So this is $17,000 off the list price or $9,775? In other words, is it really $9,775 in cash or is the $7,500 gov't rebate + a little bit extra. The former would be compelling, the latter not even remotely interesting in a lease as it would alter the payment by next to nothing.

Not at all. Better Place is just increasing the cost to the consumer; Nissan is lowering it.

Taxi drivers don't buy a taxi that might lose out on a fare when a family looks in back and sees there is no room for three people. It's a >terrible< taxi because it will often lose a fare, not because it works for most fares.

Priuses don't have this problem and get amazing urban gas mileage. They pay for themselves, which is why you see tons of them in mixed-vehicle taxi fleets.

The Volt is a terrible taxi due to the "tunnel" in the backseat rendering it a 4-person-max vehicle, alas. Also, it's exceptional efficiency relies on the battery having some charge, which won't last all that long in a typical shift. After that's done it becomes a normal hybrid with a small back seat.

Taxi fleets are better served with Priuses right now. And please don't mis-read this, I'm a Volt fan.

I suppose Dennis. We'd be tempted, but I'm not sure we could do it all quickly enough to take advantage by the deadline.

I'm seeing $1000 in bonus cash, not $5000.

They >torched< the battery in that test, it seems. It's no way an indication of real-world electric range for commute traffic, nor do they seem to imply it is.

The Volt is a hit, pure and simple. The "deniers" will have to get over it. It's looking like 25,000+ this year and -- depending on things like gas prices -- perhaps 35,000-40,000 next year. That's U.S. only of course. Here's the Prius' early years:

1997 0.3
1998 17.7 17.7
1999 15.2
2000 19.0
2001 29.5
2002 28.1
2003 43.2

(all figures in 1000s)

Oh, yes, in 2011 it's going to be about 1 million Priuses across the family.

At this point in its life, the Volt is growing faster than the Prius did even though Chevrolet's reputation is nowhere as strong as Toyota's was. The future of the Volt -- and EREVs -- is incredibly bright.

These guys are shilling for the Republicans. They cannot seriously be worried that their sales are in jeopardy 13 years from now. This is just politics.

I started laughing at the part about getting 6% interest. The current risk-free interest rate is under 2%.

If you are willing to look at risky investments (like bonds, whose prices can vary wildly), the "sig tax" can be calculated to be nearly infinite. For example, "sig" holders could have bought AOL stock with their deposits and gotten the car for free, with the deposit back.

Let's keep the math closer to real, OK?