“do you think that this electric car will help “save the planet”? “
Conservatives run when they hear any refernce to green technology, without looking at the technolgy itself. The technology in this car may create a huge paradigm shift in basic auto propulsion systems, a shift that will be developing over coming decades.
The concept of the gas engine running at low RPM to generate power for the electric engine is novel, and it works. Eliminating the drivetrain is huge. Horsepower and torque are respectable for a new concept. Of course refinements and improvemnts in this concept will occur as more innovations are developed.
I commute around 100 miles per week. That currently costs me about $15. With the Volt it would cost about $2.50, and not use any gas.
I don’t think it will “save the planet.” But I do support the technological innovations and am willing to see if they pan out in the future, both as a means to reducing our dependence on foriegn oil, and reducing repairs due to simpified mechanics.
No but it will use coal. And if enough people start using electric vehicles instead of gasoline vehicles, it will put a strain on the electical grid. The problem is that the libs are not willing to allow the creation of new coal powered electrical plants and the "green technology" power plants are just too darned unreliable to produce the needed uptick in electrical demand that would occur if the electric car were ever to achieve commercial viability.
Environmentalists are going to stand in the way of new hydro-electical plants, coal powered plants, natural gas plants and nuclear plants. Those are the only dependable sources of electrical power available and they are simply not building any new plants of that order.
So at this point the whole idea of creating fleets of electrical cars is stupid. First we have to make sure that we will have the electrical power to charge these things by the millions. If we make the cars without creating additional sources of reliable electrical power, then pretty soon the cost of electricity to charge your electric car will be substantially more than the cost of gasoline. And the cost of everything else you do will be likewise increase exponentially.
The electrical grid is pretty much at maximum capacity right now (especially in the summer). You introduce a million electric cars into the equation without introducing enough additional coal or hyrdo-electric or nuclear plants to cover the additional demand, and you will have a breakdown of the whole electrical grid. It will then cost you about $20 a day to charge your 40 mile Volt and an additional $20 a day to wash your clothes and watch your TV.