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Subscribe to RSSI barely noticed when the Chevy Volt stopped acting like an all-electric car. And that's exactly what General Motors is going for.
The Volt has been touted as the "ideal near-term solution" for drivers who want to pass up gasoline pumps most of the time, but still need to take trips that go beyond where any battery can take them. So for the first 25 to 50 miles, the Volt is powered purely by the juice from its 430-pound battery. But there comes a time when a gasoline-powered motor revs up to give the batteries a boost.
For us, that time came as we were heading up Interstate 5 in Tacoma, 32.9 miles into our 800-mile trip from Seattle to San Francisco. A green, battery-shaped icon on the Volt's high-tech dashboard display went poof, and was instantly replaced by a blue icon shaped like an old-style gasoline pump. Another display, off to the side, lit up with a green engine sitting above a computer simulation of the car's turning wheels.
I felt as if someone was playing a video game right beneath the windshield — and I had to take care to keep my eyes on the road instead of watching the game. But in terms of how the car felt and handled? No difference. No difference at all.
For the rest of the day, then, we're driving a car with a gasoline engine that is powering the electric drive train. When we stopped to fill the Volt's 9-gallon gas tank in Tacoma, the tripmeter read 45.3 miles, with about a third of a gallon of gas expended. If you don't count the cost of the electricity, our fuel efficiency is 128.1 miles per gallon. If you do count the electric cost, I figure we still did the equivalent of 80 mpg or so.
Our car is part of a fleet of six Volts heading south on the first leg of a nationwide "Volt Unplugged" tour. We're due to stop later this morning in Portland, Ore., to meet with electric-vehicle enthusiasts and let them drive the cars. If it weren't for the video-game display, would they be able to tell that our Volt is running on gas power? We'll find out in a couple of hours.
Follow msnbc.com's Alan Boyle and Jim Seida as they take an 800-mile "Electric Road Trip" in a Chevy Volt ... and file their dispatches from the road.
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It's misleading to calculate MPG on a plug-in hybrid because it's highly dependent on what percentage of your trip was battery powered at the point you take the measurement. For example, If you drove just 1 mile on gasoline power after the battery ran down, you would have only used about 0.027 gallons of gas... and if you divide the total of 33.9 miles by 0.027 gallons you'd get the ridiculous measurement of 1,255mpg.
At your measurement mark, you had only driven on the gasoline engine for 12.4 miles (45.3 - 32.9)... so technically 12.4 divided by 1/3 gallon = 41mpg for the gasoline engine. And of course the electric motor ran at infinity mpg for 32.9 miles.
So let's say I have a 45 mile commute to work every day... and over the course of the year I only use up 10 gallons of gas...
Did I get only 41 miles per gallon out of the car?
Let's say they made a car that runs on coal with a backup gasoline engine. The main engine burns 5 pounds of coal to move the car 100 miles... then the gasoline engine takes over and burns 1 gallon to move you 10 more miles.
Does this car get 110 miles per gallon? Or 10?
Or just maybe it doesn't make sense to measure the fuel efficiency of such a vehicle in units of just one of the two fuels it uses.
What makes the most sense is either $$/mile, or CO2/mile. or $$/lifetime of car
And for that a plug-in rocks because it's pennies on the mile. Theoretically, electric cars should last longer as well.... although maybe people get sick of owning cars after 5-10 years. I've had my current car for 14 and it gets 40 mpg highway so I don't really get the hype about the Prius.
A plug in electric hybrid I can get excited about.
To use consistant numbers, I would subtract the all electric miles to figure the mpg. If you want a number to compare or add in with the mpg, figure the cost of the electricity ($1 - $1.50) and figure out how much gas that dollar amount would buy. Say it's $1.50 and gas is $3, you used 1/2 gallon of gas to go 32.9 miles which is 66 mpg for that portion.
World class engineering by a american owned company. Good start chevy also good luck.
I wonder what kind of effect the air conditioner would have on a 100 + degree day, or how the heater would effect the car when it is 10 below zero out. What about mountain roads, gravel roads, snow covered roads, how does this vehicle perform in real conditions ?
Well, the fuel economy will be reduced by A/C usage - but that's no different than other cars. Same for mountain roads, gravel, snow. For the heater, it depends on whether the heat comes from the electric heater or from waste heat from the gasoline engine, the latter would have no real effect on fuel economy.
The Volt has been tested on all types of road surfaces, on mountains (including the infamous Pikes Peak run), and in cold snowy weather both in Michigan and in Northern Canada. Oh, and they did summer heat testing in the Mojave desert, too. The Volt performed splendidly.
