Rush Limbaugh rips Chevy Volt (Page 3)

Indiana_Geoff - 2010-07-31 11:23 AM My BMW went from Indiana to the Panhandle of Florida with 1 refill and a 1/3rd of a tank left in 10ish hours about 30ish MPG.  What electric can match that?

CBarnes - 2010-07-30 11:22 PM I was just talking to my Wife about this today as we were driving home from the casino about 80 miles I guess that would have taken me 8 hours in a volt lol even a poor Biker on a hand me down  could have rode it and still had time to make supper. I plan to do this research and post it here on BT but a few things to consider.
1. how much power does it take to charge the Volt? In KWH (kilowatt hours)
2. what is the price of electric power on average  per KWH (look at your last electric bill).
3 How many miles per KWH are you getting.
4. what is the cost per mile?
Now do the same computations for a compatible car like the Ford Focus.

JBrashear - 2010-07-31 1:45 PM

Diesel's prices have been much steadier than their unleaded colleague, fwiw.  Plus, you have to consider that heavy trucks/semis are starting to pack on batteries to become giant hybrids because they can sustain the weight of the batteries better - in other words, the batteries make up a significantly smaller weight addition percentage-wise - so their fuel efficiency is actually on the upswing.  It's also worth noting that the price of diesel in Europe(before taxes) isn't a whole lot different there than here, and they have a much, much higher concentration of diesel vehicles.  I haven't even mentioned biodiesel entering the market either.

Diesel fuel supply isn't an issue even with a massive switchover from unleaded over the next 20 years, in part because it's the same companies supplying both fuels.  If diesel takes off, they simply switch the percentage of oil they're using to make diesel v. unleaded & keep raking in cash.  Its 6 of one, half a dozen of the other to them.

JBrashear - 2010-07-31 12:48 PM
That's not really a valid question as that's not what they're designing these cars for.  They're marketing these cars as commuter cars.  Your question is akin to asking why a Tesla can't go 4-wheeling or why a SUV can't go up stairs as well as a dirt bike, that's not the purpose it's designed for.

Indiana_Geoff - 2010-07-31 4:26 PM

The BMW will do the daily commute as well as the volt.  I was not asking either car to go four wheeling.

Donto - 2010-07-31 2:10 PM
There's a good article in this months either C&D or MotorTrend (forget which one I get) magazine that talks about using other fuels to assist with or replace a portion of gasoline.  Given a 10 year time frame, the cost of revamping refineries to increase diesel production would not be done by the oil companies given today they won't even build new a refinery.  Remember production capability in the US is pretty maxed out, no new refineries in a long time (since 1976).  We can't just switch ratio on the fuels given that gas consumption in not decreasing.  Anything bio was a minuscule dent in the existing per day usage.

Also even with the US making 2:1 more gas than diesel oils today (below from here) we still import some refined gasoline and gasoline products. IIRC Europe refines the opposite ratio we do in Diesel vs Gas and gas is taxed much higher than gas the opposite of here..


 "Foreign Sources of U.S. Refined Products. In addition to crude oil, the United States also imports refined petroleum products. While the United States produced the majority (90 percent) of the petroleum products it uses, the U.S. also imported 2.0 million barrels per day of refined products. Motor gasoline blending components, fuel ethanol, and finished motor gasoline top the list of the imports at 52%. Five countries accounted for 71% of net imports of refined petroleum products in 2007"

JBrashear - 2010-07-31 4:31 PM
Right, but that wasn't your question, you asked about interstate road trips.  The Volt/Leaf weren't built with that purpose in mind.

Indiana_Geoff - 2010-07-31 10:07 PM

Thus my point that this makes a 41k volt a very expensive, limited used, secondary vehicle for the vast majority of Americans.

morey000 - 2010-08-02 5:38 PM I bought this lemon squeezer.  Does a pretty good job at squeezing lemons.  Oranges and grapefruits as well. 

But the damn thing just won't make coffee. 

piece of junk. 


FWIW- the Volt is the only electric car that you can take on a long trip.  And- it will get phenomenal mileage when using gas for extended periods.  Or, be exceptionally cheap to operate as a plug-in commuter.  It's a brilliant engineering design.  Problem is, gas is cheap.  Perhaps they'll sell them in europe where gas is $7.50/gal.

JBrashear - 2010-08-01 3:55 PM

I'd dispute your definition of 'vast majority'.  It's a commuter car, that's what the use is for.  It fulfills that job.

TriRSquared - 2010-08-03 9:04 AM
I think his point is that a 41k car (any 41k car) is out of the reach of a vast majority of Americans.  And I would agree with that. 

The average price of a new car purchased in 2009 was $28,400.

Indiana_Geoff - 2010-08-03 3:19 PM
Yes, and it's a 41k car of limited utility making it even more of a niche product.

Kind of like a 8k two wheeled electric scooter.