BAR wrote:



GM is giving an 8 year, 100,000 warranty on the battery, whichever first.
If the car is used for 40 mile daily trips that's 2500 discharge cycles
to get to 100,000 miles and less than 7 years.
Either your "battery expert" is way off or GM is screwed.

I asked my battery expert that same question. She said that LIon
batteries, which they are using in the Volt, can now only handle 400
full discharge cycles, from full charge to full discharge. Partial
discharges don't count.

Place your bet.

I'll stick with my battery expert.


Give her all the info first. The battery is supposed to get 40 miles
before it hits 30% charge. It never gets below 30%, because the ICE
kicks in at 30%. If you drive less than 40 miles, it could be
considerably higher that 30% when you plug in to recharge.
So the 400 cycles means nothing.



I have a $12,500 car that gets 37 MPG and doesn't require any special
charging station and when the fuel tanks runs low I can stop in any gas
station to refuel.


There is no special charging station. Plug in to 120 or 240 in your
garage. If you use it solely for 40 miles or less commutes, you might
go to a gas station once every 2 years.
I think the ICE kicks in once a month as a self-test.
They might recommend running to the ICE level once a year or two years
just to refresh the gas. I don't know that, but it might make sense.
And you use a gas station just like with any car once you get to 30%
battery. Range is +300 miles using gas alone.
I won't buy a Volt. Others will. It's a neat concept.
But until it's sold and proven, it's still just a concept to me.
If it's all it's cracked up to be, they'll sell plenty.
I don't have much faith in GM, so they'll have to prove it.
Wish them well though. If they sell enough of them, might start
building nuke plants to provide the juice.
Win win.


What is
the value of a Volt with a non-functioning battery pack? How much would
you pay for a used Prius with a non-functioning battery pack?

Oh, and what is it going to cost you to recycle your Volt battery pack?
You can't just pull it out and leave it in the garage or the backyard.
What does it cost you to recycle your car battery now when you buy a new
one? And your refrigerator?

My car battery is $10. I have had to replace 2 recently. One on a 13
year old mini-van and the other on a 9 year old truck.


Sears has what amounts to a $10 core charge when you buy one there.
$10 more for a new battery if you don't have one for an exchange.
But they take them for recycling at no charge and give you a coupon.
I can put them in the driveway by the curb. Got rid of 5 old ones
that way last year.
Anything I don't want that has any metal in it I can pile by the curb
the evening before trash day, and it's gone before dawn.
Sometimes in 5 minutes.
I don't do garage sales.
Old paint is the hardest to get rid of. You can dry it out somehow -
kitty litter or oil-dri works - and put it all in the trash with a
crushed can, or pay the hardware store $2.50 a gallon to dispose of it.
After I did a couple gallons with oil-dri, I decided to take the other
7 gallons to the hardware store.
I'm real careful about buying just the paint I need now.


Our old fridge was haulled away for $50. I could have taken it to the
county recycling locaiton for free. But, when there are two guys who are
going to take it out of your house, load it on a truck and it is gone
you can't beat the price.


Sounds reasonable, but I had no problem carting an extra old one to the
curb. It was still working.
Whenever I replaced a fridge the delivery men took the old one away.
Same with washers, dryers and garage doors.

Almost everything gets recycled at a profit.

True, but the value of a non-working fridge is $5.


Probably more like $10-20. Easy money to toss it in a truck.

That's why guys and gals are driving around in beat-up pickups looking
for free recyclable crap.

As long as they don't try and steal my aluminium gutters off of my house
I am happy.

Where the hell have you been?

In the better part of town.

More likely a HOA. The metal recyclers/pickers cruise here at trash
time because they score good stuff.
Po folk don't throw good stuff away.

Jim - Sort of wish I had chosen trash-picker as occupation. Maybe gypsy
or circus man. Good hours.