Cost To Operate A Chevy Volt

Eric Bolling (Fox Business Channel’s Follow the Money) test drove the Chevy Volt at the invitation of General Motors.

For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted only 25 miles before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine.

Eric calculated the car got 30 mpg including the 25 miles it ran on the battery. So, the range including the 9 gallon gas tank and the 16 kwh battery is approximately 270 miles. It will take you 4 1/2 hours to drive 270 miles at 60 mph. Then add 10 hours to charge the battery and you have a total trip time of 14.5 hours. In a typical road trip your average speed (including charging time) would be 20 mph.

According to General Motors, the Volt battery holds 16 kwh of electricity. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery.

The cost for the electricity to charge the Volt is never mentioned so I looked up what I pay for electricity.

I pay approximately (it varies with amount used and the seasons) $1.16 per kwh.

16 kwh x $1.16 per kwh = $18.56 to charge the battery.

$18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the Volt using the battery.

Compare this to a similar size car with a gasoline engine that gets 32 mpg.

$3.19 per gallon divided by 32 mpg = $0.10 per mile.

The gasoline powered car costs about $15,000 while the Volt costs $46,000.

So Obama wants us to pay 3 times as much for a car that costs more than 7 times as much to run and takes 3 times as long to drive across country.

REALLY

Costco Versus Your Grocery Store

Wondering if a Costco membership is really worth it? This grocery store vs. Costco experiment compares food prices.

Buying in bulk at Costco can save your family lots of money—depending on what you buy. To find out exactly which items are the best deals at the wholesale club, personal finance blog Squawkfox did a shopping experiment comparing unit prices on fresh, frozen, and packaged goods between a local grocery and Costco.

The results are interesting, with the local grocery store coming out ahead for fresh foods (fruits, cheese, chicken, and milk), but Costco saving almost 21% on everything else priced out:

Importantly, the quality of the frozen foods at Costco was better than the supermarket’s generic brand.

In short, a Costco membership might make sense for buying in bulk once a month for those strategic items (frozen foods, canned goods, diapers, etc.)—keeping in mind our previously tip to avoid buying soda, toilet paper, and office supplies at Costco because you can get these at the supermarket on sale cheaper with coupons. Of course, your mileage may vary, so definitely check prices yourself, but the figures above may give you an idea if shopping Costco for certain foods is worth it or not for you. Check out the full article for more tips on making the most of a Costco membership and saving more at Costco.

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