I hear that you have to drive a Volt 450k miles to amortize its cost. The leaf needs about 300k miles to amortize. Not me. I'm on my 4th Gen 1 Prius (2002) with a new factory battery. Battery life averages 150k miles, so for under $6000 I have another 6-8 years before it needs fixing. Nothing else seems to break. If gas prices keep going up, it will keep its value. When batteries have a breakthrough, or fuel cells become practical, I'll update - likely with Toyota for reliability.
Bought a Volt and it is really paying off for me. I drive 80 miles one way to work (as a Project Engineer) and my work lets me charge at work. No range anxiety here. The Volt is not for everyone and neither is the Corvette, Suburban, Prius, Civic/Civic Hybrid, F-150,......... If you spend the time to understand your driving needs and budget, then it's a personal choice. I tell people all of the time that it's perfect for me, but your needs may be different. Over 4 to 5 years I will recover the difference over a car that is $10k less than mine and gets 35mpg compared to the 70mpg I am getting (http://www.voltstats.net/#monthlyTab electra in Oklahoma). I am excited to own a car that is the direction we need to go. Some of you are fear mongering indivuals that fear change and that's to be expected of narrow minded indivuals.
Economic justification and convienence are the rules of the road, if you want a 2nd car that does a few miles a day and one to actually travel electric vehicles may have a place for the rich, but in the end, its just bad timing
Logically we could have oversized busses, which have the right of way on the lightless highwyas that connect our nation, traveing 24 hours a day, in a horizontal position from NYC to LA for 100 $ in 24 hours, a good rest, with music, or the movies of your choice. I spent a few nours modeling it out, Bus Trains---Not like the bkackhound who spends hours driving to the inner city, but an actual Bus-Train, that stops for fuel and does 100 + MPH. In mexico the buses recline into beds i went from Vearacruze to brownville in 17 hours, for 85 $ 960 miles
A lot of people argue for mass transit as the way to get around. I agree, for somewhere like San Francisco or New York. But around most of the country, there either is no mass transit option or a very poor bus-only system. Mass transit is a great option when it's there, but there will always be plenty of room for other alternatives elsewhere.
Regarding the Volt kicking on the engine under heavy load during the first 35 miles -- I believe this is untrue. I own a Volt, and have never had the engine come on during the EV range, regardless of how I have driven it. The electric drive motor provides about 150 HP, which is plenty, so there would be no need for it. And it would go against Chevy's intent of it being an EV with extended range.
I purchased a Nissan Leaf Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), zero emission cars in May of 2011. Besides the $7,500 federal EV rebate, the state of Washington offers $0.00 sales tax for EV purchases. After the Federal rebate the true purchase price for the leaf will be $25,500.00. I drive the vehicle to work and home and various trips to the store or to family events after work. I am logging 40 to 80 miles a day with 116 miles as the highest miles on a single charge. I pay 6.3 cents a kilowatt hour rate and I am paying $ .83 cents on the average per charge a day to drive the vehicle. Nissan Leaf is a 5 person vehicle with maintenance that includes tires, brakes and a change of brake fluid. Nissan requires a yearly check of the Li-ion battery pack that has an 8 year, 100K mile warranty.
I test drove the Chevy Volt last weekend. This is what I learned; 4 passenger seating capacity, 35 miles on one charge. If you drive the car on the freeway or need to accelerate fast, the gasoline motor will start up to provide the extra power needed during the first 35 miles. The motor does not charge the battery, the only way the battery can be charge while on the road is through regenerative braking that dumps energy back into the battery or thru mechanical generation due to deceleration or coasting on downward inclines. Maintenance for the Volt will include the engine, cooling, exhaust as well as the batteries.
If you buy the Volt you can hyper-mile the vehicle and it will provide you the 25 to 50 miles per charge as a purely EV car. If you are looking for a Plug-In Electrical car (PHEV) capable vehicle that can travel long distances and make use of a battery around town, the volt is the ticket. When it comes to price and luxury, I do not believe the plastic interiors of the Chevy vehicles are very luxurious. The leather seats are nice. I do not believe the price point on this car is very attractive to most buyers and really who will pay $ 45K for this car? If I am going to take a family vacation or trip most people would drive their vans of SUVs for comfort and cargo capacity.
At this snapshot in time, I know the Nissan Leaf was my best choice in the BEV today. The Nissan Leaf has a $25,500 price point that is almost $ 10,000 less than the Volt. As the electrical car charger become more common place around town (malls, theatres, Restaurants, etc.) more miles can be logged in a day without going home to charge. I also look forward to the new BEV cars that will be hitting the market place and welcome the release of the 300 mile range Nissan dense packed battery upgrades.
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