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I really don’t know anything about this but I have questions I don’t see answered. Maybe you can help? What with the battery life/replacement cost? How much does it cost to recharge?
This is a possibility for me - not anytime soon - not until it costs less - but I live close enough to work. 40 mi will take me to and fro for 4 days.
Can you help w/ the questions?

Yes, I think I can help you. The purpose of the Volt is to give people an electric vehicle that will allow most of your driving on electric charge BUT can go further if necessary. You see 75% of American Public drives less than 40 miles per day. That's why GM sized the battery for that number. But they also coupled it with a ICE that will allow you to extend the range to over 300 miles on gasoline. You can drive the Volt without ever plugging it in if you wanted to. You could drive it from New York to California non-stop. But that's not the purpose of the Volt. It's a car that will handle your commutes but will also eliminate something called range anxiety or the fear of being stuck with a dead battery and having to call a tow truck.

The Battery is guaranteed for 8 years or 100,000 miles. I'm not sure about the replacement cost.

Is is a better deal to drive on electric versus gasoline? Yes for nearly 99% of the population it's a very good deal. But the extend of that varies with the price of gasoline and the price of electricity. If gas were $1/gallon it would be still cheaper to drive with electric if you were paying less than $.07/KWhr. So it really depends on how much the power company is charging for power. For me it's PG&E and I can drive an Volt for 1/4 the cost of gas which is $3.10/gal where I live.

A lot of posters on FR hate GM because they took bailout money from the government and because they were owned by the government. But GM had no choice in the matter. It was the only deal in town with Obama in office. Many others hate the UAW. I don't like them either but I don't want to see any more US manufacturing companies go under. And remember government is one of the reasons that GM was in trouble. They caused this recession and without this recession, GM would have been able to restructure without bankruptcy.

What amazes me is how the troglodytes on this site are against technology. We have always known that electric motors are far superior to ICE. But no one ever figured out how to get the electricity to a motor without rails. With the advent of Lithium Technology, a major step has been made in increasing the energy density, reliability, and life of a powerful battery. You would think some of these knuckleheads would be in favor of something that could reduce our dependency on imported oil but so many of these clowns are trapped in another space and time.

There is an excellent website devoted to the Volt. It's called GM-Volt.com . I highly recommend it and I've been reading it on a regular basis for over 2 years. You will enjoy learning about the technology and it's possibilities. And remember the first Volts, like the first Flat Panel TV's will be expensive, but remember they WILL come down in cost! It's the norm for new technology.