So the Chevy Volt is out, and it’s $41,000. That’s a little more than a thousand per mile it can go on one charge. So who would pay $41,000 to go forty miles? Maybe someone who is rich and stupid. Like a lottery winner. Or a famous actor.
Oh and you.
Yes, you get to pay for it to because your tax money is going to be $7500 to anyone who wants to buy one. I don’t know why the government is now giving tax incentives for stupidity, but maybe that’s some new Obama policy. Like you’ll get $300 to tease a badger. And a $1000 to get a bucket stuck on your head.
Anyway, the Chevy Volt is going to have a lot of obstacles to overcome since it’s extremely expensive, no rational person would want one, and scientists say its turns you gay, but with the full force of the Obama government behind it (which I call the Obament) we all might have to get one. Once the government takeover of health care is completely, owning a Chevy Volt might be a requirement to getting a kidney transplant. And Obamacare is probably counting on a lot of people rather dying than drive a Chevy Volt to keep itself solvent.
But don’t worry; driving a Chevy Volt helps the environment. Yes, pollution is still made at the power plant that makes the electricity you charge the car with, but apparently it really lifts the spirit of the environment seeing all us humans suffer by driving stupid cars. The environment hates us. And I hate it. But I guess we have to get along. Still, I’m not stepping inside one of those.
We won’t have to buy one. The left-over stimulus money will be given to GM in return for the entire production run. These Volts will then be driven by Census workers while they count everyone again during the re-do of the 2010 Census. That effort will be touted by Obama as job creation.
It’s all part of the plan….
Didn’t we technically already pay for the Chevy Volt when it became part of Gov’mnt Motors? So really, we’re paying people $7500 each to drive something we already bought for them. Right?
*bangs head on wall*
The next generation of Chevrolet – The Lada Niva, the Yugo 45, and the GAZ-21R Volga. Stylish, affordable, renewable.
Electric cars and hybrids are teh stupid. We already have an efficient way to move ourselves around that doesn’t pollute much (tailpipe emissions are extremely low on a modern day fossil fuel powered vehicle), already has an efficient infrastructure in place to fuel it, and has a fuel supply that will last until we can miniaturize a nuclear reactor to power individual transportation.
This is just throwing good money after bad…
Besides, electric cars discriminate against blind pedestrians. And we all know that discrimination is bad, even if it is from an inanimate object.
So, let’s review. Under Obama and the democrats’ socialist government, the “Volt” doesn’t do the things they promised it would do, costs way more than it was anticipated it would cost, and now on top of that we have to pay even more money to subsidize their failure rather than pull the plug on it. Umm…somehow, this seems very familiar.
I’d tease a badger for $300.
Hey badger! You’re ugly and your mother dresses you funny.
Okay, where do I go to get my $300?
I’ll take the bucket stuck on my head for 1000 dollars. It will be just as ridiculous as driving a Volt, but at least I’ll get a 1000 dollars instead of forking 41,000 to drive a piece of crap.
I don’t believe this at all. Obamacare has absolutely no plans to keep itself solvent.
You all are to hard on electric cars. Look at the Tesla Roadster, for the low, low price of just over $100,000 you can get a car that goes 0-60 in about 3.7 seconds and can go just under 250 miles on a charge.
Since my tax dollars helped buy that hippie his Volt, I reserve the right to punch said hippie, snatch his keys, and borrow “my” car from him from time to time.
Chevy Volt: The car that redeemed the Yugo.
The entire auto industry contributed heavily to Obama’s campaign and then he paid them back for their support. As far as I am concerned buying a ‘new’ car would be like selling your soul to Satan.
I think we are about to start seeing prog. lefty gangs….hybrids vs volts…. they will protest each oter unmercifully, but you will not be able to distinguish which is which, because they all love the rainbow so much.
$300 for a badger? How much for a woodchuck? I have a woodchuck.
