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Hybrid Vehicles Chevrolet Volt Will the Chevy Volt Succeed?
545 messages, Last post on Dec 02, 2009 at 12:57 PM
You are in the Chevrolet Volt Forum. Your Host is pf_flyer
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It's still ONLY the electric motors that move the vehicle. Put it this way, the electric motors don't know and don't care where the electricity is coming from, they either have power to run or they don't. I have no idea what the efficiency of running the ICE to supply electricity for the propulsion system is. THAT would be an interesting number to see instead of talking about the range of a tank of gas which includes miles that are 100% battery driven. Would burning 5 gallons of fuel to create electricity move the Volt as far as if those same 5 gallons were used by the ICE to directly propel the car? Essentially what you have is a portable gas-powered generator on board with the Volt. That doesn't seem like the most intuitively-efficient idea I've ever heard of.
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Replying to: pf_flyer (Jul 22, 2009 1:28 am) The efficiency is gained by running the engine at its most fuel efficient RPM and not having the speed excursions that you would get with a conventional automatic transmission. Basically, the Volt becomes a Prius when the batteries are discharged. So it still benefits from regenerative braking and engine off at a stop. All that said, you would never design a car to use only the motor /generator with no battery on board. It is efficient , but not as efficient as say a manual transmission equipped vehicle chugging down the interstate in high gear. Remember, the primary mission of the Volt is to get you to work and back or to the shopping mall, not for Indianapolis to Denver runs. I just checked my electric bill and my cost for a KW-Hr is 7.2 cents. So a "fill-up" for me would be about 58 pennies. (My driving is always less than 40 miles per day unless I am on vacation) If gas is at $3.50/ gal, the $1500 I save on gas every year starts to look very interesting. |
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Replying to: buyamerican2 (Jul 22, 2009 10:06 am)
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Replying to: stephen987 (Jul 22, 2009 11:13 am)
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Replying to: dmathews3 (Jul 22, 2009 11:22 am) |
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If we waved a magic wand and all cars were EV's, those electric rates are NOT going to stay the same and there's no way is it going to cost 58 cents to "fill up" a Volt. Since you say your normal driving is less than 30 miles a day, you honestly think a Volt would only cost you less than $18/month to run?? That's a patently ridiculous number. Electric vehicles will not be "free" to operate and the introduction of EV's will definitely increase electric rates as the increased load and demand caused by charging of EV's is something that is not on the grid now. And it really doesn't matter if you say, "Oh we can charge them during off peak hours". Those hours will no longer be "off peak" once we add a "car charging" peak will they? Robert Heinlein said it in his 1966 novel, "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress", although the phrase apparently originated in the 1930's... There ain't no such thing as a free lunch 
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Replying to: pf_flyer (Jul 22, 2009 12:54 pm) That's about 80 cents for most people. For commuters like myself who drive about 22 miles a day round-trip, and maybe 100 miles on a weekend, the electric cost would be about $25 a month, and the gasoline costs might be $40 a month, for a total of about $65 monthly That's not TOO much different than what I pay for gasoline per month for my Camry hybrid, from Dec-Jun this year was about $47 a month. Would I trade for a much higher car payment just to save $18 a month? Not likely. The economics don't look to be there for people already driving a mid-size fuel-efficient car. And the comment about how electricity will go up because of EVs hitting the market? PSHAW !!! All that charging ( or most of it ) will occur at night when the grid is flowing and unchallenged. And how many EVs will sell per year? 60,000? 80,000? 100,000? Not the Volt, not at $40K. If would take a LOT of years, a LOT of car sales, and a LOT of progress before the EVs made a dent in the grid to the point that the utility companies could claim higher demand and raise prices merely because of EVs.
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Replying to: larsb (Jul 22, 2009 1:14 pm) |
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Replying to: buyamerican2 (Jul 22, 2009 10:06 am)
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Replying to: larsb (Jul 21, 2009 10:32 am) |
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