Comments on: Exclusive: Interview/Podcast With Chevy Volt Chief Engineer on Current State of Volt Development

By: WILLIAM HUSAR

WILLIAM HUSAR — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:23:00 +0000

NICK ZIELINSKI ON JULY 20 GM MEDIA SENT E-MAIL THANKING ME FOR THE CONCEPT OF USING THE KINETIC ENERGY OF THE REAR WHEEL DRIVING THE GENERATOR TO CHARGE THE BATTERY WHILE DRIVING NO GAS REQUIRED DETAILS AVAIALABLE whusarb@aol.com

By: explain bc and ad in a timeline

explain bc and ad in a timeline — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:34:22 +0000

[...] [...]

By: GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Concept Site » GM Expands Chevy Volt/E-Flex Leadership Team

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:46:59 +0000

[...] The Chevy Volt/E-Flex leadership team has consisted of Frank Weber as vehicle line executive and Tony Posawatz as vehicle line director. Next in line has been Nick Zielinski as Volt chief engineer. In fact I’ve had the chance to speak with Nick on two occasions (POST 1), (POST 2). GM has also previously posted a video of Nick answering enthusiasts’ questions (VIDEO).What I have now been told is that a new position has been created. Nick has now become the chief engineer of the fuel-cell Volt, and the fuel-cell Equinox. [...]

By: Edward Faroh

Edward Faroh — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 02:52:59 +0000

Uh…

What’s a “Thermal Mass”?

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 05:52:44 +0000

Maybe this is a crazy idea, but…

It seems like an on-board thermal mass could provide plenty of heating/cooling on the road using very little electricity.

For example, a gallon of frozen ice could provide a few hours of cooling. Likewise, a gallon a melted salt could provide a few hours of heat.

During recharging (when Volt has plenty of electric power), the thermal mass could be re-frozen or re-melted (as appropriate) for later use on the road.

The phase change of a thermal mass can capture/release a tremendous amount of energy at a constant temp. This energy transfer is 100% efficient, and it will never wear out.

By: mlhm5

mlhm5 — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 17:22:08 +0000

The point is not how the Volt handles the AC, but if in fact the Volt will ever be marketed.

I, for one, would like to see the numbers from a real world business/marketing plan on the final design(s), the number of cars GM intends to manufacture during the first 12 months, how it will compete with the Prius and diesels that will be available during the year they launch the Volt. After all GM is tentatively committing to 2010 which is just two model years away.

Honda’s new 2.2L diesel will be in the Accord and will be a world beater with an estimated 50MPG as will Toyota’s diesel. Both plan to be in the market in 2009.

GM is being very cagey for a company who is committed to marketing this vehicle within 2+ years and may just pull the plug when the Honda Accord 2.2L diesel is announced along with the PHEV Prius.

I could be wrong, but wasn’t it GM who promised a hybrid, then pulled the plug and announced that the new “silver bullet” was hydrogen?

With a record of under delivering on new technology, GM may have a shareholder problem if they don’t market a Volt that is competitive with the diesel Honda Accord and the PHEV Prius.

By: Matt986

Matt986 — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 16:17:26 +0000

Well, for heating, I can use a space heater as an example. I have a little space heater that can get a 12×15 room nice and toasty relatively quickly. It uses 1000W (1kW). That’s for the heating element and the fan in it.

If the Volt was made with a nice, efficient AC unit, and a small space heater type heating unit, it seems like we’ve evidenced that they could each draw maybe around 1kW, which during use wouldn’t decrease the range of the vehicle too much.

By: Tom Crowley

Tom Crowley — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 14:01:45 +0000

Now the fun begins
The big question is how efficient the AC or Heat pump will be?
That will depend on how much room they give up in the front end of the car for the condensing coil.
The larger the coil the less power will be needed to run the compressor.
Saying a Heat pump is more efficient is not correct.
Heat pumps can move the heat from inside the car to outside and from outside to inside the car,
AC can only move heat from inside to outside of the car.
With the battery section going to be liquid cool that heat could be move to inside the car like your current cars.
so using a Heat pump would not be needed if they can get enough heat off the battery cooling system.
Tom

By: kent beuchert

kent beuchert — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 04:17:01 +0000

I’ve mentioned this before on other blogs, but it’s clear to me that once plug-in appear, the same thing will happen everywhere that happened in So California back when that impractical EV-1 was still around – offices installed 120 outlets in their parking lots for their employees. National average electrical rate is around 8.5 cents per kWhr, but 7 cents for commercial (stores,etc.) For a 120 15 amp circuit (typical), the cost is 12.5 cents per hour. Installing 120 outlets in a cluster of parking spaces would cost about
zilch. I’m certain that grocery stores,
doctor’s offices, theaters, shopping malls would all make these available for their customers – it’s simply too cheap and attractive not to. There probably is no reason to charge for the juice. Shop an hour and suck up 1.8 kWhrs, or around 7 miles of driving.

By: kent beuchert

kent beuchert — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 04:01:56 +0000

Checking the power consumption of window A/C units, I find one that’s rated 12,000 BTU and cools 400 sq ft and only draws
8.4 at 120 volts, or 1 Kw. Another 15,000 BTU window unit draws 15 amps at 120 volts or 1.8 Kilowatts. Seeing these figures for units much larger than would be required for a compartment as small as the interior of a sedan leads to me to doubt that 4Kw power estimate for A/C. Looks like 1 or 2 kilowatts is required, or around 2 to 3 mile reduction for highway run of 40 miles.