Excellent question, wish I knew the answer.

 

Ive built two RC cars as a kid. Both had resistors that got pretty hot. They would blister your finger if you happened to touch it. Im sure with a motor big enough to run a car you could find components that get hot easy enough. You could draw heat from something Im sure.

 

All HVAC can be done using electric. It's expensive and a big battery drain though.

 

Air Conditioning - Electric Compressors are already used on several mid or rear engine cars.

Heating - Large power draw, but not the end of the world. Lets not forget that the electric motor in this car generates a lot of heat in its windings. I bet you could duct air with that in mind and get a good chunk of heat off it, but that complicates design more than a resistance element in the dashboard. Noting how many kW this thing runs off of though, I really am not too concerned. Also charging the battery pack is going to generate heat, and plugging it in overnight might keep the car nice and toasty...

My question is, does the Volt have regen. braking? It would add complexity to the system, but increase efficiency. With a *wimpy* 40mi range on a full charge, I'm guessing it doesnt. The Tesla (while smaller and over half the weight) with regen braking has a range upwards of ~300mi. Is the 40mi spec with current battery power, or with the theoretical Lithium pack? Questions that need clarity before a production version comes out.

 

Well, if someone is going to get upset that every so often, they have to let the I.C.E. run, they are a bit picky. It's not like they are asking people to rev the engine up to a high r.p.m. just before they shut it off.... lol

 

I thought I read somewhere that the Volt does have regen. braking.
If it has that AND a small engine that recharges the batteries, then it should go a lot further than 40 miles, no?

 

40 miles is without using the ICE to recharge the batteries. Total range is around 600 miles.

 

Can you give a couple of examples?

I know that some newer hybrids have the electric compressors so that they can run with the ICE off, but I believe they use a higher voltage than normal cars.

I'm looking to find an application that runs on a normal 12 volt system.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16580894/from/RS.3/

In this Q&A Lutz mentions regenerative braking. It's a good read on his opinion of the Volt.