Shrimpbox
Gold Member
Ok, this all happened in a parking lot in Tallahassee fl. By a chevy volt and two charging stations both of which had a sign on them that said out of order. I was slipping in to a Whole Foods store(around here we say whole wallet cause their prices take all your money) when I passed a chevy volt hooked up to one of two charging stations. I went in and did my shopping and on the way out the owner of the volt was there and we struck up a conversation. It went something like this, he was a very salty old curmudgeon so I will edit out the most colorful language and he claimed he was a computer guy for the store.
Me: hey man, how can you hook up to the car when both machines are out of order?
Him: oh this is such a pile of crap, this machine works and the other one doesn't.
Me: how do you like your volt?
Him: I like it a lot. I have driven this thing 5000 miles and only used 6 gallons of gas. My family all worked for gm, I wanted an American made car and I got the discount for employees(and the subsidy too I am assuming). Did you know that even in American made cars at least 30% is still made overseas, mostly Chinese electrical parts.
Me: I thought the chevy volts were all electric, I didn't know they had a gas motor. So this thing is really a hybrid?
Him: we'll sort of. The motor charges the batteries and is not hooked directly to the drive train. This car has a range of 63 miles. I live in quincy(about 30 miles away) so when I come here to work I plug in and am charged up for the ride home.
Me: well tell me something, is this the wave of the future or what?
Him: well you know that Britain just passed a law outlawing all gas and diesel vehicles by 2050.
Me: well I don't agree with that, I think the market should determine what works, but tell me, are these things going to be a significant part of the auto world in 20 years?
Him: you know there are only ten charging stations in all of Tallahassee. Ford, gm, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan , Honda, all the big car companies sell electric vehicles. But every car has a different plug for charging. A tesla charger will not fit any other vehicle. And think about this, Florida just redid all its rest stops and didn't put in one charging station. That should tell you something.
Me: so is it just a question of infrastructure?
Him: well I don't know about that but let me tell you this. My electric bill at home went up so much the electric company put me in a higher bracket with a Higher rate. So by using more electricity I was punished twice. I went to see them to tell them I was driving an electric car so they should charge me less for using more and they just flipped me off( as a side note tallahassee utility won the award for the best utility in the country). It would have been cheaper in the long run to buy a gas vehicle.
Man on the street testimony about electric vehicles. I know Mathew and old rocks won't find this credible but reality is a bitch. My granddaughter is married to a tire mechanic who says his lifts at the shop can't even lift up a tesla to change the tires it is so heavy. There was some other defect he mentioned that I have forgotten about, but the point is that electric cars are not the panacea liberals would have us believe.
Me: hey man, how can you hook up to the car when both machines are out of order?
Him: oh this is such a pile of crap, this machine works and the other one doesn't.
Me: how do you like your volt?
Him: I like it a lot. I have driven this thing 5000 miles and only used 6 gallons of gas. My family all worked for gm, I wanted an American made car and I got the discount for employees(and the subsidy too I am assuming). Did you know that even in American made cars at least 30% is still made overseas, mostly Chinese electrical parts.
Me: I thought the chevy volts were all electric, I didn't know they had a gas motor. So this thing is really a hybrid?
Him: we'll sort of. The motor charges the batteries and is not hooked directly to the drive train. This car has a range of 63 miles. I live in quincy(about 30 miles away) so when I come here to work I plug in and am charged up for the ride home.
Me: well tell me something, is this the wave of the future or what?
Him: well you know that Britain just passed a law outlawing all gas and diesel vehicles by 2050.
Me: well I don't agree with that, I think the market should determine what works, but tell me, are these things going to be a significant part of the auto world in 20 years?
Him: you know there are only ten charging stations in all of Tallahassee. Ford, gm, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan , Honda, all the big car companies sell electric vehicles. But every car has a different plug for charging. A tesla charger will not fit any other vehicle. And think about this, Florida just redid all its rest stops and didn't put in one charging station. That should tell you something.
Me: so is it just a question of infrastructure?
Him: well I don't know about that but let me tell you this. My electric bill at home went up so much the electric company put me in a higher bracket with a Higher rate. So by using more electricity I was punished twice. I went to see them to tell them I was driving an electric car so they should charge me less for using more and they just flipped me off( as a side note tallahassee utility won the award for the best utility in the country). It would have been cheaper in the long run to buy a gas vehicle.
Man on the street testimony about electric vehicles. I know Mathew and old rocks won't find this credible but reality is a bitch. My granddaughter is married to a tire mechanic who says his lifts at the shop can't even lift up a tesla to change the tires it is so heavy. There was some other defect he mentioned that I have forgotten about, but the point is that electric cars are not the panacea liberals would have us believe.
