http://www.edmunds.com/nissan/leaf/2011/review.html

They were mostly very positive, but this caught my eye. I’m guessing the Volt situation is similar, where the buyer and the taxpayer each need to fork over an additional grand on top of the original $33K and $7,500.

Pricing for the 2011 Nissan Leaf is expected to be surprisingly affordable once government tax credits are applied. Available as a traditional purchase or three-year lease, the Leaf will be priced at $32,780 without delivery fees. A federal tax credit will bring the price down $7,500, to $25,280. Residents of certain states are also eligible for additional credits. Of course, buyers will need to consider the cost of installing a home charging station, which Nissan estimates will cost $2,200 before a 50 percent tax credit. Annual costs for electricity will likely be a fraction of what it would otherwise cost for gasoline.

Of course what is NOT being mentioned in any discussions is:
- However the paltry sales might be, they are sure to tumble when the buyers start paying 100% of the cost instead of 80% while the taxpayers pick up the other 20%. Top sales will likely be in Hollywood, where it will replace the Prius as the car that an assistant parks a block away from an event so that the star’s limo can drop them off there.
- Obama has stated (and his actions appear to back it up) that he wants to drive electricity costs sky-high. It’s already a lie to say the car is green when your electric provider is supplying the juice for it rather than your local gas station, but add to that that the cost of ownership will rise steeply as the price of electricity rises.

From the same Edmunds review is the issue Rush often harps on.

Most people’s concern will likely be the vehicle’s range. In our experience with other prototype electric cars, a 100-mile range is indeed sufficient for most daily-use driving such as commuting and errand-running. One problem, however, is the lack of an electric-car recharging infrastructure. This can lead to “range anxiety,” or the nervous state you start to feel as the car’s battery starts running low. If you’re nowhere near home or a recharging station, you run the risk of running out of power and becoming stranded.

In places like Texas, you’d fear driving them because you know they’d lose in a battle against an F-150 or a Suburban on the highway. It’s hard to see it being little more than a glorified golf cart for running local errands – who’d want to risk whatever few loved ones they could fit in it? Speaking of which, given his height and her width, would Mr and Mrs Obama even fit into the front seat of a Volt or a Leaf? I’m willing to bet if they do for a photo op today, that it will be a specially doctored-up one and not the one that the public will be able to buy.

But after that I can’t see a market.
Does GM realize the primo pimped out car that someone could buy for $ 41,000…?
You can buy a Lexus or a Mercedes for that much money.
Why would someone spend that much money on a car you have to charge overnight versus a car that takes two minutes to fill at a gas station ?
Electricity ain’t exactly too cheap either.
Nothing exists yet that can compete with the ease of gasoline.
If my Chevy Volt runs out of power on the side of the road I cannot walk a mile to the nearest electric plant and get a gallon of electricity.

Hey look…. I like the environment , squirrels and dolphins and all that green nature stuff and everything. Who doesn’t ? But the thought of driving a super expensive car that kinda’ sucks doesn’t appeal too me.
Show me a good practical car that has a little muscle to it and now you got my attention.
Other than that I’ll be gassing up the Expedition.
Sorry GM.

has very limited capacity and at best a very limited range of 50 miles because its tethered to a charging system.

This of course is a government funded project that was destined to fail before the first electron was sent to the monitor’s screen.

The worst thing that can possibly happen to one of these vehicles that I can see is a short circuit after a crash. The fire would be violent and near impossible to extinguish.

Sure, this isn’t all on Obama, although he has put the problem on steroids. But it certainly is the result of top-down government meddling in private industry, and pushing the car companies to develop this sort of white elephant.

Central planning! Five Year Plans! Yippee!

Are there any fault lines running up just to the west of D.C.? Having the whole swamp float out to sea would solve a lot of problems.
.

and can’t now run GM.

No one on the right is surprised.

When the gov’t cannot run health care, the left will be surprised.

Which side is more intelligent?

as the Volt displaces it as the most ridiculed production automobile in the world.

Let’s hear it for the Obamobile!

Gibbs fielded a GM question about Limbaugh and at the end of his assault stated that he doesn’t think Limbaugh doesn’t drive an F-150 so he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Uh—-Baghdad Bob—Ford makes the F-150. They didn’t take bailout money. This isn’t even a case of pot meet kettle. It’s stupid meet yourself.

and looks to be a far better car. Also, since the electric option is but one option for the Focus, this is much more of a commercial product then say the Volt which will never generate a profit for GM.

I am considering the electric version of the Focus for a second car and for the novelty—love getting gizmos.

http://www.plugincars.com/ford-focus-electric/review

…I’d investigate the options.

Ford 2011 Shelby GT500: $48,645
Only 7k more and you’ve got a supercharged 5.4 liter V8. It might prove to be a little more ballsy than the Volt.

Ford F150 SVT Raptor $41,995
For another grand you get the new 6.2-liter Boss V8 engine recently developed by the automaker, deliver 400 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque.

