Chevy Volt Laboratory

[virginsmind]

Green cars? only honda & bmw hydrogen 7 did it nicely.

[emforty2]

isnt lithium ion the culprit for laptop battery recalls ?

i hope none of this happens as that would be the end of this volt science project !!

[TranCendenZ]

There are no savings with the Volt. The price is estimated at $40K to $48K. Automobile critics have dubbed it "Grandma's electric vehicle." The production Volt is hideous and bland. Nissan has already developed an electric car that gets TWICE the mileage as the Volt.

[TomaCukor]

wat do u expect from american engineering ?

[jogrannymonkey]

absolutely nothing but greed. but yet majority of all humans like that

[mag994]

@ :40 Hey it's Gary Coleman's car!

[bustermk2]

So it can go 40 miles on electric. I assume that is the maximum battery range without headlights, aircon, etc.

I am betting that you would have to go real slow to get that 40 miles as well.

[Dilekz]

They still use a wind tunnel to test the car ?? :) fucking oldfasioned.. use a Computer..

[jeffgilbertwwj]

They use a computer at first.  Then after they've designed the model they check everything out in a wind tunnel to make sure their calculations are correct. Same thing with crash testing. The computers save time in the development process...but they still have to test real vehicles.

[Dilekz]

Well it is obvious that it isn't perfect yet.. i see the white cloud getting invisible afther the car ... You wouldn't get that with an aptera car.

[PeteRosenburg]

Why don't you cram your faggot face deep into your dirty asshole, so we dont have to hear your arrogant, egotistical douchebaggary. You know nothing, so don't say anything.

[imacrazydude9999999]

Battery technology has improved 8 fold over the past 16 years, car technology is still 100 years out of date. the 1908 model-T was an ethanol flex fuel vehicle with 25mpg efficiency

[HAL11000]

Detroit Electric vehicle, an Edison nickel-iron battery was available from 1911 to 1916. The cars were advertised as reliably getting 80 miles between battery recharging, although in one test a Detroit Electric ran 211.3 miles on a single charge. Top speed was only about 20 miles per hour , but this was considered adequate for driving within city or town limits at the time.

[imacrazydude9999999]

wait wait wait . .. 40 whole miles!!?? don't Li-ion batteries easily get over 200 miles? last I checked anyway. NOT IMPRESSED

[diggingforgold]

The Volt is equipped with a 16kWh Li-ion pack (which is almost the same capacity as the 1st generation EV1, which was a 18kWh LA pack), and GM is limiting charges to 30% to 80% (8kWh brings the 40-mile AER) to prolong battery life.

2nd generation EV1s had 26kWh capacity (using NiMH), which gave the driver about 160 miles.

GM is focusing on cost, which means to make it affordable, they have to use smaller packs. But as the batteries come down in price, we should see more range in future Volts.

[emforty2]

GM admits real world conditions it won't reach 40 mile range more like 32 miles

and much much less if theres airconditioning

[liveoilfree]

GM lies through its TEETH. They claim the Lithium is needed, but they have to use 16 kWh of batteries of which only 8 kWh can be used, for 400 lbs.!

That's worse than NiMH, heavier than the batteries in our RAV4-EV, and not much better than the LEAD-ACID batteries that carried both the 1997 and 1999 EV1 over 110 miles.

[diggingforgold]

Reuters recently quoted Lutz saying that their engineers have "routinely had it to the high 30s, low 40s and they go up hills with it and everything". And obviously AC will reduce range, it reduces range on other EVs as well.

People need to remember that GM is hoping to make this an *affordable* EV. Benchmarking the Volt to the EV1 is unfair, since each EV1 cost GM $80,000 and they never saw a penny of profit from it. GM hopes to sell the Volt for less than half that, and make a profit.

[liveoilfree]

The NiMH EV1 went up to 160 miles on its 1000 lb. battery pack, which held 26 kWh of energy. Toyota had one a bit better, the EV-95 with up to 30 kWh for 1000 lbs.

This is the ONLY proven EV battery, STILL running strong 6 years after Toyota abandoned support and stopped selling the batteries, which are STILL running strong.

So WHY is GM LYING??

