Comments on: Chevy Volt Chief Engineer on the Volt’s Electric Power Steering System

By: stas peterson

stas peterson — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 05:05:28 +0000

Statik’s investment philosophy which he sahred withus is to: Buy High and Sell Low. He reads all the drivel produced by the real expanding business in the USA, phony tort lawyers. And their pet professional publicity agents, creating ever more targets to sue.

I have had an auto engine stall several times; only to lose PS, and have had to wrestle with a car, unexpectedly. EPS fails only on a component failure, not a simple power shutdown.

By: stas peterson

stas peterson — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:57:22 +0000

#99

Typical German Engineering. Twice the complexity, at half the reliability, and at four times the cost.

Twice as many things to go wrong.

By: Hal

Hal — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:21:33 +0000

I like the idea of the Volt and I wish GM every success. However, if the car is going to be more than $30,000 then I will have to stick with my Prius. Even though it is a “gas guzzler” by comparison it is also affordable and will have greater range than the Volt ( the Volt initially had a range similar to the Prius but was reduced due to a smaller gas tank, the new range is about 400 miles, Prius around 600). Not only that the Prius has already been proven to go more than 250,000 miles and even then showed no signs of being used up.
While I like the idea of an electric car, gasoline remains a great fuel. It is plentiful and portable. it has certainly proven useful in getting people from one point to another. The Prius has proven that it can be burned more efficiently and clean when combined with some relatively easy modifications to how things are done. Electronic drive by-wire in the accelerator, breaking, steering and shifting and air-conditioning have proven what can be done to ease the load on the engine. Even the gas tank has been improved to keep gas vapors from escaping. All this adds up to efficiency at an affordable price. Once the Volt gets to a price for the “Rest of us” then it will be time to swap from the Prius.

By: David

David — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:40:18 +0000

My MINI Cooper S (will be sold when the Volt is available) uses an electric/hydraulic setup that works very well. Basically, the power steeriing assist is via conventional hydraulic pressure. However, the hydraulic pressure is achieved via an electric motor (i.e. the hydraulic pump is not driven directly off the engine). The electric motor has three power modes: off – steering straight ahead, low (or variable speed – higher vehicle speed steering inputs. Hight speed – low vehicle speed/parking manuevers.

The only time I notice the steering system is with the top down and thus can hear the whine (normal) of the electric motor while parking/low speeds.

So, what would be the advantages of one over the other types system (electric/hydraulic vs. EPS)?

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:28:26 +0000

Anyone ever drive a ’60s muscle car with with a big block v-8 which came factory equipped with manual worm-gear steering (in other words NO P/S)? If you ever have you know what mean. It was REALLY DIFFICULT to turn when at rest or moving only a few miles per hour. However once it was moving over 10 mph, it really wasn’t so bad. I don’t know what the weight of the front end of the VOLT will be, but I CAN’T possibly imagine it to be ANYWHERE near a big block equipped 1960′s muscle car, right? That being said, I would NOT be a very happy camper if my $45,000 Volt lost p/s,,,, so,,, GM,,,, let’s get this right, huh? Don’t gain my trust (and money) only to disappoint, k? Thanks buddy.