Comments on: How the Chevy Volt is Expected to Beat the 100 MPG Designation

By: HOWARD MANUEL

HOWARD MANUEL — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:31:03 +0000

I LOVE THE CONCEPT AND PLUS, AM AN ENVIRONMENTALIST SO THE CZAR BATTERY gODDESS CAN KISS HER HEIR!!!!!!!

By: Unni

Unni — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:17:51 +0000

MPG ? i don’t pay for hydro in galoons/ltrs ,
then how Volt expense in MPG ? may be it should be “kms per kw” or “mpkw”.

On the MPG side if you are thinking of gas, First the oil is converted to rotations and then to elcetricity and then back to rotations. Every thing will work smooth till we introduce “friction” “gravity” “conversion losses” etc.

I don’t know how 3 times conversion losses is lesser than one time conversion loss ( normal gas car ) and assuming it will be more efficient.

Ultimately what matters is how much i need to spend and how i can calculate to my expense.

By: kent beuchert

kent beuchert — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:13:24 +0000

Well, if you want an estimate of how much gasoline that 78% means, then the Volt would obtain 230 MPG, which, oddly enough, is virtually the same figure that I calculated using commuting trip data
and then based the remaining mileage on total gas used. if the EPA folks are trying to factor in the electricity used, expressed as MPG equivalent, they are going to have problems. You cannot make equivalences based on respective costs of gas versus electricity – that has changed 100% in both directions over the past several years. So what’s left is energy equivalences or perhaps emissions, but what’s the purpose of that, exactly? That changes everytime you cross a utility’s operating area. Perhaps we’d better not confuse everything by trying to express something in terms of MPG,
under the false assumption that this would be clearer. How about miles per KWhr (MPKWH) , which is what should be reported and what consumers should be getting used to?

By: Tom H

Tom H — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:52:12 +0000

“”"”I would prefer to see a miles/KW-hr rating, along with the size of the battery (ie: KW-hr storage capacity, and its expected range). Then, a separate mpg rating when running in gas mode. This makes it clearer to the average Joe, and allows them to better understand how this would affect his driving requirements”"”
————————————————————————-
A sticker with three separate numbers, none of which tells the whole story by itself, would be the most useful for those of us who enjoy doing calculations. But “the average Joe” as cited above, will see two numbers which have no meaning whatsoever for him, and a 50 mpg figure. So his question will be, “why should I pay 10k extra for a car that is only 7mpg better than the Pruis.

In other words, the suggestion above makes it possible to calculate that the Volt can exceed 100mpg, but you have do make assumptions and do calculations to get this result. If you do not do the calculations, it looks like a 50 mpg car.

The Volt is intended to be a consumer product, and after the first year, a mass market product. You do not mass-market a product by providing raw data from which the consumer has to do calculations to arrive at the selling point.

And make no mistake, EPA milage stickers are marketing devices, mandated by the government to aid consumers who want to identify energy efficient vehicles.

By: omnimoeish

omnimoeish — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:00:33 +0000

It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if it gets 50 mpg running in extended range mode because the ICE is running at optimal rpm all the time whether you’re waiting at a light or stopping at a stop sign, then you have brake regeneration when stopping helping out, and you have the efficiency of an electric motor actually moving the car. So, seeings how the Toyota Prius (under not so optimal conditions all the time) is getting 45 mpg, I would think the Volt could do 50 easy.

By: kdawg

kdawg — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:44:33 +0000

1KWH = 3.6MJ (mega joules) = 860Kcal = 3412 Btu

There’s some energy equivalents for you.

Gasoline has an energy density of about 45 megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg) or 8.76 KWH/liter.

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:25:04 +0000

Volt is the first American car that might be good enough for competition against all those Japanese cars. However, it is too late and might be too expensive which might wipe out all the savings on the gas. Plus, GM (and all American cars) are not that good on reliability. One expensive repair can make all these good deals nonsense. I will pray for American car companies but I will not buy their cars until their resale values are higher than those Japanese cars 10 years later.

By: Jeff M

Jeff M — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:15:54 +0000

Ter Meenal, you must be new here??… first keep in mind that a lot (most?) States regulate electric rates and rate increases (or decreases) need to be approved by that State’s Public Utilities Commission. It has to be justified based on costs (with fuel costs being the biggest factor).

Second, BEV’s (including BEV hybrids like the Volt) will be mostly charged off-peak… ie. evening/overnight hours. All power companies have excess capacity off-peak because they built their power generating capacity to handle peak hours. As such, plug-in vehicles are a great untapped market for them to sell power off peak and put that otherwise unused capacity to work making money. It’s even better if the utility has lots of generation capacity that is hard to throttle up and and down (like nuclear for instance).

I think it’s estimated that current off peak excess capacity could recharge 10’s of millions of plug-ins before any new power plants would even need to be built to meet the demand.

By: carcus

carcus — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:29:25 +0000

100 mpg?

That’s nothing.

Try another people’s car that gets 235 mpg and is slated for 2010 production (supposedly) — and it’s not even a hybrid!

http://carsworld.northglow.com/technology/come-2010-the-100kml-volkswagen-l1-will-hit-production/
http://www.rmcb5.com/forums/general-discussion/vw-l1-concept-235-mpg/

By: Ter Meenal

Ter Meenal — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:30:37 +0000

koz,

Question:”…Why do you think charging your Volt will be any different of an economic scenario for the utilities than any other power usage in the home?…”

Answer: Aside from a healthy dose of cynicism? Nothing more than sheer corporate greed.

Ter