Chevy Volt

> > Cost to operate a Chevy Volt
> >
> > 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. $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 that gets only 32 mpg. $3.19 per gallon divided by 32 mpg = $0.10 per mile.
> >
> > The gasoline powered car costs about $15,000 while the Volt costs
> > $46,000.........
> > So the Government wants us to pay 3 times as much, for a car that costs more that 7 times as much to run, and takes 3 times longer to drive across the country.....
> >
> > REALLY ????? And what does a battery replacement cost?

You could probably rebuild a v8 gas engine for less than the cost of a replacement battery for the Volt

Very good post Bruce, most folks don't do the math.

Hey PS,

It will save $ if you've got short commutes. At 240v it will fully charge in 4 hours.

I've got a friend with a volt that's a car guy and he loves it. He charges at home over night at off peak hour which is cheaper. At work he charges too. He Almost never buys gas. Works for him.

You are right Randy, but wait until the next crop of people grow up having learn to do math the Common Core way. I had a friend way back in the '70's during the gas shortage who was driving a fully paid car that got 15 miles to the gallon. His wife only drove the car to the market and beauty shop. At 6 years old the car had but 20,000 miles on it. He felt justified to buy a new car on credit just because it would give him 24 miles to the gallon. Even when I broke it down for him and showed him what his yearly operating cost was for the old car vs the yearly cost of operating the new one plus the note, he still couldn't see it. He bought the new car.
"gene"

ha. let me throw my two cents into the ring. I bought a 2013 ford F250, 4X4, king ranch and I got ford to outfit it with a CNG (compressed natural gas) kit at the tune of 10,000$. now before you choke on your tongue, the state of La reimbursed me for half of the CNG kit. so I got 5000$ back extra when I filed my state taxes. here is the kicker. my CNG tank is a 24 gallon tank. this is measured in GGE (gallons of gasoline equivalent). it will never hold 24 GGE of CNG but when it si cold outside it will hold about 19-20 GGE. when it is really hot it holds about 16 GGE. it is all done on psi. hot gas expands and you can't hold as much. anyway-----a GGE of CNG is between 1.70$ and 1.89$. therefore I can fill up my big old truck for less than 30$. and the gas mileage and torque and performance is the same whether im using CNG or gasoline. I didn't mention that it has a regular gasoline tank in it as well. natural gas is an endless commodity. the haynseville shale will still have natural gas in it 100 years after I am gone. if anyone has ever thougth of going the CNG route, I would highly recommend it. I figure I have already gotten my 5 grand back the cng kit cost me and I have less than 15K miles on my truck. and the resale value of the truck will hold higher than a comparable truck with out CNG.

doc :)

How close is a CNG filling station for you??

Hey Doc,

Your maintenance cost are lower too. IE oil changes and engine wear.

We teach Alternate fuels here at school. I have a ford pickup conversion ngv and gasoline. Also a Honda civic that's dedicated ngv. High compression engine.

As you probably know you can install ngv fuel station at home with a slow fill and you price will drop in half from the pump price. Tax credits for fuel stations too.

If I had natural gas available at the house I would by one of the civics to drive to work with.

NGV would work for a lot of folks. IMO

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Originally Posted by docwaldo

ha. let me throw my two cents into the ring. I bought a 2013 ford F250, 4X4, king ranch and I got ford to outfit it with a CNG (compressed natural gas) kit at the tune of 10,000$. now before you choke on your tongue, the state of La reimbursed me for half of the CNG kit. so I got 5000$ back extra when I filed my state taxes. here is the kicker. my CNG tank is a 24 gallon tank. this is measured in GGE (gallons of gasoline equivalent). it will never hold 24 GGE of CNG but when it si cold outside it will hold about 19-20 GGE. when it is really hot it holds about 16 GGE. it is all done on psi. hot gas expands and you can't hold as much. anyway-----a GGE of CNG is between 1.70$ and 1.89$. therefore I can fill up my big old truck for less than 30$. and the gas mileage and torque and performance is the same whether im using CNG or gasoline. I didn't mention that it has a regular gasoline tank in it as well. natural gas is an endless commodity. the haynseville shale will still have natural gas in it 100 years after I am gone. if anyone has ever thougth of going the CNG route, I would highly recommend it. I figure I have already gotten my 5 grand back the cng kit cost me and I have less than 15K miles on my truck. and the resale value of the truck will hold higher than a comparable truck with out CNG.

doc :)

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Thanks for posting your two cents!! I have been contemplating CNG for the last 2 years. Lots of CNG stations here in Oklahoma. I have been waiting for Ford to have them setting on the lot ready to sell, may have to go the conversion route instead.

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Originally Posted by prefers shiners

> > Cost to operate a Chevy Volt
> > REALLY ????? And what does a battery replacement cost?

