Volt like Silverado

[old-chevy-dude]

You also have to add the cost of electricity to charge up the Volt every night, which is getting more expensive all the time.

 

 

Nowhere near the cost of fuel. Maybe for people who live where the power grid is weak like commiefornia but I can't imagine it being an issue most places.

 

 

I have 2 neighbors with Volts and one with a Leaf, on the Forth of July while we were burning our hard earned money lighting off fireworks, we had a conversation about them, seeing as I have a Camry Hybrid and the Avalanche I was curious to know how much they spent/saved owning them.

 

all of them stated roughly the same thing, the added cost of electricity for them has equalled less than $50 a month on their electric bill being plugged in nightly and driving under 40 miles per day.

 

They all had secondary meters installed on their homes because the Kw/h rate for charging the vehicle is $0.11 vs. the $0.31 per hour of residential use electricity, so the second meter with the dedicated 220 for the charger gets them a second bill, making the cost of "fuel" easy to track.

 

All of them charge nightly and indicated to me that they purchase gas about every 6-7 weeks as a result. (except the Leaf).

 

Compare that to my $300/month fuel bill for the Camry and the Truck the first impression is that I would save a great deal of money as I only drive 6 miles to work.

 

However, after you break down the cost of the vehicle, lets stick with the Volt = $45,000, then add the cost of the Charger installation and dedicated Meter = (about) $15,000 so now we are at $60K or about $600/month for the vehicle/charger payments, which puts me exactly where I am now for my truck payment AND the fuel bill. So in my situation there is no monetary savings, it would take 5 years before I see any advantage, at which point I would be ready for a new vehicle so payments would start all over again.

 

There are some incentives from both the Electric company and the Gov't for buying such vehicles, in the long run they don't equate the expense you have to put out up front to "be green"

 

Though it would be nice to not have to write that $300 check to Chevron every month, the fact is I would just be writing that $300 to someone else for the same reason, that being some type of fuel/electricity to get my ass to work so I can pay for the fuel/electricity I used to get to work..

[wvurhino]

You also have to add the cost of electricity to charge up the Volt every night, which is getting more expensive all the time.

 

 

Nowhere near the cost of fuel. Maybe for people who live where the power grid is weak like commiefornia but I can't imagine it being an issue most places.

 

 

I have 2 neighbors with Volts and one with a Leaf, on the Forth of July while we were burning our hard earned money lighting off fireworks, we had a conversation about them, seeing as I have a Camry Hybrid and the Avalanche I was curious to know how much they spent/saved owning them.

 

all of them stated roughly the same thing, the added cost of electricity for them has equalled less than $50 a month on their electric bill being plugged in nightly and driving under 40 miles per day.

 

They all had secondary meters installed on their homes because the Kw/h rate for charging the vehicle is $0.11 vs. the $0.31 per hour of residential use electricity, so the second meter with the dedicated 220 for the charger gets them a second bill, making the cost of "fuel" easy to track.

 

All of them charge nightly and indicated to me that they purchase gas about every 6-7 weeks as a result. (except the Leaf).

 

Compare that to my $300/month fuel bill for the Camry and the Truck the first impression is that I would save a great deal of money as I only drive 6 miles to work.

 

However, after you break down the cost of the vehicle, lets stick with the Volt = $45,000, then add the cost of the Charger installation and dedicated Meter = (about) $15,000 so now we are at $60K or about $600/month for the vehicle/charger payments, which puts me exactly where I am now for my truck payment AND the fuel bill. So in my situation there is no monetary savings, it would take 5 years before I see any advantage, at which point I would be ready for a new vehicle so payments would start all over again.

 

There are some incentives from both the Electric company and the Gov't for buying such vehicles, in the long run they don't equate the expense you have to put out up front to "be green"

 

Though it would be nice to not have to write that $300 check to Chevron every month, the fact is I would just be writing that $300 to someone else for the same reason, that being some type of fuel/electricity to get my ass to work so I can pay for the fuel/electricity I used to get to work..

 

 

Some of your numbers are off.

 

First up, the Volt costs about $42,000 based on the build your own on chevy.com.

The cost of the charger and installation is estimated by GM at $2000 (http://www.autoblog.com/2010/10/07/chevy-volt-home-charger-priced-at-490-or-nearly-2k-with-instal/) and a second meter does not cost $13000. Someone either exaggerated or over paid.

 

The charger and install can be significantly cheaper as there are numerous rebates, incentives, offers that lower the price. Here is a site of Volt owners, http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?14816-SPX-and-LADWP-installation-charging-and-rates. First one got an estimate for installation including a new Time of Use meter for $3200 which equals the rebates available. Lower down, someone got a new sub panel, no meter and paid $365 after rebates. These people are from California like you. So something is up with your neighbor's costs.

