Good reply Jim, really makes me consider the parameters of whereToyo’s HSD will have usefulness more carefully.

Gsned57 – I like the”Volt Hybrid Light” moniker. I mentioned this concept a few weeks ago but I’m not sure I mentioned or explained the small battery idea at all. Sounds promising though!

The persistence of comparing vehicles with such drastic price differences is bad enough. But not understanding how the new model operates and what features have changed says a lot.

We are about to begin the second half of 2009. Between the bankruptcy outcome for GM and the sales count for Prius, it should become obvious how much the market is changing. The shift to low-profit affordable vehicles that don’t guzzle is already underway.

That puts traditional vehicles in a difficult spot. Some will really struggle to remain competitive. How does that position Volt, in a market so different from which it was originally conceived?

The Prius was what it was, a good way to show that people would buy if offered the opportunity.

Now get on with the Plug-Ins so the people that can think for themselves will buy.

Just watch your miles for a while, most days I drive less than 40 miles, other days I drive less than 60. Weekend trips to hike or bike, well, I’ll take the benifit of that range extender and not need a second car thank you.

As far as that under 35 electric only for the Prius, I don’t drive thru parking lots all the way to work.

The only people that believe the myth of Japanese car “superiority” are the ones dumb enough to read fashion magazines like Consumer Reports and believe that they have your interests in mind. As far as I can tell, going back to the 1970s Consumer Reports has always read like a payola operation. Maybe competent to rate refrigerators. Not Stereos, VCRs, and certainly not cars.

I have a friend in NJ who bought a Prius and had to pay out of pocket for a new engine block just after the warranty ran out. This from the #1 car maker in terms of recalls. Rumor is that engine failure is common.

As long as we are off topic, I have had two long trips approaching the 150 mile range in my Mini E. Of course it is feather foot driving, around 33 mph average speed. If this Volt web site is going to continue to be clogged with comments from shills for cruddy Japanese hybrids, maybe it is time to stop reading it. I come here for info about the future like the Volt , Tesla, and the Mini E, not parallel hybrids. They might make sense in heavy trucks that do stop and go driving.

However, I am not sure they should bother developing another system. I would suggest a voltec system with a small battery (and therefore the engine running most of the time) is going to work out better for them as that will help drive part volumes up and part costs down on their one “do-all” voltec system. Additionally, the voltec system is simpler with fewer parts than HSD, also another plus for GM. And it would be a good leveraging of all that investment into it so far.

Apparently, the Vibe is (was? Will have been??) 24% of production there.

It will be interesting to see what happens next there.

While I am not an automotive engineer I do a thing or two about conversion losses. While there is a loss converting gasoline to electricity and a loss using electricity to power the wheels, this pales in comparison to the mechanical losses inherent in even the best transmissions.

In addtion, an ICE that is directly connected to the wheel speed (through a ratio) will rev up and down with the speed of the car. This is also a very inefficient way to use an ICE. A much bettter way is to deign the ICE to run within one or two speed bands and then use only those bands to produce power — you can only do that with a separation of engine speed from wheel speed … as designed in VOLTEC.

Remeber that Gen I VOLTEC will not be using purpose built engines, but are using off the shelf designs to reduce risk and cycle time. These engines will still be more efficient running only at few few set speeds than constantly revving up and down.

In short, VOLTEC provides the greatest opportunities to increase efficiency over the long haul. Toyota has about squeezed all that it can out of the HSD. And yet, VOLTEC Gen I should be more efficient than HSD in ICE operation.

Everything NUMMI currently hinges on the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which also expires in August. If the UAW play hard ball, I expect the doors to be closed.