Not at all. I was planning to build (convert) an EV for some time, but it was never feasible or cost-effective for me to put together the type of car I would have wanted. GM took care of that for me.

 

I actually have a $60,000.00 income as it stands now.

It plays zero role in the appreciation I've got for the Volt or any other EV out there.

 

I'm not to claim income didn't play a role in my decision. Like everything it does. I was able to make a down payment equal to my state and federal credits ($11,500) plus my normal 20% deposit and by having a great credit score I borrowed $26,000 from GM-ALLY at ZERO percent. My monthly payment is not much higher than someone buying a Honda Civic. And I was able to replay myself when my tax and state cash arrived 11 months after purchasing the Volt. I'll do this again when I buy my second EV later this year.

So without a nice income and savings account I couldn't have made the purchase unless I borrowed considerably more money.

So yes income at some basic level affected my decision - it made it possible.

 

When the Volt first came out, my initial reaction was 'Hey, an electric car, that's cool.....wait, $40k sticker price??? No way!'. That was back when I was still in the military when I was officially 'poor', at least according to the IRS, so I could no even claim the full 7.5k tax credit. I dismissed it as a luxury vehicle that was out of my price range. (I bet you a lot of people have a similar reaction today, even though they could afford to purchase the car. Can't get over the sticker shock).

Then the stars aligned to make my Volt purchase last year happen. I got out of the military, my at-the-time commuter car was disappointing me fuel mileage wise, I made just enough money to claim the full federal tax credit with my new job, and my state happened to have enticing EV incentives as well. Toss in 0% financing for 72 months and a 3k rebate, and I was sold. I would not have purchased my Volt if all the above things did not happen/weren't available.

 

Like the general public, when I was younger I didn't care. Didn't care or know about the environmental conditions, world oil situation, political angles or what I could do about it. I think as you get older, you get wiser and can see things more clearly. You learn that ice vehicles spend most of the gasoline on generating heat and not momentum. Maybe it is I didn't know so I couldn't care.

The volt offers a few sustainability advantages. American engineered and built here is one. Way less gasoline used is another. Sure it doesn't go vroom vroom like all the other cars on the road. And that's a good thing.

Younger folks and lower income people don't have room in their minds to care and so the only way they will get on board is to make EVs mainstream over the next twenty years. That's one more generation of time. I don't thing the income level is the issue. It's more of the intellectual level that is involved here. I make the same income I did in 1999 but my views have changed a lot since then.

Yesterday we saw yet another big environmental issue in Oklahoma City. More painful news letting us know of global warming and yet the deniers will claim that its still a hoax that we are to blame. We recently hit 400 parts per million of CO2 and still climbing. Cars can only go vroom vroom for so much longer before we've gone to far.

 

Bro1999 - glad the stars aligned for you. And a thank you for your military service.

As it turned out, I was initially hesitating based on price because I'm basically a cheapskate. We had sufficient income to make it work and my son was in desperate need of a car (he got my old one), so when the opportunity came, I took it. In the end, it wasn't about the money; it was about reducing my dependence on oil that likely came from other countries that don't like us.

 

In the end, it wasn't about the money; it was about reducing my dependence on oil that likely came from other countries that don't like us.

This was a significant factor for me too. I spent 21 years in uniform and got to be very cynical about why we keep loosing good people to IEDs in horrid countries controlled by people who hate us. I like sending my fuel money to my neighbors who work for the local power company. The fact that my fuel bill is significantly smaller is pure gravy. The other big social aspect is the fact that if nobody buys Gen 1, Gen 2 never gets built. I'm trying to make sure Gen 2 gets built. As for the original question: I do fit the demographic now, but even when I was enlisted and making less than half my current salary I was making plans for how I could stretch my budget around a Volt.

 

My last car before the Volt was actually more expensive, a CTS-v. Really I just got tired of feeding the beast, although it was fun to drive. One big factor in driving our decisions was going into retirement the cost to operate is pretty nil because of the solar system we have. We also thought using the tax breaks were a good thing, a $7500 credit is like getting $30K in income, tax free.

The wife was a greenie and required something better in the green department than what she was driving so the Happy Wife, Happy Life syndrome also Kicked in.

 

Price was a big factor for me! I make around $42,000 per year and I typically shop for used cars in the $12,000 range. I also built my own EV but it ended up being a huge disappointment because it just didn't have enough power. The main issue was I didn't have enough money to put in a decent controller and drive motor. Since you can't get a car loan for a car that doesn't exist yet, I had to pay everything out of pocket. When the Leaf and Volt were announced I wasn't sure I could afford either one, but the Leaf was significantly cheaper so I put down a $100 deposit and waited 18 months for delivery hoping I'd figure out a way to afford it by then. Keep in mind, at the time I did not understand how these lease deals would work with the $7,500 being taken right out of the cap cost. It also never occurred to me at the time how much money I'd save on gasoline. So sticker shock was definitely an issue for me. However, now I try to explain to people that our two EVs don't really cost that much because we are leasing them at ridiculously low monthly payments.

