Comments on: Charging the Chevy Volt http://gm-volt.com/2009/08/20/charging-the-chevy-volt/ Real-time news, information, and discussion about the Chevrolet Volt. Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:22:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: hank http://gm-volt.com/2009/08/20/charging-the-chevy-volt/#comment-180274 hank Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:05:40 +0000 http://gm-volt.com/?p=1807#comment-180274 Common since shows for an electric car to fit into society it needs a universal way to charge. The most logical choice it to have a built in charger and use an every day extension cords for the connection. Yes they even make a 220v high amp extension as well. Now if your worried about driving away with the cord still attached don’t, the car can sense the power is connect and not allow it to move until it’s unplugged. By doing things the smart way all you need to do is put in a dedicated outlet in your garage. If a business wants to provide the same they can and they can attach a pay station to charge by the KW used. They can even put in solar and make a bigger profit. We all know the energy consortium doesn’t like this concept, too bad, It’s better for us and the environment. Common since shows for an electric car to fit into society it needs a universal way to charge. The most logical choice it to have a built in charger and use an every day extension cords for the connection. Yes they even make a 220v high amp extension as well. Now if your worried about driving away with the cord still attached don’t, the car can sense the power is connect and not allow it to move until it’s unplugged. By doing things the smart way all you need to do is put in a dedicated outlet in your garage. If a business wants to provide the same they can and they can attach a pay station to charge by the KW used. They can even put in solar and make a bigger profit. We all know the energy consortium doesn’t like this concept, too bad, It’s better for us and the environment.

]]> By: hank http://gm-volt.com/2009/08/20/charging-the-chevy-volt/#comment-180270 hank Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:51:00 +0000 http://gm-volt.com/?p=1807#comment-180270 It’s a $40k car so my question why isn’t the 220 volt charger built into the car. In looking at the charging station it just looks to be an over priced outlet. This looks like GM is working hand-in-hand with the energy industry so they can keep picking our pockets. I was reading an article on smart energy control. They were talking about being able to instantly raise and lower electricity prices based on demand, kind of reminds you of gas stations doesn’t it? Why is GM trying to makes it more costly for us to drive an electric car? Remember the demise of the EV. GM does not want the car on the market hence the external charger and price. GM had the patent for the best battery out there that could make the Volt go 200 miles on a charge. They sold it to an oil company. Thank goodness it expires in 2014. At the current design and price the volt will die from foreign competition. Well it just shows greed runs America. Thanks for letting me vent. It’s a $40k car so my question why isn’t the 220 volt charger built into the car. In looking at the charging station it just looks to be an over priced outlet. This looks like GM is working hand-in-hand with the energy industry so they can keep picking our pockets. I was reading an article on smart energy control. They were talking about being able to instantly raise and lower electricity prices based on demand, kind of reminds you of gas stations doesn’t it? Why is GM trying to makes it more costly for us to drive an electric car? Remember the demise of the EV. GM does not want the car on the market hence the external charger and price. GM had the patent for the best battery out there that could make the Volt go 200 miles on a charge. They sold it to an oil company. Thank goodness it expires in 2014. At the current design and price the volt will die from foreign competition. Well it just shows greed runs America. Thanks for letting me vent.

