Payback of Electric Car: What is the value?  Earlier today a
reader commented on a blog post on the Nissan Leaf electric car
questioning the economic viability of Leaf and the Chevy Volt.
 He said,  What is the economic practicality of fully electric
cars like the Leaf or the Chevy Volt? I don’t have the detailed
specs on the Leaf but I do for the Volt so here is my analysis.
Assume that the Volt actually sells for its predicted $40,000
price and gets 40 miles on a single charge of its 16 KW hour
battery. I live in northern Westchester and work in White
Plains. If I use the Volt to commute the 20 miles to work each
day, I will just about exhaust the battery on a round trip. In a
year I will have commuted 10,000 miles (200 miles per week, 50
weeks a year). At my current Con Edison rate, each KW hour costs
me nearly $0.21. Over a year I will use 4000 KWH at a cost of
$840.  The CU Auto issue describes a number of automobiles
suitable for the same commute in the $20,000 price range. Most
of these get at least 2