[lil_chef]

Originally Posted by Number 3

As for the Volt owner not saving money..................let's look at an experiment.

Let's say gas is ONLY $3.00 per gallon.

Let's compare a 2011 Cruze (loaded at 26,800) and a Volt ($44,000 Loaded)

Let's subtract the $7,500 tax incentive so now we are at 26,800 vs. 36,500 or simply $10,000 premium for the Volt.

So let's say you are one of the customers (70%) that only drive 40 miles per day.

For the comparision, let's say you can get 32 mpg real world driving with the Cruze (not the 40 you'd get for pure highway driving)

So 40 miles per day x 7 days per week, x 52 weeks per year. That's 14,560 miles

14,560 divided by 32 mpg is 455 gallons x $3.00 per gallon equals $1,365 in fuel cost per year SAVED by the Volt driver.

So only looking at the 8 years of battery warranty you would save $10,920. That saves the Volt drive $900. If you expand that for additional years, the savings continues at $1,365 per year.

And the savings go up if gas goes up or if you compare to a car that gets worse FE than a Cruze. I'm not betting on gas staying as low as it is over the next several years either.

So it isn't a money loser at all.

your point is multiplied if the buyer is comparing 2 cars in the same price bracket as well such as a BMW 3 series diesel (i think the tax credit on diesel cars is around 2k).