Posted on 08/11/2009 6:43:58 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
General Motors Co. predicted Tuesday that its Chevrolet Volt rechargeable electric car will get 230 miles per gallon of gas in city driving.
If confirmed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which tests for mileage figures posted on new car stickers, the Volt would be the first car to exceed triple-digit gas mileage, a GM official said.
Toyota’s Prius, the most efficient car now sold in the U.S., gets 48 miles per gallon.
The Volt is powered by an electric motor and battery pack with a 40-mile range. After that, a small internal combustion engine kicks in to generate electricity for a range of up to of 300 miles. The battery pack can be recharged from a standard home outlet.
The downside is that the Volt is expected to cost nearly $40,000, nearly double the sticker price of some economy hybrids.
The Volt is scheduled to appear in showrooms in late 2010.
OK, using the stated figure of 40 cents for a recharge and the web site info that said 6.5 hours hooked up to household 110 VAC, the handy dandy GE Energy Cost calculator says it uses the equivalent of a 600 watt light fixture burning for 6.5 hours. But you also have to pay for the gasoline. Of course, the 40 cents comes with a host of taxes and just wait until cap and trade kicks in.
No, this car runs on electricity and gasoline. The 200 mpg carbureator you are talking about only works with tap water.
Something doesn't sound right. 110 VAC and 600 watts would mean that the batteries are pulling just 5.45 amps charging up. That sounds a little low to say the least.
Well, I’m just using their numbers. It’s a 16 kWh lithium-ion battery pack.
Retired industrial electronic technician, something just doesn't add up about the power required to recharge. I will have to do a little research about this scam. Will have to keep in mind this is only good for 40 miles.
The EPA said it couldn’t confirm. Perhaps my use of “contradict” was incorrect.
How about this?
300-mile range, 230mpg (for the first gallon), 8.3 gallon tank, means that for the remaining 70 miles (and 7.3 gallons) you get 10 mpg.
You think the EPA won’t refute 230mpg now?
I don’t believe the hype for a second. If they were being truthful, they would have expressed their findings in Cost Per Mile, not Miles Per Gallon.
It will never sell. It’s not ugly enough for the moonbats, and only a moonbat would spend $40K for a car that will save a few bucks a week in gas over a $25K Prius.
230 mpg, okay, but I heard the range is 40 miles. What I have not heard is what the mpg is extra-range. Anyone?
And I predict the Detroit Lions will win the Super Bowl.
Did they say what the range is with the AC running?
In a conventional car you get heat for free. Not in a Volt.
Must be the same AC I have in my 98 Saturn, both windows down. However that still doesn’t the answer about heating during the winter?
I think I'll stay with my Gasoline powered pickup truck.At least I can depend on it in the freezing weather.
To preserve battery life, they limit charging to 80% and discharge to 40%. The difference between 80% and 40% is 40%, thus only 40% of 16 kWh is used for energizing them vehicle. Thats about 6.4 kwh. Where I live that’s about 70 cents worth of electricity.
The power draw thay list to recharge the battery is a little low and a charger is not 100% efficient but add a fudge factor and it would be reasonable to say that the first 40 miles of driving costs about $1.
It was something like 25kwh per hundred miles. I forget the exact numbers, however, I punched it in at the time and based on my current elec bill...It was worse than the cost for my 4x4 pick-em-up truck to go the same distance!
The range with AC or heat would be the whatever you get with the gasoline engine running.
Run the engine and get free heat and power to run the AC. This is not a Zenn electric car, it is a gasoline powered series hybrid that has a short range electric mode.
I pay a little over a dime per kWh. My Ford F150 4x4 gets 11mpg.
To drive 100 miles, I burn 9 gallons x $2.50/gal = $22.50
25 kWh x $.11/kWh = $2.75
“It was something like 25kwh per hundred miles. I forget the exact numbers, however, I punched it in at the time and based on my current elec bill...It was worse than the cost for my 4x4 pick-em-up truck to go the same distance!”
??????????
That one on M-50 north of Dundee?
6. Your Mileage Will Vary As a plug-in, fuel economy will depend on how long the gasoline range extender engine is operating to provide electricity. In the worst case, when the battery is down to 30 percent charge and the gasoline engine needs to run for extended periods, the Volt should offer 50 mpg or better. If your trip starts with a full charge and is shorter, say 60 miles before plugging back in, then it will involve 40 miles of electric operation and 20 miles with the gasoline engine running. In this case overall fuel economy will be in the neighborhood of 150 mpg.
from: http://gm-volt.com/chevy-volt-faqs/
Q: How many miles per gallon will the Chevy Volt get? A: A bit of a trick question. For the first 40 miles it will get infinite mpg, because no gas will be burned. When the generator starts, the car will get an equivalent of 50 mpg thereafter. One can calculate the average mpg per for any length drive starting with a full battery: Total MPG = 50xM/(M-40)
...
Q: How long will it take to recharge the Volt? A: 6.5 hours using a 110 volt (standard home) outlet, and about 3 hours if you have a 220 volt supply
from: http://www.chevyvolt.us/
The Volt currently uses a $10,000 16 kWh battery pack for a 40-mile range, using 0.4kWh per mile of electricity. But other plug-in electric cars do get better mileage. The Triac for example uses about 0.23 kWh per mile. The weight of the Volt’s battery makes it more costly to buy and maintain. The ideal rate of power consumption is about 0.27 kWh per mile; this would mean a battery capacity of 11 kWh instead of 16 kWh.
There's no indication of what driving style consumes 0.4 KWh. There's no indication of the AC current draw during charging at 110V.
Just as a mental exercise:
40 miles at 55 mph with a 50 KW powerplant requires 36.4 KWh. That's consumed electrical power, which has to be replaced with charging. The charging process is not 100% efficient.
Upper end charging efficiencies seem to be around 60%. (see http://www.efficientproducts.org/reports/bchargers/1270_BatteryChargerTechincalPrimer_FINAL_29Sep2006.pdf)
So 36 KWh could require 60 KWh of AC charging. If you charge with a low rate of $.10/KWh, then $6.00 would be required to recharge and thus travel 40 miles. With fuel at $2.50/gal, that translates to an equivalent of 2.4 gallons of gasoline. 40 miles per 2.4 gals = 16.7 mpg
Of course with actual specs of the motor and charging system, better numbers could be obtained. But from the looks of that car it's not meant to be driven conservatively.
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