free home-charging station

[renovation]

DETROIT — Early buyers of the Chevrolet Volt electric car could receive a free home-charging station through a U.S. Department of Energy program, General Motors said.
The Volt goes on sale late this year, and 4,400 customers will be eligible for a 240-volt charge station from ECOtality or Coulomb Technologies. In many cases, it will include the cost of home installation.

It's all being paid for through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"Many owners will plug their Volt into a normal 120-volt electrical outlet, charge overnight and drive to work in the morning using only battery power," Tony DiSalle, product and marketing director for the Chevrolet Volt, said Thursday in a statement. "For Volt owners who want to install a faster 240-volt charge station, we expect the Department of Energy project to save $1,000 to $2,000."

The program will collect data from customers to learn about average charge times and time of use so that the Energy Department can better understand how electric vehicles are used.

GM has said the Volt will be able to go 40 miles on an electrical charge alone. After that, an onboard gasoline generator will provide power to recharge the batteries and keep the vehicle going.

Tony Posawatz, Volt vehicle line director, said a 240-volt charger will recharge the car in about four hours.

He said some of the program's engineers already have installed 240-volt outlets to charge test versions of the Volt at home.

"These guys would never use any gas on the weekends unless they would drive the Volt up north," he said. "We're learning through the whole process that the charging experience is important to us."

Meanwhile, electric and hybrid vehicles are expected to help increase the sale of global alternative-fuel vehicles by 28% this year compared with last, according to a new report by J.D. Power and Associates. That outpaces an expected 8% industrywide increase this year.

(this sounds like if you have pre order a Volt -you get a bonus .if you wait you get a car but no charger to keep it running after you get it home. but for a extra 2 grand we have a home charging system you can buy.
WTH is good is a eletric car if you can't charge it when you buy it new for $40,000 plus. but i guess if you can shell out 40 plus grand whats a extra 5% ?)
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...y_N.htm?csp=15

[mechmike0034]

(this sounds like if you have pre order a Volt -you get a bonus .if you wait you get a car but no charger to keep it running after you get it home. but for a extra 2 grand we have a home charging system you can buy.
WTH is good is a eletric car if you can't charge it when you buy it new for $40,000 plus. but i guess if you can shell out 40 plus grand whats a extra 5% ?)
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...y_N.htm?csp=15

It sounds to me like you need to read the article you quoted again. The third paragraph says:

"Many owners will plug their Volt into a normal 120-volt electrical outlet, charge overnight and drive to work in the morning using only battery power," Tony DiSalle, product and marketing director for the Chevrolet Volt, said Thursday in a statement. "For Volt owners who want to install a faster 240-volt charge station, we expect the Department of Energy project to save $1,000 to $2,000."

120V plugin charging will be standard, but will take longer than the optional, extra-cost 240V station that's being offered as a free bonus to early purchasers.

[renovation]

now lets see

GM has said the Volt will be able to go 40 miles on an electrical charge alone

Gee on a avg charge at 120 v for 8 hours.
i don't know about you guys but thats only good for a 1 way trip for me to downtown Detroit.
i sure don't need a car that will cost me 40 grand to start off.
then cost me as much or more to keep charging every night -as i spend in gas over a year in the car i normal use .
also if it cost as much as what lets say .Car and Driver's Brock Yates—no fan of hybrids—wrote, "battery replacement will cost $5,300 for the Toyota and Lexus hybrids, and the Ford Escape replacements run a whopping $7,200." and after about 5 years of ownership. this is BS. you buy a gas power auto it has a 5 year 100,000 warranty . they can keep these battery autos .until they become more inline with the gas power autos were driving and use to today.
http://www.hybridcars.com/economics/hidden-costs.html

[mechmike0034]

now lets see Gee on a avg charge at 120 v for 8 hours.
i don't know about you guys but thats only good for a 1 way trip for me to downtown Detroit.

The Volt has a gasoline engine which runs as necessary to recharge the battery. More than 75% of the commuters in the US drive less than 40 miles per day (according to statistics from the US Bureau of Transportation).

i sure don't need a car that will cost me 40 grand to start off.
then cost me as much or more to keep charging every night -as i spend in gas over a year in the car i normal use.

So, don't buy one... I find them interesting but I am not ready to spend my own money on one just yet.

also if it cost as much as what lets say .Car and Driver's Brock Yates—no fan of hybrids—wrote, "battery replacement will cost $5,300 for the Toyota and Lexus hybrids, and the Ford Escape replacements run a whopping $7,200." and after about 5 years of ownership. this is BS. you buy a gas power auto it has a 5 year 100,000 warranty . they can keep these battery autos .until they become more inline with the gas power autos were driving and use to today.
http://www.hybridcars.com/economics/hidden-costs.html

The warranties are actually better. The GM hybrid components and battery pack are warranted for eight years/100K miles. Toyota, same. Honda warrants hybrid batteries 8/100, and the rest of the powertrain 5/60. Ford hybrid components are also warranted 8/100. These figures are from the respective automakers websites.

What does a gasoline engine replacement cost for a modern vehicle?

Also keep in mind that automakers in general are still in the early stages of alternate fuel and hybrid technology. It is not for everyone, and it is not going to be cost-effective for everyone. It will get cheaper and easier with time, as is the case with most technology.

[Chgoman]

If I remember corrently those numbers for replacing the batteries were in the early days as well. As the technology continues to grow and economies of scale kick it, the prices are coming down. So far my wife and I have put 125,000 miles on our '04 Prius and there doesn't seem to be any loss in charing or battery quality. Still drives like it's new and the milage hasn't gone down at all (which you would expect if the batteries were loosing capacity). There's been plenty of people out there who have gone 250K+ miles (taxi drivers especially) who haven't had to replace batteries either, so I'm not real worried about it.