Ptero incurs the wrath of GM, yuppie hypermilers and makes the Most Wanted list!

Renewable energy-powered Trabant - no history of garage fires
Where's the rest of the car? Go here [url]http://youtu.be/W2VBH9KRbYA[/url]

Chevy Volt Costing Taxpayers Up to $250K Per Vehicle
Analyst: 'This might be the most government-supported car since the Trabant'
By TOM GANTERT Dec. 21, 2011
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/16192

Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it – a total of $3 billion altogether, according to an analysis by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Hohman looked at total state and federal assistance offered for the development and production of the Chevy Volt, General Motors’ plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. His analysis included 18 government deals that included loans, rebates, grants and tax credits. The amount of government assistance does not include the fact that General Motors is currently 26 percent owned by the federal government.

The Volt subsidies flow through multiple companies involed in production. The analysis includes adding up the amount of government subsidies via tax credits and direct funding for not only General Motors, but other companies supplying parts for the vehicle. For example, the Department of Energy awarded a $105.9 million grant to the GM Brownstown plant that assembles the batteries. The company was also awarded approximately $106 million for its Hamtramck assembly plant in state credits to retain jobs. The company that supplies the Volt’s batteries, Compact Power, was awarded up to $100 million in refundable battery credits (combination tax breaks and cash subsidies). These are among many of the subsidies and tax credits for the vehicle.

It’s unlikely that all the companies involved in Volt production will ever receive all the $3 billion in incentives, Hohman said, because many of them are linked to meeting various employment and other milestones. But the analysis looks at the total value that has been offered to the Volt in different aspects of production – from the assembly line to the dealerships to the battery manufacturers. Some tax credits and subsidies are offered for periods up to 20 years, though most have a much shorter time frame.

GM has estimated they’ve sold 6,000 Volts so far. That would mean each of the 6,000 Volts sold would be subsidized between $50,000 and $250,000, depending on how many government subsidy milestones are realized.

If battery manufacturers awarded incentives to produce batteries the Volt may use are included in the analysis, the potential government subsidy per Volt increases to $256,824. For example, A123 Systems has received extensive state and federal support, and bid to be a supplier to the Volt, but the deal instead went to Compact Power. The $256,824 figure includes adding up the subsidies to both companies.

The $3 billion total subsidy figure includes $690.4 million offered by the state of Michigan and $2.3 billion in federal money. That’s enough to purchase 75,222 Volts with a sticker price of $39,828.

Additional state and local support provided to Volt suppliers was not included in the analysis, Hohman said, and could increase the level of government aid. For instance, the Volt is being assembled at the Poletown plant in Detroit/Hamtramck, which was built on land acquired by General Motors through eminent domain.

“It just goes to show there are certain folks that will spend anything to get their vision of what people should do,” said State Representative Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills. “It’s a glaring example of the failure of central planning trying to force citizens to purchase something they may not want. … They should let the free market make those decisions.”

“This might be the most government-supported car since the Trabant,” said Hohman, referring to the car produced by the former Communist state of East Germany.

According to GM CEO Dan Akerson, the average Volt owner makes $170,000 per year.
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Revision of my previous post based on the above analysis

It is ludicrous to suggest that the Chevy Volt, which cost over $250,000 in taxpayer investment plus $41,000 retail, a total of $291.000, saves owners money over similar gas vehicles which are priced about one-seventeenth as much.

Saving gas with a Volt

Instead of buying a Chevy Volt, I paid about $14,000 for my Smart Car.
That means I saved more than $277,000 over buying a Volt.
What will my odometer read when I spend as much money on the Smart Car as I would have spent on the Volt?

$277,000 / $4 gal = 69,250 gallons

Let's see, I get 50 miles per gallon - but let's go with the EPA 41 mpg

69,250 gal x 41 = 2,839,250 miles
[B]This is how many miles I can drive my Smart Car before I have spent as much money as it cost to deliver a new Chevy Volt with zero miles on it.[/B]

Yeah. I can save a lot of money on gas with a Volt. Right.

Then there's this. I drive about 15,000 miles per year. But let's call it 20,000.

2,839,000 / 20,000 = 142 years. How long is the warranty on that lithium battery pack?

They forced me to be an unwilling partner in financing a car that only a bunch of idiots would buy.

But if my father, God rest his soul, had read this, he would have had a heart attack to learn how the government had devalued his savings by printing money to foster their poorly-thought out pet projects.

If battery tech had had commercial potential, it would have been marketed by the private sector without government incentives long before now.

Think about this. Say your Volt gets 60 (EPA combined) MPG and you go 2,839,000 miles.

2,839,000 mi / 60 MPG = 47,317 gallons

$4 gal x 47317 gal = $189,267 in fuel cost

So in the end, the Volt, having traveled exactly as far as the Smart Car, cost $291,000 + $189,267 = $480,267
And the Smart Car cost $14,000 + (69,250 gal x $4) = $291,000

The per mile cost for the Volt would be $480,267 / 2,839,000 = 16.93 cents per mile
While the cost per mile for the Smart Car is $291,000 / 2,839,000 = 10.25 cents per mile

The philosophy of CleanMPG is to save money and fuel, right?
The Smart Car wins hands-down over the Chevy Volt in saving money.
But what about gas?
The Volt saved 69,250 - 47317 = 21,933 gallons over 142 years BUT AT NO MONETARY SAVINGS.

Then there is the rather serious question about well to wheels efficiency.
What did it cost in fuel to mine the lithium in South America, ship it to South Korea to make the batteries then ship them to Detroit?
What did it cost in fuel to mine the copper, rare earths and assemble the motor and management systems? And so on.
And, of course, how many times and how much more would it cost to replace the Volt's battery packs over 142 years? We forgot to factor that in. Duh...
The Smart Car incurred none of these costs. No taxpayer was forced to fork over a cent of hard-won money for me to drive my Smart Car.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=328778#post328778

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42178