GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

We agree that the plug-in electric vehicle seems like a great idea. The concept works well for homeowners, who can plug their electric vehicles into their home outlets and pay the electric bill increases that occur.

A problem arises when we consider the fact that only about 60% of residences are detached single family houses, and about 30% are apartments. The final 10% or so are mobile homes.

People living in apartments will have a problem with PHEVs. Where will the cars get plugged in and who will pay the bills?

Many apartment complexes for example have outdoor strip lots, with no accessible outlets. Similarly, people who wish to charge their cars up after getting to their workplaces will run into similar problems.

Clearly there will have to be new approaches and infrastructure to accommodate widespread electric car adoption, and we have to begin the discussion and debate now ahead of time.

Sundays New York Times features an article about A123 systems and the GM Volt. It is a very positive discussion and focuses on the companies success at producing a very powerful, energy dense, lightweight battery.

The writer states…
” A123Systems, a start-up in Watertown, Mass., says it has created a powerful, safe, long-lived battery. If the cell fulfills the ambitions of its maker, that softer sound will be the future of automobiles.”

The media coverage continues to build positively, sealing the fate of the Volt to clearly become a reality.

It has been reported that Bob Lutz said the production model of the Volt wont be able to look like the concept car. The aggressive styling will have to be subdued, and the car will have to “look a little more traditional”. He also gave the car a 90% chance of making it to market.

We thought it would be fun to make a mock up drawing of what the car might actually look like, and it appears below, below the concept:

We would be very interested in seeing your designs. Make one and email it to chevyvolt AT gmail DOT com. We will post them here for all to see…

We’ve heard it before we’re hearing it again. GM’s Bob Lutz has officially claimed 2010 as the target year for Volt’s production. Reuter’s press release here. There isn’t any doubt about the engineering and the technology, its all there. We still hear how its all about the batteries. But as we have explored, the batteries exist in prototype, and Li-ion batteries are already in use in other electric vehicles. Plus surely the people behind the scenes at A123/Cobasys are certainly giving the go ahead for GM to say its 2010. An interesting NEW fact is that a full running prototype is due out by the end of this year!! Any takers?
So stay posted, more news to come…

If and when the Chevrolet Volt is mass produced and marketed we will all be happy, right? Happy about not spending money on gas and helping to avert oil dependence, Peak Oil, and not contributing to global warming.

Indeed George Bush has requested that Americans reduce our gasoline consumption by 20% in the next decade.

Certainly if GM produces a high quality, safe, effective and enjoyable electric car they stand to make a lot of money.

We need to consider what the effect of widespread acceptance and adaption of the Volt and similar cars will have on our economy.

Here are some interesting facts:

-Number of cars in US 240 million, ~100 million passenger cars

-Number of licensed drivers 196 million

-Each car has 23 mpg avg EPA and is driven 12000 miles per year

-75% of all drives less than 40 miles, that’s 900 billion miles

-This would amount to a savings of 40 billion gallons of gas saved, with a retail cost of ~100 billion dollars

-U.S. consumes 146 billions of gas per year.

This would mean 100 billion dollars of revenue yearly would be lost by the major oil companies, and only partly (we hope) recovered by the utility companies. The largest U.S. oil company, ExxonMobil had revenue of 370 billion in 2006 (a record) with 36 billion in profit. Would they be happy with 75 billion less revenue? We need to figure out how to keep Big Oil from squashing the electric car revolution. Let them make the batteries? We’d love to hear your thoughts…

Well we’re still seeing problems with Lithium-ion batteries overheating, even ones on as small a scale as in laptop computers. It remains an issue for us folks hoping to ride a 160 HP electric car filled with 600 pounds of these puppies at > 55 mph.

Apparently if one of these batteries made by Sanyo is dropped on its edge it could catch fire.

Read more here.