From the So-Painfully-Obvious-We-Shouldn’t-Have-to-Run-This-Study Department:

Study: Electric-Cars Won’t Make a Big Impact Until Prices Fall

Shocker.  What are those sticker prices?

(T)he base price of a Toyota Prius comes in at $24,995 but the plug-in version starts at $32,795. The Chevrolet Volt starts at $39,995.

The $51 billion-bailed-out General Motors (GM) Volt is completely uncompetitive with its un-bailed-out electric/hybrid competition. 

Heck - it isn’t even competitive with other Chevys. 

A Little Bit of Chevy Volt in Chevy Cruze

The recent announcement of the $41,000 price tag on the Chevy Volt disappointed many fans—and spurred debate about the taxpayer dollars required to bring the plug-in hybrid to life.

But the new Chevrolet Cruze shows how General Motors is hedging its bets on the Volt’s high-cost components by installing them on a high-volume model.

The $40,000 Volt is basically a $17,000 Cruze - with a 500 lb., 25-mile range, eight-hour-to-charge battery.  Which is toxic when spent - and costs somewhere between $8,000 and $15,000 to replace.

And the American people aren’t buying?  Shocker.

But wait -- it gets worse.

The Chevy Volt's $89,000 production cost: A waste of money?  

So the Volt is completely uncompetitive at $40,000 - and GM loses $49,000 on each one it makes.  “A waste of money?”  Not at all, President Bailout.

But wait - it gets worse.  As of the end of 2011:

Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it – a total of $3 billion altogether....

So the Volt has, by now, received well more than $3 billion in government subsidies.  To make the equivalent of a $17,000 car - that retails for $40,000 and costs $89,000 to make. 

(T)he (electric/hybrid car) market only represents only 0.3 percent of total industry sales....

Billions well spent. 

But wait - it gets worse.  We the Taxpayers own 26% of GM’s stock - and are poised to lose more than $40 billion on the auto bailout.

In no small part because GM - the company in which we are conscripted investors - is wasting tens of millions - and the Feds billions more - tilting at Volt windmills.

General Motors Is Headed For Bankruptcy -- Again

Another shocker.