Great article by a Californian who "gets it":

Redding dot com link (http://www.redding.com/news/2008/apr/27/plug-in-power-of-volt-keeps-me-a-chevy-man/)

Good article, and right on the money. There are a lot of people who resemble that article.

That is for sure - like the alomst 20,000 of us right here that have signed up in Lyle's list!!!

I think I'll print that article to give people I talk to who want to know about the Volt. It really puts it laymans terms.

Good find Jason.

Hello,

Thank you for the kind remarks. Actually, all the links and Forum dialogs at gm-volt.com helped my EREV research immensely. In a way, you all helped write this.

FYI, my monthly column frequently deals with environmental or energy issues. Just search redding.com 's website if you want to read my thoughts on oil, PV, hydroelectric, wind, Earth Day, cycling, ozone-depleting refrigerants, etc.

Regards,

Keith Ritter

Hello,

Thank you for the kind remarks. Actually, all the links and Forum dialogs at gm-volt.com helped my EREV research immensely. In a way, you all helped write this.

FYI, my monthly column frequently deals with environmental or energy issues. Just search redding.com 's website if you want to read my thoughts on oil, PV, hydroelectric, wind, Earth Day, cycling, ozone-depleting refrigerants, etc.

Regards,

Keith Ritter

Thankyou for spreading the good word. I will spend some time on redding.com and read those articles you mentioned.

Another good site for info about alternative fuel vehicles is:

http://www.evworld.com

and I also frequent Renewable Energy World's website:

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/home

It was a Renewable Energy World article last month that first clued me to the Volt. Somehow, I've missed all the prior publicity. The past couple of weeks, I've been catching up on the wider spectrum of electric vehicles at at EV World.

hvacman (or Keith),

I read your article on the hydrogen economy, and respectfully disagree. While it will take some time to get there, I suspect there will be two ultimate configurations for future vehicles - 100% BEV with rapid recharge batteries (1 min charge per 10 miles of range) and the hydrogen plug-in serial hybrid. The percent mix will depend on the cost, range and performance of each configuration.

I'm kind of a numbers guy. Where do you see the hydrogen producing energy efficiencies improving to make the infrastructure investments worth it? What type of numbers do you come up with for net well-to-wheel efficiencies? It appears we are jumping into H2 without having exhaustively sorted out the numbers. We could end up with a trillion dollar investment and similar negative unintended consequences to what we now have with the corn ethanol debacle.

I am a strategy guy first, and a numbers guy later. Strategically, there are two facts about hydrogen that I believe compels drivers to gravitate towards hydrogen:

specific energy - at 700 bar and higher, its specific energy is higher than any other renewable energy source

rapid refill - you can transfer hydrogen from a larger high pressure tank in just a few minutes, as opposed to 3 - 4 hours of recharging of batteries

Those two UNIQUE attributes of hydrogen give it an unassailible edge over everything else. Given that those two attributes fall under the realm of performance / convenience, I suspect the fuel cell vehicle will be the vehicle of those who can afford those attributes at any price. When you are rich, you have money, but little time to wait for your vehicle to recharge.

I suspect rapid recharge batteries will eventually be created, but they are certain to be expensive, so those vehicles will also be the toys of the wealthy.

Strategically, I agree with you that there will be great demand for a new generation of high energy density, quick-refuel sources to replace our current crop of fossil-fuels and as yet there are no clear winners or losers. The various camps are just now setting up, but the battles will soon rage.

A blend of creative strategic thinking, skilled understanding of the numbers, and a pinch of dumb luck will ultimately decide what dominates, just as it has since the beginnng of the Industrial Revolution.

'Nuff said. Time to debate more important and volatile Volt subjects, like steering wheel diameter, available colors, leather vs vinyl...

Keith

It was a Renewable Energy World article last month that first clued me to the Volt. Somehow, I've missed all the prior publicity. The past couple of weeks, I've been catching up on the wider spectrum of electric vehicles at at EV World.

If it would help I'd sign up twice to buy a volt.

The Zap might be China's answer to high petrol prices but it isn't the answer for us.


The Volt will pack a 160-HP high-torque electric motor under the hood. GM's specs predict 0-60 in 8 seconds and max speed at 125 mph. America's new green car will flex some muscle. This ain't no wimpy Prius.

Now that's what I need and it is going to take a major player, someone with billions to spend, to bring this to market.

I looked at the Zap and starting laughing. Where I live I couldn't legally drive it anywhere except back and forth in my driveway.

Once a week I make a 60 mile trip to another town and between here and there there's nothing. So desolate that for half the distance there isn't even a power line running along the road. If I couldn't hit at least 65 mph I would be seriously concerned about being run over with 80 and 90 mph being the more standard travel speed along this stretch.

Sometimes I get a phone call while traveling and I might need to strike a different direction traveling 150 miles to visit a customer in distress. I can't have something with limited miles and 8 hour recharges. It would be worthless to me.

I think we are getting close.