I agree. It appears that the west coast states are leading the pack with the most charging stations. I can see it now, my new EV in the parking lot with a solar cell roof and a pop-up wind generator so I can have a nice full charge for the ride home from work.

 

There are more outlets than gas stations! They are everywhere.

But seriously, the Volt charges on 110V, which every american home w/ electricity has. For those of you living in apartments, you can try to get your landlord to install a 110V outlet (or a few) in the parking lot. They are mass produced and very cheap. The only costs would be installation. And if you aren't able to charge it some days, no problem you can just use gas.

 

Everybody is looking forward to the Chevy Volt's unveiling - I just hope it is as good as everyone is expecting. I know that over the years both my wife and I commuted close to 40 miles a day so we would have cut our gas use to close to nothing.

My main concern is the fact that Chevy is designing and manufacturing the thing. Their focus and expertise has been on the gas guzzler trucks and SUV's of the past and their small fuel efficient cars have been non-competitors to the imports. Can we expect a complete turn around to happen overnight that will include a mid-sized car that will be both efficient and reliable? Good luck on that one - I for one will be waiting to see their Consumer Reports ratings before investing in one.

Also, the reason we see many electric recharging stations in California parking lots is that at one time California had a law that forced a percent of vehicles sold in California to be "zero" emissions. Auto manufactures - including Detroit - actually designed electric vehicles to satisfy this requirement and charging stations were added at malls, shopping centers, etc. But California got sued and decided to back down on the requirement. Anyone that hasn't seen "Who Killed the Electric Car" needs to rent the DVD and be ready to get angry.

 

I sure hope that Chevy gets it right. If they don't, let's hope that Ford, Nissan, or Chrysler (all of whom have promised plug ins by 2010) will.
Toyota did a great job w/ their RAV4 EV. 10 years later, these cars are running like new with virtually no range degradation. Some even have over 100,000 mi. Now, Toyota is proposing a small, 50mi range EV. I don't get it. 10 years ago they made an all electric SUV that got 120mi per charge. That's not "moving forward" like their motto says....

 

I have been terribly disappointed with the Japanese Manufacturers as of late. Toyota and Honda have been soooo boring compared to Ford, GM and Chrysler. I truely believe that the big 3 can top anything brought to market by there Japanese counterparts. I do not dislike the Japanese cars. All of my cars have been Japanese, but I haven't bought a new car since 2004. I have a feeling my next few cars are going to be American.

American manufacturers have had some really cool gas minimizing and energy efficient projects designed, built and sitting on the shelves for quite some time. I'm hoping to buy a Volt and 2 Mode Silverado on the same day in the next 2 years. What I would really like is that Concept Caddy Extended Range EV. That thing looks hot!

Right now, I just can't fathom turning in my Civic that gets me comfortably 550 miles on a tank of gas, which equates to a full week of driving for me. The car has been so cheap to keep. Our Dodge isn't efficient, but it hasn't broke down on us. Recalls, yes, breakdowns, no.
It tows great, hauls 6 people in a pinch and looks good to me.

Come on America, show the world you have finally put your engineering prowess ahead of the bottom line!

 

I, too am very disappointed at the Japanese auto manufacturers. Honda is all caught up in this FCX thing. The Americans really are the only ones who seem to be taking this seriously right now, which is a change. I don't think that 10,000 volts in the first year will fulfill the demand; even will all the competing plug ins in the market. Hopefully GM doesn't jack up the price of the volt, because they know they can get more for it. They say they really want to keep it down, but it's not going to be cheap. (around $40k)

 

Lets see - our choice will be:

The Chevy Volt will be a 40 mile plug-in electric with a ICE backup priced "in the $40K range" before rebates, taxes, etc. Styling is pleasant, and it is GM built - but the GM part does nothing for me but put up red flags.

Tesla just unveiled their "S" sedan that will be a 200 mile plug-in electric priced at $57K before any rebates, taxes, etc. The styling, in my opinion, is one of the slickest I have seen - comparable to some of the really expensive European imports. Known drawbacks are the lack of any ICE backup to the electric range of 200 miles, plus Tesla is a start-up company and it is my understanding that the "S" will be their first attempt at production line assembly (I read that their roadsters are custom built).

The Volt should be available before the Tesla but, with what is happening at GM, who knows what form GM will take in the next year or so, and when the Volt will actually be available to the general public. Hopefully they will hold to the 2010 date but initial production will be limited.

So the question is which would you choose - the Tesla or the Volt? Is the Tesla styling worth the additional $18K or what other factors would influence your decision?

Baring an outright depression, the next five years are going to be real interesting!

 

I don't drive more than 40 miles in a day, so the volt would be great. If I had the money for the 160-300mi range Tesla, I'd go for it. Although, since the Volt is supposedly coming sooner I'd rather have that. At least we'll have a MINI E to hold us over for 1 year of oil free, zero emission, silent driving.

 

As demand for electric cars increases, so will the demand for chargers and then more gas stations and whatnot will have rapid chargers where you can get a "fill up"


All about demand for the particular market.