OT USEPA & Industry agree on fuel economy standards

[JohnnyG]

I don't know how many of you caught this in the news this week, but the EPA has finally issued an MPG number for the 2010 Chevy Volt.

How does 260 MPG City sound!

This is the first car to break the triple digit mpg barrier, and has done it a fine fashion. Fuel economy numbers for combined driving and highway have yet to be determined, but will certainly be less than the city number. Being a PLUG IN electric, the Volt is designed to run the first 40 miles without burning ANY gasoline. After 40 miles or so, a small gasoline engine running the generator extends the driving range to a typical 300 miles.

Batteries are currently being designed to last 10 years, and electronic switching of power demand have been completed. One final stumbling point is the power cord design, which is being engineered to allow a drive off, including running over the cord, without damaging the cord or the car. Software on board will permit charging during off-peak usage times automatically.

I'm selling my MRO and buying electicity stocks!

[Marika]

Something is confusing here. 40 miles plus 300 miles is 340 miles (is the fuel tank holding about 7.5 gallons?). My Impala can do between 350 and 400 miles on 17 gallons of fuel without even breaking a sweat. Someone explain to me what I'm missing.

Besides, I live in an apartment, there's no place to plug in a car around here and I'm sure the fire department will frown upon extension cords dangling out windows all night long. Sorry but to me, electric cars are basically impractical. Luckily, I live on the ground floor, but what about folks who live 21 stories above the sidewalk? Where do they plug in their electric cars?

[Ranger]

Instead of parking meters, they will have park & charge meters.

[Marika]

Instead of parking meters, they will have park & charge meters.

In our society, where everyone sues everyone over every little thing, I can just imagine all the trip and fall lawsuits over everyone tripping over these cords from all the electric cars. They're impractical really unless you have a private garage or private property where you can plug it in safely. Also, just wait until your neighbor gets angry at you over something stupid. The new way to vandalize your electric car will be to use insulated garden sheers to cut your charging cord at 2:00 a.m. while the entire neighborhood is sound asleep.

I can go 400 miles or more on the highway with my car and one tank of fuel and then refill it in about 10 minutes and be on my way. How long does it take to recharge these electric cars? Hours? Even using a Tesla means it would take you many days to travel up the coast of California, waiting for the darn batteries to charge Electric **might** be good for "around town" shopping and such but they're no match for petrol powered cars. I think electric cars are a waste of time and money. Better way to spend money is to improve mass transit so that people can get to and from work comfortably, quickly and conveniently for $2.00 a day.

[Bruce Nunnally]

I am excited about extended range electric vehicles. On an average day my commute is under 40 miles, so I would need NO gas. Plug the car in every night, and add the cost to my electric bill. The cost per mile traveled will still be less than the price of gas, and electricity is a renewable resource, and is made in America. Yet if I need to travel, the same car can fill that need too.

Also some businesses are considering having courtesy plug in points to encourage extended range electric vehicles.

I agree that if you don't have a garage to park in and recharge it makes an electric vehicle tricky.

[JohnnyG]

Something is confusing here. 40 miles plus 300 miles is 340 miles (is the fuel tank holding about 7.5 gallons?). My Impala can do between 350 and 400 miles on 17 gallons of fuel without even breaking a sweat. Someone explain to me what I'm missing.

Besides, I live in an apartment, there's no place to plug in a car around here and I'm sure the fire department will frown upon extension cords dangling out windows all night long. Sorry but to me, electric cars are basically impractical. Luckily, I live on the ground floor, but what about folks who live 21 stories above the sidewalk? Where do they plug in their electric cars? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

I don't know Marika, maybe the gasoline engine only adds 260 mile to the original 40, making the total range 300. On generator power the car is likely to get near 100 MPG, so the tank may be much smaller than 7.5 gallons, possibly under 5. And while I'm thinking about THAT, the article didn't say if that was going uphill or downhill either. The point is, a lot of people only think these electric cars are good for 40 miles, then they must be recharged. That is not the case. All you need to do is stop at a gas station and fill up the gas tank, like everybody does now, and continue your journey on generator power. All this time though, you'd ONLY be getting about 100 MPG, pretty hard to swallow! For the market this car is aimed at, 300 miles will be more than adequate as a range.

I honestly didn't consider apartment dwellers or vandals when I typed this post, thanks for pointing that out. In my defense though, I bet Obama hasn't thought about it either!

As to the courtesy electric outlets for employees. I've already told mine that I would add outlets in the parking lot if anybody buys and electric vehicle. And I work for an oil company!

