Comments on: The Pike’s Peak Question: Chevy Volt and the Infinite Hill

By: Steffen

Steffen — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:30:18 +0000

Hermant, you’re right the Volt’s generator only puts out about 50kw, or 67 horsepower. Given that the generator delivers power to the electrical engine however, what you get is actually a constant 67 horsepower, and a strong torque.

A Toyota Corolla with 132 horsepower has 132 horsepower available at about 6500-7000 rpm. In normal conditions (i.e. when you’re between 2000 rpm and 4000 rpm you only have 60 -100 horsepower available, and LESS torque than the Volt.

So in other words, the Volt should when using only the generator be able to put out about the same performance as the cars you mention.

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:39:35 +0000

You are right on with your concern. The Volt weighs as much as a Malibu and has an engine half the size. Imagine being in the creeper lane and having an 18 wheeler on your tail.

By: Steve G

Steve G — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:24:39 +0000

You guys are really missing the point. Yes the Corolla has a 130 HP engine, or whatever car your looking at. Yes, that car is still gutless. And yes, 67 HP doesn’t seem like a lot. But the Corolla only makes 130 HP at it’s HP peak. Which is somewhere near it’s redline. Let me ask you, how long do you think you can keep an engine at redline, and expect it to last? Short answer: Not long.

That 67 HP figure is available all the time. The Corolla i doubt could do that. Just a cursory look at the math, but i would bet your top speed would still be 55 MPH up pikes peak. Probably faster then a lot of the traffic up there goes. It’s not like you’d be crawling. The whole idea that “this is a 40 MPH highway car” is ridiculous and unfounded. In my commute, the Volt would yield 150 MPG results. Untouchable by anything else. And it’ll will climb mountains.

By: Tom Harwick

Tom Harwick — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:27:23 +0000

My question is this:

Example, Coming down from a Pike’s Peak or Eisenhower Tunnel..
Would the regen braking be able to bring the pack back up to whatever level the captured energy would take it or would it only hold the battery at the minimum stat of charge like the ICE does?

I’d hope for max charge out of the braking system otherwise, it’s wasted E.
—-

Live long and burn electrons

If GM configures the Volt to use regen braking to charge the battery, the most if can save you is 80 cents, the cost of a full charge at home. And remember, it is doing a partial battery cycle to do this, consuming some of the life of your $10,000 battery.

By: Fred G.

Fred G. — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 13:30:06 +0000

This is a very important issue all over the western US, particularly California. I can see now that the Volt is a city car only for California.
– Sacramento to Truckee/Reno: 132 miles, 7,200 ft elevation gain, 70mph posted speed limit. (and the elevation gain comes unevenly; this will be a 40mph car on the freeway)
– San Francsisco to South Shore Tahoe: 188 miles, 7,200 ft elevation gain, 55 – 65 mph posted speed limit
– Palmdale – Glendale – and return: 83 miles, 3,200 ft elevation gain
California is full of big hills that people drive on every weekend and, for many, every day of the week. Pacific Northwest too. I could list 100 examples.
What would help is a switch to manually control battery vs. charge operation. If I could save my battery for the climb, I could probably manage. Ultimately the nav system could automatically help if I keyed in my destination for the trip.
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