Bonus Features of the Chevy Volt

Tongue in cheek article

Electric cars

It would seem that our American cousins like to throw money down the drain faster than us

The federal government has figured out how to save $116,000 per year … and it only costs $4 million to do it! The pilot program in San Diego and four other American cities will take no more than, oh, 39 years for the savings to pay back the cost of the vehicles:

San Diego will be one of five cities in which the federal workers will test plug-in cars for government use.

The General Services Administration said Tuesday it plans to buy 116 plug-in electric vehicles, including 101 Chevrolet Volts and 10 Nissan Leafs.

It will put 13 Volts and four Leafs with San Diego workers, and will also install charging stations to serve them. The cars will go to workers with the Navy, the Marine Corps, Veterans Affiars and the Department of Transportation. …

The purchases announced Tuesday are expected to cut gas usage by almost 29,000 gallons a year, saving taxpayer an estimated $116,000 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 257 metric tons, said GSA administrator Martha Johnson.

I’ll give the financial analysis a whirl:

101 Volts at $38,500 equals $3,888,500. Add to that 10 Leafs costing $33,000 and you get $4,218,500. Now add 5 EV’s at $32,500 and the grand total is $4,508,500. At a savings of only $116,000 a year in petrol it would take 39 years to offset the costs of the cars.¹

Doesn’t make much sense to me? The battery life of these cars will not last more than ten years (And that’s a conservative estimate. There are some quotes of only half that.), the last time I checked.So the costs of buying new “green” cars will never be offset.

Oh and not withstanding the cost  of all those charging points they are going to install.

Makes you wonder what world those people live on.

¹ I’d convert to sterling if I could be bothered. But I’m sure you’ll get the picture.