I am no fan of Obama’s takeover of GM but crapping on the Volt is misplaced angst. The Volt was envisioned before Obama orchestrated his takeover so hating the Volt because of Obama is dumb. He is merely taking credit for an innovative product. The Volt is the first vehicle of its kind (featuring a range extending gasoline powered generator). Others will follow and may, in fact, be better. America is first with this kind of a drivetrain and that is something that should be applauded. It is theoretically possible to never tap the gasoline reserves to power the generator that recharges the batteries thereby operating the car as a full electric. But the Volt has the added benefit of having an onboard generator so that if you needed to drive a long distance, it can do so. No other hybrid or electric car offers those same features/benefits. The $7,500 incentive is ludicrous, as is the sticker price. It should be priced competitively without the incentive. For me, if it were $30k, well equipped without any tax rebate or taxpayer funded incentive, then I think GM would have an easier time selling the car.
Does your woodchuck chuck wood?
If you buy a Volt and you are a Dude, after you drive it home and get out, your balls will roll down your pant leg haven fallen off. No problem, however you will NEVER need them again! You may as well have your wiener removed and just become a Dudette…or a Democrat…
Hey now. No insulting Dudettes jimmy.
Those of you on the right should be excited about non petroleum energy. Not because it will make the hippies happy. We all know they will find something else to freak out about then anyway. Besides do you see any of them happy today after they got their way and pushed ethanol on all of us through government? They will all hate electric cars in a few years I assure you.
You should like developing electric cars because it will make American independent and Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, etc.. etc.. very very unhappy. It will even cut off alot of American cash flow to Mexico and Canada where we get alot of our oil.
This is like if you were in 1970 and looked at computers (as many then did) and said, “they cost 10k dollars a megahertz so computers are stupid. We should scrap the whole project.” That is how short sighted you look when you oppose developing electric cars.
Imagine never again needing a traditional oil change, a muffler, a transmission, head gasket, coolant problem, radiator leak, engine tune up etc. It will take a bit to completely phase the combustion engine out but the sooner we get on it the sooner it will be done. Are car so silent its like a ninja. Imagine living next to highway and all you hear are tires on the road.
Moderated Seriously? Cant some of us old timers get put on an exempt list?
I have and have used my CDL. I have driven bigger vehicles then probably all of you. I constantly see suburban J@#$ffs who spend $40k+ on pseudo-masculine SUV’s and trucks so lets not act like 40k is sports car territory only for millionaires.
Just in case this needs to be said, no govt should not own GM and their kick backs with taxes to union are treasonous but that does not make the electric car any more brilliant and necessary as the way forward for America.
Next time your wife gets in a car accident , would you rather the idiot teen, illegal, Obama bumper sticker soccer mom, driving a 2500 pound SUV or a less then 1k pound electric car. I can tell you my wife matters to me a hell of a lot more then those fools do. I would hate to lose her because of idiots like that who just bought a giant vehicle they cant control because it was what “everyone was doing.”
So, just so we’re clear, we should all drive 41k pieces of cr@pitiola because if EVERYONE drove them we’d all be safer? I’m confused.
And I’d still rather drive my VW bus, or my motorcycle or my Scion and I’d like the guvnmnt to stay the hell out of my garage.
And the new Battery Replacement/Recharging stations new advertising campaign: ReVolt Now! Before It’s Too Late.
And then, there’s those annoying bicycle messengers passing the ReVolting Stations giving the Volt dweebs the finger.
Fine but if anyone tries to tell me I can’t get a hover conversion on my Delorian by 2015, I’m going to have to kick some a**
I suppose you all assume the first combustion engine cars started out as a corrolla model? Or the first computers all started as a 500$ Walmart dell foxconn POS? Ragging on electric vehicles based on the price of the first one is very shortsighted. Do not let your hatred of hippies blind you to progress that America desperately needs. As I mentioned before in a couple of years hippies will hate hate hate electric cars.
