MovieChat Forums > Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006) Discussion > Drive a Chevy Volt for free

Drive a Chevy Volt for free

posted 12 years ago by apeweek
9 replies | jump to latest

How many would try out a Chevy Volt if the car was free?

First, figure out how much you spend for gasoline. If you drive 15,000 miles per year in a 25 MPG car, and gasoline averages for example $3.80 over time, your 1250 miles per month cost you around $190.

What would those same miles cost on electricity? Electric cars typically get around 3 to 5 miles per kilowatt-hour, and the average price per KWH in the US is 11 cents. So 1250 miles costs from $28 to $45, depending on the kind of driving you do.

Now let's look at one of the latest Volt lease deals:

http://www.imakenews.com/lesstanford/e_article002482415.cfm?x=bllVbcD, bqMrGfRW

It's a 2-year lease for $139 per month. Add the lease cost to the electricity cost, it's around $180 per month.

That total amount is less than the cost of the gasoline you buy right now - yet covers both the cost of the car and the fuel. You could keep your present car in the garage (for emergencies only), lease a Volt, pay for electricity, and still have a few dollars left over!

[–] bbagnall 12 years ago

That's not a bad deal. It assumes you'll be driving frequently to and from work, plus weekends. I take it the leasing company doesn't charge anything for the inevitable battery replacement? Are there hidden fees for that?

I hope to hell this is not being subsidized by the government, otherwise it's still just a scam.

[–] apeweek 12 years ago

...That's not a good deal.

The numbers are all right in my post. I think that being able to lease a car and drive it for just the money I used to spend on gasoline is a pretty good deal (I would need to come up with the downpayment, though.) I wouldn't even have to sell my existing car.

...It assumes you'll be driving frequently to and from work, plus weekends.

Why can't I do any kind of driving I want? Where do you see that?

...I take it the leasing company doesn't charge anything for the inevitable battery replacement?

Volt's battery is warranted to 100,000 miles, and tested to last at least 150,000 miles.

I heard all the screaming about battery replacements when hybrids came out, too, and it turns out that almost none of those batteries have failed. Hybrid resale value is unparallelled.

...I hope to hell this is not being subsidized by the government, otherwise it's still just a scam.

Yet you don't seem worried about all the subsidized gasoline you buy. How about subsidized foreign car plants built in the US? Are those scams?

Or do you only care about subsidies on stuff you don't want to buy?

[–] bbagnall 12 years ago

Whoops! Funny I didn't notice that when I originally typed it in. When I said "That's not a good deal." I honestly meant to say "That's not a bad deal." It seems on par with other leasing agreements. I personally like to own, but you can't argue with the numbers there.

The frequent driving comment means that if you want to save on gas, the more you drive the more you save on gas. If you drive infrequently, gas isn't much of a cost to begin with.

BTW Why do you say I don't worry about the subsidized gasoline? We've been over this before. Let's get rid of the 35% gas tax at the pumps and then come back to be about this supposed subsidy.

[–] apeweek 12 years ago

...I honestly meant to say "That's not a bad deal."

OK, fair enough. That changes the meaning of the other comment I didn't get.

...Why do you say I don't worry about the subsidized gasoline?

I guess it's just the roles the two of us play. You complain about electric car subsidies, and then I remind everyone that it's just one of many subsidies on transportation. From my POV, I'm trying to create some perspective, so people don't think it's just EVs that are subsidized.

And yes, along with subsidies on gas cars and electric cars, there are also taxes on gasoline and electricity.

These are all part of the same problem - interference with the marketplace.

[–] bbagnall 12 years ago

I originally responded to your post:

I hope to hell this is not being subsidized by the government, otherwise it's still just a scam.

Well, I found an interesting tidbit on how the "economics" of this leasing thing work. It is a scam! Check this article from Forbes:

With additional subsidies from GM (that would be you and me), Chevrolet dealers in August were offering two-year Volt leases for as little as $250 down and $199/month. Fully 2/3s of the “sales” were leases, leaving around 925 cars that were truly sold. Prior to the giveaway leases, GM says that 40% of 2012 sales were also leases. The number remains the same—an average of about 925 cars really sold each month for this year.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmichaels/2012/09/19/notwithstanding -gms-protests-no-one-wants-the-chevy-volt/

[–] apeweek 12 years ago

...40% of 2012 sales were also leases

Leases have always counted in stats as sales - the income stream is basically the same (or often better) for dealers.

Sorry, you don't get to apply special rules just because you don't like the fact that Volts are moving. You'd have to figure out how to remove the lease figures from everyone else's sales numbers, too.

[–] apeweek 12 years ago

I wanted to update the lease deal I related in my original post - my dealer now has some Volts for lease at just $124 per month:

http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/mod_print_view.cfm?this_id=2508271&amp ;u=lesstanford&show_issue_date=F&issue_id=000602230&lid=bl t5bgM&uid=bqMrGfRW

Anyone in the Detroit area that's interested should look into this - the deal only runs a few more days.

Again, I'd like to point out that the gasoline savings alone could easily surpass the lease price, meaning that you could actually save more money than you spend on this deal. You'll never find any other new car you can say that about.

[–] MontanaJones 12 years ago

So is that the only dealer offering that deal? I'd be all over that and electricity here is 8.5/KWH.

MEDINA
SOD

[–] apeweek 12 years ago

...So is that the only dealer offering that deal?

I've heard reports of other dealers making $199 and under deals on 2012 Volts. Volt is selling best in Michigan and California, so you're more likely to find dealers with a supply of cars in those states.

On Chevy's website, if you hunt for 2012 Volts, you can find a national $249 lease.