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Watch, cry, kiss you money goodbye

Bring on the war of words. In a frank conversation with MSN writer Lawrence Ulrich, Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen has said that the Chevy Volt will fail and that anybody who buys the car is an idiot. Not only that, de Nysschen has lumped proponents of any type of electric car into a category of “intellectual elite who want to show what enlightened souls they are.”

Bring on the war of words. In a frank conversation with MSN writer Lawrence Ulrich, Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen has said that the Chevy Volt will fail and that anybody who buys the car is an idiot. Not only that, de Nysschen has lumped proponents of any type of electric car into a category of "intellectual elite who want to show what enlightened souls they are." I'm guessing that means a fair amount of the people reading this would be considered idiots and pompous intellectual elites in Mr. de Nysschen's book. Funny that. Hearing an Audi executive...

General Motors announced with great fanfare last week that its new Chevy Volt will get 230 miles per gallon. Not to be outdone, Nissan quickly announced that its new electric car, the Leaf, will get 367 mpg. If you believe that, we have a couple of auto companies in Detroit to sell you. The car companies are using the Environmental Protection Agency's draft methodology to figure out their fantastical mileage numbers. The hitch is that mpg estimates measure the efficiency of engines that run on petroleum. In an era of electric cars -- when vehicles supposedly won't be propelled by...

The Chevrolet Volt's 230 mpg number continues to be questioned. The latest to criticize is Bill Ford, who takes issue not only with the General Motors-approved 230 figure, but also Nissan's claim that its Leaf EV will get 367 mpg. The real culprit here, Ford said, is the EPA's methodology, which he argues is meaningless. "This question devolves into madness," Ford reportedly told Green Car Advisor: "The government will have to come up with a meaningful number for customers - a user-friendly label. And I think they will. I can't dispute that number, but I'm not sure it's relevant to...

We live in incoherent times, but maybe someone can explain it to me: How does a $40,000 "economy" car make economic sense? The $40k is the price GM will reportedly charge for its all-electric Volt sedan -- due out in late 2010 as a 2011 model. Unlike current hybrids, which mostly get going on their internal combustion engines -- with their battery packs and electric motors providing a supplemental boost -- the Volt will be propelled entirely by electric motors and batteries. The small onboard gasoline-burning engine is only there to provide the power to charge the batteries. It is...

With great fanfare, General Motors announced this week the Chevy Volt, the car picked by the Obama administration to turn the company around, will get around 240 miles/gallon, if true, certainly a great achievement. What was not mentioned is that General Motors will be selling the Volt at a loss, in other words the company will lose money every time someone buys a Volt. This proves the great influence GM's new owners the Obama administration, has on the new GM, no body in this government understands capitalism. There is more bad news about this Government Motors model that the POTUS...

The push for conversion to plug-in electric cars will do nothing to stop carbon emissions, a report by the GAO warns, throwing cold water on a push by Democrats to get more plug-ins on the road. In fact, the problem could be made worse as demand goes up at coal-fired electrical plants. Plus, the need for batteries may just have the US changing the dictators to which we’re chained, as IBD reports...

Conservation: The Chevy Volt is said to be able to get 230 miles per gallon. That's if it's continually plugged into a fragile and overburdened power grid. Where will you be when the lights go out?The folks at GM, now affectionately known as Government Motors, have made this astounding claim. Before you drive one off the lot, you should read the fine print. Chevrolet's caveat is that this assumes "a Volt driver (will) plug into the electric grid once each day" to get "40 miles of electric-only, petroleum-free driving." That depends on where you live, according to Adam Victor, president...

Conservation: The Chevy Volt is said to be able to get 230 miles per gallon. That's if it's continually plugged into a fragile and overburdened power grid. Where will you be when the lights go out? Since most U.S. electricity generation is not carbon-free, the Congressional Research Service agrees. The "widespread adoption of plug-in hybrid vehicles through 2030 may have only a small effect on, and might actually increase, carbon emissions," it observes. "If you are using coal-fired power plants and half the country's electricity comes from coal powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?"...

Alternative Energy: A government report says reliance on electric cars will do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and may merely shift our dependence on foreign sources from one set of dictators to another..."If you are using coal-fired power plants, and half the country's electricity comes from coal-powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?" asks Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report. The report itself notes: "Reductions in CO2 emissions depend on generating electricity used to charge the vehicles from lower-emission sources of energy."

One doesn’t usually tune in to the Rachel Maddow show for car reviews, but there is quite a buzz in the media these days about the new General Motors electric car, the Chevrolet Volt, and Maddow doesn’t want to be left behind. Can anyone blame Maddow for being excited? Who wouldn’t be enthused after hearing about GM’s recent announcement that the Volt, which is expected to herald a new dawn for the company when it is released next year, will get the equivalent of a staggering 230 miles-per-gallon! I’ll take two of them! Before you trade in your Prius, however,...

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<p>SORRY, the new Chevrolet Volt does not promise a "green" revolution -- indeed, the car could trigger a whole new wave of blackouts.</p> <p>Chevrolet notes that the key to high-mileage performance to the tune of 230 miles per gallon "is for a Volt driver to plug into the electric grid at least once each day" to get "40 miles of electric-only, petroleum-free driving."</p>

General Motors Co. predicted Tuesday that its Chevrolet Volt rechargeable electric car will get 230 miles per gallon of gas in city driving. If confirmed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which tests for mileage figures posted on new car stickers, the Volt would be the first car to exceed triple-digit gas mileage, a GM official said. Toyota’s Prius, the most efficient car now sold in the U.S., gets 48 miles per gallon. The Volt is powered by an electric motor and battery pack with a 40-mile range. After that, a small internal combustion engine kicks in to generate electricity...

General Motors has announced the best expected mileage rating for its upcoming Chevrolet Volt electric car. The 230 mile per gallon best-case-scenario rating seems to have stirred up quite an interest in the vehicle. But at the end of the day can the newly semi-nationalized General Motors really turn expect the Volt to turn the companies falling market share around. Will the American public flock to Chevrolet dealerships in record numbers? And...is the 230 miles per gallon, really that cost effective? Considering the facts, the common sense answer to all of those questions is quite simply NO! And here's why...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Chevrolet Volt, GM's electric car that's expected to go on sale in late 2010, is projected to get an estimated 230 miles per gallon, the automaker will announce Tuesday.

It's the kind of number that makes you stop and say, "What?!!!!!!!!" 230 miles per gallon. That's the fuel economy GM expects the electric Chevy Volt to deliver when it comes out late next year. The company made the announcement this morning in Detroit and already skeptics, fans, and the general public are debating if the Volt's mega-fuel efficiency will be a "game changer" for the industry and General Motors. My opinion: if the Volt can consistently deliver anything close to that mileage, it will go a long ways toward removing the sting of the expected $40,000 price. The skeptics...

With the push for electric cars the emphasis seems to be primarily on range. And that would be a mistake. Battery cost is also very important, but most critical factor is battery longevity. It is potentially the Achilles heel for electric vehicles. The battery of choice for EV applications is the lithium ion battery, a true breakthrough in lightweight electric energy storage. With 3 to 4 times the energy density of

WARREN, Mich.--Speaking to a group of General Motors Corp. employees, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) promised to provide a $5,000 tax credit for Americans who buy electric-powered cars such as the future Chevy Volt and "other automobiles that put us on the path to energy independence," even as he suggested he might alter his climate plan to aid the auto industry.