How far away do you live from work?

[almightybmw]

I should feel bad about driving less than 3 miles to work each day, but I don't. It's at night, it's winter, and I have 8am classes right after I leave work. So biking just doesn't work so nicely.

[cfg83]

almightybmw -

Originally Posted by almightybmw

I should feel bad about driving less than 3 miles to work each day, but I don't. It's at night, it's winter, and I have 8am classes right after I leave work. So biking just doesn't work so nicely.

Don't feel bad. You're pollution footprint is still very small. I'm the bad guy at 35+ miles one way. In the old daze, even when I lived 5 minutes from work (with my parents) I mostly drove in. But I left from work in my car to do other stuff after work like school, just like you. I didn't go straight back home.

CarloSW2

[gone-ot]

"...Hey GM, are you reading this?" Right now, it's:

20 people commute 20 or fewer miles, so COULD live with a 40-mile EV range.

18 people commute more than 20 miles, so could NOT live with a 40-mile EV range.

...you aiming to sell the Volt™ to only 50% of the people who 'might' WANT such a car?

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

20 people commute 20 or fewer miles, so COULD live with a 40-mile EV range.

I plug my EV in at work, this summer I'm going to install an outlet closer to where I park so I can use a shorter cord, my boss offered to pay for me to do this.
If you can charge an EV at work, at stores you go to, at home, then the range is much greater.

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

"...Hey GM, are you reading this?" Right now, it's:

20 people commute 20 or fewer miles, so COULD live with a 40-mile EV range.

18 people commute more than 20 miles, so could NOT live with a 40-mile EV range.

...you aiming to sell the Volt™ to only 50% of the people who WANT such a car?

And 1% can afford it

[5speed5]

Originally Posted by Lazarus

And 1% can afford it

Exactly. I'm not sure the average ecomodder is who GM is trying to sell the
car to. It's the Hollywood elite, the political elite, the people who currently own Priuses only to prove they're "enlightened" (I'm not implying all, or even most, Prius owners are that way), etc.

Plus, this same poll taken in the general population would probably yield very different results than those on a site dedicated to fuel economy.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

20 people commute 20 or fewer miles, so COULD live with a 40-mile EV range.

That's more than a little misleading, though, since those 20 people include some, like me, who do not commute to work at all. However, not commuting doesn't mean that I don't drive. Most days the dog and I will go to some trailhead or other, which can be anywhere from a couple of miles to 50 or so.

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

That's more than a little misleading, though, since those 20 people include some, like me, who do not commute to work at all. However, not commuting doesn't mean that I don't drive. Most days the dog and I will go to some trailhead or other, which can be anywhere from a couple of miles to 50 or so.

...excellent point (and an over-simplification on my part, sorry). But, the point was 40-range equates to 20-mile radius for most people and approximately half of us (exceptions included) fit into this (over-simplified) catagory.

...ironically, back in 1986-87, my employer actually installed a (just ONE!) electric-charging station for the GM EV-1 but nobody really used it, so it was eventually removed because people were accused of "stealing" power from it on the weekends and holidays (like what were we doing during the work days?).

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

.But, the point was 40-range equates to 20-mile radius for most people and approximately half of us (exceptions included) fit into this (over-simplified) catagory.

Another over-simplification is that range is measured on level ground. I frequently drive to places under 20 miles from home, but that 20 miles can involve 4400 vertical feet of climbing. Most electric conversions seem not to be able to handle that. Even if they have the energy capacity, they can't handle the sustained discharge rate.

Sure would be nice, though, to get to the top with empty batteries, then have them recharge themselves on the way down :-)

[gone-ot]

...true but at least *some* of the UP-hill "energy" use can be recovered (???-percent) during regeneration on the DOWN-hill section(s)--IF regeneration is available!