-like when they wanted things to be plastic to save trees
-when they wanted ethanol to save oil
-when they wanted fluoride to save poor people who dont brush their teeth
This is about an independent and prosperous America. let the hippies be the irrational band-wagoners. Obama is going to try the government route to get this to work. Of course it will fail but the rest of us need to get the free market solution working on this.
There’s really only two problems with the Volt.
1) It’s too expensive. If it were $3000 more than a Civic, then, well, it’s about the same size as a Civic, about as nice, and doesn’t use any gas for driving around town, so not a bad deal.
2) It’s made by Government Motors.
But similar drive trains backed by nuclear power aren’t really a bad concept.
One last rant about oil. The most recent estimates I have read said Iran now has the material to make 1-3 small nukes. 1-2 years to get it properly in a bomb. 2-4 years to get it working properly in a long range missle. As soon as Iran has the bomb the “Strait of Hormuz” comes under Iranian blackmail. Much of the worlds oil passes through that tiny place.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Hormuz
The price of oil will certainly skyrocket even just under the unsaid threat. If Iran started vocally threatening it would shoot even higher. Oil might go off the charts if Iran actually did something like invade Jordan and even Americans would not want to get involved under the threat of nuking some American cities.
Oil which we largely import is affected by the value of a dollar. Our huge amount of debt and commitments with the inability to raise taxes both politically and economically means that the money will have to be printed. Printing dollars sends oil up fast. Here is 3 big reasons.
1.Almost all oil bought and sold in the world is traded in dollars. If Russians sell oil to the Cubans they do it in dollars. 3 years ago it was 100% now its more like 95% I think.
2. When the dollar drops as as safe place to keep your money then safe havens like gold and oil are where all the worlds savers send their money to keep it safe from a dropping dollar and falling market. This is what happened during the Bush years.
3. America alone is a huge part of all the worlds oil consumption.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_con-energy-oil-consumption
This means that as our dollar drops in value it takes more dollars to buy the same amount of oil. When it takes 3 times as many dollars to get the same amount of rubles the price will simply triple.
If you think well if that happens we can all cut back. Last time oil shot up to almost 5$ a gallon usage only dropped about 3% compared to 1.50$ because frankly people dont collectively do that much recreational driving. You cant not drive to work and school and that is a lot of it. Buying a newer high mileage car is not something people do on an impulse buy. Car production is very inflexible. Old geo metros were selling for 6-8k grand on Ebay. Hybrids were selling for 5-10k above msrp and had 1-2 year waiting lists.
I’m still confused about how hippies factor into your “$41k pieces of hybrid Guvmint motors cr@p are safer” argument. Not that it matters to me personally. I’m still going to drive whatever makes me feel happy, free and alive. Rather eat a bullet than live life in ultimate-safe-mode. I’m just curious as to your logic.
I wasn’t responding to your question. I usually avoid talking to people in general because they often prefer to play word games or just get emotional and irrationally defensive/aggressive. Whatever truth and reality are matters secondly or not at all to them. I just care what the truth is and dont want the rest of the mess. If I wanted that BS I would talk to my wife’s family. I certainly wouldn’t spend free time to do it. But, you seem nice so I will take the time to try and find what we are not on the same page on.
I do try and come here and state the truths as best I know them that I think people are overlooking. Basic premises I was assuming everyone was aware of.
-People here despise Obama and loathe hippies. Obama and hippies want electric cars for now. Thus people here want to make electric cars seem uncool and stupid.
-Most people dont buy things like cars based on big picture thoughts or Americas independence and financial stability. They buy things based on what their family and friends brag about. When their family and friends are buying and bragging about buying SUV they buy SUV and thus endanger people who buy more reasonable cars that are much better for America.
-Also I was assuming physics was obvious
When a 4000 lb monster and a 2000 lb car collide the two 150 lb humans involved have a high chance of serious damage. If two 800 lb cars collide the two 150 lb people have a much better chance of survival. Or in the example I was mentioning about my wife being hit by an electric car: if you are in a 1500 lb car and are a hit buy an 800 lb you and they still have a much better chance of survival.
