Update: Read General Motors response here.
Thanks usa1.
JALOPNIK.com
The Chevy Volt has been hailed as General Motors’ electric savior. Now, as GM officially rolls out the Volt this week for public consumption, we’re told the much-touted fuel economy was misstated and GM “lied” about the car being all-electric.
In the past, and based on GM’s claims, we’ve gone so far as to call the Volt GM’s “Jesus Car.” And why wouldn’t we call it that? We were told the Volt would achieve 230 MPG fuel economy and would always use the electric drivetrain to motivate the wheels — only using the onboard gasoline engine as a “range extender” for charging the batteries. It now turns out that not only were those fuel economy claims misleading, but the gasoline engine is actually used to motivate the wheels — making the Volt potentially nothing more than a very advanced hybrid car and pushing some automotive journalists like Scott Oldham at Edmunds.com to claim “GM lied to the world” about it.
From the link at #39–”It is a pure electric, a series hybrid, and a parallel hybrid all rolled into one.” /// Well, by their standards, this is “pure” BS.
I don’t care how you cut it, if you are out of juice, the most energy efficient way to gas power a vehicle is directly. When the pure electrical performance of the vehicle is as bad as this one, I wonder how much mileage is sacrificed in order to advertise pure BS?
Fairly obvious that electrics will not be viable without a leap in battery tech, a switch to some other electrical concept. Seems to me compressed air still has a lot going for it. Simple, reliable, has the range, no exotic metals. No pollution. Just not sexy.
It’s never going to be more than a niche market, according to Ian Wright, who knows about this sort of tech.
http://roadandtrack.com/auto-news/electric-vehicle-guru-ian-wright-speaks-out-against-evs
I’ll read the link later but if you accept that gasoline will at some date become too expensive, something is going to replace it. The haruspication of Mr. Wright is entirely suspect.
Seems to me that gasoline vehicles were a niche market when the first started?
Whats fun is most of us will be able to see which way the entire field of “green energy” goes in the next 2-3 decades with auto’s just being one application.
The future is so bright, I gotta wear shades.
It’s because FORD is kicking GM’s butt.
I still want a FORD FOCUS RS…
Anyone who believes that all electric cars are the future should be investing in heated seat companies and seriously consider creating electrically heated driving jackets or vests.
I just wonder how much of that 40 mile all electric range is chopped down by just a mild winter such as Seattle or Vancouver – let alone places in the middle of the country where it gets and stays cold.
Also, I really want to know what percentage of cars are actually garaged even for only one end of the trip (home or work). I just can not see charge stations ever being installed like parking meters on the street or in an open parking lot. I also don’t see all electric being a viable purchase without at least 100mph as an option
I dislike Hybrids because of the redundancy of systems and the extra weight that entails. There is a reason that diesel electric locomotives are they way they are. It strikes me that by adding a battery for regenerative breaking and launch reserve they would be ideal for cars but more so for trucks. Then you can have an ultra efficient constant velocity diesel or even a turbine powering an equally efficient generator.
http://mdi.lu/english/miniflowair.php
70+ mph, 900 mi. range, zero emissions in town, 1/3000 the hydrocarbon emissions of a gas engine on the highway, 3-seater with trunk, under $20K
The lesser question: Is it ugly?
Yes.
The greater question: Could you handle the ugly for nearly free driving and nearly zero emissions?
The smaller, short-commute, air-only version costs even less and has zero emissions.
When did we start believing the Unions and the Government. We should of known of the BS coming out of Government Motors.
You idiots who think the GM bailout was wrong need to get a clue what the failure of GM would have meant. Sounds like a nice bumper sticker to just let them go, and apparently a sticker is as deep as your brains can safely operate.
The entire state of Michigan would have collapsed without that bailout. Is that really what you promote…a regional depression and disaster? Pull your heads out of your butts and get real, you idiots.
So 49 states should bail out one state? Michigan is still on the verge of collapse.
I read the description i don’t see where they lied.
Sensationalist BS. the gas motor still drives the electric motor when the charge is out. The gas motor is not connected to the drive wheels in any way
MikeN….that’s the same attitude Bush had for New Orleans a few years back, Mike.
Speaking for New Orleanians and Michiganders: Go. Fuck. Yourself.
Funny how Jaguar’s revolutionary (pun intended) turbine car doesn’t even get a look-in.
It uses two 35kg gas turbines to generate HUGE amounts of energy that is used to charge the batteries and power the SUPERCAR.
They can run on diesel, biofuels, compressed natural gas, liquid petroleum gas or the blood of an angry unicorn.
As messed up as GM is, AMERICA NEEDS HEAVY MANUFACTURING. Since we don’t seem to have the spines or brains for doing it properly lately, we may as well subsidize. The alternative is truly untenable.
#53 Totally agree. Don’t look for solutions from the wacko right, all you get is another opinion on the problem.
I’d be disappointed if GM engineers didn’t used the most efficient design it’s still fundamentally an electric vehicle, so the hype led us to think it was a little different when has that not been the case?
I don’t think its a particularly attractive car or good chose for those of us who live above 61°N but for many it might be a great choice I wish it and GM well.
#51
MikeN….that’s the same attitude Bush had for New Orleans a few years back, Mike.
Speaking for New Orleanians and Michiganders: Go. Fuck. Yourself.
And from the rest of the nation that wasn’t dumb enough to build its city below the water table thus sucking the vast majority of the money going to the Army Corp of Engineers and shouldn’t have to pay because the people in NO wouldn’t move, fuck you back. Michigan’s problems, like NO, are entirely self-created and yet the rest of us have to pay to clean up their mess? Thanks but no thanks. You want to pay to clean their mess? Go for it but don’t force the rest of us to pay for their mistakes.
So this vehicle runs the gasoline engine to recharge the battery? I can’t think of a scenario where this would make sense, as we all know energy is *always* lost when converted from one form to another. Someone enlighten me please? BTW, deceptive press or not, I would love to own a hybrid vehicle, but I swing toward the Prius as I am a bigtime Toyota fan.
Yes, they lied. It’s not a particularly attractive car. Range on electricity is small. Mileage is mediocre. Price is high for what you get.
Mind you I drive a Tesla so I may be biased.
Fine, Thomas. When your region is in trouble for whatever reason, you’re on your own. No National Guard, no federal response, just you and your wiles.
Good luck, buddy. Hope you have a lot of ammo and MREs.
# 57
The electric drivetrain design that GM are using should be more efficient than a standard petrol engine with gearbox. Even assuming you started your journey with flat batteries it would still be more efficient:
1. The engine generating the electricity can be set to run at it’s most efficient rpm range. You might hit that point in your normal car when cruising at an exact speed, but during any acceleration, deceleration or urban driving you won’t.
2. Conversion from mechanical to electrical energy (and back) is very efficient using modern motors and can be done directly without going though any gearbox. Think of the difference between brake-horsepower measured at the wheels of your car and the power rating of the engine (losses through the transmission can be upwards of 10% on standard engine drivetrain or 20% if you’ve got an automatic).
3. Energy can be recovered when braking and used later.