Get ready, Chevy Volt due this November. Update!!!

[BB1]

It will be the biggest piece of crap on the road. I hope to run one over with my truck.

[tricky lugnuts]

Definitely agree it's promising technology, but I fail to understand how going from gasoline engines to electric engines is going to solve really any of the problems presently on the table, especially without massive investments in the electric grid and production. In my opinion, at this point it's really nothing more than ethanol, part deux.

What's going to happen when everyone in California plugs their subsidized Volts in every night to recharge? Will the power plants in Nevada and Arizona be able to handle the load? What happens when the people in Arizona and Nevada start plugging their volts in every night? Will there be enough electricity to sell to the people in California?

1. Close to 90 percent of our electricity is still produced by burning fossil fuels. Going to electric cars will not eliminate our reliance on fossil fuels or any of the ills associated with burning fossil fuels.

Aside from wind and solar and tide and geothermal electric generation, this will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future.

Nuclear power has improved, but shipping and storing the waste is still a nightmare, and promises to be a nightmare for the next 25,000-plus years. That, and no one wants a nuclear reactor or processing facility anywhere near their backyard - at least not if they ever plan on being able to sell their house again.

We could build geothermal stations near volcanoes, areas where the magma is close to the surface of the crust, but transporting the electricity such great distances would likely negate most of any real gains that might be realized, and the power plants would have to be rebuilt as dictated by lava flows and earthquakes.

And seriously, $41,000 for an electric car!!! That's 2/3 the cost of a house where I live.

Nothing personal to the technocrats on the site, but I'm starting to lean more towards the horse idea floated earlier. Been getting people around for thousands of years on grass and oats. This Chevy Volt crap sure ain't running on sunshine and smiles and it's about 10 million years away traveling at light speed from any sort of "Beam me up, Scottie" technology.

And it's not unlimited miles per gallon. If as you're saying you'll always be able to drive on the lithium battery, then it will be X miles per Y kilowatts. There is no free lunch, not in cars, not in electric generation, not in anything.

I guarantee you right now that the gasoline engine will not get "230 miles per gallon" when the electric "save the world" battery runs out of power after 40 miles. The official Chevy site says the fuel tank will be large enough to push the car another 300 miles on top of the battery power. Assuming a seven gallon tank (again, they haven't said how big it is, and I guarantee you it won't be a one-gallon tank) that's a little over 40 miles per gallon. Sorry, but that sucks! Even a five gallon tank would only be 60 miles per gallon. Smart Cars do that right now for about half the money.

And here's the question: When you're driving the Volt those 300 miles on one tank of gasoline, after your battery runs out, will that be long enough for the "recharging system" to fully recharge the electric battery to make it another UP TO 40 miles?

The other question I haven't seen answered in all this GM propaganda is how long it will take to charge the Volt's battery to get you UP TO 40 miles, most likely less.

How many kilowatts will it take to charge the battery once?

Assuming a 30 mile commute five days a week, you're going to be doing a lot of charging. That's not going to come at zero cost. Plus, you just paid $41,000 for a car, or you're renting one for $350 a month. And I'll bet this vehicle will be cheap and easy to maintain . . .

It might be nice for some people who think buying the latest gadget (i.e. Prius, Smart Car) is going to save the world from the footprint of six billion plus people, but in reality, any difference they make is going to be minimal at best and offset in other areas. Mankind would be better served by developing better cities and transportation systems, ultimately negating the need for people to drive everywhere all the time to do much of anything.

[1969chargerrtse]

A lot of your answers can be found on the chevy sites. I have to disagree with most of your questions as they just come across as negative. Research was done about electrical grids etc before it was built. The cost of KW dollars etc put the electric car way way ahead of buying gas. The generator is there to power the motors only not charge the car. When you go to sleep at night, just plug the thing in and be quiet.  3/4 of Americans drive less than 40 miles a day. So using the grid power will blow away gas prices in comparison. You want to drive farther, go ahead. You want to go cross country, take the other family car. No one is looking to change the world here. It's just a great step forward. When gas prices climb again everyone will run to this car like they did with the smelly loud crude VW desiel Rabbit.

[mauve66]

oh i remember all the problems they had with the diesel rabbit back in the early 80's....................

i like technology but i have yet to see someone figure out how to prevent corrosion on a battery terminal or cable or the associated rust and rot that comes with it, now you have a car made up of batteries, terminals and cables..............

[1969chargerrtse]

oh i remember all the problems they had with the diesel rabbit back in the early 80's....................

i like technology but i have yet to see someone figure out how to prevent corrosion on a battery terminal or cable or the associated rust and rot that comes with it, now you have a car made up of batteries, terminals and cables..............

And there was a 2 year wait to get one. I think 33k is a steal for this car. The little CA roadster that dies out after a few hundred miles cost 100 grand!!!  And they sold so well they have a sedan coming out for around 40ish and that to, will be only as good as the last charge.

[Brock Samson]

   

[Tilar]

 

Stock

Changed that quick. 

[Brock Samson]

 lol     besides,.. he's a closet chevy guy ya' know...  I heard he wears a Bow tie to car shows...

[Tilar]

Well I guess that explains it. 

