Chevy Volt First Build on June 1

[Hitokage]

[citation][nom]thejerk[/nom]Honestly, it's too bad we (the US) don't have even a skeletal hydrogen fueling network. The FCX Clarity is the truly revolutionary vehicle. This... is just a better hybrid.Jeeze, that's two Honda vehicles I've fanboyed. Pretty sad, since I'm a VW driver.[/citation]

Yeah, if you like paying $300,000 a car, go ahead with your hydrogen fuel cells. Not to mention the pressure that the hydrogen is under could possibly cause the car to become a two-ton shrapnel grenade.

Gasoline is a better alternative to hydrogen, but in ALL cases, a hydrogen vehicle is merely an electric car with the fuel stack supplying electricity to a battery. It might be cleaner than gas, but it's a hell of a lot more expensive and dangerous. It'd be much better just to wait for better battery technology to come along and slap a huge one into a car.

Oh.. and before you mention lithium-ion batteries exploding... that may be a flaw in older lithium-ion batteries, but newer ones, such as Li-poly batteries from A123 will not explode under puncture or pressure, they will burst into smoke and do not burst into flame.

 

[Guest]

Is GM gonna be around by June?

Don't get your hopes up.

 

[pocketdrummer]

went from a awesome design to this watered down POS.

Great...

 

[bin1127]

from their phrasing it's so obvious they kept the technology from us until they could make a killing from new sales. will some new green auto company come out and clean out GM?

 

[Guest]

I'm just concerned how much is the cost to replace the batteries in 5-7 years. Since its a chevy the car will depreciate so much that the cost to replace the batteries will be more than the car is worth. Also when you trade this vehicle in just before the end of the battery life are they going to make you pay for a new battery pack and charge you for disposal fees for the old battery?

 

[Guest]

Hydrogen is basically a really large battery in my view, and you actually do get slightly more energy out of creating it than you do putting into it albeit not significantly (How is this ANY different from batteries? You think by plugging in the volt it suddenly makes extra energy somehow?). However the energy density of hydrogen far exceeds that of battery technology and its able to quickly be replenished like current refueling techniques. The volt is a decent stop-gap, but I can't realistically see it achieving significantly more fuel economy than either the Insight or Prius. I think the FCX is by far the more revolutionary because its the first fuel cell car that regular buyers could get their hands on. The next generation FCX should drop that cost even more, extend the range, and quite possibly make a very strong case for a hydrogen network. Honda had test FCX's a long time ago, before fueling stations even existed! This is actually the second generation of FCX so GM is actually about 7 years behind Honda in their fuel cell development. Is it any wonder GM is going to die before they even get the volt out the door let alone any fuel cell cars?

 

[Guest]

and what you guys forget about pure Ev vehicles is that it would heavily strain our electric grid. It would reqiure huge upgrades to our electric system to sustain charging millions of batteries over night. Plus, here in the hot summers of Southern CA, we have rolling black outs because off too much demand during the day from ACs, but letz add 3-4 millions cars that need to charge too.

Whatever CO2 emissions you save from the car are brought back in by generating the electricity the power them via Coal, natural gas, ect.

we need a combination of hydrogen and EV vehicles for our future

 

[fuser]

When was the last time we had rolling blackouts in SoCal? I think it was 4 years ago. It's not like we're going to suddenly have one million electric cars on the grid. We're still 18 months away from the first mass produced electric car and adoption rates will be low initially.

At the same time more people are adding solar panels to their homes, the grid will be updated and things will improve. If the Volt delivers on the 40 mile electric-only range and is closer to $30K than $40K then I will definitely consider it.

 

[TheFace]

Most of you are completely misinformed on this vehicle. This is an electric vehicle. You fill it up with gas, then that gas is used in the ICE to charge the batteries, IF they need it. Here's the rub. Why use gas then? You could theoretically swap any fuel powered engine in there (diesel, hydrogen, LP, compressed air, liquid awesomeness, etc.)

