Chevy Volt Tested: Goes 40 Miles, No Gas Expended

[AK-74me]

Originally Posted by itsbob

Any idea how much your electric bill will increase, the amount of pollution from coal fired plants will increase?

Good idea, but we aren't really solving a problem, as much as moving a problem to a different market. No more inner city pollution, but the urban areas where the power plants are will now be covered with a blanket of smog. Save money on gas, but your electric bill goes up.

I think Honda and Toyota have the right idea, now if the gov't can get behind them to bring the prices down to an offordable level until the sales get to a point where they can sell an affordable hybrid outright.. THAT makes sense. An affordable hybrid that gets >70MPG.

I'll show you the math:

As designed, the Volt has a 16KWh battery, and will use 50% of that capacity . That's 8KWh. Now, charging lithium batteries CAN get to 99% efficient. So a conservative estimate is 10KWh

My current electric rate is $0.130/KWh when you account for all fees and every other piddly charge. That comes out to $1.30 to charge the Volt.

That's $1.30 to go 40 miles.

Once per day (30 day month), that's $39 added to a monthly electric bill minus any funds I would of spent on gas.


That's up to, possibly more than 1200 miles on $39.

[itsbob (Premo)]

Originally Posted by Pete

On the Tesla web site they said it would cost basically .01 a mile.

I am not sure that your argument about adding smog is valid. Our energy grid is horrendously wasteful. Power plants generate power and feed a grid. If that electricity is not drawn (used) it disappears. Power plants and the grid work in concert to attempt to produce just enough electricity to meet the demand of the moment but there is always extra. I would think that you would have to add a large number of electric vehicles to impact the grid and cause more demand. The Tesla site says it will recharge in about 3 hours. that is like doing 2 extra loads of laundry, it would be less in a commuter car.

In addition coal fired plants in the US use low sulfur coal and are very efficient and use stack scrubbers. In other words you could boost the output of a coal fired plant enough to accommodate X number of electric cars and dump much less into the environment than the sum of all the tailpipes you replace.

I'm speaking as to this being the "solution". replacing all gas powered vehicles with Volt-like vehicles.

Our power grid, as it is now, wouldn't be able to handle the extra load, more power plants would have to be built, and with the likes of the clamshell alliance still out there just beneath the surface we would have to rely mostly on coal. ANOTHER non-renewable resource.

Coal plants may be cleaner than they were 20 or 30 years ago, but they are far from being clean.. This is not a pollution free solution by any streatch, it just moves the pollution somewhere else.

The place(s) where these cars would sell the most, are the places with the worst electrical grids in the country. Like CA, where they sell the most Hybrids.

AND, how would we replace the lost tax revenue? Out of the $240 a month I pay for fuel, roughly $48 goes to taxes. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up. Easiest solution, move the tax from gas to elctric. And of course along with the tax, electric prices will soar. What gas prices are doing now, electric will be doing in 15 years.

[glhs837]

70K for a Tesla? Not quite, first years run went for what, like 100K each? And keep in mind, thats for the 2008 model, of which they are making less than 1,000. The 2009 ones will cost $110,000. This for a car that has almost no cargo capacity, only two seats, only gets 220 miles range (I still havent seen a breakdow of range vs throttle usage, I fail to believe that the 22o range actually happens if you actually take advantage of that sub-5 second 0-60, or + 100mph top end) from a 1,000 pound battery pack.

[AK-74me]

Originally Posted by glhs837

70K for a Tesla? Not quite, first years run went for what, like 100K each? And keep in mind, thats for the 2008 model, of which they are making less than 1,000. The 2009 ones will cost $110,000. This for a car that has almost no cargo capacity, only two seats, only gets 220 miles range (I still havent seen a breakdow of range vs throttle usage, I fail to believe that the 22o range actually happens if you actually take advantage of that sub-5 second 0-60, or + 100mph top end) from a 1,000 pound battery pack.

Read the thread, I corrected it, that first number came from the evil wiki article I read.

[glhs837]

Roger that, evil wiki shall hereafter assume blame for bad number


GLHS--Evil Wiki

Originally Posted by AK-74me

GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Concept Site » Blog Archive » BIG NEWS from Bob Lutz: First Chevy Volt Prototype Hits the Road and Gets 40 Miles Electric!

How many Kv were required to recharge that sucker from the house ...... not a good choice is this day and age, with our Power Grid being so shaky ....





nice Articles you sent BTW

[awpitt]

Originally Posted by RadioPatrol

How many Kv were required to recharge that sucker from the house ...... not a good choice is this day and age, with our Power Grid being so shaky ....





nice Articles you sent BTW

Actually, the Volt is a good choice because it offers two ways of charging. You can either plug it in or, if electricity is not available, you can charge as you go using the gas generator.

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by Vince

Tesla MotorsI would buy one.

Final pricing for the 2008 Tesla Roadster base model is US$98,000, plus a destination charge of $950. The majority of the first 200 Roadsters ordered by October 2006 came fully loaded with all optional equipment at a cost of about US$100,000.[28] The price for the 2009 models has been increased to US$109,000; options ranging from colors to audio to heavy duty cables can add another $10,000[28]

...or mortgage?

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by itsbob

I'm speaking as to this being the "solution". replacing all gas powered vehicles with Volt-like vehicles.

Our power grid, as it is now, wouldn't be able to handle the extra load, more power plants would have to be built, and with the likes of the clamshell alliance still out there just beneath the surface we would have to rely mostly on coal. ANOTHER non-renewable resource.

Coal plants may be cleaner than they were 20 or 30 years ago, but they are far from being clean.. This is not a pollution free solution by any streatch, it just moves the pollution somewhere else.

The place(s) where these cars would sell the most, are the places with the worst electrical grids in the country. Like CA, where they sell the most Hybrids.

AND, how would we replace the lost tax revenue? Out of the $240 a month I pay for fuel, roughly $48 goes to taxes. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up. Easiest solution, move the tax from gas to elctric. And of course along with the tax, electric prices will soar. What gas prices are doing now, electric will be doing in 15 years.

...but coal plants are rather isolated and have the benefit of being a centralized point where scrubbing and cleaning efforts, including CO2 recapture, can be focused on a single location as opposed to 250,000 cars scattered all over the place.

As I understand it, electric is very much more efficient than internal combustion and, at present costs, $.10 kwh electric is about a third the cost of gasoline at $3. So, setting aside the cost, which, if you think about it, has NOTHING to do with this other than consumer bytching, we'll use less coal to make electricity than an equivalent of oil due to the efficiency of coal generated electric over internal combustion engines.

[awpitt]

Originally Posted by itsbob

I'm speaking as to this being the "solution". replacing all gas powered vehicles with Volt-like vehicles.

Our power grid, as it is now, wouldn't be able to handle the extra load, more power plants would have to be built, and with the likes of the clamshell alliance still out there just beneath the surface we would have to rely mostly on coal. ANOTHER non-renewable resource.

Coal plants may be cleaner than they were 20 or 30 years ago, but they are far from being clean.. This is not a pollution free solution by any streatch, it just moves the pollution somewhere else.

The place(s) where these cars would sell the most, are the places with the worst electrical grids in the country. Like CA, where they sell the most Hybrids.

AND, how would we replace the lost tax revenue? Out of the $240 a month I pay for fuel, roughly $48 goes to taxes. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up. Easiest solution, move the tax from gas to elctric. And of course along with the tax, electric prices will soar. What gas prices are doing now, electric will be doing in 15 years.

This wouldn't be a big problem as most charging would occur at night when power demand is lowest. Plus, charging batteries does not demand high current like AC units or blow dryers. It's low current.