[Dilekz]

Uhm, the car was a bit expensive to make... so that's why.

[diggingforgold]

The EV1 was lighter, more aerodynamic, and cost more than twice the expected price of the Volt. It didn't have to appeal to the masses, only a few environmentalists. With +$4/gal gas prices, people are keeping their options open, EVs finally have a chance.

At the very least, I would think EV enthusiasts would be applauding GM so they can be the guinea pigs for Li-ion, mass produce it, and get it to come down in price so you guys have something for when your packs eventually need replacement.

[liveoilfree]

It's all BOGUS. If GM wanted to make an EV, they would have left the EV1 in the hands of would-be buyers.

GM is STILL lying about demand for the EV1.

[evmotorcycle]

I am sure if the BIG companies really wanted to they could make a muscle car with an electric engine. Sure it may not have the amazing sound of a Mustang, but the torque could be enough to make even the most hardened car enthusiast wet themselves with joy! :) Bring on Tesla roadster V2.0.

[evmotorcycle]

40 miles of electric range? What if they ditch the Gas motor and base their battery on the Tesla Roadster battery? Surely the GM can do better than that? Phoenix motorcars, Tesla Motors. Any EV enthusiast using Lithium batteries could build a competing car in their own garage. Sounds like GM are not making that much of an effort to me.

[jeffgilbertwwj]

Not to debate anybody...but just passing on what GM says. They say they have concerns about the reliability of the tesla battery system. There are even those at other auto companies who privately don't think GM can sell the Volt at anything close to break even. It will be interesting to watch.

[tsport100]

GM mass producing car sized and rated Li-ion batteries can ONLY be a positive for EVs.

As the supply of and market for Li0Ion EV batteries expands the price will drop like with all consumer electronics products (Cars have never been directly subjected to Moores Law before) and all EV 'enthusiasts' will be able to by a fully assembled and tested battery pack over-the-counter from GM at an increasingly affordable price instead of having to make a 6000 cell pack from 'laptop' batteries.

[pjkPA]

Thanks for the progress report... looks good.

Keep us up to date.. I'm ready. Give me the option of no gas extender ICE... larger battery and less price. I would buy a 50 mile range Volt with no ICE engine for $25K.. and so would millions of others.

[Dilekz]

WTF i hear a DC motor.... hahaha SUCKS BIG TIME.. I hope they will use AC motor..

Damn the EV1 was so much better.

The volt is R/D will never hit the real road.. trust me

[jeffgilbertwwj]

That vehicle was just the concept. It was handout tape provided by GM. I'm not really sure what was powering that vehicle. They seem really interested in getting the Volt on the road. So, we'll see if you're right.

[Flip98Q]

i really hope its on the road by 2010 like they want cuz if enough ppl buy it gas will become cheaper and it will make it alot easier for ppl like me that love muscle cars with huge gas guzzling engines

[Dilekz]

Gas will never become cheap again.

Why ? NOT because oil is almost gone..

Because the "easy" oil that just pops out of the ground is almost gone...

The hard oil is harder to get.. so it takes more money to get out of the ground.

[Flip98Q]

well i guess thats true....

you just ruined my day. ill still never give up my muscle cars....NEVER

[DanFrederiksen]

who filmed it? is the red car in the distance aat 1:30 an EV1?

[jeffgilbertwwj]

I shot the video with a low resolution "flip" camera. The only exception is the running footage of the Volt, which was provided by GM. And, yes that red car was an EV1, that they had on display for us.

[DanFrederiksen]

grat video but any reason you avoided showing the EV1?

[jeffgilbertwwj]

No real reason. Just didn't seem to fit with the story as I was writing it.

[DanFrederiksen]

:) I understand it's the norm to do reports with no bad feelings. that's part of why our world is in such poor shape. perhaps one day you could ask them if they killed the EV1. If the Volt was damage control for the documentary. maybe you can find a way to make the story work

[jscott1000]

Very Nice...I wonder what is powering the prototype? I didn't even know it could move under it's own power.

Can't wait to see the final car although I know it won't be quite as dramatic looking.

[freddotu]

They must be keeping the muffler and exhaust pipe on that Malibu, in order to hide the test bed. lol...

[coreymon77]

sweet!