Hi Im new here and interested in the Volt.

Is there anyway one person could charge the Volt with human power, for example using an exercise bike or elliptical machine attached to a generator. Can a person generate enough energy to make a difference or would to be an insignificant amount? The idea of powering a car with human power sounds like a great idea to me, and a great way to stay healthy.

-Eric

Think of it this way. You get on your bicycle. You cycle for 50 miles. (I can do 100 miles, but it is not easy). Now, you get on an exercycle like thing that has a generator that charges a battery. Then you take the battery and use it on your bike outfitted with an electric motor (there are kits for this). You are definitely NOT going to get 50 miles, probably lucky to get 40. Now scale that up to the 8KWH Volt battery (the bike batteries are tiny).
But, if you used the setup for your BIKE and used the battery to augment leg power, I'd say that it would be pretty practical.

Can a person generate enough energy to make a difference or would to be an insignificant amount?

I think if you could generate 200 watts electric exercising you would be doing quite well. At that rate it would take about forty hours to charge a Volt.

Edit: Human output power (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-powered_transport#Available_muscle_power) from Wikipedia. There would be some inefficiency in getting the energy into the Volt.

I think if you could generate 200 watts electric exercising you would be doing quite well. At that rate it would take about forty hours to charge a Volt.

Edit: Human output power (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-powered_transport#Available_muscle_power) from Wikipedia. There would be some inefficiency in getting the energy into the Volt.

40 Hours, eh? That would take some determination. How about one hour with 40 people?

That's forty hours of HARD exercise. So allowing for rest breaks, sleeping etc, maybe every 10 days or so for a full charge. (8 hours / day average exercise).

And here is the reason why petrol/gas is so hard to replace. It is just so energy dense. ¼ of a gallon replaces all that hard work!

Not only does it replace it, (well, wait a minute, you would need about 2 gallons of gas for most cars on the road to go 40 miles), but when you burn the gas in an ICE you are wasting about 80% of the energy.

40 Hours, eh? That would take some determination. How about one hour with 40 people?

Yes indeed. Not the same as 9 women trying to have 1 baby in 1 month. BUT, there is some physics to contend with. Normal charge time for the Volt at 120 VAC is 8 hours I believe. If there is 240 VAC available the Volt can charge at two different speeds, depending on the amperage available from the supply. I think the high current setting allows a full charge in just under 3 hours. Anything faster than that is probably not practical - can damage the battery is my guess.

Here is a link to a fascinating article: "Thermal Efficiency of a Human Being", regarding humans as biological machines, and discusses energy input, energy output, efficiency, and waste products.

http://mb-soft.com/public2/humaneff.html (http://mb-soft.com/public2/humaneff.html)

Given the average human can probably only put out about 200W of work, and only for short periods... I don't think there will be any human power going into charging electric cars.

In general I agree it's a good idea. Maybe not charge the Volt directly, but hey, electricity generated is electricity generated, and electricity used is electricity used. Generate some human-powered electricity and use it around the house. There needs to be an easier way to do that for the average consumer. An electrical box that takes varying power (since we don't generate constant, even power) smooths it out and feeds it into the household electrical system.

There is a spot running on a local radio station praising a company (or maybe it is a charity) that has a gym for homeless or very poor people. They have exercycles that have generators "connected to the grid". But it conjures images of slave labor in my mind. I also read recently about a jail (in Arizona?) that has exercycles that generate electricity connected to TV sets. It is the only way those inmates get to watch TV.