This should be good news to people who plan on spending $32,000 (before the federal tax credit). The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article up about the situation (via The Hockey Schtick)
Pull the Plug on Electric Car Subsides [paywalled]
Consumer Reports doesn’t have good early reviews for Chevrolet’s flagship entry into electric vehicles. A top editor from the publication said the Chevy Volt, which has both a plug-in battery and a gasoline engine “isn’t particularly efficient as an electric vehicle and it’s not particularly good as a gas vehicle either in terms of fuel economy.” He concluded that it just “doesn’t make an awful lot of sense.”
He’s right when you consider the cost and performance of PEVs, starting with the batteries, which require major breakthroughs before they will be ready for prime time. A battery for a small vehicle like the Nissan Leaf can cost about $20,000 and still only put out a range of 80 miles on a good day (range is affected by hot and cold weather) before requiring a recharge that takes eight to 10 hours. Even then, those batteries may only last six to eight years, leaving consumers with a vehicle that has little resale value.
Got that? You’re expensive micro-mobile, which barely gets you 80 miles between long charges, it going to basically worth nothing withing 6-8 years. Meaning it will simply be scrap, along with the batteries. There’s your “green economy,” folks, creating more trash that the old school stuff.
Wow. Another fine example of government intervention into an industry that if left to its own market devices, would have worked on a fuel efficient product based on consumer interest, not some liberal’s idea of saving the world.
And the worst part is our tax dollars going straight down the toilet on this. And, I would like someone to subsidize my auto purchase too! It won’t be a Volt though.
And how DO the tree huggers justify the disposal of the batteries, and apparently short lived vehicles themselves? Geesh, let a liberal run anything, and spend a lifetime cleaning up after the mess.
BWWUAAUAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAAAAA!!!!!!!