Chevrolet Volt production plans approved.

Manic Moran

Don't know if you've been following this one, but GM (read, in European terms, Opel) have been mucking around with a new diesel-electric car. It's a true diesel-electric, such as many military submarines, as opposed to a Hybrid like the Prius.



What sets this one apart from the rest is that instead of just trying for a blanket goal of "As many miles to the gallon as possible", it instead works to reach a practical target designed to ideally fit a certain portion of the populace, and totally ignore the rest.

They figured out that most cars are used primarily to commute, and only secondarily for other purposes like daytrips. They also figured out that 70% of commuters tallied twenty miles each way each day. That became their target. In principle, it's a purely electric car. You plug it in at night, drive your twenty miles to work, using just electricity, drive it twenty miles back, still using just electricity, and plug it in again. Hey presto, $0 spent on fuel. If you have a 40-mile-each-way commute, you can plug it in at work. That gets another 20% of people.

Unlike previous attempts at an electric car, though, such as the EV-1 or Tesla, they did not make any effort to maximise battery endurance. It's very expensive, and you always seem to run out of juice two miles from your destination. In the event that you need to go just that little bit further than the battery will allow, that's where the little onboard generator kicks in, charging the batteries.

Anyway, the first mules are driving around, and they've announced it should be available in the Chevy showrooms for the 2010 model year.

NTM

JHMEG

It will be an interesting car if it comes to market. It's a bit disingenuous of GM to be advertising it on TV and stuff a whole 2 years before it might come out tho.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_J2Jx51XZs

Gregor Samsa

Manic Moran wrote: »

Hey presto, $0 spent on fuel.

Well, since electricity is its fuel, you're paying for it on your leccy bill instead of at the pump, so even if it works out cheaper, it's not $0.

Green Hornet

phutyle wrote: »

Well, since electricity is its fuel, you're paying for it on your leccy bill instead of at the pump, so even if it works out cheaper, it's not $0.

+1

DublinDilbert

phutyle wrote: »

Well, since electricity is its fuel, you're paying for it on your leccy bill instead of at the pump, so even if it works out cheaper, it's not $0.

Yes but you could charge it off solar power or wind energy...

For example a small wind turbine is not very good for powering your electric kettle as it needs 2Kw for 3mins... but you could charge your car over night so you'd only need a small amount of power over a large amount of time....

Manic Moran

Fair enough, you do have to pay a little for the electricity.

From another board.

But if I plug it in and charge it at home, my electric bill will skyrocket!!

- hardly. You'll spend MUCH less on the electricity to charge the Volt than you would on a car. I'll show you some numbers:

The Volt uses 8kWh to go 40 miles, like I stated previously. Now, calculate in a little charging inefficiency, so let's say it takes 10kWh to charge it up. Multiply that 10 by how much your electric rate is per kWh. Mine is $0.139.

10kWh x $0.139/kWh = $1.39

That's $1.39 to go 40 miles. WIth gas prices near $4/gal, a car would have to get over 90mpg to compare in a cost-per-mile comparison.

Then say I charge it every day of the month. My electric bill would go up by $40.70. That's $41 to go 1200 miles.

S.I.R

looks a good idea but all electrical cars have one key isssue.... there all quite heavy....


the prius on engine alone struggles to 40 mpg.... :rolleyes:

reboot

S.I.R wrote: »

looks a good idea but all electrical cars have one key isssue.... there all quite heavy....


the prius on engine alone struggles to 40 mpg.... :rolleyes:

And they don't get lighter as the tank empties!

reboot

DublinDilbert wrote: »

Yes but you could charge it off solar power or wind energy...

For example a small wind turbine is not very good for powering your electric kettle as it needs 2Kw for 3mins... but you could charge your car over night so you'd only need a small amount of power over a large amount of time....

The battery in my EV is 22kwatt hrs. That's over ten kettles. I don't think solar is an option.
The 5 watt solar panel on a Leaf is just a silly fashion item?

DublinDilbert

DublinDilbert wrote: »

Yes but you could charge it off solar power or wind energy...

For example a small wind turbine is not very good for powering your electric kettle as it needs 2Kw for 3mins... but you could charge your car over night so you'd only need a small amount of power over a large amount of time....

Solar PV and wind is a great idea, especially solar pv because it's much cheaper than wind installations and requires no maintenance.

Solar works for Ireland , there's no question.

If using the energy for your car and home, you could possibly convert your heating also. I'm a big believer in "you can never have too much insulation", this saves an awful amount of energy in the first place.

OF of the advantages of grid connectivity is it becomes your gigantic unlimited ultra cheap storage battery, so saving you thousands in buying batteries you sell to the grid buy back at night

S.I.R

S.I.R wrote: »

looks a good idea but all electrical cars have one key isssue.... there all quite heavy....


the prius on engine alone struggles to 40 mpg.... :rolleyes:

Hardly, I average over 60 mpg per tank in a MK II prius. Not bad for a petrol automatic with 10 year old hybrid tech.

Toyota day the petrol engine alone in the next gen prius will be more efficient than a diesel.

A plug in diesel is unnecessary and won't sell.

If 98% of your driving will be on cheap electricity them why would you bother carrying around a big lump of a diesel that does nothing most of the time?

Is rather spend the extra money on a larger battery.

By the time is released, then II leaf will be out work more range along work other models from tesla and I think people will be happy enough with between 140 and 200 miles range, especially if they can fast charge.

noelf

The new volt will have a better electric range the new battery pack is lighter with fewer cells . Storage of new battery pack is improved by 20 % the electric range should increase to 50 to 60 miles. A new petrol 1.5 engine will be fitted to improve the refinement over the existing car . Full details to be released in January .. leftlanenews .... Have only seen one in Ireland - English reg will it make Europe this time ?

noelf

noelf wrote: »

The new volt will have a better electric range the new battery pack is lighter with fewer cells . Storage of new battery pack is improved by 20 % the electric range should increase to 50 to 60 miles. A new petrol 1.5 engine will be fitted to improve the refinement over the existing car . Full details to be released in January .. leftlanenews .... Have only seen one in Ireland - English reg will it make Europe this time ?

But here's the thing, if you got more and more range in EV mode in the Volt, why would you need the engine ?

Having an engine in the like of the Golf or Passat GTE makes sense because the battery is tiny so you have much less ev range but in a Leaf, or especially the Kia Soul EV it makes a lot less sense to have an engine with 90-100 miles real range.