[kstruckcountry]

Exactly. If it wasn't for the subsidies the govt puts into electricity and building the things, they wouldn't exist. Considering that if they weren't subsidized you could buy an Corvette ZR1 and pay for its fuel for the same price, I'm sorry, they're stupid. Did I mention the 'Vette would cause less actual pollution? JMO, but it's backed by common sense...

[old-chevy-dude]

You also have to add the cost of electricity to charge up the Volt every night, which is getting more expensive all the time.

 

 

Nowhere near the cost of fuel. Maybe for people who live where the power grid is weak like commiefornia but I can't imagine it being an issue most places.

 

 

I have 2 neighbors with Volts and one with a Leaf, on the Forth of July while we were burning our hard earned money lighting off fireworks, we had a conversation about them, seeing as I have a Camry Hybrid and the Avalanche I was curious to know how much they spent/saved owning them.

 

all of them stated roughly the same thing, the added cost of electricity for them has equalled less than $50 a month on their electric bill being plugged in nightly and driving under 40 miles per day.

 

They all had secondary meters installed on their homes because the Kw/h rate for charging the vehicle is $0.11 vs. the $0.31 per hour of residential use electricity, so the second meter with the dedicated 220 for the charger gets them a second bill, making the cost of "fuel" easy to track.

 

All of them charge nightly and indicated to me that they purchase gas about every 6-7 weeks as a result. (except the Leaf).

 

Compare that to my $300/month fuel bill for the Camry and the Truck the first impression is that I would save a great deal of money as I only drive 6 miles to work.

 

However, after you break down the cost of the vehicle, lets stick with the Volt = $45,000, then add the cost of the Charger installation and dedicated Meter = (about) $15,000 so now we are at $60K or about $600/month for the vehicle/charger payments, which puts me exactly where I am now for my truck payment AND the fuel bill. So in my situation there is no monetary savings, it would take 5 years before I see any advantage, at which point I would be ready for a new vehicle so payments would start all over again.

 

There are some incentives from both the Electric company and the Gov't for buying such vehicles, in the long run they don't equate the expense you have to put out up front to "be green"

 

Though it would be nice to not have to write that $300 check to Chevron every month, the fact is I would just be writing that $300 to someone else for the same reason, that being some type of fuel/electricity to get my ass to work so I can pay for the fuel/electricity I used to get to work..

 

 

Some of your numbers are off.

 

First up, the Volt costs about $42,000 based on the build your own on chevy.com.

The cost of the charger and installation is estimated by GM at $2000 (http://www.autoblog....2k-with-instal/) and a second meter does not cost $13000. Someone either exaggerated or over paid.

 

The charger and install can be significantly cheaper as there are numerous rebates, incentives, offers that lower the price. Here is a site of Volt owners, http://gm-volt.com/f...rging-and-rates. First one got an estimate for installation including a new Time of Use meter for $3200 which equals the rebates available. Lower down, someone got a new sub panel, no meter and paid $365 after rebates. These people are from California like you. So something is up with your neighbor's costs.

 

 

 

I doubt they are exaggerating, it cost me nearly $7,000 to have my breaker box and house wiring upgraded to current code requirements as the original panel was from 1951 and 8 fuses (no breakers), and no 220 capablility (and nothing in the house was grounded) or main breaker on it.. I had to upgrade mine to install the central HVAC when we bought the house several months ago, I can completely believe the cost even with incentives was in or around $10K easy, especially, if like me new wiring had to be run in the house to accomodate 50 year newer code requirements..

 

While 20-30 year newer homes might have some cheaper and easier ability to upgrade and add the second meter, not all homes are up to date with current code requirements..

 

The people I bought this home from were the original owners from 1951, while they did some nice upgrades to the home over the years, they did not re-wire the home, which is the case for a lot of people.

[BrassMonkey]

Back to the original topic for a moment - I've been reading about the Volt-style Silverado for several months now, and it's got Bob Lutz's fingerprints all over it. The company is called Via Motors, formerly Razer Technologies (they converted an H2 from ICE to battery-electric in 2003 with a 100+ mile range), and I believe they're out of Utah. They take Silverados, Suburbans, and Express vans and electrify them a-la Volt-style. Yeah, the price tag is north of $70K right now for the truck (the Suburban is near $90K I think), but one thing to take into account is that these vehicles are not yet meant for regular consumer purchase - they're meant for fleets (not cost effective enough for consumers). Via has had a lot of success fo far with PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) in California and Verizon. Both companies saw a lot of potential in the fuel savings and the versatility of the battery in powering portable tools and electronics (PG&E was able to run a welder off the battery without issue in the field). We'll be seeing more of these as Via gets more attention. I think GM Venture put a good chunk of money into them (with good reason), and Lutz brings them instant brownie points. I'd stay on the lookout for these as prices drop, but also keep an eye on Tesla. They've mentioned they've had an idea for a battery-only pickup for sometime now. You can interpret that however you want, but I think it's a sign.

[Gurrzt]

The vehicle should be great for towing.