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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
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Replying to: hoyahenry (Sep 18, 2008 4:36 am) You have to be a Hollywood star to get one. Or at least some kind of mogul. That is just a figure they get to eliminate the riff raff. The car still costs $100,000+ to build and an H station would probably not be feasible or given a permit for in CA at least. It is all a publicity move by Honda. GM has the same kind of thing going with their hydrogen SUV. |
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Replying to: gagrice (Sep 18, 2008 10:20 am) Typical generalization. Incorrect again. They did not lease all 200 of them to celebs or to moguls. The first vehicles were delivered to select customers including Jamie Lee Curtis and her filmmaker husband Christopher Guest. Curtis and Guest have owned other alternative fuel and hybrid vehicles, and they continue to seek out ways to live and advocate a greener lifestyle. Demand was greater than supply for these new vehicles so Honda developed criteria for fuel cell ownership, included proximity to hydrogen refueling stations, driving patterns and vehicle needs. Plans call for Honda to deliver 200 FCX Clarity vehicles to customers in the U.S. and Japan in the first three years of production and leases were initiated in July. About 200 go to consumers in the next three years. Most will be leased for $600 a month to average customers in Southern California who have other cars and live near one of three 24-hour public hydrogen stations. More: Honda Fuel Cell Vehicle Firsts The original FCX became the first EPA- and CARB-certified fuel cell vehicle to also meet all safety standards in July 2002. The FCX was also the world's first production fuel cell vehicle, introduced to the U.S. and Japan in October 2002. Additional highlights include: * The FCX was the first fuel cell vehicle to start and operate in sub-freezing temperatures (2003). * The FCX was the first fuel cell vehicle placed in the hands of an individual customer, the Spallino family of Southern California (July 2005). * The world's youngest fuel cell customer, 17-year-old actress Q'orianka Kilcher leased an FCX in March 2007, making her the first person ever whose first car was powered by hydrogen. * Honda becomes the first auto manufacturer to manufacture a dedicated fuel cell vehicle on a production line solely dedicated to the production of hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles (2008) * Honda becomes the first manufacturer to create a fuel cell vehicle dealer network And: The three-year leases cost $600 a month, which includes maintenance and collision coverage. The car has a range of about 270 miles per tank. Honda said it received 50,000 applications. "You're not sacrificing anything, and actually for me it's an enhanced driving experience," said Jon Spallino, a Redondo Beach, Calif., businessman who previously drove an older version of the FCX and will lease the Clarity. "I think that's a misconception people have, that you're puttering around in an underpowered cramped little soapbox." Sure, Honda used a little "star power" in their program. They want exposure and they want to be in the news. It's called MARKETING and EVERY COMPANY NEEDS IT. |
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Replying to: larsb (Sep 18, 2008 10:37 am) |
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Replying to: larsb (Sep 18, 2008 6:45 am) I think you mean kilowatts, a power measure, not kilowatt-hours, an energy measure. Energy is the accumulation or usage of power over time. Your point about what the gas engine/generator would do when the batteries were way down on charge is a good one. I think Chevy may have a way to leak some amps over to the electric drive motor directly without going through the batteries first. This is needed because the point is to charge the batteries, and there is a heat loss if you route all amps through the batteries. My expertise is really mechanical/aerospace/software engineering, so maybe some electrical engineers or techs out there can set me straight if it is possible or advisable for some of the gas engine electricity to go directly to the electric motors under some circumstances. Like I said, this should prevent the kind of high-amp heat losses of going through the batteries during times when the electric motor needs amps that the batteries can't provide. |
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Replying to: larsb (Sep 18, 2008 10:37 am) And how many joe blows got one from the first batch? There is no guarantee they will ever build all 200 handmade cars. I think they have built less than 12 to date. I was only responding to an individual that thought he could go to his local Honda dealer and lease one. It does not work that way. The Volt should be much more of a practical vehicle than the FCX. Though I would expect the lease price to be about the same $600 per month.
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I hope the Volt can deliver as advertised. That said, can I remind folks that fossil fuels (coal and oil) provide the energy to produce the electricity needed to recharge the Volt's battery in many areas? In other areas it is nuclear energy (which produces the most toxic substance on the planet as a by-product). So, don't get too enamored with the "green" technology. Just sayin.
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Replying to: dave8697 (Sep 18, 2008 8:52 am) The issue boils down to credibilty, along with a long record of misses and not hits. Who here bought a Chevy Vega? A diesel Olds? A V8-6-4 Caddy? Get the battery pack together - show me a car that I can drive to save real cash and I'll believe. Think credibility- not credit. |
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Replying to: keepinon (Sep 18, 2008 4:44 pm) Well, you might remind us, but let me add these caveats to your attempted buzz kill: The amount of fossil fuels which are being burned to produce electricity is going DOWN year by year as more renewable energy sources come online. Every year, that PHEV will be using cleaner and cleaner power. And the amount of pollution created by the electricity that an electric vehicle uses is a very small percentage of the pollution directly created by burning fossil fuel in an engine on the vehicle itself. Even using coal, emissions are lower with EVs and moving the pollution away from population centers is a good thing. Utilities have plenty of excess generating capacity at night which could charge millions of plug-in cars. While electricity is getting cleaner and more renewable every year, even the cleanest gasoline car becomes ever more polluting. An electric car, on the other hand, just gets cleaner over time as the grid gets cleaner. And nuclear energy is cleaner than you think. The by-product is being dealt with in responsible ways all over the world. France is the leader and they do not "glow in the dark" as of yet. The technology to store the nuclear waste is improving at a fast rate also, just as are most technologies in the area of energy production. So yes, EVs do reduce pollution, and will continue each year to be even cleaner. |
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Replying to: keepinon (Sep 18, 2008 4:44 pm) |
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Replying to: 2doorpost (Sep 19, 2008 6:14 am) The common thread is Consumer Report! Recommended by CR and I have not read their magazine since. I now have a 06 Chev Silverado diesel... what a wonderful vehicle. Also own a 03 Buick Park Ave.. another wonderful vehicle with great gas mileage. 30-32 on the road...--its too bad GM didn't tell anyone. My OLD 91 Chev 1500 Chev 4 X 4 gets 22 on the road and can haul its weight in mulch and other STUFF. Remember when you buy foreign EVEN if its built in TN or some other state the Profits still went back to Japan. Those profits were not spent on things in the USA but in Toyko or somewhere. I would like to see a Tundra pull up to my 5th wheel camper and pull it up Saluda Mtn on I 26 here in WNC. Even my OLD Chevy gets better gas mileage than my buddy's and we drive them all the way across NC to the Outer Banks each fall and fish ON THE BEACH ... No rust on my OLD Chevy but its showing up on the Toyota already. SUPERIOR TRUCK?????????? I don't think so.
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