Chevy Volt Fact Sheet
January, 2011
What is different about the Chevy Volt?
The car runs on electricity for the first 40 miles or so, and then uses a gasoline generator to go up to 300 miles. You can refill the gas tank just like an ordinary car.
How much does it cost to run?
The car goes about 4 miles per kilowatt hour (kwh). PG&E has a special nighttime rate for charging electric cars overnight--about 4 cents per kwh. Dividing 4 cents per kwh by 4 miles per kwh means that the Volt costs about 1 cent per mile! After running on batteries for the first 40 miles, the gas generator/engine takes over and the car then gets about 35 miles per gallon. It takes about 10 hours for a full charge using standard 110 volt house current.
How does that cost compare to most cars?
Average mileage in the U.S. is about 20 miles per gallon. At $3.20 per gallon, that comes to 16 cents per mile. So, the Volt saves about 15 cents per mile. If you drive 1,000 miles per month on the electric motor, that is a savings of about $1,800 per year.
What about the cost of the car?
The retail price of the Volt is $41,000. There is a $7,500 tax credit so the net price is $33,500. Assuming that a comparable gasoline engine car would cost about $15,000 less than that, the annual savings of $1,800 is like loaning someone $15,000 and getting paid back with 9% interest—not bad! And the price of gas is going up, so the rate of return will keep getting better.
Should I buy a plug-in hybrid like the Volt or an all-electric car?
This depends. If you only have one car, and you want to be able to travel long distances, the Volt or plug-in hybrid makes sense. If you have two cars, then it would probably be cheaper to make one an all-electric to use around town, and the other a plug-in hybrid for long trips. Also, if your daily commute is more than 40 miles, you may be better off with an all-electric like the Nissan Leaf, which goes 100 miles on a charge.
What about combining the Volt with solar panels?
Solar panels and electric cars go together very well. PG&E pays 28 cents per kwh for peak summer electricity. Since the solar power on our house costs 19 cents per kwh, combining the revenue from the peak rates and the savings from the overnight car charging rates brings the total cost of electricity down to less than 12 cents per kwh—the same as PG&E’s lowest residential rate.
What are the other advantages of electric cars/solar panels?
There are many advantages besides saving money—no oil imports, no oil spills, no carbon dioxide, no air pollution, no pipelines through the Alaska wilderness, lots of local jobs.
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