Would you by an electric car?

Question

Chevy just released a pre-production version of Volt, tentatively scheduled for sale in 2010.

Would you buy an electric car (manufacturer doesn't matter)? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Absolutely. I already bought an electric moped and a Prius. I plan for my next car to be fully electric. The Volt is a good start, but I'd prefer not to use any gasoline at all. I expect that by the time I need to buy another car, they'll have solved the issues with battery range. There are already EVs that can travel 100-200 miles per charge, which is plenty for all but the longest trips. Once we develop an EV charging infrastructure, it won't be a problem at all.

Answer 2

The Volt is only partly electric. It still relies on Gasoline: quite heavily I might add. Sure, the first 40 miles are on electricity, but after that it drops down to a 48 mpg car, which is good, but there are many hybrids which are better.



Plus it's electrical capacity is only 16 kWh. That's pathetic. Even the EV1 back in 1998 had 28 kWh of battery life, and that used lead-acid batteries, which contain only half as much energy and are twice as heavy as the Li-ion ones in the Volt. They could have put a lot more work into the batteries: hell, they did put in a lot more work 10 YEARS AGO. This whole "the batteries aren't there" baloney is really BS.



But I do agree they're a step in the right direction. Just realize that this car isn't an "electric car", it's what's called a "plug in hybrid", IE a hybrid car that can have its batteries charged by an outlet besides the engine.

Toyota is also coming out with a plug-in hybrid Prius in 2010, which will exceed the mileage and range of the Volt. The Volt just has more media coverage because GM is the only one calling they're plug in hybrid an "electric car"

Answer 3

Yes! But not for long time.



I agree with the gentleman that mentioned that "electricity has to come from somewhere". In my opinion, we need to resolve that issue first. For example, we need more nuclear power plants and better energy infrastructure. We need to make sure that electricity is as clean as it can be before we all start plugging in our cars. Currently, electric cars would be powered by mostly coal powered power plants... which is not an ideal source of energy. The cars themselves would run cleaner which means less pollution inside heavily congested areas. But there would be more pollution emitted from the power plants.



I don't mean to bring politics into this, but any discussion about energy always ends up political. I can not stress enough the need for the U.S. to end its dependency on foreign oil. Electric cars are a way to do that. Its not a long term solution. That's why we need to get on the ball with all these other alternatives. If we could really make some progress with alternative energy, using electric cars would be a no-brainer.



I am very optimistic that our country is headed in the right direction. It is truly an exciting time to be alive. We will see so many significant changes in the way our country manages its resources and supplies energy. (And it's also exciting that a U.S. automaker is making an electric car)

Answer 4

No. I live in rural area and frequently need to drive further than the range of an electric car. If I lived in an urban area I would consider it. I have never seen the numbers telling how much less range they have in cold weather or at night when some of the battery power is going to the lights. I would need to know about that before deciding whether to buy or not.

Answer 5

Yes I would, but we do need to improve our electric supply, and there are a lot of problems there.

In California where they already have 30,000 electric cars, the do not allow coal powered generation plants, all of the plants are either nuclear, or natural gas powered.

In addition Ca. has large wind and solar farms, but the problem there is that on the coast where there are strong wind currents, the residents do not want wind turbines blocking their view.

The federal Government does not want to allow off shore drilling, where there are on only huge amount of oil reserves, but also huge reserves of natural gas.

The same thing can be applied to the East coast, with large amount of natural gas off shore, all most all of it is within the 50 mile limit that Congress want to put off limits.

and converting coal power plants to natural gas would be easy and clean.

Answer 6

If they figure the battery life issue out, sure.



But be careful what you wish for - electricity has to come from somewhere, besides environmentalists' good intentions.

Answer 7

no...to complex..the only ones able to repair are the 120 dollar an hour dealers...no...they cost 1/3 more than similar gas only car.

Answer 8

i woul buy it because it wouldnt use gas-no more gas prices.....ahhhh......that would be awesome!