Quote:
Originally Posted by tjkamper
Well it is yet time for another analysis of the cost effectiveness of cages by your Friendly Neighborhood Economist.
In this episode we will take a look at the Chevy VOLT.
ASSUMPTIONS:
Being as the EPA does not have any estimates out for the VOLT, I am forced to only use the information provided on Chevy.com. Chevy estimates the daily cost of charging the Volt at $1.50 based on $0.12 per Kilowatt hour. I also am assuming that is a full charge (Which Chevrolet does not confirm on their website).
Chevy claims 25 – 50 miles per charge so I will use the mean for my mileage calculations; (i.e. 37.5).
Chevy does not have a car that is a perfect comparison to the VOLT so I have made the assumption that the Malibu and the VOLT are comparable vehicles. (Truth is the Malibu offers an additional 20 horsepower, but we will side in favor of the VOLT).
I also will assume only City Driving to give the VOLT and added edge over the Malibu.
I am assuming the price of gas to be $4 per gallon, which is higher than the current national average.
I am also only assuming the VOLT to be using solely battery power, and not the gas generator as that would result in higher costs of operating the VOLT (Once again, giving the VOLT every advantage I can).
All figures are rounded to the fourth decimal place.
EQUATION:
Malibu MSRP + [Days * {(37.5 miles / Malibu City MPG) * Price of Gas}] = VOLT MSRP + [Days * $1.50]
CALCULATIONS:
$21,975 + [ Days * {(37.5 miles / 22 MPG) * $4} = $40,280 + [ Days * $1.50]
$21,975 + [ Days * {1.7045 * $4} = $40,280 + [ Days * $1.50]
$21,975 + [ Days * $6.8180] = $40,280 + [ Days * $1.50]
Days * $5.3180 = $18,305
Days = 3442.0830
Days * Miles Per Day (37.5) = 129,078.1 Miles
RESULTS:
You would have own and drive the VOLT every day for over nine years before you would realize any fuel savings. This would be the equivalent of 129,078 Miles.
ENJOY
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The only minor flaw I see in your technically accurate analysis is the assumption that the single and only reason that people would buy a Volt is for fuel savings and absolutely no other reason. That's rather simplistic, which makes the above argument against buying a Volt (which is all it really is, just wrapped in a plausible set of calculations) all that more meaningless. If lifetime purchase and operating costs were the only factor people used to choose what car to buy then nobody would spend $455,000 for a Lamborghini Murcielago, or for that matter $42,400 on a Chevy Tahoe, or even $27K on a Malibu.
People buy cars all the time for all sorts of different reasons. Oh yeah, just to head off your counterargument about the Volt supposedly being all about the gas mileage, IMHO GM is making a mistake trying to market on that. If they really wanted to market a high mileage vehicle they'd just bring back the Geo Metro or even just import some of their eurodiesel compacts. The real buyers for the Volt will be people with disposable income who want to blow rasberries at the oil companies and foreign oil suppliers that have had this country by the gonads for fourty years now. They realize that on a strictly financial basis it makes no sense to buy a Volt; that's not why they're buying one.
What it basically boils down to is that as a manufacturer you need to have on offer something people want, or people will buy from someone who has. The Prius is a perfect example. When it first came out I saw the same kind of analysis as above put forth as an argument as to why nobody should buy one. While Toyota was making and selling them GM and Ford focused on making and selling high profit SUVs and didn't make any long-sighted efforts to develop something to compete with it. That worked out well for them, didn't it?
It's a repeat of the same kinds of short-sighted screwed up thinking that they've been doing since the 1950's. How many times to we have to get our clocks cleaned before we finally get it?
I see the Volt as a real opening salvo in the future EV wars. Either we make something people want or someone else will. Again. Lead or follow, the choice is pretty clear to me. IMHO.
ENJOY!