 

In my case I always wanted to build or buy my electric vehicle because I am an Electric Engineer. I am retired now so my income dropped to almost half, and my wife left her job years ago. My present average home income is only $40,000 but I can buy a Volt. A $45,000 Volt (including local taxes) is expensive for me, but reducing gas consumption, noise and emissions are two reasons to buy one. Having the best of GM advanced technology is priceless! But I can't buy one yet....

 

I think it makes a big difference. In 1999 I knew a guy who drove an EV-1. It was cool but seemed very expensive. Fast forward ten years and the Volt is less expensive than the cars we'd buy otherwise. So yeah, I think having more disposal able income means the Volt isn't as pricey as many might think.

The interesting development is that I thought we'd need to keep a larger ICE for trips and so forth since the Volt would be too small, but the Volt has worked out OK in that department. A little small in the back but it works well enough overall that it's not worth the hassle of keeping another car around.

 

I am probably in the minority here but I bought my volt right out of college. It made financial sense to me. I will sell my old car and pay off some of my student loans while I financed the volt for 0% (student loans are well above 0%). I also got about 14k off the sticker ($7500 federal, $3000 state, $2000 gm, $1500 dealer). ~30k for a brand new car with all the features the volt has is really not that expensive imo. Anything above an econobox is going to cost you about 30 grand to get comparable features. I normally would never buy a new car but this car was such a great deal I could not pass up on it. My previous car averaged ~21 mpg on my commute costing over $300 a month in gas, my volt costs less then $50 a month in gas and I don't pay for my electric. I will be able to cut that cost down too as my office is in the process of getting an EVSE installed. In addition any driving I do for work I get paid $.56 a mile and usually just a few trips a month more then covers the gas cost for the month.

 

I dismissed the volt a couple years ago because of its price tag.. i thought "why would anyone pay 40k for an economy car?"
then I learned the volt is not an econobox.. 2013 brought about changes in the technology that peaked my interest...

my income is less than $100k per year and has not changed in the 2 years I was aware of the volt...
I am totally into my volt now that I have one..

does buying any brand new car make financial sense? probably not.. sometimes you just have to LIVE a little... I cant take it with me.. so I got my volt because I wanted it.. if I made 175k would I still have a volt? sure I would.. my personality isnt the type to own "rich people" cars....
-Christopher

 

.. if I made 175k would I still have a volt? sure I would.. my personality isnt the type to own "rich people" cars....
-Christopher

I drive around rich people neighborhoods and find I also see a lot of less than rich people cars. If you think demographically, consider that PHEV/BEV is well-suited to suburbia. You need an outlet, you have a garage, your commute stinks but you are getting paid more to work downtown. Where was the average salary going to go? So, does income color the perception of the Volt, or does the Volt happen to economically suit people with higher incomes, regardless of what they may be?

 

If people are number crunchers, then they need to play it out. Depending upon miles driven, price of electricity, available free charging at work, etc, it is possible that the monthly gas savings realized by a Volt owner can almost offset the monthly lease or payment.

What you then have left is that you are driving a cool vehicle (and if one cares, also eliminating our dependency on oil).

 

Its impossible to isolate one element of what drives a perception.

Does income effect perception.. or it it education impacting perception and being correlated with income. High-tech education leads to high interest in things like the Volt and also is highly correlated with above average incomes. Strong financial skills leads to the ability consider longer term financial models (TCO over years) and is also strongly correlated with income. I designed my first serial hybrid in HS (well at least on paper), and have been wanting one ever since. I could have bought a Karma or Tesla but prefered the volt as better value.

 

The best "Value" might be to find a 2-3 year old economy car and drive it until the wheels fall off.

When I look at my monthly lease payments and factor in the amount of CASH I save every month on gas... My leas payment drops into the compact economy car lease rate range.

For about the same amount of money every month... I can drive a Volt or a Chevy Sonic. Which one would you pick?

 

The best "Value" might be to find a 2-3 year old economy car and drive it until the wheels fall off.

Well, in my case, sticker price was an important aspect of my Volt purchase. I did replace an old 1996 Ford Taurus with 100 000 miles by a very lightly used (4102 miles) 2011 Volt fully equipped with all features.
The Taurus went straight to the crusher, when I got the Volt. I paid it 32600$ + canadian taxes + inspections for importation.
That summed it up to $37 000 net.

The cost of gas the Taurus burned is more costly that the price of the Volt + electricity for the life of the Volt.

It simply made financial sense to purchase one.

Francois
B2653

 

I still don't give a crap about the environment, but I was so proud to buy American and be able to tell people it was the best car on the market.

The fact that I save over $250/month in net gasoline cost doesn't hurt either

 

For me, the Volt represented the perfect storm: it allowed me to get off the oil habit, run on cheap electricity (compared to gas), addressed the range issue with the backup ICE, and enabled me to support innovation by GM. I too had to grapple with the price, but after the tax credit, it was in the ballpark for the average new car today. That I also get to drive a space ship is a cool bonus.

I find that many things that cost more upfront (the Volt, geothermal heating/cooling, solar power, LED bulbs, etc.) save you money over the long run. Unfortunately, as consumers we are used to looking at purchase price only, and not the long term costs of ownership. This is why the anti-EV focus on the Volt purchase price is so effective and so misleading.

