Why No One Is Buying Volts: Twenty Years to Earn Back the Fuel Saving

The Journal’s “Is Chevy’s Cruze Dulling the Spark of its Volt?” runs the numbers on the Volt and the similarly sized Chevy Cruze.  

The Volts sells for some $20,000 more than the Cruze. According to EPA estimates (which has the Volt running on gas for part of its usage), the Volt consumes $1,508 gallons per year, while the Cruze burns $1.779. If the Volt is used only for short distance travel, its electricity costs $648 per year.

Thus a typical driver who mixes long distance and city driving would need more than sixty years to earn back the fuel saving. A Volt owner who drives only short distances in the city would require twenty years.

Even if our gas prices rose to European levels, it still would not make economic sense to buy the Volt.

And does anyone wonder why GM sold only 603 Volts in January? Another loss for Obama’s industrial policy.