Hey, I'm all for helping our planet Earth but this nonsense about driving around in battery powered cars is just another of President Obama's dreams of spending my money.
Gov'Mint Motors is all excited about their Chevy Volt which will go all of 40 MILES on a single charge! Big whoop! That won't even get me to the Cowboys game AND back. So after I go watch Romo toss another game losing INT - I get stuck on the way home when my battery runs out of juice. Yeah, that will really get the wife all excited and ready to jump my bones when we get home for sure. I can hear her now, "TOLD YOU that the Volt won't get us to the game and back..." and I'll once again have to say, "you are right, dear." Puleeze!
So, what we really have here is nothing more than PAY-BACK to the UNIONS from Obama for helping get him elected, pure and simple. Last Thursday, the Chosen One was once again AWOL from the White House and back on the campaign trail - to Holland, Michigan to attend a groundbreaking ceremony for a new lithium-ion battery plant from Compact Power, Inc. Yes Sir, this was advertised as another great example of the White House's Federal Stimulus Grants in action - and creating 300 new jobs.
But, here is what cuts my cheese: Compact Power, Inc. isn't even an American Company! WTF! "We The People" give them $151 Million and neither the plant OR the technology isn't from the good 'ol USA! Oops. That might be a problem, Mr. President! CPI is part of a South Korean company, LG Chemical.
Oh, yeah, these cool, new batteries cost $16,000 each, too! SIXTEEN LARGE! So, I'm driving my four year old Volt in 2014 and the car will only stay charged now for about 16 miles and I figure it must be the battery. I guess I'll walk down to Auto Zone and pick me up a new one. The pimple faced kid looks me straight in the eyes and says, "That will be $16,000.00 for the battery, $1,320.00 sales tax and $800.00 VAT tax, please. Oh, yeah - no problem. Can you at least throw in an oil change too?
Estimated retail price for a new Volt is expected to be in the $30K- $40K range later this fall. If you think it will be hard to get that baby financed - wait until you call your banker and ask for a loan for a replacement battery!
Gasoline is a wonderful product. It is cheap and will make my car go FAST with the A/C cranking, power the windows, seats and all 12 speakers at the same time. I just can't imagine how the Chevy Volt will make the air blow cold in July in Texas when we are rocking over 100 degrees for weeks at a time. No thanks. I think I will stick to just using batteries in my golf cart. At least when it dies I can hang around for the beer girl who is coming right around the corner.
