that's the coldest morning commute i've seen since moving here in 2000...
Posted on 08/02/2010 6:13:14 PM PDT by Kaslin
Industrial Policy: The administration's electric car represents both the genius of American technology and the stupidity of its government. Imagine Rube Goldberg with $50 billion. Buy now and get a free 40-mile-long extension cord.
It wasn't exactly Michael Dukakis riding in a tank wearing a Snoopy helmet, but it was close. President Obama, who reportedly hasn't driven an inch himself since taking office, visited a GM plant in Hamtramck near Detroit on Friday to drive a Chevy Volt 10 feet off an assembly line. It was a perfect image, as the American economy is being driven off a cliff by this White House.
The administration, at taxpayers' expense, has labored mightily and brought forth an Edsel that needs to be recharged. If a camel is a horse designed by committee, the Chevy Volt is a car designed by government. It is a perfect example of industrial policy run amok, of what happens when government picks winners and losers. Without heavy subsidies and government ownership, it never would have been built.
The base sticker price is about $41,000, comparable to the base price for a BMW 335i. For that price, you could also get a good-sized SUV that can seat more than four people and get all your stuff back from the big-box store.
There's a $7,500 tax credit offered by our utterly bankrupt federal government that's supposed to help, but even a presidential commission in 2009 said the Volt "will likely be too expensive to be commercially successful in the short term."
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
That lightning pic is absolutely incredible!
Even Edsels were collected years later.
The Volt will be melted down and used to can tuna.
*********
Come on man, someday that Gremlin is going to be worth a LOT of money.
>> “Wait ‘til you see your electric bill”
In good conditions, efficient electric cars the size of the Volt and Leaf use around 200-300 Watt-hours per mile. For example, Volt’s charge is about 8KWHr... in most places that will cost you about a buck.
Show me a car that gets 120 miles per gallon on $3 gas, and I’ll buy it!
Absolutely it is 'likely'. . .For the Marxist disciple; the end justifies the means; and asks 'no honor' in return. Only results.
Cannot think of a crisis; including our 'beginning economic' downturn than allowed Obama a Presidency; the H1N1 Flu virus; and any and all crisis that followed to facilitate 'change' on Wall Street et al. Believe we can include as well, our 'Gulf crisis'; (and they are 'working' Arizona as we speak.)
Kind of makes the Toyota crisis seem tame by comparison. But we know the damage and fiscal/economic carnage that resulted and for what? A Union vendetta? A grudge and promise to make the road,literally - smoother - for the 'Volt'? Just a version of giving a 'chrysleration' to Toyota?
Why not. . .EVERYthing these people do is smoke and mirrors and there is always their Agenda, to be moved forward - no matter what or how.
Now, they are so close; Obama just needs a few more; then, he - 'they' - will have it all.
>> This firmly establishes the Volt and all who buy it
>> as the MOST “BUNDLE OF TWIGG”Y THING ON THE MARKET!!!
The infamous “Volt Dance” was an unpleasant marketing goof, from quite some time ago. That sort of schlock is pretty common at car industry shows. Not only that, the woman who arranged it (Maria Rohrer) was rapidly “reassigned.” Go figure.
that's the coldest morning commute i've seen since moving here in 2000...
Did he drive an 'inch' before he took office? Does he actually drive. . .have a Driver's License?
We saw GW in his truck. . .what did/does Obama drive; and where has he actually driven. . .bet he has never driven, across America. . .from Occidental College to Columbia - or Yale. . .or Yale to Chicago. . .Maybe; but he looked like an alien in that car.
The only available power for increased loads on the grid is Coal and Natural Gas power. Wind is totally unreliable. Solar is unreliable. Hydroelectric is always at maximum and any increased demand on the grid is covered by increases in carbon emitting coal and natural gas plants. And nuclear is a dying industry. All the current nuclear plants are set to be shut down in the next 20 years so unless there are new nuclear plants built, we will likely not have any nuclear powered electricity in the next generation.
So the fact is that if Americans begin driving electric cars, they will be coal powered cars. Coal is allegedly a contributor to the so-called Global Warming, so these cars are not going to save the earth, but instead will leave just as big a carbon footprint as any similarly sized and weight gasoline powered vehicle. So anyone who thinks they are saving the planet by buying an electric car is a moron. And if you think that, then you are a moron.
THAT’S what I want out of an electric car. NATIONAL SECURITY. As much as I can buy.
The US Government spent 50 billion dollars in taxpayer money subsidizing this POS car. We could have bought an awful lot of NATIONAL SECURITY with that money. In fact, we could have put up about 50 nuclear power plants. But we didn't. We bailed out a failed auto company and built a 50 billion dollar lemon. You want one of these, then by all means buy it. But when it comes time to junk it, keep in mind that it is nothing more than a moving future toxic waste dump.
When the market is ready for electric vehicles, then companies will produce them. If the government needs to inject 50 billion dollars to get a car manufactured, you can be assured that there is literally no market for the thing.
We look forward to reading your post with photos of your new Volt when you get it.
Don't forget to buy copper futures too.
re:Toyota
A Wall Street Journal article over the weekend, says the administration IS withholding their report on the Toyota testing they have done. According to their sources, ALL Toyota vehicles tested by the government are user error. The data shows the driver was pressing the gas, NOT the brakes at the time of the problem. This NHTSA employee who just retired says the report was ready to be released. But the decision was made by senior administration officials to not release the report because it was favorable to Toyota.
WOW. Amazing news.
Hey, thanks. Calling people “morons” every few words really moves the conversation forward.
You can buy a Toyota Corolla that gets 35MPG and you'll pay about $15,000 out the door. At 100,000 miles, your cost in gasoline will be about $12,000 at $4 per gallon. At then end of 100,000 miles, your Corolla will still have about 150,000 miles of life on it and if it is like all the Toyota's I've ever owned, it will likely not need any major drivetrain repairs.
At 100,000 miles on your Volt, you will likely need to replace the batteries, which will cost you $10,000. So even if you got the electricity for free, you would only be saving about $2000 and since you paid $40,000 for the car, you will have lost about $30,000 in value on the car (nobody is going to buy a used electric car). So effectively you are throwing away about $28,000.
But since (by your calculations) you are going to have to pay at least $2500 for the electricity to charge your batteries, you are not going to save a nickle by buying the electric car and driving it 100,000 miles. In fact you are going to pay about $500 more than the gasoline equivalent and you are going to lose about $30,000 to $40,000 in depreciation costs.
Get down to the Volt Dealer, my FRiend. Go buy one. We've already paid for it through our tax dollars. Good luck getting your money out of it.
FWIW I said that if you think you are going to save the planet by buying an electric car, then you are a moron.
If you are insulted by that statement, then I have to conclude that you must think you are going to save the planet by buying an electric car.
If that is the case, then I have to conclude that you are, indeed, a moron.
Hope that clears things up.
ROFL!
The first comment sums it up: “What the f is that?”
i thank you Sir, most informative...
Glad to help.
To Battman,
In my reply I said:
>> Then you haven’t gathered enough.
Now that I reread that, I realize it probably came off sounding unnecessarily snarky. I should have said something more like “Here’s at least one major advantage... range between charges.”
In any event, my apologies. I really didn’t mean for it to sound like that.
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