115-year-old electric car gets same 40 miles to the charge as Chevy Volt

[B4Time]

Quote: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. 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.

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 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, 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://dailycaller.com/2011/10/14/114-ye...z1aygllYiC

[FastTadpole]

There is also a lot of other direct subsidies on top of the $7500 credit that applies to the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf. That on top of the charging infrastructure programs. California is particularly spendthrift.

Quote:US EV Subsidies

First the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008, and later the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) granted tax credits for new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles.[45] The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) also authorized federal tax credits for converted plug-ins, though the credit is lower than for new PEVs.[46]

New plug-in electric vehicles

As defined by the 2009 ACES Act, a PEV is a vehicle which draws propulsion energy from a traction battery with at least 5 kwh of capacity and uses an offboard source of energy to recharge such battery.[45] The tax credit for new plug-in electric vehicles is worth $2,500 plus $417 for each kilowatt-hour of battery capacity over 5 kwh, and the portion of the credit determined by battery capacity cannot exceed $5,000. Therefore, the total amount of the credit allowed for a new PEV is $7,500.[45]

The new qualified plug-in electric vehicle credit phases out for a PEV manufacturer over the one-year period beginning with the second calendar quarter after the calendar quarter in which at least 200,000 qualifying vehicles from that manufacturer have been sold for use in the United States. For this purpose cumulative sales are accounted after December 31, 2009. Qualifying PEVs are eligible for 50% of the credit if acquired in the first two quarters of the phase-out period, and 25% of the credit if bought in the third or fourth quarter of the phase-out period.[45] Both the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle and the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, launched in December 2010, are eligible for the maximum $7,500 tax credit.[47] The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, scheduled for 2012, is eligible for a $2,500 tax credit due to its smaller battery capacity of 5.2 kWh.[48]

Plug-in conversion kits

Plug-in electric drive conversion are also eligible for a maximum $4,000 federal tax credit.

The 2009 ARRA provided a tax credit for plug-in electric drive conversion kits. The credit is equal to 10% of the cost of converting a vehicle to a qualified plug-in electric vehicle and in service after February 17, 2009. The maximum amount of the credit is $4,000. The credit does not apply to conversions made after December 31, 2011.[46][49]

Charging Equipment

There is a federal tax credit equal to 50% of the cost to buy and install a home-based charging station with a maximum credit of US$2,000 for each station. Businesses qualify for tax credits up to $50,000 for larger installations.[47][50] These credits expired on December 31, 2010, but were extended for one year with a reduced tax credit equal to 30% with a maximum credit of up to US$1,000 for each station for individuals and up to US$30,000 for commercial buyers.[51]

New proposals

Two separate initiatives are being pursued in 2011 to transform the tax credit into an instant cash rebate. The objective of both initiatives is to make new qualifying plug-in electric cars more accessible to buyers by making the incentive more effective. The rebate will be available at the point of sale allowing consumers to avoid a wait of up to a year to apply the tax credit against income tax returns.[52][53] The first initiative is from Senator Debbie Stabenow who reintroduced the "Charging America Forward Act." This bill was originally introduced in August 2010 but was not voted by the full Senate.[52] The bill will turn the tax credit into a rebate worth up to $7500 for plug-in electric vehicles and also provide businesses with a tax credit for purchasing medium or heavy duty plug-in hybrid trucks.[54] The other initiative is from the Obama Administration that was included in the submitted FY 2012 Budget as a provision to transform the existing credit into a rebate that will be claimable by dealers and passed along to the consumers.[53][55]

Another change to the law governing the plug-in tax credit was introduced by Senator Carl Levin and Representative Sander Levin who are proposing to raise the existing cap on the number of plug-in vehicles eligible for the tax credit. The proposal raises that limit from the existing 200,000 PEVs per manufacturer to 500,000 units.[52]

California

The Tesla Roadster is eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit and an additional $5,000 rebate in California.

The Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP), initially funded with a total of $4.1 million by the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Resources Board (ARB), was established in order to promote the production and use of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), including plug-in electric and fuel cell vehicles. The program was created from Assembly Bill 118 that was signed by Governor Schwarzenegger in October 2007. The funding will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis, and the project is expected to go through 2015.[56]

Eligible vehicles include only new ARB-certified or approved zero-emission or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Among the eligible vehicles are neighborhood electric vehicles, battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, and fuel cell vehicles including cars, trucks, medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, and zero-emission motorcycles. Vehicles must be purchased or leased on or after March 15, 2010. Rebates of up to $5,000 per light-duty vehicle are available for individuals and business owners who purchase or lease new eligible vehicles. Certain zero-emission commercial vehicles are also eligible for rebates up to $20,000.[56][57]

Besides the federal tax credit, the Ford Transit Connect Electric is eligible for an additional $4,000 rebate in California.

According to the Clean Vehicle Rebate Program a total of $1.4 million were distributed in 2010 for 213 plug-in vehicles that received the rebate, leaving $2.3 million available for 2011. In January 2011 the California Energy Commission (CEC) allocated a $2 million contribution for the program, and considering the $5 million coming in second year funding, funds available for the rebates will amount to $9.3 million in 2011. The additional $2 million provided by CEC are reserved for rebates of vehicles capable of carrying four passengers and highway driving, providing enough money for 400 more buyers of such plug-in vehicles to benefit from the program.[58] When these funds are exhausted, the 2011-2012 program will offer a lower rebate of up to $2,500. An additional $12 to $17 million is expected to be allocated for the 2011-2012 year program.[59] Current availability of CVRP funds can be checked on the California Center for Sustainable Energy web site.[60]

The 2011 Chevrolet Volt was not submitted for application to the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project rebate and therefore is not eligible for the $5,000 rebate. The reason is that the Volt does not meet the 10-year 150.000-mile (241.402 km) battery warranty requirement for partial zero-emissions vehicles (Enhanced AT-PZEV). The Volt team explained that for the launch GM decided to go with a common national package which includes an 8-year 100,000-mile (160,000 km) battery warranty. A configuration which qualifies for the CARB Enhanced AT-PZEV package is scheduled for the model year 2013, expected by mid 2012.[61][62]

Other states

Several states have established incentives and tax exemptions for BEVs and PHEVs, and other non-monetary incentives, as detailed in the following table: (at destination URL)

~wiki

More detail on that boondoggle here:

Electric Vehicles, The Smart Grid and the Crony Subsidy Windfall to Force EV Adoption
http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=35283

FYI: American Taxpayer's Loss on GM Stock Investment alone is at about $15 Billion as it stands right now.

[kryzcullen]

Roberts electric car is somewhat similar to Chevy. I hope this will not flop as what they say about GM Chevrolet Volt. Many Chevy dealers are refusing to take more Volt hybrid electrics off of GM's hands. The car has been looked into by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over alleged safety issues. However, the probe concluded Monday in GM's favor. Still the car is having a difficult time in the industry. Resource for this article: Dealers turn down Volts even after NHTSA approval.