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Hybrid Vehicles Chevrolet Volt Will the Chevy Volt Succeed?
544 messages, Last post on Oct 28, 2009 at 1:11 PM
You are in the Chevrolet Volt Forum. Your Host is pf_flyer
| I know it's easy to get off on a tangent, but let's be sure to keep this discussion about the Volt. Thanks! | |
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Replying to: coldcranker (Sep 11, 2008 3:04 pm) The definition of a hybrid car is a vehicle which uses more than one method of propulsion. The Volt uses only electricity for propulsion - gas engine NEVER drives the wheels. No big deal, but I just don't want people getting the idea that the Volt is a hybrid when it clearly is NOT. |
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Replying to: coldcranker (Sep 11, 2008 8:24 pm) In the Hybrids News and Views in the Press stevedebi just wrote MSG #476 "This is a "series" hybrid, a category that also includes the diesel electric locomotive. They aren't always referred to in this fashion, but that is the correct terminology." And Morparbad concurs in #477 i.e. No Battery and only one source of energy but two forms of power. In fact all the energy in a Prius originates from gasoline - by your definition that would make it not a hybrid. That said I am perfectly happy to refer to it as a gasoline-electric. And a gasoline electric is what the Volt should be. Fiat is showing the world right now that a subcompact with a two cylinder is driveable in a conventional powertrain providing it is state of the art like the engines of Honda and Toyota. A two cylinder is also driveable in the larger midsize vehicles like Prius and the Volt but performance will not be acceptable here if a conventional powertrain continues to be used. In this case the efficacy of the transmission needs improving. This means the engine has to be completely decoupled from the wheels, even the partial decoupling of the Prius falls short. Too much engine power gets left on the table in the important 20-35mph range. Hence the Volt architecture. Call it a gasoline electric or a series hybrid architecture, unless we start installing really small engines into our cars we won't see 70mpg while cruising. That's why the 1.4L in the Volt is a disappointment. There are some who would not contemplate a two cylinder powered vehicle. Well this Friday morning in Ontario gas prices spiked at $1.36.6/litre, the highest ever and said to be due to Hurricane "Ike". A rise of 13cents overnight !! I don't know how many wakeup calls we need in North America but the availability of a $40,000 Chevy Volt is going to solve nothing whereas a 900cc batteryfree gasoline electric vehicle at half the cost with 10sec performance is going to be a huge improvement over vehicles whose owners are simply abandonning them in their driveways whenever gas prices spike. T2 |
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I wonder how government is going to deal with tax revenue loses from rechargable vehicles such as Volt, Prius and other? Don't forget we pay taxes per gallon we use. Are they going to come up with "Transportation Electricity" tax?
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Replying to: bhw77 (Sep 16, 2008 11:50 am) Don't forget we pay taxes per gallon we use. Are they going to come up with "Transportation Electricity" tax? " There was a big discussion on this over on the Prius board. Some states were considering a "hybrid tax", so that the highway funds would be maintained. Some of the suggestions were to charge by mileage, or by weight, or (my favorite) higher taxes for larger engines.
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Volt introduced Volt Revealed It's not as boring and ugly as those earlier "unofficially released" pictures showed it to be.    That dash looks rather nice. |
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Replying to: stevedebi (Sep 16, 2008 12:04 pm)
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Replying to: coldcranker (Sep 16, 2008 8:17 pm) In CA the gas tax is about 65 cents per gallon. If the MPG double from current average that would mean they would have to charge about $1.30 to keep the same revenue. I prefer the tax by mile that is being tested in Oregon. With a car like the Volt you could conceivably not buy any gas. Trying to keep track from your electric bill would be difficult.
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Replying to: gagrice (Sep 17, 2008 5:52 am) Not really. Spend $24 on a Kill-A-Watt and you can track usage and dollars for any given electric plug. Very simple. |
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Replying to: coldcranker (Sep 11, 2008 3:04 pm)
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