Chevy Volt arithmetic - why I won't be buying one

[Dreamer Tatum]

I drive an SUV (don't worry - Gaia was my co-signer) that is paid off, free and clear. It is worth aboput $10,000 in resale.
I get about 15mpg.

A Volt costs $40,000 (I will use round numbers). Let us assume the net asset cost of a Volt to me is $30,000. I will need
to find $30,000 in fuel cost savings on a net present value basis to justify buying a Volt. This assumes that I don't
finance the vehicle, ie, I have $30K in cash just laying around.

Let us suppose for exposition that the Volt gets 60mpg of actual gas purchased (it runs on gas and electricity). Gas is $4/gal,
and I drive 15,000 miles per year.

I use 1,000 gallons of gas per year at an expense of $4,000; with a Volt I would use 250 gallons and spend $1,000. That's an
annual gas expense savings of $3,000.

Assuming that the electricity to feed the car is free to me (a horrible assumption), and there is
no time value of money, it would take 10 years to recoup the expense of the vehicle relative to the one I currently own.
In that 10 years, the battery will likely need to be replaced at least once, the expense of which I will call a wash due
to likely upkeep expense for my current vehicle.

The more likely scenario is that I finance the vehicle, and electricity is nowhere near free, both of which imply that the
real time to recoup the expense is more like 12-15 years.

Not worth it.