Thanks for the link. I'm glad to see a company acting on the idea but disappointed that it isn't being adopted more quickly. Once there is a critical mass of battery swap stations I can see the...

Wasn't there a TED talk about solving the long trip problem by having easily replaceable batteries. You drive into a JiffyLube-like bay where they drop out your discharged battery and pop in a...

Well, for the Spark there is an ICE version as well as an EV. They make one body style for both so the ICE has holes for ventilation and the EV are solid for wind resistance.

I was reading an article about standard EV features here.


I winced when I saw the Volt wasn't in this list. I winced again when the Volt would also be considered a luxury car. :(

GM, what...

This comes up SO often and is often dismissed as not being a problem. According to the law the brake lights don't to come on until deceleration reaches a certain threshold. The Volt is just barely...

I had to do a bit of searching to find 0-60 times for the Fusion Hybrid.

Based on the test results I've seen, the Fusion Hybrid (and Energi) will have more power than the Volt. Times are:...

From the Tesla web site:


Personally, the explanation that the Volt "Low" relates to low gear doesn't make much sense to me. Low gear in a manual transmission is low torque and speed limited,...

I did a bit of research concerning the Ford and discovered that it is just a plain old hybrid. Stomp on the accelerator and you'll hear the engine come on no matter what your battery charge. It...

...uses the equivalent of the Volt's "Low" mode as it's standard setting. When you set the Tesla to "Low" it applies to the brake regeneration so the car doesn't slow down when you take the foot off...

A central location of vents would allow air to directed at either your hands or face giving more options.

There is a workaround in the current Volt design which is to use right vent in the center...

Well, capacitive buttons are cool until you are wearing a pair of gloves and then they just don't work. :(
Any push button is seriously non-cool if you have to push it a half dozen times instead of...

It has some good ideas but doesn't go far enough.

The Spark design addresses several of my complaints about the Volt center stack:
* Air vent not blocked by steering wheel. Good but I'd prefer...

I have a similar problem with my Altima which was caused by the key fob design. There needs to be some easy way to lockout the fob so windows don't get rolled down just by bending over. (No my...

We knew we would see some range reduction in the winter but are surprised when the EV range from a full charge was... 19 miles. :( Of course this wasn't pre-conditioned and was running the heater...

I'm sure there must be a good reason why this can't be done but why not just move the top of the T battery behind the back seats? Run wiring to connect it to the rest of the battery yet provide room...

I'm glad to see the air vents in the center console have been moved to a more useful location.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/elr-2013-01-15-800-9.jpg

Interesting article in Engadget about used volt batteries: Link

The space between the top of the tire and the wheel well.

Personally I'm at a loss to understand why this is important but some people are very passionate about it.

I've read that gas is actually "fresher" with a full tank so it doesn't oxidize as much. I'd be curious to see if any studies have been done about how much extra range is gained from keeping minimal...

Just get a Volt for each person so there is no need to change the seat position. Problem solved! ;)