Chevy Volt – A Charge or a Drain?

“Headline: GM offers repairs to Volt owners for structural modifications”  This is not an actual “recall” as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is not directly involved. However, if you own one of these things you should consider it as such. There are reports of some kind of battery fires which have forced GM’s hand in offering these fixes as well as creating some policy changes on making mechanical repairs. Newer models apparently have these structural issues dealt with.

“Headline: GM announces the possibility of cutting production” It seems these things are not flying off the lots. Or production hasn’t matched demand. It kind of depends on who you talk to. Sales analysts and automotive watchdogs may say it is priced too high and that other electric / hybrids offer a better history of performance. There is also the buying public being confused as to how the thing works. You have to plug it in and put gas in it…? The gasoline engine doesn’t recharge it but runs the electric motor when the battery dies…? It costs how much…? How fast is it…? What…?

Then you have the “Go Green at all costs” zealots who praise anything that can be promoted as saving “the planet”. They say to give it time, to put them on the lots in front of Camaros and Silverados so the “people” can see them, show the public the “benefit” of the technology… and so forth. They want the Volt and similar vehicles to succeed because it makes them feel good about their “green” mindset. Many of these same people also stoke the fire to raise fuel prices and force the public hand. Not out of any real concern for the actual needs of the public but for their perceived needs of the public. (Global warming will kill us all unless you buy a Volt.)

Is “global warming” real? If so, can it be laid totally at the feet of mankind and the use of fossil fuels? Is it…? Can it…? Completely…? Or is this a warming trend that has been noted before in the fossil record before we started burning it up? Now, before you get all crazy with defending everything “green”, nobody is saying we should not explore this technology or do what we can to live cleaner. Natural resources being what they are (including fuel) require us to move forward and develop replacement energy systems while sustaining these resources. Does that mean “forcing” or frightening or confusing the general population into a cattle-like response based solely on the point of view of a handful who think “we know better”…?

There are reports of the Volt costing taxpayers up to $250,000.00 per vehicle. The baseline can be discredited, to a large degree, as the U.S. Government “Stimulus” money invested so far can not be simply divided by the number of vehicles sold so far. However, making attempts at reducing that number by projecting thousands of future sales may not be completely realistic, either. Bottom line, is it the responsibility of my tax dollar to make sure the hippie down the street has a “Volt”? Too simplistic…? Perhaps… But environmentalist dogma is usually also presented in a similar manner. Human progress is often put aside for a simplistic “do this and we die” environmental attitude.

How quickly could the BP oil spill have been capped off if “environmental” regulations had not forced the rig so far out to sea? I’m not talking about the “shortcuts” and errors made in building the thing but the regs that forced the location in the first place…

How foolish is it to continue to send money to Arabian controlled States (some hostile to U.S. interests) for oil when we could be harnessing our own resources and expanding refinery technology while using the profits to fund research and development within our borders for alternatives?

How foolish is it to allow other countries the benefits of drilling off our borders while we hinder our own exploration?

The Canadians have a pipeline ready to send oil to Texas. Do we utilize this or allow the Chinese or others to benefit from this resource?

Do we compare the U.S. Government involvement in the production of the Volt to the issues surrounding the Solyndra deal?

Questions and more questions. Complex questions too often being reduced to simplistic points of view.

You want a Volt…? Buy one. Send the rest of us a monthly check from your “fuel savings” so we can get a return on our tax investment. Sure, we’ll wait until you actually see a positive return on your savings as the $40,000.00 cost will, of course, generate your monthly finance payment. How much are you saving, really? Oh… the entire planet…?  I see… You really believe that, don’t you…?