Built in 1896, it gets a solid 40 miles to the charge — exactly the mileage Chevrolet

[Serpo]

They have come a long way....





Meet the Roberts electric car. Built in 1896, it gets a solid 40 miles to the charge — exactly the mileage Chevrolet advertises for the Volt, the highly touted $31,645 electric car General Motors CEO Dan Akerson called “not a step forward, but a leap forward.”
The executives at Chevrolet can rest easy for now. Since the Roberts was constructed in an age before Henry Ford’s mass production, the 115-year-old electric car is one of a kind.
But don’t let the car’s advanced age let you think it isn’t tough: Its present-day owner, who prefers not to be named, told The Daily Caller it still runs like a charm, and has even completed the roughly 60-mile London to Brighton Vintage Car Race.
If you didn’t know there are electric cars as old as the Roberts, you aren’t alone. Prior to today’s electric v. gas skirmishes, there was another battle: electric v. gas v. steam (http://www.yourdiscovery.com/cars/timeline/). This contest was fought in the market place, and history shows gas gave electric and steam an even more thorough whooping than Coca-Cola gave Moxie (http://www.jphs.org/20thcentury/moxie-soda-outsold-coca-cola.html).
But while the Roberts electric car clearly lacked GPS, power steering and, yes, air bags, the distance it could achieve on a charge, when compared with its modern equivalent, provides a telling example of the slow pace of the electric car.
Driven by a tiller (http://www.fotosdecarros.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/25/02/1896-Ford-Quadricycle-In-Glass-Case_-Henry-Ford_s-1st-Car-59CID-4HP-Seat_Tiller_Drive-Chain-_H-Ford-Museum_-CL.jpg) instead of a wheel, the Roberts car was built seven years before the Wright brothers’ first flight, 12 years before the Ford Model T, 16 years before Chevrolet was founded and 114 years before the first Chevy Volt was delivered to a customer.
As the New York Times reported September 5, “For General Motors and the Obama administration, the new Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid represents the automotive future, the culmination of decades of high-tech research financed partly with federal dollars.”
Like “green technology’s” most powerful proponent (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-focus-on-visiting-clean-tech-companies-raises-questions/2011/06/24/AGSFu9kH_story.html), President Barack Obama, the 1896 Roberts was made in Chicago. Obama, who supports the $7,500 tax credit for the Volt, is not fazed by its 40-mile electric limit — he only drove the car 10 feet (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/07/president-obama-takes-volt-for-a-test-drive.html).
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http://www.blacklistednews.com/115-Year-Old_Electric_Car_Gets_Same_40_Miles_Per_Charge_as_ Chevy_Volt/16147/0/38/38/Y/M.html
(https://twitter.com/#%21/CBedfordDC)


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/14/114-year-old-electric-car-gets-same-40-miles-to-the-charge-as-chevy-volt/#ixzz1b1bqWJRj

[Twisted Titan]

in a similar vein..........


http://youtu.be/lJVzySk0Pks

[Serpo]

Jack looks a lot younger then

[keehah]

...the highly touted $31,645 electric car General Motors CEO Dan Akerson called “not a step forward, but a leap forward.”

Chevy Volt Costing Taxpayers Up to $250K Per Vehicle (http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/chevy-volt-costing-taxpayers-up-to-250k-per-vehicle/)
By Tom Gantert | Michigan Capitol Confidential | December 21, 2011

The Volt subsidies flow through multiple companies involved in production. The analysis includes adding up the amount of government subsidies via tax credits and direct funding for not only General Motors, but other companies supplying parts for the vehicle. For example, the Department of Energy awarded a $105.9 million grant to the GM Brownstown plant that assembles the batteries. The company was also awarded approximately $106 million for its Hamtramck assembly plant in state credits to retain jobs. The company that supplies the Volt’s batteries, Compact Power, was awarded up to $100 million in refundable battery credits (combination tax breaks and cash subsidies). These are among many of the subsidies and tax credits for the vehicle.

It’s unlikely that all the companies involved in Volt production will ever receive all the $3 billion in incentives, Hohman said, because many of them are linked to meeting various employment and other milestones. But the analysis looks at the total value that has been offered to the Volt in different aspects of production – from the assembly line to the dealerships to the battery manufacturers. Some tax credits and subsidies are offered for periods up to 20 years, though most have a much shorter time frame.

GM has estimated they’ve sold 6,000 Volts so far. That would mean each of the 6,000 Volts sold would be subsidized between $50,000 and $250,000, depending on how many government subsidy milestones are realized.