]]> By: Roy http://gm-volt.com/2009/08/20/charging-the-chevy-volt/#comment-140446 Roy Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:53:42 +0000 http://gm-volt.com/?p=1807#comment-140446 A few thoughts: I work for a rural electric coop. Changing out residential power transformers takes less than an hour in most cases. Most of our customers are on individual transformers. The conductors to the house and the Service Entrance size are going to be the biggest problems for our customers. We do not charge for increasing the size of the transformer or the lead in conductors when the customer is increasing their load. The meter and breaker panel at the house is the customers property and they must deal with that. This is where the customer can see real expense if they want to charge at 230 volts and 50 amps. If our customers stay with 120v charging I do not think most of them would have to upgrade. We are usually at about 75% of our peak demand by ten o'clock in the evening. Unless an awful lot of people buy electric vehicles and insist on plugging them in when they get home from work at six o'clock, I do not expect problems with generation capacity in the short term. Those states and cities where the citizens have not allowed power plants to be built may have real worries. Equipping houses with demand meters would be very easy physically. Politically it could be a problem. Most of our power lines are built with a 30 year expected life. That implies that at least 1/30 of the lines are rebuilt in any given year. If electric vehicle penetratration takes 30 years to reach 100 perecent ( it aint gonna happen) I think we could keep up A few thoughts: I work for a rural electric coop. Changing out residential power transformers takes less than an hour in most cases. Most of our customers are on individual transformers. The conductors to the house and the Service Entrance size are going to be the biggest problems for our customers. We do not charge for increasing the size of the transformer or the lead in conductors when the customer is increasing their load. The meter and breaker panel at the house is the customers property and they must deal with that. This is where the customer can see real expense if they want to charge at 230 volts and 50 amps.

If our customers stay with 120v charging I do not think most of them would have to upgrade.

We are usually at about 75% of our peak demand by ten o’clock in the evening. Unless an awful lot of people buy electric vehicles and insist on plugging them in when they get home from work at six o’clock, I do not expect problems with generation capacity in the short term. Those states and cities where the citizens have not allowed power plants to be built may have real worries.

Equipping houses with demand meters would be very easy physically. Politically it could be a problem.

Most of our power lines are built with a 30 year expected life. That implies that at least 1/30 of the lines are rebuilt in any given year. If electric vehicle penetratration takes 30 years to reach 100 perecent ( it aint gonna happen) I think we could keep up

]]> By: Roy http://gm-volt.com/2009/08/20/charging-the-chevy-volt/#comment-140429 Roy Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:35:33 +0000 http://gm-volt.com/?p=1807#comment-140429 Infrastructure improvement may not mean "The Grid" it may mean the very local questions of transformer and or conductor loading on the scale of the particular home or residential block. It may be necessary to upgrade the Service Entrance on the individual home. Some older houses only have 60 amp supplies coming in from the utility. Even if the homes have 100 or 200 amp services they may not have the extra capacity to wire a dedicated 50 amp circuit. I work in the Engineering department of an electric utility and am responsible for these issues. Usually we "Peak" at around six o'clock in the afternoon. By 10 o'clock we are far enough off peak to handle even large additional loads. I don't think night time charging will be a problem for us unless plug in cars replace conventional vehicles unexpectedly fast. Infrastructure improvement may not mean “The Grid” it may mean the very local questions of transformer and or conductor loading on the scale of the particular home or residential block. It may be necessary to upgrade the Service Entrance on the individual home. Some older houses only have 60 amp supplies coming in from the utility. Even if the homes have 100 or 200 amp services they may not have the extra capacity to wire a dedicated 50 amp circuit. I work in the Engineering department of an electric utility and am responsible for these issues. Usually we “Peak” at around six o’clock in the afternoon. By 10 o’clock we are far enough off peak to handle even large additional loads. I don’t think night time charging will be a problem for us unless plug in cars replace conventional vehicles unexpectedly fast.

]]> By: Tagamet http://gm-volt.com/2009/08/20/charging-the-chevy-volt/#comment-139489 Tagamet Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:27:34 +0000 http://gm-volt.com/?p=1807#comment-139489 Keith, You're joking aren't you? Be well, Tagamet <b>L</b>et's <b>J</b>ust <b>G</b>et <b>T</b>he <b>V</b>olts' <b>W</b>heels <b>O</b>n <b>T</b>he <b>R</b>oad!!**********<b>NPNS </b> Keith,
You’re joking aren’t you?
Be well,
Tagamet

Let’s Just Get The Volts’ Wheels On The Road!!**********NPNS

]]>