As far as income, if your income enables you to spend more upfront you perhaps get a little richer long term. If your income is insufficient to take the larger upfront hit, you end up buying "cheap" products but spending more over time and having less savings long term. A bit of a trap.

 

I find that many things that cost more upfront (the Volt, geothermal heating/cooling, solar power, LED bulbs, etc.) save you money over the long run. Unfortunately, as consumers we are used to looking at purchase price only, and not the long term costs of ownership. This is why the anti-EV focus on the Volt purchase price is so effective and so misleading.

American consumers are, on the whole, short-sighted. Advertise a product at an 'everyday low price' of $5 in one store, and advertise the same exact product as a "limited time 50% off flash sale!" at $5 at another, and the majority of people would buy the 50% off item, even though it's the same exact product at the same exact price.

Same thing will cell phones. Offer a 'free' cell phone if you sign up for a 2 year contract at $100 a month, and offer the same phone for $500 up front at $50 a month, and most people will pick the 'free' phone, even though the 'free' cell phone will cost you more over the 2 years.

 

In my case, my income and my upbringing colors my perception...I bought the Volt for my wife's commute because it is the best affordable tool for that job...the same way I buy John Deere equipment for the farm or Klein hand tools for electrical projects...

 

That is an interesting question, although I agree many factors come into play. I am not even sure in my own case, as what I most likely would have picked would have been about the same price range - mid-40K MSRP. However, branding also would have been part of the equation, and (excluding pick-up type vehicles) I would not have been looking at the Chevrolet line up in that price range at all.

Now, all that said, in my case it was much more of an impulse buy, as I got the car used with low miles. My previous car had a mechanical issue I did not want to invest in, considering the age and mileage, and I found a color and option package that I liked that was immediately available for a reasonable price. My final decision point was that it was a relatively decent price, and that if I purchased it and hated it, I could trade in 6 months and be out less than the cost of repairing my previous car.

Of course two months into ownership, I love it and plan to keep it for as long as it will last. Not to mention, that the fuel savings is literally making the car payment (currently).

 

would you have dismissed the volt as an interesting car, but nothing that you'd spend such a large portion of your income?

That's how I view the Tesla S.

 

I'm unemployed. So I guess it is a misnomer that people must have a $170,000 per year income.

"Will for for electrons" Catch me on any street corner, by the way.

 

I was fixated on the purchase price for months. I make a decent income, but $42K + 9% sales tax is a big purchase!

Finally, I decided to lease (to reduce my financial commitment and my risk). To my surprise, I have found this car to be very cheap to own. In my worrying about the purchase price, I was not considering the fuel savings (which makes my $360/month lease payment equivalent to a very affordable $150/month payment).

 

I would have to say that I would find a way to do the Volt even if income was less. As I look back upon my life’s philosophies, I was always thinking outside the box. I wanted a flat tax when I was a teenager, because it was the only thing that was fair. I did not really want to get all of my tax money back at refund time, because it meant that someday I would be making up for an inequitable system.

I keep saying that half of being green is hating waste and wanting to be efficient. I have hated incandescent bulbs for decades, even though alternatives are only recently available. Why? Because I found when I was still a kid that 80% of the energy is wasted as heat. It was inevitable, regardless of income, that I would find a way to have solar pv + electric driving, so that I could drive around on sunlight. I have driven like an old man, even when I was a teenager, because it just seemed so stupid to waste gas because of impatience. Now, I drive with abandon.

The other reason I would end up with the Volt is that I have paid attention to world events since my age was in the single digits. I look for cause and effect in both people and the natural world. Only a stooge would be ignorant of global climate issues at this point. Driving without burning oil is the only course of events to pursue at this point.

And the last part of my personality that embraces the Volt is that I truly live by treating others as I want to be treated (regardless of how I am actually treated). Whether it be the fumes, noise pollution or damage to the environment, there is a price to pay for being selfish (call it Judgment Day, if you desire). And it is TOTALLY SELFISH to say that you don’t give a crap about the environment. My wife’s uncle made the statement that he is just using up ‘his share’ of the planet’s resources. WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?? Long after you are gone, your children, and your neighbor’s children will benefit or suffer from the actions you take or fail to take during your lifetime. Being selfish is NOT just about your contemporaries on Planet Earth; billions of others who follow don’t want to inherit boiling, acidic seas filled with nothing but jellyfish and plastic. They will want soils that support crop growth and will not want to have to find a way to deal with their ancestors trash. The Volt is ultimately about NOT being selfish and it is a car that I would find a way to own. We are not talking about something that is too expensive. AGAIN, I point out that if you can take advantage of the full tax credit, the price of the Volt is very near to the AVERAGE of what EVERYBODY is spending for newly manufactured automobiles.

 

Drive an SUV @ 17mpg or a Volt at > 300. hmmm. It's the same dang cost for either, so, I chose Volt.

And I don't make anywhere near $170k.

 

Looking at having no gas stops for at least a month is a great option to have and the technology of the car is so unique, I have people from my work each day wanting to check this car out. Montly payment wise it falls bit lower what I have paid in the past for leases.