What then is the problem with this? It's a first gen production car that is going to most likely be around $40k.


More specifically:
Bertschkid, do some form of thinking before posting. 10 seconds of research can do wonders. "Pure electricity" you have to have energy storage to make an EV feasible. Energy storage requires batteries or some other form of portable energy, ipso facto FUEL.

intercounter2, the rolling blackouts in SoCal were caused by Enron, and their shady greedy ways. Many powerplants DURING the blackout were only running at 50%. Unless you're referring to a different blackout period. The current administration wants to create a "smarter" electric grid, with more high voltage lines crossing the country. These lines loose less power over distance than current methods. If you believe the GE adverts almost 50% of electricity generated is lost just getting to you. While that may be overstated, plenty of power is lost regardless.

UNDERSTAND THIS, if you read nothing of what I wrote above, this is an electric vehicle. It is driven by it's electric motor, which is powered by batteries, that have a RESERVE power reservoir which is the gasoline ICE.

 

[urlsen]

LOOOOL The volt was a dead doog aa few years ago and since the Tesla s is comming very close to release it makes even less sence...it is butt ugly and expensive concidering what you get...

It is just to justify the extra goverment cash...

Banktrupt the system and help the little guy "Tesla" create a new market..

My 5 cent

 

[MrHorspwer]

since the Tesla s is comming very close to release

It is?

Last I checked, Tesla still hasn't even started to build (or convert, as the case may be) the manufacturing facility that will produce the Model S. How can a model be "close to release," when Tesla doesn't have any place to screw it together yet?

Hang on, they're waiting on some cash from... who?

It is just to justify the extra goverment cash...

Ahhhh, there it is!

 

[bounty]

[citation][nom]incounter2@hotmailcom[/nom]and what you guys forget about pure Ev vehicles is that it would heavily strain our electric grid. It would reqiure huge upgrades to our electric system to sustain charging millions of batteries over night. Plus, here in the hot summers of Southern CA, we have rolling black outs because off too much demand during the day from ACs, but letz add 3-4 millions cars that need to charge too.Whatever CO2 emissions you save from the car are brought back in by generating the electricity the power them via Coal, natural gas, ect.we need a combination of hydrogen and EV vehicles for our future[/citation]

Where do you get the engergy from for hydrogen? Same Coal, natural gas, etc. Either way PG&E etc. are generating a large chunk of energy from dams and we should be building more nuke plants also. We didn't have rolling blackouts at midnight when these cars would be charging. Nuclear plants and dams don't stop working at night, so this would be a good way to utilize that energy at night.

 

[Guest]

34534fsdfsdf you forget that powerplants are also on the order of 40% efficeint. Electric motors are at best nearing 90% efficiency at full load. A better figure is closer to 70%. So 0.7*0.4 = 0.28. How is that better than an ICE?

ICEs idle when you don't need them to. That's where the savings comes with electic vehciles. Powerplants see a relatively constant load so they are running so the idle problem does not exist. But again, there is the extra power conversion going from electric to propulsion, and line losses from the plant to your house, etc.

The real reason why we want to eventually eliminate the ICE and go with an electric drivetrain is because it can be charged from cheaper domestic fuel sources. It really does not have that much to do with efficiency.

 

[Glorian]

Plugging your car into a wall is not going to save energy or emissions. The energy you get from the wall socket comes more than likely from a fossil fuel burning power plant (unless you get wind or solar, it makes sense).

Not to mention that the amount of energy lost from the plant to your house then to your car, is causing more emissions than a normal gasoline engine. Hybrid cars make more sense since energy is drawn when the engine isn't doing anything and in some cars braking create it as well.

Granted the car does have a motor that charges the batteries but its no different that it just running the wheels.

The car is sexy looking but wall charged cars are not helping with our fuel situation unless we get alternative fuels powerplants.