From the So-Painfully-Obvious-We-Shouldn’t-Have-to-Run-This-Study Department:
Study: Electric-Cars Won’t Make a Big Impact Until Prices Fall
Shocker. What are those sticker prices?
(T)he base price of a Toyota Prius comes in at $24,995 but the plug-in version starts at $32,795. The Chevrolet Volt starts at $39,995.
The $51 billion-bailed-out General Motors (GM) Volt is completely uncompetitive with its un-bailed-out electric/hybrid competition.
Heck – it isn’t even competitive with other Chevys.
A Little Bit of Chevy Volt in Chevy Cruze
The recent announcement of the $41,000 price tag on the Chevy Volt disappointed many fans–and spurred debate about the taxpayer dollars required to bring the plug-in hybrid to life.
But the new Chevrolet Cruze shows how General Motors is hedging its bets on the Volt’s high-cost components by installing them on a high-volume model.
The $40,000 Volt is basically a $17,000 Cruze – with a 500 lb., 25-mile range, eight-hour-to-charge battery. Which is toxic when spent – and costs somewhere between $8,000 and $15,000 to replace.
And the American people aren’t buying? Shocker.
But wait — it gets worse.
So the Volt is completely uncompetitive at $40,000 – and GM loses $49,000 on each one it makes. “A waste of money?” Not at all, President Bailout.
But wait – it gets worse. As of the end of 2011:
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….
So the Volt has, by now, received well more than $3 billion in government subsidies. To make the equivalent of a $17,000 car – that retails for $40,000 and costs $89,000 to make.
(T)he (electric/hybrid car) market only represents only 0.3 percent of total industry sales….
Billions well spent.
But wait – it gets worse. We the Taxpayers own 26% of GM’s stock – and are poised to lose more than $40 billion on the auto bailout.
In no small part because GM – the company in which we are conscripted investors – is wasting tens of millions – and the Feds billions more – tilting at Volt windmills.
Another shocker.
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