OK, I looked it up, which I should have done in the first place.

M1 Carbines were manufactured by Winchester, Standard Products, Underwood-Eliot-Fisher, Quality Hardware Machine, National Postal Meter, Rock-Ola, IBM, Irwin-Pedersen, Inland Division of GM, and Saginaw Steering Gear Division of GM.

I am the proud owner of a Rock-Ola M1 Carbine, which I never have the time or opportunity to shoot. It is just a cool curio of The War, and the Rock-Ola manufacture speaks to me about the resourcefulness of the American economy when it is really pressed.

I hope that the Volt does the same. I guess two battery manufacturers should be manageable if these guys, most of whom never made a firearm before or since, could make over 6 million carbines, whose parts were all interchangeable, and which shot a lot of bad guys. All of this with 1940s technology.

Of course, now the bad guys are good guys, so I am probably totally un-PC. They are merrily exporting cars to us and driving the late “Big 3″ to the wall and beyond.

Happy New Year to all!

Thanks, I think. Back in those days, GM made everything, including its own automotive light bulbs, right here in the good old USA. It was either Guide division or Inland division, I can’t remember which.

Estero, #18:

Yeah, I was just commenting on the current sad state of Delphi/Delco. I would be thrilled if GM made its own batteries, especially if they did it here in the good old USA. God send that Delco and Delphi shall regain their health and provide jobs and economic development for the communities where their plants have been traditionally located.

Any bets on when the waiting list will pass 8000?

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/12/12/volvo-and-saab-teaming-up-to-bring-10-plug-in-hybrids-on-the-road/

Saab and Volvo in large plugin project

Saab and Volvo will begin a large scale project on plugin-cars. In the
project the two car manufacturers will test 10 plugin-cars in traffic during
the next year. “We will be testing larger Volvo models working as PHEV, says
Klas Niste at Volvo Cars.

There are a lot of hush hush around this project. But in the corporations
request for subsidies from the energy department, the goal is clear. The
corporations wants to create a swedish market for plugin-hybrids. Or as they
write themselves “Demonstrate how a simple customer-attractive total
solution for plugin-hybrids could look like”.

Included in the project are Vattenfall and battery manufacturer ETC AB in
Nol, Sweden. And what the different corporations are supplying is obvious.
Volvo and Saab will provide ten PHEV cars. Vattenfall will provide technical
solutions for loading the cars in a efficient way. ETC Battery will provide
with their lithium-ion batteries.

The project should run through 2008-2010 and the ten plugin-hybrids will be
in traffic in 2009.
Total budget is 62 million crowns, approx 10 million US$ and the
corporations has been seeking half the budget in subsidies. But to recieve a
50% financing it was demanded that more research and development was
included in the project according to the committee for the vehicle research,
who gave clearence for a third of the total budget in subsidies.

-The next step will be that the four corporations returns with an
application where they assure that they pay for 65 percent of the finances,
then it can proceed to the energydevelopment committee, at the Energy
department, who decides for subsidies surmounting 10 million crowns. I think
a decision will be made in januari-february and if they keep their promise
on 65 percent of the finance they will get an OK, says Gunnar Lindstedt at
Vinnova, secretary in the committee who recommends that the project should
receive 20 million crowns in support.
Both car manufacturers are secret in which models that will be provided with
PHEV functionality. So far the Volvo Cars has only shown the C30 as a PHEV.
But according to Klas Niste at Volvo Cars there will be larger models
included in the project.
But what larger models has Volvo developed with plugin technology?
- No comments, says Klas Niste.

Fact on the Plug-in project
Project description in the application for money from Program counsil for
vehicle research.
“Application is regarding financial support to establish a common
development and demonstration project for plug-in hybrids between SAAB
Automobile, Volvo Car
Corporation, Vattenfall AB and ETC AB. With the collaborations the parts
want to strengthen the possibillities to create a future swedish united,
political and industrial, force for plug-in
hybrids. Plug-in hybrids has a big potential to give a large contribution
for Sweden to reach national and international climate goal and lessen the
dependence on fossil fuel.

Goal.
-To construct and put ten PHEV on the road by year 2009
-To evaluate vehicles and infrastructure under real circumstances
-Demonstrate how a simple customer-attractive total solution for plug-in
hybrids could look like
-Contribute to increased acceptence and insight on the role plug-in hybrids
can have to reach national and international climate goals, increase the
safety for energy supplies
and promote the future of swedish competition in trade and industry.
-Contribute to research and development within the area through
collaborations with for example
SHC. The project is investigating the possibillities for SHC to be able to,
from the data collected in this demonstration project, 1) evaluate batteries
2) analyze driving patterns 3) verify/calibrate simulationprograms for PHEV
and HEV drivelines.

Financing.
…
Written by: Kenneth Samuelsson

That’s another red herring. The target market is the same regardless of whatever terminology you prefer.

It’s the fact that the consumer purchase decision will be between traditional and “some new technology” which should be getting attention.

Why do so many have a problem remembering that there are 17,000,000 new vehicles purchased in the US each year?

“Continental Automotive will begin series production of automotive lithium-ion packs in 2008, according to CEO Manfred Wennemer in an interview with auto motor und sport.

It will not be a hundred thousand units a year, but certainly a few thousand…. This is the battery of the future: for both full- and mild-, as well as plug-in hybrid drive and pure electric cars.
—CEO Manfred Wennemer

In addition to being one of the providers to GM for battery packs for the Volt (earlier post), Continental is also a development partner with VW and Daimler. Wennemer declined to name customers for the batteries.”

Yeah, this sounds about right. I would guess 2-3 days with someone to help for at least 1/2 day. Lots of wiring.

And yes, I would read up a lot before even ordering a system.

But right now, I’m waiting for a system that can break even in less than 10 years. Even with rebates, I can’t find that. Might be because I live in the North-East.

The battery life is a function of the number of charge/discharge cycles. If you plug in both at night and during the day, you’ll probably wear out the battery sooner due to the increased number of charge/discharge cycles.

Also, I can’t find the links at this minute, but Google around and you’ll see many EV advocates talking about the problems of daytime charging. If everyone plugged in during the day, the grid would be toast.

My biggest concern is that this could hurt public perception E-REV sales. If E-REVs just start ramping up market penetration, and the grid starts overloading, many would-be buyers will get a bad perception of E-REVs and EVs. Without mainstream market penetration, the county will continue to use oil. Yes, the individual Volt owner will use less oil, but it’s not about you or me, we need to get most people driving E-REV type cars.

Everyone agrees the currnt gird will support mainstream night time charging with little or no modifications.

All of your posts seem to compare the Volt to hybrid cars like the Prius. The Volt is not a hybrid. It really is an EV with a range extender.

Specifically, hybrid cars use “charge sustaining” batteries, while EVs like the Volt use “charge depleating” battery technologies. Not only is the chemistry quite different, but the amount of energy stored in a charge sustaining battery is 1-2 orders of magnitude less. For more info, look up the past articles gm-volt.com:
1) EnerDel releases Li/Ion hybrid battery
2) Denise Gray addresses congressional hearing
for more details.

For a charge sustaining battery, yes mileage matters. For a charge depleating battery, it’s the number of charge/discharge cycles. I don’t beleive that mileage is a big factor.