quote Originally posted by topcat: No that is not the installed price. The price of an electrician would be separate. As already stated it would be the same cost of having a 220v drop for a dryer added. In my case, the price of having it wired would be zero - my son is a licensed electrician

BUT, not everyone has a licensed electrician handy.... Also, usually a box is the 220 appliance, so the wire cost is less, but a garage is usually further away, raising the cost of materials. You have to include the cost of the equipment and the installation... for an equal comparison. Just like not everyone can change their oil, so that is added to the cost of ownership.

quote Originally posted by E.Furgal: it was a joke.. my uncles gay.. vw is their car of choice.. a TDI is not green by any means , unless your like the hybrid owners that don't "see" the coal fired source

Compared to pure ICE vehicles (gasoline/diesel), hybrid and electric vehicles emit less CO2 per mile, even when the electrical power source is coal-fired:

http://mediamatters.org/research/201202080012

quote Originally posted by ls3mach: Being related to a gay person has what bearing on your homophobic "joke"? I

but if a comic said it it be okkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk ..
light'n up.. it wasn't HOMOPHOBIC in any way shape or form..

I really like the volt. Jay Leno says he has done 11000 miles in his without using a full tank of gas yet.

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes...ling-his-chevy-volt/

quote Originally posted by E.Furgal: the problem with oil burners is you get less diesel per barrel of crude. than gas... it's almost 2 to 1.. diesels still don't get enough of a mpg difference to make it greener as it uses more crude stock per gallon of diesel fuel.. greenies forget this.. as it's out of sight

I guess I just don't get it, but how is that a problem? There are also far more gasoline cars on the road.

quote Originally posted by rinselberg: Compared to pure ICE vehicles (gasoline/diesel), hybrid and electric vehicles emit less CO2 per mile, even when the electrical power source is coal-fired: http://mediamatters.org/research/201202080012

you skipped the making of the battery pack.. and I'll read your link later but I highly doubt it..

quote Originally posted by E.Furgal: I don't know, would you call my big block truck greener just because there are more small block trucks on the road?

I'm talking about how the quantity of gasoline/diesel per barrel makes diesel "less green." Big block/small block is not the point.

quote Originally posted by E.Furgal: what thief did you get a quote from... the 220volt "station" is no different than a dryer 220 plug even having to change your 100 amp service to a 200 amp service for the WHOLE house and the "station" would not be 3000.oo .. the differance is a gfi breaker , think you need a new electrician.. cause that one is a thief

From a local electrical contractor. His was the cheapest. First they said my house doesnt have 100 amp service, so another box needs installed outside, then the car charger has to be on a dedicated box to be legal...not just a 220 plug like my air compressor. Then the cost of the charger bought from the dealer and thats what it added up to. Electric contractors arent cheap. I had to pay over $3000 just to have my main line pole on the house extended 4' to allow semis down the driveway without snagging the wires. That was the cheapest from 1/2 dozen quotes.

Great input. I was driving home tonight, and what pulls along side of me at a stop light? A new Volt. I had not seen one in person yet, and I like the exterior style. I plan on taking one for a test drive sometime this week - more than likely Saturday. I am not totally sold on the car, as the battery life and replacement cost are disconcerting. I need to get more info on battery like and replacement. I can see myself in one.

quote Originally posted by FieroSTETZ: I'm from Orange County - land of the status car - I have 2 friends with Volts and 1 with a Leaf. The leaf owner is totally dissatisfied as he can't drive to San Diego to visit his parents and make it back without recharging. Both Volt owners feel that they overpaid for what they get - an uninspiring car, lackluster interior, and, to date, zero chance that the fuel savings are going to pay off before 5 years. On the flip side, several friends with TDI vw's are totally happy with them, though the fuel savings are unlikely to pay off soon. Just a touch of input - most of us at fiero.nl are enthusiast drivers and are likely to get bored. Just my thoughts and observations.

quote Originally posted by Formula88: And mining the materials to make batteries results in heavy metal poisoning of the water table. So get a car that doesn't use gas, diesel, or electric power and has no brakes. Here's your new vehicle.

Now we're talking!

I went and took one out for a test drive today. The interior of the car seems to be put together really cheaply. Lots of plastic. The drive itself was not very inspiring.

Pros

Nice exterior style. I really like the two tone paint - white body, black roof. (my opinion)
Very roomy inside
No engine idle noise, so a very quite low speed drive
Good acceleration - even while keeping the Globe thingy in the green
Lots of interior space - bucket seats in the rear with a center console... nice layout
A/C cools the car very fast - was over 100 when I took the car out, it was cooled to 70 inside the cabin in less than ten minutes
Electric charging connection can be made via a standard 110V outlet or a dryer 220v outlet. The use of a charging station is not required. (I have a 220V outlet in my garage already.)
Lots of trunk space, with the rear seats folded that space is doubled

Cons

Even though there is no engine noise while on battery, the wind and tire noise is distracting, and irritating at speeds above 40 MPH.
Braking has a very weird feel. The car uses regenerative brakes to recharge the battery. It almost feels like a delay between the time you apply the brakes and the car slowing down. The result was I kept over-applying the brake making for jerky stops
Instrumentation feels like a video game, and not a car

The jury is in, and the verdict - not at this price. The model I drove was listed at 42,985, but I think I could get it for 39,800 - the price listed as the MRSP. It is a 2012 model, and the newer cars are due in soon, and the one on the lot has over 100 miles on it. The salesman tried to get me to keep the car over the 4th holiday to get a good feel for it, but I am not that impressed to drive it for a day. I can see myself having buyers remorse if I were to buy this car for the price listed - even at the MRSP. A whole lot of car can be bought for 43K - and the Volt just does not rise to that level for me. If the price were to be in the low to mid 30K range, maybe. But 43K? not yet.

[This message has been edited by topcat (edited 07-03-2012).]

THATS the main con. If they had the same car for say $15-18K, they would sell the crap out of them. There making the same mistake car makers have made for decades. Try to recoup all your R&D in the first year or two by massively overpricing it. How many people price their first starter home in the $500K range.....

In fact if the Volt was $15k brand new, I could be tempted to get one as an extra vehicle. From what Ive heard for here, if you use a 220 charging station, to keep in the code it has to be a dedicated box...not just a drier plug running out of your breaker box. The 220 chargers advantage is it charges in 1/3 to 1/2 the time of a 120v.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 07-03-2012).]