[Marika]

As to the courtesy electric outlets for employees. I've already told mine that I would add outlets in the parking lot if anybody buys and electric vehicle. And I work for an oil company!

It will end up costing you a small fortune, electricians, contractors, etc. and no doubt you'll have to approach the city or town where your business is located for some type of permission, variance etc.

Will the power grid be able to support this additional load? It's doubtful. All the experts are already saying the power grid in the USA is at 110% and there are NO NEW power stations being built from investor money so just imagine what would happen when everyone gets home from work and plugs in their electric car. Who do you blame for the brownouts and blackouts???

[JohnnyG]

Marika, I get two electric bills every month, one averages about $5300.00, and the other about $2300.00...EVERY month! I don't think the power grid will see a difference......and this is BEFORE I'm going to have to start paying my carbon tax on electric service!!

As to the blackouts and brownouts, I mentioned, but didn't fully explain that the software onboard the Volt will set itself to charge during times of off peak demand. I suppose that every area will differ slightly when that would be, but I'd guess midnight to 5:00 AM would be a safe bet.

[Marika]

Marika, I get two electric bills every month, one averages about $5300.00, and the other about $2300.00...EVERY month! I don't think the power grid will see a difference......and this is BEFORE I'm going to have to start paying my carbon tax on electric service!!

As to the blackouts and brownouts, I mentioned, but didn't fully explain that the software onboard the Volt will set itself to charge during times of off peak demand. I suppose that every area will differ slightly when that would be, but I'd guess midnight to 5:00 AM would be a safe bet.

Trust me, that "software" won't be perfect. IF these cars become popular and I'm sure they probably won't just from the look of their price, but just in case they do, there WILL be loads of glitches and problems. I believe that software works with the new generation of electric meters know as "smart meters". Smart meters are not very popular because the electric companies have to pay for their installation which costs well over $2,000 EACH. It turns out these smart meters are really not paying for themselves over the long haul. As for your electric bills, my sympathies to you but don't expect the power companies to pay for any large scale upgrades to their systems, their GREEDY shareholders won't stand for it. No doubt it will land in the laps of the taxpayers, again. However, you personally, will see gigantic expenses when you decide to upgrade your parking lot to accomodate those plug in Barbie doll cars.

[JohnnyG]

I'm sorry. I didn't tell you that I only have 5 employees. You may have been envisioning a huge multi acre parking lot with hundreds of employees.

In July we sold 12,000,000 gallons of gasoline. One small facility in the middle of the most depressed area of the nation, Appalachia. My facility does not make money, according to my company, we have a throughput cost. It is my job to keep it low and to keep my employees safe and motivated. I balance those duties as I deem appropriate. In this case, the cost of charging these cars will be negligible, even if every employee bought one.

In my 37 years of stock ownership and experience, I can tell you EXACTLY how much input GREEDY shareholders have on decisions such as this. ZERO! That is of course unless you consider the largest group of shareholders of any company, its DIRECTORS. They DO make the decisions, and if it will make money (sell product), it will be done.

I'll buy one of these cars if I need it, but until then, the DTS will serve me just fine. On the other hand, if it will save my employees money, and they need to do that, I am willing to help them.

Thanks for your views on this subject. They have given me a few things to consider.

[Marika]

I'm sorry. I didn't tell you that I only have 5 employees. You may have been envisioning a huge multi acre parking lot with hundreds of employees.

In July we sold 12,000,000 gallons of gasoline. One small facility in the middle of the most depressed area of the nation, Appalachia. My facility does not make money, according to my company, we have a throughput cost. It is my job to keep it low and to keep my employees safe and motivated. I balance those duties as I deem appropriate. In this case, the cost of charging these cars will be negligible, even if every employee bought one.

In my 37 years of stock ownership and experience, I can tell you EXACTLY how much input GREEDY shareholders have on decisions such as this. ZERO! That is of course unless you consider the largest group of shareholders of any company, its DIRECTORS. They DO make the decisions, and if it will make money (sell product), it will be done.

I'll buy one of these cars if I need it, but until then, the DTS will serve me just fine. On the other hand, if it will save my employees money, and they need to do that, I am willing to help them.

Thanks for your views on this subject. They have given me a few things to consider.

Actually, shareholders have a lot of more power than you realize. BUY, it's good, SELL, it's bad. Shareholders want their shares to go UP in value and will quickly dump a stock if it starts going down too much.