An 800lb car being hit by a 4000lb monster then you are F@#$@d. There is 3 options to deal with that reality.
-outlaw all 4k lb vehicles
-make 4k lb vehicles uncool and thus rare
-leave it as is and your choice is either buy a 4k lb vehicle or get killed by some idiot who bought it to impress his friends and family but doesn’t real know how to control it.
Shiggz, while you do have a point but seem to fail to realize that Americans, in general prefer large vehicles. For many of us, our vehicles that we drive are extensions of ourselves. Even the majority of the tree hugging hippies who bought the Prius didn’t buy it because if it’s fuel efficiency. When questioned why they purchased the Prius the most common answer was for a status symbol, fuel efficiency didn’t even make the top 5 responses. When it comes to buying a 800 lb car how are supposed to carry all of our stuff. While it may be a good A to B car, I don’t see it being able to pull a bass boat.
What I want to know is what happened to hydrogen powered cars? Just a few years ago there was a huge push for them and then all of a sudden they disappeared.
Shiggz,
Sorry buddy, but you can’t be serious on this one. An “electric” car that goes only 35 to 40 miles before switching to a regular, ugly gasoline-powered car that actually looks like an updated version of the AMC Pacer? That’s 15 minutes of highway driving in each direction…for $41,000…in an ugly car.
Or, for well under $41,000 you could buy an awesome 2010 retro-style Chevy Camaro. Or, you could buy Ford’s awesome retro-style Mustang. Or, you could get the incredible retro-style Dodge Challenger. And, they all weigh well under 4,000 lbs.
Real Americans like real cars…not Volts.
I know that is the perception and it is true technically true. Most people when asked if they would rather make 60k a year while all their neighbors made 40k a year or if they would rather make 80k but all their neighbors make 100k a year actually prefer the lower amount. So what some people want is a car bigger then their neighbors. If their neighbors have a 3k pound car they want a 5k pound car. If their neighbors all have a 1k pound car their 1500-2k pound car still satiates this basic larger is better need. That was my assumed premise. What was I missing?
Even a lot of SUV are lighter then a 57 Chevy. Fact is we are constantly buying smaller and lighter vehicles but rather slowly for how seriously our problems are accumulating. I mentioned this in another post but its stuck in moderation. Even our small cars are double the size of Europe’s. The right keeps complaining about why should the government be used to do everything. Well the alternative is that cultural pressure needs to do it for the unthinking masses. Your opposed to both, then what? A lot of people want to watch sports, go shopping, and chase tail. Those people dont think they only respond to cultural cues and reinforcement.
Again you keep confusing lighter with smaller. You take out the giant metal transmission and combustion engine you drop of weight. Same size car.
If you wall want to put your head in the sand and sell your country down river so you can get a stiff over driving an oversize ugly vehicle I am tired of trying to reason with such people.
“what happened to hydrogen powered cars?”
I did a speech in 7th grade on the exciting,” just-around-the-corner” future of hydrogen powered cars.
Hydrogen is everywhere, after all, in every molecule of water,
while we are running out of oil and gas.
That speech was in 1973.
The dangers in storing and transporting pressurized hydrogen, the energy to produce it and the lack of infrastructure to support a fleet of H2 powered cars are problems that haven’t been overcome.
As long as there are cheaper easier ways to provide energy for transportation, you have a better chance of hover converting your DeLorian than taking a hydrogen powered trip across the country.
My favorite comment about the Volt:
“The Volt is a piece of crap.
The only way I’d buy one is if it came with a free charger.
A ’69 Hemi Charger.”
This moderation thing is getting on my nerves which 90 degree heat has already rubbed raw. I dont give a crap about the volt or GM. How many times do I have to say that? Probably my fault my message gets lost in too many words. Here it is in short.
