Comments on: Volt Nation VIDEO: Public Q and A Part III (Final)

By: Bill Wangard

Bill Wangard — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:11:30 +0000

Hi,

I had a question about charging the vehicle.

Does the car plug into the wall, or does the house (via extension) plug into the car?

If the answer is the former, how long is the vehicle’s extension?

Thanks,
Bill W.

By: Storm Connors

Storm Connors — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:05:47 +0000

So glad to hear that they are not demanding some obscure paddle type charger. Being able to plug into 110 v outlets adds opportunities to charge. Due to the obscene number of varieties of 220 outlets, you’ll need a basket full of adapters. Stove and dryer (3 wire and 4 wire varieties of each), RV, welder and who knows what else. At least you don’t need to find a "charging station" with some weird inductance charger.

By: nasaman

nasaman — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:37:57 +0000

38Tom.... You're right ---regenerative braking helps recapture the kinetic energy a car acquires (energy the drive train expends) during acceleration. And regenerative deceleration does the same thing. Drive train designers are keenly aware that drivers don't like the feeling of "free wheeling" (feeling they're losing a degree of control if a car coasts freely when lifting the accelerator foot). This is why automatic transmissions downshift (and drivers often manually downshift) when decelerating. In a well-designed electric drive train the drive motor that's driven by the battery doubles as a generator that's loaded by the battery when decelerating ---with the net result that even deceleration without braking recovers much of the vehicle's kinetic energy. This is why even larger EVs such as the plug-in Saturn Vue CUV can be heavier than comparable ICE-powered cars (which have no energy recovery) and still realize high overall efficiency gains vs conventional drive trains. One more thing ---added weight, if properly located, can actually improve handling. The Volt's (& plug-in Vue's) heavy batteries are centered & located very LOW in the vehicle, which improves handling due to the lowered center of gravity ---my Camaro Z-28 (the one used in IROC racing) was virtually impossible to roll over, while as we all know, a Ford Explorer will roll over as easily as Rover when you say "roll over, Rover".

By: Grizzly

Grizzly — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:23:13 +0000

Weight does matter quite a bit in getting the vehicle started from a dead stop, and climbing hills. Both of those draw more juice from the batt. Once the weight is moving it takes less to keep it moving, but this is not true of aero whose drag is continuous or increases with speed.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:00:23 +0000

Not many people are asking WHY weight matters less for the Volt. The answer boils down to something very plain and simple: regenerative braking. The more massive the car, the more energy you get from bringing it to a stop. But this only addresses efficiency, i.e., "MPG." Additional weight means worse handling, and, in general, heavier-duty (and more expensive) supporting components all around, e.g., suspension, motor, frame, tires, friction brakes, etc.