Reply #8: "... putting petroleum in a gas tank, or petroleum in a power plant gas tank ..."

[OKIsItJustMe]

It's not the same.

A typical gasoline powered automobile is much less efficient than a power plant. So, even though there is transmission loss, assuming that your local utility did burn gasoline it would be ecologically better to burn it there and charge the batteries on your Volt than to burn it in a standard automobile.

However, if you get your PV system built, you can use it to charge the batteries in your Volt.

The advantage of the Volt over a "conventional" all-electric car is that the Volt can use a smaller capacity battery—large enough to achieve its "40" mile all-electric range, which is all most commuters need not large enough to achieve the "245" mile range of the Tesla roadster.

That means less weight and less expense for the battery.