Electric Cars No More Prone to Fires Than Gas-Powered Vehicles, U.S. Says

[FreakinDJ]

Angela Greiling Keane

U.S. regulators, who ended their investigation yesterday into the Chevrolet Volt, said electric- powered vehicles do not pose a greater risk of fire than gasoline cars.

“Based on the available data, NHTSA does not believe that Chevy Volts or other electric vehicles pose a greater risk of fire than gasoline-powered vehicles,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in an e-mailed statement.

The conclusion by NHTSA came two weeks after General Motors Co. (GM) told Volt owners to bring the vehicles to dealerships for repair.

The government started investigating the Volt after a side- impact crash test in May led to a fire three weeks later. During that test, the lithium-ion battery pack broke open and coolant leaked into the battery. When the car was physically rotated as part of the test, more coolant leaked into a circuit board, leading to a fire. NHTSA replicated the fire in November and started an official probe Nov. 25.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-20/chevy-volt-battery-fire-investigation-closed-by-u-s-regulator.html

[greytdemocrat]

1. Sorry...

But the Volt is an expensive POS that no one wants. FAIL.

[think]

3. Really? That's a Hummer. You may be correct in your opinion but please provide some facts

to back it up. I see many posts like this stating that the Chevy volt is the worst thing to ever happen but then never provide any factual basis for their decision.

The Volt is undoubtedly expensive but so were Hummers which got you a big fat tax break of $25K:

Shed a tear for luxury SUV owners.

Because they're on the verge of losing a perk that comes with purchasing a Hummer or a Cadillac Escalade -- getting a $25,000 tax deduction.

It's one of the many loopholes buried within the fine print of the tax code: Business owners who purchase heavy luxury SUVs, those weighing over 6,000 pounds, get to take deductions up to $25,000.

Now some members of Congress are pushing to close the so-called Hummer Tax Loophole. Led by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., the Ways and Means Committee passed an energy bill last week that is expected on the House floor next month.

Full article:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=3326593&page=1#.Txw8FG9AZsM

I looked for both good and bad reviews . Here is what I found.

For the bad Yahoo where anyone can post and seem to. The biggest complaint is it is too expensive:

http://autos.yahoo.com/chevrolet/volt/2011/reviews/


From a leading car site edmonds.com I find nothing but favorable reviews:

http://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/volt/2011/consumer-reviews.html


Consumer complaints at this site list almost none:

http://www.mycarstats.com/reports/chevrolet/volt/2012/complaints.aspx

Car dealer reviews here give it high marks:

http://www.cardealerreviews.org/?p=260716


Sorry but I disagree with your opinion in regards to Chevy Volt.

[BiggJawn]

2. But the API has no interest in killing gasoline powered cars.

No, quite the contrary, they want the Volt to be laughed off the drawing board and more Urban Assault Vehicles to be marketed to the Sheeple.

Gasoline cars were expensive as hell when they were first invented, and you could drive one an average of 30 miles before it broke down and needed repair. A table radio in 1935 cost the equivalent of $600 today. That colour TV your grand-dad paid almost a month's pay for in 1961? $3,000 today. An XT computer in 1985 cost almost $3,000 and didn't do as much as today's $150 Android handheld.

When Davy discovered Chlorine there was some question of what was it good for. Faraday replied "What good is an infant?"

What good is an electric car? What good is an infant. We need to keep working on this technology because if we wait until gasoline is $30 a gallon, it'll be too late.
But Big Oil is hoping they put us over that barrel, so they fight electric cars.

[NYC_SKP]

4. Faraday replied "What good is an infant?"

I did not know that, what a great quote and concept.

[BiggJawn]

6. I had always thought...

... That it was Franklin, referring to a nay-sayer of Faraday's dynamo, but I found an article that claims the quote for Faraday, not Franklin.

Gives me perspective on a lot of new things and concepts, with the exception of things like Kim Kardashian...

[madokie]

5. If all goes as planned our next auto will be a ford focus EV

My wife and I being near the end of our productive years as workers, me already there, we think that an EV will be a good vehicle to go into her retirement years with