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.
In many states you pay a cheaper elec rate for the first amount on your bill and about double that for anything over the low amount they deem you should use.
I figured it with the higher number because the car battery charge would all be at the rate above your normal elec use.
Fraser, prototype, small production
runs.
I was off on a medical, when I could come back to work, they wouldn’t do work for them. They had been burned by a couple of company’s that left them holding the bag, when they went bankrupt.
They had let three people go, and I had to find something else.
My brother gets a break on electricity price because he converted to an all electric house.
Found it.http://www.nypost.com/seven//news/nationalnews/general_motors_volt_gets_230_miles_per_g_.htm
EPA might rewrite the rule, but the proposed test is what it is.
1. Calculate the number of Joules from battery storage it takes for the car to go the required distance at the required speed.
2. Using the value from step 1, calculate the total number of Joules (allowing for loss in transmission, charging, etc.) it requires from a power plant to charge that battery with those Joules from step 1.
3. Divide the result from step 2 by 1.3x 10^8 (the Joules per gallon of gasoline) to get the value in gallons of gasoline.
Presto! You're now comparing apples and apples.
I'll bet a dozen donuts that you will NOT get “230 MPG.” In fact, I suspect it will make most compact cars look pretty good.
If your vehicle is a plug-in hybrid, you can use the result from step 3 along the efficiency of the hybrid's IC power plant.
Of course, since this is allegedly about the environment, you could calculate the mass of “pollutants” produced at the power plant to create those Joules at step 3, vs. the “pollutants” produced by a comparable automobile for the same speed and distance. It might make the electric car look better. Maybe.
And, of course, we're not including the toxic products from building and disposing of the battery. We might need to add that our electric car's wastes.
Anybody see any holes in this?
Yes, coal is cheap and domestic, gasoline is expensive and imported.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.