Ford Taurus SHO: $37,770
3.5-liter “EcoBoost” V-6 makes 365 horsepower at 5500 rpm and 350 pound-feet of torque at 3500 rpm.

Or my personal favorite…

Harley Davidson Ultra Classic CVO: $35,999
This behemoth comes with a fuel injected Screamin’ Eagle Twin Cam 110 cubic inch engine, probably larger than the gas engine available in the Volt and there’s one more benefit… You don’t have to hide your face while driving through your neighborhood.

Good job Government Motors. In one short year you have surpassed even the USPS’ long history of incompetence.

car what they managed to do for the U.S. built Diesel powered car: Making it TOO expensive, TOO unreliable and TOO impractical for even the truly dedicated Greenies. Only this time they are doing it with MY money, not theirs. As Mr. T might say “I pity the fool that buys one of these things.”

In order to overcome the resistance in the marketplace, the Government will, as you suggest, have to resort to the most extreme contortions of the entity’s balance sheet to hide its costs and reduce its price and/or distortions of public policy or even MORE heavily subsidize it in order to get this turkey to fly.

But, HEY! Up to 40 miles with Zero Emissions, right?

As with most liberal ideas, there is no thorough thought process. The purpose of having these inefficient, expensive ‘electric’ cars is b/c of the outcry for less carbon emissions and reliance on oil from the evil oil companies. However, how do we get the bulk of our electricity? COAL! Coal one of the many industries Pres BO said he wants to eliminate. The bulk of our electricity is not hydroelectric, natural gas, petroleum or other renewables: http://www.americaspower.org/The-Facts/ . Heaven forbid if you live somewhere like California that has rolling blackouts. For those of us in Colorado, like my family, I cannot imagine driving the Chevy Volt up to the mountains for a ski weekend. Imagine the Volt in a 90 minute drive, with no traffic and no bad weather, with skis on top going through a mountain pass. This vehicle will be a flop, and then there will be another request for a bailout.

Nobody but wealthy image conscious people will buy the Volt. Some quick math. From what I can gather, the Volt gets 40 miles on 8 kWh of electricity (although it’s a 16 kWh battery, it apparenly only uses 8kWh). And in gas mode it gets 50 mpg.

I drive about 60 miles a day for work. So each day I’d use my 8kWh of electricity and an additional 0.4 gallons of gas. Or per week it’s 40 kWh and 2 gallons. At my current rate of $.166/kWh and $3.00/gallon, that’s $12.64 per week. If I bought a car that gets 35 mpg, I’d use 8.57 gallons of gas per week at a cost of $25.71.

So the Volt saves me a whopping $13.07 per week. But even with the $7,500 tax credit, the Volt is going to cost me about $17,200 more than my 35 mpg car (Ford Fiesta gets 29/38mpg and costs $16,300 for a reasonably equiped car). With that price premium it will be 1,316 weeks, or 25 years before the fuel savings will have paid for the Volt’s price premium. And this ignores the time value of my $17,200 that could be used for something more productive.

Of course, given this math, it means that the $7,500 tax credit is going to the very people that the Democrats demonize for not paying their fair share.

The up side, with return on investment numbers like this, they actually make solar and wind investments look good.

When the battery runs dead, it’ll still fit in the back of my pickup, just like the 4-wheeler.

Proper grammar saves lives.

Let’s eat Grandma.
Let’s eat, Grandma.

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Activists Taking Action: Unified Patriots

It’s a small generator that you carry in the back of the VOlt along with the spare tire. It recharges the battery enough for you to make it 50 miles to hlep.
It’s called the the Chevy Re-Volt.

Thank you, thank you. I’m here all week. Keeping puttin’ bread in the jar.

Great post, Barry.

Passing this out to my friends. We’re all hurting.

Gonna secure those GOP votes.

And the batteries don’t last as long as conventional ones, either.

n/t

…to buying an electric car once the prices come down and the technological kinks are worked out.

But they’re simply not there yet.

If you put two cars side by side and they look the same and offer all the same features and are comparably priced with the only difference being that one runs on traditional gas and the other is all electric, many people would opt for the electric car.

But why am I even going to consider an electric car right now when I would have to use a shoehorn to get myself in and out of it, plus having to worry about the range of the charge in the back of my mind if I take a trip of any length?

Free market would have eventually put a good electric product out there. Obama & Co, by forcing the issue, are actually hurting the electric car’s future by putting out a bad product that will define the electric car in the minds of many and will take years to overcome.

Nothing wrong with electric cars competing, but let them on their own merit, not Obamageddon trying to pick “winners”

provides for taxpayers to help pay for someone else’s car ?

Fleet reloads are bailing out GM and Chrysler. Watch for your govt agencies rolling around in new chevys soon. Auto rental companies also reloaded since they went light during the credit crunch. The 2nd half of the year for GM and Chrysler ought to be very tough. How many cars can Obama buy? Maybe a car will be a birthright, courtesy of Obamageddon, but will just finance it for you and tack it on your IRS file.