Breaking news! Chevy volt technically driven by gas engine!

[Rokeby]

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,

And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;

But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.



Take the time, sit back, and watch this 1946 Disney short.
When it's over, tell me...
Is this is or is this isn't the story of the development of the Volt in microcosm?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN5-Nd9h1vY

Oh! The bumbling, the bufoonery, the empty promises, the lies,
but always the intimation that Casey, that is Chebby, would certainly
hit a home run. Instead...


Stee-rike Tha-ree! You're Out!

[rgathright]

I came to Ecomodder.com as an electric car hobbyist. The tragedy of it all is the fact that my father and I gave up our project to convert a Dodge Dakota with a Warp 13 Series motor because of the Chevrolet Volt promise two years ago.

Chevrolet only had to rebuild the EV1 to satisfy the community of electric vehicle enthusiasts. Now, we are all left scrambling for the Nissan Leaf which will likely jump in value given the blunders of GM. Yes, a 100 mile range is not ideal for the weekend road warrior but it is perfect for the daily commuter. I just want to get an EV. If that means I have to promote them, fine.

Just please someone, make one!

[bennelson]

Daox, let's throw a propane generator on the back of the Electro-Metro and beat the Volt hands down.

I already have the license plates!



Seriously though (although I am fairly serious about the propane generator hybrid...) Motortrend just had a pretty good review of the Volt.

I WAS a bit surprised about it having a clutch setup between the engine and tranny.

I don't know how anyone could look at this diagram and call it an electric car!?

(Image from Motortrend.com)

Sure looks like a hybrid to me!

[Russ]

Sorry if this is a dupe.

Nice article at Jalopnik about how the Volt's a Hybrid even though they swore up and down that it wasn't.

Seems like the gasoline engine isn't just a range extender after all.

How GM "Lied" About The Electric Car

-Russ

[tjts1]

So what has GM accomplished here? A hybrid that can't match the fuel economy of a Prius, has a much smaller interior than a Prius, weighs 1000 lb more than a Prius and costs twice as much just for the privilage of plugging it in at night. Oh and a pissed off customer base. Nice work GM.

[nmgolfer]

Very disappointing... Virtually no benefit to ownership. Must be big smiles over a Nissan today and Toyota's hybrid position as market leader remains solid.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Sure looks like a hybrid to me!

Yes, and because it always had electric motors and it always had a gas engine, it has always been a hybrid!

I should point out that the only aspects of this thing I'm defending are the parallel set-up and the plug-in Modus Operandi. Other than that, I personally have no interest in having one. Then again, I have no interest in having a Prius or Escape or Fusion hybrid either, just because hybrids don't offer palpable advantages to one with my particular transport situation. I do like and promote hybrids for those motorists that can benefit. That said, I like the idea of the Insight, although I have always lusted after CRX' and it's kinda similar; and owning an EV1 would be awesome but then again maybe just for the conversation piece value as it too wouldn't meet my needs. How about an EV1 with an ICE pusher trailer...

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by rgathright

Actually, the savings with electric motors comes in when you are cruising because they can just "sip" on the batteries to keep the car at speed.

Electric motors consume massive amounts of power when taking off because stall rotor current creates a "short" of sorts against the batteries. For this reason, gasoline engines are preferred for getting the car up to speed.

Originally Posted by Daox

Can you give some reference to backup this comment? I'd have to disagree unless I hear otherwise. In my Prius, when pulling away from a stop it uses electric for the first few seconds (depending on if you mash the pedal or not). I wouldn't imagine they'd do this if it were less efficient.

Actually, it is just that acceleration in and of itself (regardless of power source) consumes massive amounts of power vs maintaining cruise speed. When the power source is as marginal as batteries you REALLY notice the drawdown. I wish my "electric bicycle" was much more pedalling-friendly; it seems I could double the range of the battpack if I was allowed to avoid the massive drawdowns from accelerating, via pedalling.

It is for this reason that the "benefit" of systems like "e-chargers" that only serve to augment a constantly running ICE perplex me, as that is the exact opposite of what I'd want in a hybrid: for my usage profile, an ICE for accel, and battpack (plug-in ONLY- when the juice runs out it's ICE alone 'til I get to an outlet) for low-speed city and moderate speed (45-50 mph, yet admittedly range limited) hwy cruise would make for what I think would be the best efficiency scenario.

P.S. Think of it as Pulse & Powered Glide... when P&Ging, whenever you kill the ICE, instead of coasting you flip on the electric "cruise" motor....

[rgathright]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Daox, let's throw a propane generator on the back of the Electro-Metro and beat the Volt hands down.
...

Noel Perrin beat you to this idea! On his trip across the US in his home built EV, he pulled a small generator out to recharge in an area with now 120 VAC access. After waiting four hours, it barely recharged his batteries and he wound up getting towed. The problem was that he used a small genset, 2KW, to do the job.

You would need something on the level of at least 4Kw to get a noticable boost while driving. I suggest getting one of those Jeep inspired carriers placed on the back of your car using a hitch.



Just to have the capacity to hold propane fuel and a genset out of sight in the truck bed, my father and I wanted to convert a Dodge Dakota.

[NeilBlanchard]

It always was a serial hybrid; and now they are admitting it is a parallel hybrid when traveling 70mph or faster while in charging mode. So, it is very similar to the Prius, though it is far less efficient...