GM Volt's price induces some sticker shock (the ObamaVolt Car)

The long-anticipated Chevrolet Volt, General Motors' electric car, will cost $41,000, the company announced Tuesday, leaving consumers to decide whether its environmental appeal is worth a price far above that of similarly sized conventional autos.

Electric-car technology has been around for years, but the high cost to make the vehicles has prevented automakers from producing them for the mass market. The price announcements for the Volt and its electric rival, the Nissan Leaf, have been highly anticipated as a result. Nissan, the only other major manufacturer expected to bring such a vehicle to market this year, said the Leaf will cost $32,780.

GM and Nissan are relying on a $7,500 federal tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles to offset some of the added cost, and they're hoping that the allure of their novel power source will make up the rest.

"The Volt is a game-changing product," said Tony Posawatz, GM's vehicle line director for the Volt, which is expected to hit showrooms in November 2011.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, then-Sen. Barack Obama pledged to put 1 million plug-in vehicles on the road by 2015.

But some analysts said they doubt that electric cars can reach a broad audience in the near term. Hybrid cars took about eight years to reach the million-unit sales mark in the United States, according to Energy Department figures.

"I'm not sure the Volt is going to be a volume vehicle," said George Magliano, director of automotive industry forecasting for North America at IHS Global Insight. "The technology still isn't there to make them cheap. At the end of the day, the consumer pays a hefty premium to make a statement."

Your right the UAW hates the idea of pure electrics, why well the MTBF for an induction electric drive train is in the 20000+ hour rating or millions of miles, without engineered failure like dry starting your petrol motor at least once a day…why do you think class 8 trucks all have pre-oilers and run millions of miles between overhauls? As for cheap electricity to equal the cost per mile in fuel costs, $2.55 a gallon @30mpg (8cents a mile) equates to 34 cents/kwh@250 watt hours per mile or 4.5 times the national average now. Solar panels can be had for that price in a sunny climate even without the solar subsidy on the install, at a gross cap-expense of $16574 average for a residential grid tie 2 kilowatt system this depreciates to a net cost of 34.64cents a kwh over a 25 year system life. That’s just an example even peak power at 17 cents a kilowatt hr is still the equivalent to 4 cents a mile or $1.20 a gallon@30mpg I know I didn’t take in to account depreciation on the battery but I also didn’t depreciate the wear on a petrol engine, oil changes maintenance ect. This is just a fuel cost comparison. So even if “rates necessary have to skyrocket” unless they head north of 34 cents a kwh electricity is still cheap than petrol at the pumps today. Lithium bats are the sports car of the battery world for a range extended electric vehicles the best choice would be metal foam cell lead acid or metal foam cell Edison cells a 10 kwh pack would fit in the underbody of a mid-sized car both technologies can get 2000+ cycles (5 years@365 cycle a) before 80% capacity is crossed. Foam lead cells are an order of magnitude cheaper than LI-ion cells and 100% recyclable as all lead cells are recycled now. There is no coincidence that Chevron-Cobasys holds the patents on large format Nickel Metal bats and expressly prohibits anyone from making a large amp hour cell for vehicular use, look up Panasonic vs Cobasys lawsuit in the judgment Panasonic was fined and agreed not to make an large format NMHI bat for vehicular use in the NORTH AMERICAN market for 15 years you can’t make this stuff up.

batteries warrantied for,8 years, 100K miles

Hmmm, I'd hate to know that I needed to purchase ANOTHER set of batteries for my 15 year old truck. (Sitting in the driveway, driven everyday now, does not use oil, 150K miles, original engine/tranny/wheels/seat/carpet/etc.... FORD F150!)15/20mpg

Does not need any repairs......screw Government Motors!! PS, its been paid off for 14 yrs! I like my truck! I bought it new for $10,586.00+tax

Yes, but remember, that was a Bush approved law in 2007:

After being passed by Congress, Bush just signed into law a massive energy bill that will, among other things, spell the end of traditional light bulb.

We are being dictated to by a bunch of insane, thumb sucking, childish, self-centered idiots. Matter's not what party is currently in majority status. Our whole federal government has become the most dreadful enemy of the people, and of a continuing civil society. We need to disband it and try again.

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