General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The CEO of Ford just perfectly summarized the biggest problem for electric cars [View all]caraher
(6,278 posts)2013 model, and even paying the "certified pre-owned" premium it was about $14k
I used 3 gallons of gas in August and September combined. Then I took two long trips in October... even with that, over that same period I drove 67 miles for every gallon of gas I bought. (Yes, I know there are also environmental costs to the electricity...)
EVs and plug-in-hybrids are still very much for homeowners only. Sure, Tesla has fast chargers, but you're still tied to a pretty limited network for those. The Volt is pretty much ideal for where we are today - in daily use most drivers won't touch a drop of gas, but you can still take it across the country worry-free.
Also - cold weather matters a lot! Usually I get between 3 and 4 miles per kWh, but the other day I got in and saw my wife had been driving in electric mode blasting the heat full-force. The result? 1 mile per kWh! I told her she should stick it in "Hold Charge" mode while she's getting warm and switch to electric if she's taking a trip of any significant distance (i.e. more than 10 miles round-trip!).