The Volt is powered totally by an electric engine..thats right its not an internal combustion engine. The system is an electric drive unit consisting of a 120 kW electric motor that turns the drivetrain with 161 hp. This can generate decent speed, with a 0 to 60 of 8.5 seconds, current Prius is 9.8 seconds.
The electric engine is powered directly from 16 kwH Lithium ion battery.
We see from multiple sources that the car could travel up to 40 miles at “normal driving speeds” before a fully charged battery is emptied. The battery itself will have two methods of recharging; an on-the-fly method which is supplied by a 1.0L 3 cylinder on board combustion engine whose only job in the vehicle is to refill the battery. This engine alone give 71HP and can tool the car along from 50 up to 150 mpg depending on the length of the trip. The second method for charging the battery is by plugging it into a 110 volt outlet and draining from the power grid.
Questions for thought?
1) what does this car sound like driving
2) what is the electric cost of a daily 2-way 40 mile commute from typical utility power rates
This entry was posted on Friday, January 12th, 2007 at 8:40 pm and is filed under Electric Motor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Feb 9th, 2007 (11:26 am)Great web-site. I think the EV-1′s aura could flow into the GM Volt… as well as a strong following of car buyers.
I’m an engineer and I think the “electric engine” terminology is a bit off. GM calls it “e-Drive” which is accurate, as it is a series hybrid (with a small gas engine/generator).
The cost per mile while running on electricity is about $0.03/mile accounting for the Volt’s road power usage and the nominal cost of $0.08/kWh of electricity. A gasoline powered car normally runs about $0.12/mile for fuel costs.
…and the sound while driving? I suspect it will sound like the EV-1. I’ll tell you more in a few months when the drive train test bench is in full operation.
Herman
+1
Feb 9th, 2007 (12:09 pm)Hi Herman,
Welcome to our site and thanks for the compliment!
Also thanks for the firsthand information.
We are extremely interested in the battery.
Do you know if the current prototype is able to perform at the posted specs, or is still a work in progress?
Feb 19th, 2007 (8:13 pm)I think if a car company comes out with a electric car with a charge capacity that will last at lease 125 miles will become no.1 in Canada and beat out all japanese or korean cars.I know I would choose GM again if they sold a good electric commuter car.
Aug 11th, 2007 (6:56 am)The numbers do not add up. A standard wall outlet will deliver approx. 20 KWHs worth of juice during a full 12 hour re-charging cycle. This will only power a 160 HP motor for about 15 minutes assuming on average it will be 1/3 loaded and all the juice for acceleration is recovered during braking.
This is hardly enough time to drive 40 miles unless perhaps you are puttering down a country road at 40 MPH at 1/5 load in no traffic, with no AC or lights on and make no stops. I love the idea of a peppy flashy car that plugs in at night and can go 40 miles on the batteries alone but the physics here do not add up.
+1
Sep 1st, 2007 (9:47 am)Robert, think in kW and kWh for these puppies. Electric motors are very efficient – 90% is number that I have seen used. Then the numbers begin to make sense.
For example, a Volt, at 3,000 lbs. will require about 1/5 kWh delivered to the wheels to accelerate to 60 miles. At 60 mph, the Volt, likely similar to the Prius, should experience an aerodynamic drag of about 8 kW and a rolling resistance of 4 kW. So, on flat ground, at 60 mph, the Volt would consume 1/5 kWh per minute during which time it travels one mile. This equates to 8.2 kWh plus about 10% for electrical system inefficiencies for a total of about 9 kWh for 40 miles.
At 30 mph, the drag is 1/8 that at 60 mph and the rolling resistance is halved and the volt would consume 1/20 kWh per min, or 1/10 kWh per mile. This equates to 4.6 kWh for 40 miles.
An average 1% grade over the 40 miles would change the power requirements by 3.6 and 1.8 kW at 60 and 30 mph, respectively, and change the energy usage by 2.65 kWh in both cases. The effect of this altitude change has contaminated the Tesla Roadster’s range demonstration where it was driven from Lake Tahoe to Tesla’a offices, a drop of several thousand feet with a gain of 5 kWh or so.
May 6th, 2009 (9:28 am)Hello, I found your blog in a new directory of blogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, but Im glad it came out