Fox News’ Eric Bolling got a loaner Chevy Volt from General Motors to test drive after he’d been critical of the car on air. He test drove it for a week, and his findings on the cars performance were something less than impressive given that every car comes with a $7,500 purchase subsidy in the form of a tax credit (which is now going up to $10,000 per car) as well as subsidies for the development of the car’s batteries and bailouts, of course, for General Motors itself.

He got just 25 miles on a 12 hour charge of the battery (can you imagine how long that batter would last in the middle of winter in a cold climate?), which means the whole “runs on electricity” thing is just a gimmick. This isn’t an electric car. This is a glorified go kart that can run on battery for short distances.

The car has a 9 gallon gas tank, and after that is supposed to get an EPA-tested 35mpg. Assuming that’s accurate (in my experience most cars perform a bit under the EPA’s number) the car can go about 340 miles on a charge plus gasoline.

Keep in mind that this car costs $46,500 (less the tax credit) even with the production subsidies and bailouts. By comparison, the gas-only 2011 Ford Fiesta got an EPA-rated 40mpg on the highway and cost just $15,120.

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