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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (406134)	8/13/2008 2:20:04 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1579680

John, I'm not sure why it costs GM so much to make one. Nor am I confident that the costs will be reduced as time goes on. There's no "Moore Law" of automobiles, you know. I think most is in the batteries. Also on the Volt I think they essentially have two engines... one electric to power the car and another gas to charge the batteries to extend the range, if needed. Although it appears revolutionary right now it sure doesn't seem like an 'elegant solution' to me long term. More stop gap than anything. People are investing big bucks in large scale battery factories so that should bring that price down. And the "fuel" savings will be substantial with electric. I don't think Moores Law applies to battery tech (or processors for that matter anymore) but tech should improve and economies of scale should kick in. And $31K for a four-seater seems kind of steep, although if the savings compared to a regular sedan is on the order of $1500/year (including added electric bills), it might be worth it. A lot depends on the life of the car. Also there is lower maintenance (supposedly) and the intangibles of a very quiet drive and not having to stop for gas. I think it's going to happen... if not we really have problems.