I have a hybrid, and the mileage is affected by using the heater or the A/C. It's something to consider. I got 41.4mpg last tank. But it's early fall, and I don't need the A/C or heat. In the summer, that can drop to 35mpg. But consider it's an automatic full-size sedan. It's no Prius, but the hybrid drive really extends my mileage. And if I kept it at 55mpg, I could do even better...
" Go Chevy "
If I understand this we have a car that cost $41,000 plus another $2,000 for the charger. That is $43,000 and the goverment (taxpayer) will give a $6,000 credit. So the goverment (taxpayer) is still owed around 67 billion from GM and the taxpayer has to subsidize their cars to the tune of $6,000 per car. All this does not even include the money it took to bail out GMAC. Does it really make sense to keep GM around?
To begin with, GM has started to pay back that money, and if the Volt is a success it may be able to pay back all of that government loan. That "Credit" is available to any new plug-in car model, not just ones from GM, it was set upby the Bush administration to encourage a reduction in the use of petroleum based fuels, not to merely benefit GM.
As for GMAC, it was sold off in the GM bankruptcy and is no longer part of GM. As a financing company, GMAC got assistance from the TARP fund, not the GM bailout.
TARP and GM bailout are one in the same. The GM bailout came from TARP and they rung up their loses as part of GM.
George, I too helped bail out GM and today I am feeling good about it. Tarp investment since you brought it up has been largely repaid. it is also the concensus of economists that the tarp effort was the right move at the right time. Why George would you not want the volt to succeed? do you also want your kids to fail in school, your own investments to go sour and the food in your refrigerator to not stay fresh until the expiration date? some might call that cup half empty thinking. think of it this way George, instead of giving all the tax credits to exxon-mobil we are going to give some to real people buying american products. We just installed solar on our house here in southern ca. we have cut our electric bill by 90% and thanks to tax credit of 30% enjoying now 12% return on our investment. the next big product to drive this economy writes Thomas Friedman is renewable energy and all that comes with it. join the revolution George.
George Kraft ?
I invite you to reread your last posting (#6.2 - Mon Oct 11, 2010 9:11 PM EDT), and try to discern if it makes any sense or not, especially in comparison to your first message (#6 - Mon Oct 11, 2010 8:49 PM EDT) and the response made to it (by CM-6969 on Mon Oct 11, 2010 at 8:58 PM EDT).
I specifically recommend that you pay attention to the lack of mention of GMAC (now Ally Bank) in your response.
Mike in B-More point well taken. I should have been more detailed in explaining that the money GM owes the taxpayer is more thanwhat both GM and the goverment wants to own up to. GMAC (Ally Bank) was accumalated while it was part of GM.
Alan ST3 I much rather go through my like without the government supporting and funding any kind of products that are out there. If I see a product I want and it is a good value I will purchase it if I can afford it. The goverment needs to get out of the private sector and I mean all of the private sector. If companies cannot provide products and services that cannot stand on there own than maybe they should do something else. Did you know that even after all the TARP money GM received that they just developed a new police cruiser to replace the Impala. It is called the PPV and will be available to police agencies starting in 2012. That car was developed and designed in Austraila and will be manufactured in Canada. That will create alot of american jobs.
The car is simply too expensive to be practical for an economy car. You can buy THREE Honda Fits for the price of ONE Volt. That's crazy.
I really don't give a $hit how it tests.... I'll still NEVER buy one! AND I'll never even consider buying ANY GM product until every last cent is returned to the tax payers!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Um, GM paid back it's loan, and the taxpayer looks to make a profit on the shares we own.
Consider that you are bailing out oil companies and airlines every single day that cannot turn a profit, and you'll find it harder to get upset over GM.
The TARP inspector general, Neil Barofsky, bluntly told the Senate Finance Committee during a hearing last week that the repayment "is just other TARP money" and lawmakers should not "exaggerate" the feat.
"It sounds like they're kind of like taking money out of one pocket and putting it in the other to do that," Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said at the hearing.
Matt L-1901963 - Matt, "Um" you better recheck your sources.... or did you even have one? GM still owes the tax payers $43.3 billion. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/10/government-motors-hands-out-hefty-bonuses.html
Yes and we tax payers also bail out medicaid, USPS, Fannie, Freddie, SS, medicare, unemployment, etc.... every day. I choose to fly primarily Southwest as they can and do routinely turn a profit.