I travel intercity to 5 appointments a day.  Today is the very 1st time I went past 100 miles, but go over 40 every day. If Tesla or some company does not make an all-electric mid-sized car (as I’m over 6 ft & 250 lbs) that reaches 150 miles to the charge soon, I will be building my own near maintenance free all electric car.  Leave the expense of oil canges, radiater flushes, exaust maintenance, fuel injection cleaning, transmision flushes, etc. out!!!!! I don’t want a more complicated system with more things that can go wrong. I’d much rather have an all electic at that can get more miles than a more complex flex fuel vehicle that only goes 40 & relies on an ICE afterwards to charge the battery.

The technology will advance rapidly in the first few generations of E-Flex. GM is on the steep part of the learning curve.

Thank you for bringing this up again. Although said before, it bears repeating every once in a while. THE WORST VALUE PROPOSITION E-FLEX VEHICLE WILL BE THE FIRST GENERATION VOLT.

This is not correct. E-Flex is elegant and flexible (thus the name), but not cheap. Serial requires the highest investment in motor/generators and power electronics. Serial is simpler and gives designers more freedom in stuff like generator type and location.

Today’s systems (HSD, IMA, Two-mode, BAS, E-Flex) each have different strengths and weaknesses and are chosen to match the needs of specific applications. The most cost effective EREV system I’ve seen is the one I believe BYD chose.  It’s tricky to get right, but it could match Volt’s performance with half the motor cost, 35% lower power electronics cost and slightly less expensive batteries. These are significant savings, though they come at the cost of design flexibility. BYD can’t put the ICE anywhere they please like GM can nor can they easily swap in a fuel cell or something.

13. Can Prius run on electricity when it runs out of gas?
No. Though Prius can operate in electric-only mode when gasoline is in the tank, it is not designed to run without gasoline. Doing so could cause severe damage to the hybrid system, so drivers should be sure to keep gas in the tank at all times.

This faq can be viewed at http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/2008/prius/faq.html

So we are still comparing apples and oranges. Please note that I am not flaming Prius owners. They still rule for best MPG in gasoline cars. The Volt is simply a different breed of car.

The best thing to compare the Volt to is a diesel locomotive. Both use an ICE to generate electric, to turn wheels connected to electric motors. Some locomotives have battery packs to help move the train, an even closer comparison to the Volt.

I hope this helps.

Are you saying that those cars are actually coming? If so, where do I get one? Or, are you suggesting that GM should build them? If so, I totally agree.

Well, Nasaman, you’ve made me dig back into my archives, but here is an article on PM motors that I think you will find interesting.

http://www.allbusiness.com/defense-aerospace/defense-industry-defense/6229341-1.html

Note that I myself am not an expert on electric motors, however, I have been following some of the developments in electric drive. A defense contractor, DRS, claims that PM motors are 1-2% more efficient at full load, and 10-15% more efficient at partial load. Note that their large motor for ship propulsion is 99.3% efficient!

Note, I have seen this 36.5 MW motor from DRS, and it is quite impressive.

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp