Recent Comments:
Big Brother is riding shotgun: Oregon blames mandatory GPS for cars on hybrids {Autoblog Green}
Sep 25th 2007 12:42PM Is it already April 1st??
Study shows U.S. is dominant market for hybrid vehicles {Autoblog Green}
Jun 22nd 2007 6:00AM The Prius in Italy costs 24k euro, beyond the budget of the italian middle class with a 15-20k euro yearly income.
We got a FIAT IDEA instead, similar in size and options at half the price. Driving 10,000km/year a Prius doesn't recuperate the price difference even at european fuel prices.
Poland Springs switches tankers to B5, bottled water still a huge waste {Autoblog Green}
Jun 13th 2007 8:30AM I switched to tapwater about a month ago. It saves me 10 euros a month, 50 or so plastic bottles in waste and the shopping is a lot lighter. A lot of the good taste of bottled water is immagination. I refill a nice glass bottle and keep it in the fridge. Tastes great....
Detroit Auto Show: Live Reveal of the Chevy Volt EV {Autoblog Green}
Feb 7th 2007 7:03AM My 2 cents on the cost comparison:
Gasoline car: 12c/mile (20mile/gallon, 2.4$/gallon)
The volt: 4c/mile (40mile/16kWh, 10c/kWh)
Savings on lifetime of the car : 8,000$ (100,000miles)
So paying $8,000 more for this car than for the equivalent gasoline car would not be unreasonable, since that's what you'd save over the lifetime.
Many people may be turned of by paying 8,000$ upfront for hypothetical savings in the next 10 years, but there should be enough people willing to take some risk with 8,000$ that they have in pocket should be big enough to make this car a success.
Beware that a reliable 16kWh battery is quite a jump from presently mass-produced batteries.
The Toyota Prius for example has a capacity of only 1.3 kWh.
Living in Italy, I wish FIAT or RENAULT came out with a SMALLER, CHEAPER version of such a car. I don't need 160hp, 80 will do. Batteries for a 10mile range would be fine too, since my commute is 6miles/day. And I need to park in tiny parking spots, beyond 400cm gets tough. Partly due to higher tax (20% VAT), the Toyota Prius, $20k in the US, comes at 25k euros (=$30k)
well beyond the range of most Italians, I fear the Volt may not even come out in Europe...