I see an important need in Americas present and future for the electric car. Thanks to decades of neglect is only now beginning to be developed. Like the 1980’s personal computer on windows 3.1 Of course its ugly of course its minimal useful its about future potential its about getting it off the ground not strangled in the manger.
You think you are rejecting Obama and GM but your mocking off it will be interpreted as a cultural rejection of electric cars. Am I the only one who has ever sat in a board room and knows how this crap plays out?
Sounds like Obama lama ding dong.
My two long comments mostly about Iran and using cultural pressure instead of government have been moderated so if you are interested I guess check back tomorrow. sorry.
ZZZZZZZZZT! ZZZZZZZZZT! Ahhhhh! My Volt is giving me 50,000 Volts and I can’t get my foot off the accelerator…ZZZZZZZZT!
I successfully taunted a hippie-badger. That’s got to be worth at least $250.
what does an electeric motor sound like? There is NO SOUND except a high pitched whine!!! This is unacceptable to me!!! When I start my vehicle, I want hippies and liberals to tremble at the sound, become angry at the fuel to air mixture, the rumble of the v-8, the black shiny paint, the big tires, the 4×4 decals…oh how glorious that is. Until electeric vehicles can give me 350 horsepower with loud exhaust, 4 wheel drive, and a bed with a toolbox, i wont have one. Hey Shiggz, I do think the idea (electric cars) is a great one, its just too soon for me to get excited about it because I look for a certain product in avehicle that electricity just cant reproduce right now. In 10 years I may have a very different opinion though. BUT one question I have, since these things have huge lithium batteries, if one is in a horrific wreck, or wreck just enough to rupture the battery cases will this cause first responders to take more precaution when a wreck happens? The good ol fire station better be trained up on HAZMAT situations, because those batteries will explode, cause fires, chemical burns, and electrocution. Yes, every vehicle has its dangers, but these are potentially so much more fun to deal with. However, I am sure the engineers and Safety folks have worked diligantly to minimize the risk of these things happening.
I’m so glad I don’t drive a 4,000 pound car. Nope. Not me. I drive an 8850 pound F350 4×4, dually, crew cab. Another reason the Volt is a loser – it couldn’t pull my trailer with the John Deere on it….and the JD isn’t electric either…diesel baby, diesel….
I studied Latin for a few years in school. Boy was that “valuable” to my career in IT! Anyway I have translated VOLT into Latin for you rubes. Gayumnus Magnumus Scrotumus Minimus
Electric cars will be viable when their battery’s energy density is high enough to be a practical competitor with liquid fuel. Not gonna happen for a long time.
After reading the comments I have come to the conclusion that the gubmunt motors volt is a homosexual underpowered expensive piece of oba ma.
In short, it is the Prius without the glamor and prestige.
If the badger taunts me, do he get the $300?
Okay…so when you all heard of the Volt, and saw Obama sitting in the driver’s seat who else immediatly thought of the Simpsons episode where Homer got to design his dream car?
http://images.thetruthaboutcars.com/2009/07/thehomer.jpg
Shiggz made some good points.
A small motor, running at optimum rpms for fuel efficency, generating electricity to feed the vehicle’s electric motor sounds like a simple adaptation of decades old technology.
All diesel-electric locomotives use a similar system, and they’re pretty darn manly.
The battery backup may be ‘gilding the lily’, but I suppose they’ll work the kinks out eventually.
For those who demand more ‘Vroom!’ from their cars, a couple of extra speakers and a CD of NASCAR sound effects should suffice!
PS: Since I drive my motorcycle to work everyday (weather permitting) that whole ‘big car/little car’ debate is academic to me.
I just assume I’m invisible to every other driver on the road and Drive Defensively.
PPS: Oops, I mean ‘ride’ my motorcycle. Sorry.
I don’t know why the government is now giving tax incentives for stupidity, but maybe that’s some new Obama policy.
It’s called “rewarding your base.”
Half the car for twice the price. Sounds like a good deal to me. I wonder if highway deaths will increase as a result of this.
Probably not, since no one will buy the car.