---

There's a growing hubbub in the plug-in vehicle community over what looks like some ridiculously cheap replacement batteries for the Chevrolet Voltgoing up for sale. GM Parts Online, for example, is selling a replacement Volt battery with an MSRP of $2,994.64 but, with an online discount, the price comes down to $2,305.88. For the 16-kWh pack in the 2012 Volt, that comes to a very low $144.11 per kilowatt hour (kWH). But is it a real deal? How can it be, when a Chevy dealer may quote you a price of up to $34,000 to replace the pack?

there are about 8 CNG stations with in 15 miles of mmy house. my worktruck is a F250 with the same westport CNG system that my personal truck has. and yes, the CNg burns somuch hotter than gasoline that there is very little carbon build up onengine parts, etc. ichangemy oil every 7500 miles and the guy that changesmy oil for me says the oil is so clean he couild put it back in a bottle and resell it. LOL i'm sure the viscocity is broken down, but it is not dirty at all and i drive my work truck on some pretty dirty lease roads.

there are several ford dealerships locally that have CNG trucks on their lots. but all of them were white,and i didn'twant my personal truck to look like a work truck. so i ordered mine and got exactly what iwanted.

the way the ford jCNg trucks work is they build the trucks inlexington, kentucky. then they put the truck on a rail car and transport it 6 miles to the westport plant and install the CNG kit in a fully built truck. they ship it back to the ford plant and send it to the dealership. although it isnot a "true" factory option, it is covered under factory warranty.

we have about 75 fleet trucks at my work and only about 7 of them are fords. the rest, save 2, are chevys. the chevy have had a miriad of CNG issues. we are sending back all the chevys. the chevys are an "aftermarket" kit and they have notperformed well at all. the other 2 are dodges. and the dodge is a true factory option. it is installed as the truck is buiilt. we have not had many issues with them. we have not had a siingle CNG issue with anny ford we have in the fleet.

i am a huge fan of the cng. i have looked into home slow fill option, but i hear that they are still working the bugs out. jig rig, would i get a plumber to install that at my house?? or is there a place i could order the parts offthe internet??

thanks,

doc :)

I am all for the CNG, a huge resource we have - and the reserves continue to grow. An extremely efficient, clean fuel. We only have two filling stations around here, both recently opened. Prices will remain stable because it's an American resource and not dependent upon a political environment overseas. If more stations become available where I frequent, I am in for sure. We don't have natural gas here at the house because we live too far out in the country. But, have a 200 gal bulk propane tank. I run everything possible off gas - wouldn't know how to cook off an electric stove anyway, never have done that. I do the math on such things :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by docwaldo

there are about 8 CNG stations with in 15 miles of mmy house. my worktruck is a F250 with the same westport CNG system that my personal truck has. and yes, the CNg burns somuch hotter than gasoline that there is very little carbon build up onengine parts, etc. ichangemy oil every 7500 miles and the guy that changesmy oil for me says the oil is so clean he couild put it back in a bottle and resell it. LOL i'm sure the viscocity is broken down, but it is not dirty at all and i drive my work truck on some pretty dirty lease roads.

there are several ford dealerships locally that have CNG trucks on their lots. but all of them were white,and i didn'twant my personal truck to look like a work truck. so i ordered mine and got exactly what iwanted.

the way the ford jCNg trucks work is they build the trucks inlexington, kentucky. then they put the truck on a rail car and transport it 6 miles to the westport plant and install the CNG kit in a fully built truck. they ship it back to the ford plant and send it to the dealership. although it isnot a "true" factory option, it is covered under factory warranty.

we have about 75 fleet trucks at my work and only about 7 of them are fords. the rest, save 2, are chevys. the chevy have had a miriad of CNG issues. we are sending back all the chevys. the chevys are an "aftermarket" kit and they have notperformed well at all. the other 2 are dodges. and the dodge is a true factory option. it is installed as the truck is buiilt. we have not had many issues with them. we have not had a siingle CNG issue with anny ford we have in the fleet.

i am a huge fan of the cng. i have looked into home slow fill option, but i hear that they are still working the bugs out. jig rig, would i get a plumber to install that at my house?? or is there a place i could order the parts offthe internet??

thanks,

doc :)

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Hey Doc
Do your Fords have the Roush CNG engines?
I want to try those in our school buses if we could get some CNG stations in Webster Parish, but no one else seems interested.

Buster

not sure buster. I have the 6.2L in it. it is a fine engine. I will do some research and let ya know. tell kevin and joey I said I can't wait to see them at darbonne.

Lots of info here Buster

NAFTC|Home

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Originally Posted by bflowers

Hey Doc
Do your Fords have the Roush CNG engines?
I want to try those in our school buses if we could get some CNG stations in Webster Parish, but no one else seems interested.

Buster

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Okay, I'm a humanities major, so please humor me. Can a CNG vehicle also run on propane/butane? If so, can you fill a CNG vehicle at the propane outlet where you take your 5 gallon barbeque tank? When I was in high school, way back in the day, a friend converted his truck to natural gas, propane, or some such thing. He had a tank mounted in the truck bed. That was back before we had CNG filling stations, so I assume he took his truck to the local propane dealer to get it filled. So if you were interested in converting a vehicle to CNG but there are not CNG stations in your area, could you still get the vehicle filled up at a regular propane place?

I think you are a little off on your electricity cost. If you charge it at your house, $0.10 to $0.12 per kwh would be much more realistic. Most people in Louisiana pay under 10 cents per Kwh for residential electricity.

Terry, here is a link that sort of explains it.
"gene"

Coastal Energy

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Originally Posted by docwaldo

not sure buster. I have the 6.2L in it. it is a fine engine. I will do some research and let ya know. tell kevin and joey I said I can't wait to see them at darbonne.

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Will do they can't wait either

Thanks, Gene. I like the idea but can't help but think I could buy a whole lot of gas for the $10-12,000 it would cost to convert over.