[rawhide]

I wonder what makes these batteries so expensive? What are they made of?

[Mike Darancette]

600 Miles on a Tank, but Engine's Expensive Using a full tank of fuel to power the motor, you could conceivably drive from Detroit to New York about 600 miles with no need to stop.

Tanstaafl (there ain't no such thing as a free lunch).

[Michael.SF.]

Finally a hybrid car that does not scream: "I LOVE KYOTO"

[peyton randolph]

Someday GM hopes to figure out how to make a big honkin’ car battery, and figure out how to do it economically, and hope the whole project ends up saving more energy than it consumes, or failing in that, hope no one asks how much energy it takes to build the cars.

It’s called a “concept car” because that sounds better than “something we pulled out of our #ss and hope to someday shove up yours.”

          - Scott Adams (Dilbert Blog)

[RobbyS]

Research on battery technology never seems to get funded. Maybe this time.

[ApplegateRanch]

Oh goodie! It doesn't use fuel; it only uses electricity to power the wheels.
But, it uses fuel to MAKE electricity to charge the battery that supplies electricity to the motor that powers the wheels.

I'm glad they explained how it doesn't use fuel to power the wheels, but just to charge the (yet to be invented) battery that is powering the wheels.

Middle men are expensive: Engine, generator, battery, motor; vs engine, transmission. Do they make up the loss via eliminating the transmission? Regenerative braking?

Forty miles...and it is 55 miles north, or 55 miles south to the nearest "market town" that has any big stores. Nope; I'll pass.

[Southack]

""When you get to the end of a range of the battery, which is 40 miles, you just continue to move along, and the only thing that you notice is the engine comes on and it generates more electricity," said John Lauckner, GM's vice president of global programs. ... Using a full tank of fuel to power the motor, you could conceivably drive from Detroit to New York about 600 miles with no need to stop."

Assuming that they are being accurate *and* truthful, then they are incredibly stupid. Ditch the $200,000 battery. Forget the 40 miles of battery power. Now you've got a 560 mile (range) car.

[djf]

Am I the only one who thinks this idea of saying a hybrid gets six thousand miles per gallon (or even more if you disconnect the gas tank and run solely on batteries)

IS A BIT MISLEADING???!!!

[philetus]

could conceivably get hundreds of miles to the gallon"

In your dreams.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

http://www.swicoauctions.com/viewItem.php?itemid=35127

Nord Skog Electric truck Model 2823 Sn 206099

Increment: $25

Quantity: 1

Bid Qty
$125 1


13 Days 8 Hours 29 Minutes Remaining

Description:
Gross operating weight 3585 lbs, empty weight 1085 lbs, unknown condition.



Pictures:AT URL

[MadIvan]

This may be a solution tomorrow. But consumption of oil / fossil fuels can be cut today through the use of diesel in cars, and nuclear for electricity.

This is desirable, not because of what the wacko greens want, but because it will bankrupt the lunatics in Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Regards, Ivan

[ScottfromNJ]

"The electricity is provided by either plugging into a standard wall socket or by fuel which can be gasoline or some more environmentally friendly alternative that recharges the car's battery. General Motors said the Volt's technology could nearly eliminate the need to fuel up at the pump."

So the question is, how much additional energy would we consume by recharging these things in wall sockets, and would the vehicles fuel savings more then offset that ?

[Malsua]

I wonder if EEstor, the Ultra capacitor folks have advanced any or if it was just a publicity stunt.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1705648/posts

It's been about 4 months since the story "broke", if it's more than just "broken wind" that would be a solution for the volt. Perhaps in combination with existing battery technology.

I'm always a fan of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, or in this case, kiboshing the whole idea of a plug in electric because we don't have a the right magic bullet solution(i.e. only super batteries). An approach that uses the best parts of each technology may be the answer.

A clean diesel charging batteries, ultra-caps and a hydraulic drive train. I predict a future for mechanics.

[Aquinasfan]

The only problem is that the battery needed to do all this is prohibitively expensive right now.

There's another problem. Electricity is generated mainly by burning oil or coal. And then a portion of the power is lost in transmission. So what's the benefit of an electric car like this? The only benefit is if the electricity is generated by nuclear, wind or solar power, with nuclear being the only technically feasible, large scale source of electrical generation at the moment.

[Constantine XIII]

I love how everyone thinks they are better engineers than actual engineers after "reading some stuff on the internet" and that so many people still believe that technology will never advance beyond what we have today. :p

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Whereas other hybrid cars, such as Toyota's Prius or Ford's Explorer, use a mix of battery power and a conventional gasoline engine to move the wheels of the vehicle, the Volt runs only on electricity.

Makes you wonder how their competition lets them get away with saying this.

Chevy claims the Volt will get 50 miles to the gallon if the batteries aren't re-charged while running on the E85 engine.

[HamiltonJay]

600 Highway to a tank full of gas, isn't all that more efficient than an existing TDI Jetta.. which should get 450-550 on a tank full of diesel highway.

Its an improvement yes, but hardly something astronomical.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

. . . you could conceivably drive from Detroit to New York about 600 miles with no need to stop.

Not unless they build in a Boston catheter.

[zeugma]

600 Miles on a Tank, but Engine's Expensive Using a full tank of fuel to power the motor, you could conceivably drive from Detroit to New York about 600 miles with no need to stop.

Don't you just love the morons who write these things? How much petrol is in a "tank" of gas? In my Honda, I can go almost 500 miles (though I'm moving on sheer willpower the last 20 miles or so).

If that is a 5-gallon "tank", then 600 miles is impressive. If it's a 15 or 20 gallon tank, the claim is somewhat less impressive. Making a claim of "600 Miles on a Tank" is a completely useless claim without specifying an actual standard volume of gasoline.

 

[SunkenCiv]

Big Three Seek Battery Subsidies
Wall Street Journal | January 9, 2007 | NEAL E. BOUDETTE and JOHN D. STOLL
Posted on 01/09/2007 6:54:12 PM EST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1764964/posts

GM goes electric with concept car
Reuters | 1-7-07 | Jui Chakravorty
Posted on 01/08/2007 12:55:24 PM EST by kingattax
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1764195/posts