Just rode in a VOLT!

[tjts1]

Originally Posted by robchalmers

so with the battery brimmed and the tank full, whats the max range and whats the fuel tank size?

EDIT: 350miles!!!!! so let me get this right. IF you fork out 41 grand you get:

a 12 year old Opel/vauxhall astra chassis

a 17 year old opel/vauxhall corsa engine

The efforts some people make to hate this car. A for effort, F for common sense.

[Automcdonough]

lol @ ninja edit there

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by robchalmers

if I were to buy a 1998 1.4 astra it would cost me sub $2000 (easy) and I would have:

15bhp more (75-90)
average 40MPGus across total range (not 38, battery+tank)
have a 52litre tank instead of 35
and get a range of ......... 458miles

Certainly the Volt isn't for everyone. If you are just looking for best range at least cost, an old small engine car will always be the most affordable. What you won't have is a car that can run on electricity.

The Volt actually does have a lot of nice little touches on it, USB audio jacks all over, cabin pre-heat and pre-cool, a really nifty instrument display, and electronic EVERYTHING. Many of those features get into "luxury car territory".

The Chevy Volt is a very different vehicle than anything else out there right now. There really isn't any fair way to compare it a gas car, or even a battery electric car like the Leaf.

[MN Driver]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

From the video that Nick Chambers posted, the engine only drives the wheels above 70MPH *if* the demand for torque exceeds the two electric motors.

That is not what those videos say at all. They say that during the charge depletion mode that the power will always come from the electric motors. It's been explained that it will drive at 100mph under full electric power. The only time the engine runs and will have the opportunity to connect with the wheels is at higher loads and typically during higher speeds in the cases where it will be more efficient to drive the car using the propulsion of both motor and engine power.

In these cases the gasoline engine is already running, no sense in not using it in the most efficient way possible.

What is obvious is that it will always be cheaper if you will not be using the full range and are traveling at 100mph even if the electric motors are more inefficient at that speed than running the engine at the same time. Cost of electricity as a form of transportation is much cheaper. That is why the engine will not fire up until the battery reaches its buffer or mountain mode is enabled.

[robchalmers]

Originally Posted by tjts1

The efforts some people make to hate this car. A for effort, F for common sense.

But those points are correct and factual.

as odd as it sounds, I am PRO electric. what this car does is charge over the odds for something that can be beat by their own ageing product.

The point I was trying to make was the fact that you not going to turn the masses to EVs if only the rich can afford them and then only drive them a shorter distance than an existing car..... while running on gas!

Take the renault fluence, BIGGER than the volt, runs 100% electric doesn't need to rely on fancy displays yet is still hugely comfortable and from most road tests can do 80+ abuse filled miles on a charge. and 80% charge can take as little as 30mins.
Oh and you buy the car and lease the battery - that way your monthly figures come down and the initials are lower too!

My other gripe is that doesn't really look $41,000 worth from the pics I've seen. The 'jumper leads' under the hold, cheap looking centre console. and its not really pushing the boundaries on tech is it? what does it have the the prius doesn't apart from the a gen cycle output to the engine which I'm sure Toyota probably looked at any way? Why didn't the use a more efficient engine that the old nova lump, why not the 3pot 1.0l?

If i'm missing the point (again) please enlighten me.

[3dplane]

From what I gathered there isn't a yes or no answer as to whether the engine connects to the wheels or not!
The main electric motor drives the sun gear (middle gear) of the planetary drive.
The actual connection to the wheels (through more gears) is taken off of the planetary gear's "housing" ( middle set of gears in the drive).
And the ICE has a chance to connect to the ring gear (outside gear with inner teeth of the planetary drive).
The ring gear is held stationary ( ICE off)which allows the power to flow from the main motor -> sun gear-> planetary-> (some reduction gears)-> diff->wheels.
When the RPM gets too high for the main motor to run efficiently,the second motor can help out by turning the ring gear in the same direction as the planetary set! (after ring gear is released from being held)
This allows for lower RPM on the main motor.
When the battery gets low on juice, this second motor has to turn into a generator so it connects to the ICE but as I understand a physical coupling can be achieved between ICE-motor2-ring gear, therefore the ICE helps out by turning the ring gear! Which by it self would not move the car unless the sun gear (driven by main motor)is either held stationary or driven by the main electric motor!
So is the ICE ever connected to the wheels? -Kinda!
That's what I understand but could be wrong!

[MN Driver]

bennelson, One thing that should be pointed out. You said in your video that the Volt has a plastic tank. The tank is actually steel because the tank is pressurized, actually they keep the tank under constant vacuum to prevent evaporative emissions and to prevent the ethanol from having exposure to moisture which it would absorb and foul the fuel. There is a video on Youtube where Andrew Farah explains this.

[bennelson]

I heard a lot about the pressurized tank when I saw the car.
I didn't think about if it had to be one material or another to pressurize it. Sure looked like plastic from under the back of the car! I thought that's what many manufacturers were using now, as it can't rust out.

Maybe it's just a plastic cover or coating? I suppose a nice thick coat of powdercoat paint could look like that too.

I didn't actually bang on the tank to listen to it.

[dcb]

Originally Posted by 3dplane

From what I gathered there isn't a yes or no answer as to whether the engine connects to the wheels or not!

It does when in steady state cruise / low torque requirement mode. They specifically switch out of series mode to combined mode, the motor/generator rotor is passing torque from the engine to the gearing to the wheels. That is when they get an efficiency "boost" of 15%. The motor-generator is basically like an insight IMA at that point, and the motor/planetary like a prius.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by tjts1

The efforts some people make to hate this car.

Why would anyone be hating a bloody car that isn't even on the market ?

I don't like the design for starters, but that's something I could put aside if the car was rather efficient.
Then it turns out it also has a lousy 40 mile range on batteries, and a miserable MPG on gas once the batteries run out.

It's EV-range isn't even enough for my own 30mile / 50km commute without recharging (no facilities at work, and pretty few in the entire country come to think of it).

If I'm buying an EV I'm not going to buy something that switches to a thirsty ICE quickly.
If I'm buying an EV I want something that'll do most of my trips as an EV.

As that still restricts range at the current state of technology, I could live with an optional generator-type setup.
A small ICE generator (< 1L) running at its optimum feeding a buffering battery would provide enough power .
Less efficient set-up?
Less efficient than full-EV, but far more efficient than the Volt/Ampera set-up.
Much real-world efficiency is gained by running a small ICE at a steady, optimised rpm and fairly high loading, rather than at varying rpm and load as used by GM.
It could be set up in such a way that one can choose to run in full-EV mode depleting the battery, long range generator mode, or auto mode when coupled to GPS inputs.