[1969chargerrtse]

  I like em all.  I say it the way it is. The big 3 have made cars that were junk, and cars that were fantastic. Many members here own GTO's, Chevelles, camaros, and vettes.
I own one Muscle car and it's a Dodge. Doesn't mean I have to play the Mopar's only mental game.  

[ChgrSteve67]

Where is my Hydrogen skate board chassis and my choice of bodies that just drop on.
Along with that the Hydrogen generator that is solar powered and only requires a garden hose to fill up?
When I'm home I plug my car into the house to supply it with electricity and sell the extra back to the power company?

I'm still amazed how prowed the auto industry is to manufacture a "Hybrid" car that only gets 40 MPG when the the Geo Metro got 53 MPG in the 80s no hybrid technology required.  What a scam.

[mauve66]

my suzuki swift got 30+mpg with my foot at 7500rpm all the time and that was back in 1989, we haven't come that far in 21 years
and that one article specifically states that the batteries would lose their recharge capability each year and worse in hot /cold climates
don't worry, all you other states can store your batteries here, just like the uranium rods, nobody cares about nevada
gas would be $1 per gallon if the EPA would let us drill our own oil on our own property

Where is my Hydrogen skate board chassis and my choice of bodies that just drop on.
Along with that the Hydrogen generator that is solar powered and only requires a garden hose to fill up?
When I'm home I plug my car into the house to supply it with electricity and sell the extra back to the power company?

I'm still amazed how prowed the auto industry is to manufacture a "Hybrid" car that only gets 40 MPG when the the Geo Metro got 53 MPG in the 80s no hybrid technology required.  What a scam.

same idea but my twin cam wanted to run alot harder

[Tilar]

I think Hydrogen is the way to go.

[Ponch ®]

I think Hydrogen is the way to go.

that's what the guy that designed the Hindenburg said...

[Tilar]

  I'm betting the Volt crashes and burns just like the Hindenburg did. Wonder which one will end up with the longest lifespan?

[TK73]

Who'da thought this hobby was so full of Luddites...

[THE STIG]

I havent read all the posts on this thread so forgive me if this has already been asked; The Volt is 100% electric and you can go 40 miles on a single charge that means you can only go 20 miles from home before you have to come back to recharge, is my logic here correct or am I missing somthing? MSRP $33k add on dealer fees, sales tax and title and then a few more dealer fees just for the hell of it this will be a $40k car and you can't go any farther than 20 miles from home I think I'll hang on to my combustion engine a little while longer. You can stop at McDonalds off the highway to pee but I don't think they'll let you plug you car in there.

[RECHRGD]

I havent read all the posts on this thread so forgive me if this has already been asked; The Volt is 100% electric and you can go 40 miles on a single charge that means you can only go 20 miles from home before you have to come back to recharge, is my logic here correct or am I missing somthing? MSRP $33k add on dealer fees, sales tax and title and then a few more dealer fees just for the hell of it this will be a $40k car and you can't go any farther than 20 miles from home I think I'll hang on to my combustion engine a little while longer. You can stop at McDonalds off the highway to pee but I don't think they'll let you plug you car in there.

Yes, you are missing something.  You need to read all the posts.

[stripedelete]

Bring it on!  It will take 20-30 years to come up with "the" next fuel/energy source.  I believe that between now and then we will see several very functional alternatives, which in the end may not be the final answer.  But anything we can do to stop sending money to bad people that want to kill us is welcome.   

I hope they focus on larger vehicles.  IMO an SUV or Pickup that gets 60+ MPG (or equivalent ) will win this game.   

[twodko]

IMO, hideously expensive and GM doesn't have the technology to recycle its cars' batts. Same-same for Toyota's Pious.

Tom

[Ghoste]

At least on the plus side, it demonstrates to the environazis that an American carmaker is just as capable of building an electric car as any foreign one.

[tricky lugnuts]

I'd be way more into the Chevy Volt if it was a sort of "electric car for the masses" thing like the old Model T that Henry Ford built. You can get it in any color you want so long as it's black.

But this thing costs $41,000 and is loaded down with every B.S. option out there - touch screen navigation unit, cell phone chargers, digital rear view camera. Seriously, who needs a rear view camera on a car that small? And all those B.S. electronics are just draining down the battery, which only gets up to 40 miles on a full charge.

It's kind of like a Best Buy store on wheels. No thanks.

[Brock Samson]

 


                1996    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1

                1999    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Insight

[BB1]

 


                1996    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1

                1999    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Insight

Same crap different year. 

[aussiemuscle]

I havent read all the posts on this thread so forgive me if this has already been asked; The Volt is 100% electric and you can go 40 miles on a single charge that means you can only go 20 miles from home before you have to come back to recharge, is my logic here correct or am I missing somthing? MSRP $33k add on dealer fees, sales tax and title and then a few more dealer fees just for the hell of it this will be a $40k car and you can't go any farther than 20 miles from home I think I'll hang on to my combustion engine a little while longer. You can stop at McDonalds off the highway to pee but I don't think they'll let you plug you car in there.

No it's not a pure electric vehicle. it has a gas engine, that always charges the batteries, so they never actually go flat. this is how Diesel Locomotives work. the engine charges the batteries, the electric motor runs off the batteries. downhills, the electric can be used to charge the batteries. When you don't need the batteries charging, you can run without the gas engine.

all of the hybrid/electric vehicles so far are exclusively City centric only.