Posted on 07/14/2011 6:23:38 AM PDT by Red Badger
Back in May, Cars.com's long-term Chevrolet Volt was involved in a collision that left the plug-in hybrid crippled. The initial repair estimate? A wallet-sapping $10,500.
Of course, these sorts of initial estimates rarely turn out to be accurate and this damaged Volt was no exception. In the end, the plug-in four-door cost $14,187 to get back to its former glory.
The difficulty in repairing this Volt, it seems, lay in the vehicle's additional cooling systems and complex engine control module. According to Ryan Tamblyn, the man in charge of repairing the long-term Volt, the damaged plug-in had no fewer than five heat exchangers that had to replaced as well as an engine control module that needed reprogramming. All told, the Volt underwent nine weeks of extensive automotive surgery before it was ready for action. Anyone else out there have any experience in getting a Volt repaired?
I saw this immediately. What is a used volt worth if it needs a new battery?
“Each Chevy Volt battery pack will have about 220 cells and cost about $8,000, as previously announced by GM.”
They won't sell them at Walmart.
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10426331-54.html#ixzz1S5S5TUxa
Without trying to promote or defend the Volt...
Multiple heat exchangers can be the source of energy efficiency as it may be using these as heat/energy recovery devices.
Most of the inefficiency in a traditional style internal combustion engine and automobile can be associated with energy lost as heat.
In refineries, petrochemical plants, etc, we often use multiple heat exchangers as a way to boost overall system efficiencies by recovering energy otherwise lost as heat.
>>>Maybe you should try sampling Deloreans or Edsel<<<
If they ever do a remake of the “Back to the Future” series the time machine should be a Volt. Wait a minute, can a Volt reach 88 miles per hour?
Simon Cowell has a nightmare where he is driving a Volt and being nice to contestants.
Here’s a link which shows the damage....and a longer version of the article:
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/07/wrecked-carscom-chevy-volt-repaired-what-did-it-cost.html
No one on FR owns a Volt.
But all of them have paid for one.
Not in this case, though. From the article:
The Volt uses additional [cooling systems] to cool the battery and electronics, so no fewer than five heat exchangers, or radiators, and associated plumbing had to be replaced. The Volt is also highly computerized, and the car goes into a safe mode after a collision that requires the engine control module to be reprogrammed. "Other hybrids don't do that," Tamblyn said.
Was that a Peter Sellers movie?..................
Or a 15 year old GEO.
With all this heat exchanging and energy recovering going on, it is easy to see how the Chevy Volt can travel up to 40 miles on a single charge!
/sarc
I don’t know about that, but it is far too plain vanilla looking. Everyone would think it was an Acura.
The Nissan Leaf would be a better candidate.
Maybe in the end they could drop a Piano on it.
They would have been better off with a 25-year-old Yugo. If you could find one that runs, the investment would be small enough when it dies (which is probably soon), you can justify just hauling it off to the junk yard for salvage value.
You can also feel good about the purchase, knowing that taxpayers didn't subsidize it.
A car commercial, poking fun at foreign cars. The guy wanted to get a muffler or something like that replaced so the parts guy said “four months” paused then “but you gotta leave the car,” delivered in a thick accent.
Now I remember! Thanks............Midas or Meineke?...........
The engine control module needed reprogramming? Just as I thought...more secret code. That car was programmed to wreck.
Yikes! I bet you are looking at $1800 a quarter for covering one of those?
People who think don’t buy stuff that will cost an arm and a leg after they have signed the contract. Insurance costs must be considered as well as repair and maintenance costs. The batteries are not forever things. They will need replacing after some number of charge cycles at a huge cost, maybe $4-5k plus labor. The re-sell value will be zilch, because nobody wants a car that they know they’ll have to spend that kind of money on relatively soon. Anybody who lives in the real world and not some green mythical paradise would stay away from these cars like the plague......................
I hope you’re right but it doesn’t seem that these should be in something that is supposedly as efficient as an electric automobile. Other than dissipating waste heat due to the large inverter and poly-phase wheel motors, I can’t see what they would be for.
Don’t forget the heat from the batteries.
Remember the laptops that caught on fire?
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