Assuming your power grid is powered by a coal fired power plant. Is the overall carbon footprint still significantly greater? Would the 80 cents per mile in gasoline be offset by a noticeably higher utility bill at home or do you still end up way ahead?
Sorry, not 80 cents per mile, they are saying that with the Volt it’d be like driving a conventional car but paying 80 cents per gallon.
The Chevy Volt isn’t out yet, so no one really knows.
Yes, plugging it in would cause your electric bill to go up. However, I think the idea is that it would generally be plugged in over night, a time which the electrical demand is lower. Depending on your billing plan, many electrical companies will charge you less per kilowatt hour for this off peak electrical usage.
As far as the carbon footprint, yes, if your electricity is coal generated, your carbon footprint would still be substantial. however, many of us live near nuclear plants or hydro plants, so this would not be the case.
Also, efficiency tends to be larger in larger power plants of any kind, as opposed to the small engine in vehicles. In other words, the power plant produces power more efficiently than than you use it in you gas powered car.
Finally, this entire carbon footprint thing is fairly new and there is a lot of bad information being passed around as fact.