Eric Bolling (Fox Business Channel's Follow the Money) test drove the Chevy
Volt at the invitation of General Motors.
For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted only 25 miles before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine. Eric calculated the car got 30 mpg including the 25 miles it ran on the battery. So, the range including the 9 gallon gas tank and the 16 kwh battery is approximately 270 miles. It will take you 4 1/2 hours to drive 270 miles at 60 mph. Then add 10 hours to charge the battery and you have a total trip time of 14.5 hours. In a typical road trip your average speed (including charging time) would be 20 mph.
According to General Motors, the Volt battery holds 16 kwh of electricity. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery. The cost for the electricity to charge the Volt is never mentioned so I looked up what I pay for electricity. I pay approximately (it varies with amount used and the seasons) $1.16 per kwh. 16 kwh x $1.16 per kwh = $18.56 to charge the battery. (Electricity is expensive and the Government wants to make it more so). $18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the Volt using the battery.
Compare this to a similar size car with a gasoline engine only that gets 32 mpg. $3.19 per gallon divided by 32 mpg = $0.10 per mile.
The gasoline powered car cost about $15,000 (more like $20K) while the Volt costs $46,000.
So GM (Government Motors) & the Government want us to pay 3 times as much for a car that costs more than 7 times as much to run and takes 3 times as long to drive across country.
You do not have to be a rocket scientist to figure the GM Volt is not very cost effective and does not save energy in the long run.
Editor's note update: the author of the Letter to the Editor sent in the following link: Chevy Volt - Building a Better Tomorrow