"? How are American taxpayers "forced" to buy any car, let alone this particular model?

David, I found this story -

 

[Oldtimer]

As a non-American, could I ask what you mean when you say that this particular model of car "is a bad piece of technology forced upon the American taxpayer"? How are American taxpayers "forced" to buy any car, let alone this particular model?

David, briefly....

Any time an American's tax dollars are used to help produce a particular model of car, in essence, we are buying it. Thus, in a sense, I own a piece of it, even though I'll never get my hands on the keys.

 

[InTheLight]

As a non-American, could I ask what you mean when you say that this particular model of car "is a bad piece of technology forced upon the American taxpayer"? How are American taxpayers "forced" to buy any car, let alone this particular model?

Perhaps it's a bad analogy but consider BBC television. It's subsidized by the government and you have to buy a license to have a TV (pay a "TV tax"). Thus BBC programming is forced on the English taxpayer.

In the same way the U.S. government is subsiziding the technology behind the Chevy Volt, so tax money is being used to produce it. Also, the Obama administration has held it forth as an example of the green technology that Americans should embrace. Obama went so far as to say that when he's a private citizen again he's going to buy a Chevy Volt. Hopefully that will be in 10 months.