Volt vs. Pruis Article - CNN
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,448
From: Irving, TX
The Volt does have regenerative braking and it does cycle the energy to the battery pack to keep it at a sustained level, but it doesn't recharge the battery. Basically, the Volt never tries to recharge the battery on the road. You run the battery pack until its depleted and then need to run on the "range extender" gas engine until it's plugged in and recharged.
I'm not sure that article is 100% accurate about the Volt's operation. My understanding is that the Volt, when fully charged, always runs 40 miles or so on battery power, then when the battery is depleted the gas engine fires up and sends power directly to the electric motors.
CNN says "The gas engine generally takes over on the highway and during fast acceleration or uphill driving. That allows it to get an average of 50 miles to the gallon." I don't think that's the case. The gas engine never "assists" the battery power. You're either running the electric motors off battery, or running the electric motors off the gas engine, but never running the battery and gas engine at the same time.
I'm not sure that article is 100% accurate about the Volt's operation. My understanding is that the Volt, when fully charged, always runs 40 miles or so on battery power, then when the battery is depleted the gas engine fires up and sends power directly to the electric motors.
CNN says "The gas engine generally takes over on the highway and during fast acceleration or uphill driving. That allows it to get an average of 50 miles to the gallon." I don't think that's the case. The gas engine never "assists" the battery power. You're either running the electric motors off battery, or running the electric motors off the gas engine, but never running the battery and gas engine at the same time.
I'm not 100% certain, but my understanding is that the gas motor never sends electricity directly to the electric motors. It only charges the batteries. My understanding is it is designed that way so the gas motor can always operate at it's peak effeciency when it is running. (same rpm, load, etc...)
http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayS...74&docid=56132
When the battery reaches a minimum state of charge, the Volt automatically switches to Extended-Range mode. In this secondary mode of operation, an engine-generator produces electricity to power the vehicle. The energy stored in the battery supplements the engine-generator when additional power is needed during heavy accelerations or on steep inclines.
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Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 538
Yep, Toyota does it right and yet when GM's car does it better its still wrong, because it's GM you know.
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Can anyone predict the trade in or resale value of these hybrids and electric cars when the batteries are done for 8 yrs from now? I'm very doubtful someone in the market for a 8yr old used car is gonna be able to fork over the cash for a few 1000$ worth of batteries.
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 2,688
From: Middle of Kansas
Can anyone predict the trade in or resale value of these hybrids and electric cars when the batteries are done for 8 yrs from now? I'm very doubtful someone in the market for a 8yr old used car is gonna be able to fork over the cash for a few 1000$ worth of batteries.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,958
From: Kansas City, MO
Can anyone predict the trade in or resale value of these hybrids and electric cars when the batteries are done for 8 yrs from now? I'm very doubtful someone in the market for a 8yr old used car is gonna be able to fork over the cash for a few 1000$ worth of batteries.
At one time, GM was talking about leasing the Volt battery to the owner rather than selling it outright so it could be replaced in the future at a lower cost. I'm not sure if this has been decided yet or not.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 2,712
From: Ontario
That's the key. This isn't like a regular car's battery, or your NiCad cordless drill, where the charging and discharging is poorly controlled to the detriment of the battery's life. All EVs tightly control the every aspect of the charge and discharge cycles in order to maximize the battery's life. For example I believe the Prius is programmed to never let the battery drop below 20% charge, or go above 80%. I'm not sure if that's taken into consideration when advertising the battery's capacity though ... a 10 kWh battery would only have 6 kWh of usable energy in a Prius.
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Joined: May 2001
Posts: 1,040
From: New Haven, CT
Honestly, I think the only way GM is going to sell a lot of Volts is if they put a Toyota logo on it. There are too many retards that can't get beyond the, "If it isn't built by people who look like '-_-', then I don't want it" mentality.
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