Wow: Chevy Volt to get 230 mpg in the city?
posted at 5:15 pm on August 11, 2009 by Allahpundit
So says GM, although the EPA has yet to confirm. If it’s true, then you’re looking at the first car with triple-digit gas mileage, fully four times the amount of its nearest competitor. Actually, it’s even better than that: It can run on electricity alone for up to 40 miles, so if your round-trip commute’s within that range, you don’t need gas at all. Thrilling news, not because the Volt’s going to solve America’s dependence on Middle Eastern oil overnight but because the baseline technology’s now not only available but almost cost-effective. Why do I say almost? Let’s do the math. Initial sticker-price estimates are $40,000; assume it’ll be a bit more than that, then deduct $7,500 for the federal tax credit you’ll get for buying one. Let’s say that leaves us with a cost of $35,000. Figure a new car with standard fuel efficiency will get 20 mpg and run you $18,000. Now assume gas prices of $3 per gallon. Buying the cheaper car will save you enough money to afford 5,667 gallons of gas, which, at 20 mpg, means it would be a better deal than the Volt for the first … 113,000 miles. That also doesn’t account for (a) the (comparatively tiny) cost of electricity to charge the battery, (b) the headaches for apartment-dwellers in finding a place to charge the thing, (c) the possibility of higher maintenance costs as the Volt’s new technology suffers glitches, and (d) the strain on urban electrical grids a decade or two down the road when these suckers become popular.
But never mind that. Like I say, we’re thinking big picture here, and the big picture for what this’ll do to Islamic oil autocracies once the technology becomes better and cheaper is sweet. Exit question: Shouldn’t Iran pessimists be looking especially carefully at this rig? If you believe some sort of confrontation in the Gulf is inevitable and you realize what’ll happen to oil prices if the Straits of Hormuz are closed or, god forbid, a regional war breaks out, then suddenly the Volt doesn’t seem like a terrible deal. Especially if you toss a little Carter-esque Hopenchange stagflation in there for old time’s sake.
Blowback
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The engine periodically turns on automatically on the road to prevent that.
silverfox on August 12, 2009 at 5:19 AM
The battery will have a 10 year / 150,000 mile warranty.
silverfox on August 12, 2009 at 5:22 AM
MarkTheGreat on August 11, 2009 at 5:41 PM
No, it’s impossible for a EREV(extended range electric vehicle) to end the test with “a fully charged battery.”
The battery can only be fully charged from an outlet.
This is what the EPA actually said:
silverfox on August 12, 2009 at 5:30 AM
Toyota is not in the best shape right now.
Actually, they’re retreating.
silverfox on August 12, 2009 at 5:34 AM
GM’s veep of marketing, Bob Lutz, said that a full charge on the Volt is roughly equivalent to half of the daily use of a household.
silverfox on August 12, 2009 at 5:39 AM
The Volt is a very capable, sporty car that can be powered by gas or E85. It’s real.
silverfox on August 12, 2009 at 5:42 AM
Malibu mules, with the Voltec drivetrain, have been testing in very hot and very cold climes for the past year or so.
silverfox on August 12, 2009 at 5:45 AM
The whole point of a plug-in vehicle is to charge at night during off-peak demand. That’s what makes the Nissan Leaf’s “fast charge” system a bit dumb. If you “fast charge” during the day, it adds to peak demand.
There is plenty of room to charge at night, according to a report from the DOE our electrical grid can handle has many as 180 million cars charging at night.
silverfox on August 12, 2009 at 5:58 AM
Haven’t heard of one of those yet.
How about a world record breaking car called White Zombie in Portland, OR.
It hit 107 mph blowing away a Corvette.
One guy in the video just pulls his car to the side, doesn’t even try.
silverfox on August 12, 2009 at 6:13 AM
I’m pretty much a global warming denier, but I grew up in Southern California and smog was a bane of my childhood.
I was down there recently, and it hasn’t gotten much better.
One thing the Voltec drive does, it decouples the gas engine from the wheels, but it is still there to eliminate “range anxiety.” Smog is created mostly by NOx emissions and particulates. Most of these are created by accelerating a normal car from 0 to 30 mph. When the car has an electric motor (and the gas engine merely generates electricity) these emissions are severely reduced.
silverfox on August 12, 2009 at 6:20 AM
Every car company in the world is working on some form of battery electric vehicle, not just the big 3.
Are you saying you’re right and they’re all wrong?
How many vehicles have you manufactured and broght to market?
silverfox on August 12, 2009 at 6:23 AM
Silverfox
Good point. However, the old saying is that ‘desperate times call for desperate measures’ may apply here.
The car companies are apparently scrambling to have the most sensible box to sell.
The problem is that the US government is really setting the rules so stupidly that we are getting designs that may make little sense from a technical point of view. Almost any of the comments above make more sense than the dreams of the greens, the corporate manager haters, prissy gas mileage fanatics and marque worshippers. Engines have evolved as have batteries. But no government fiat (excuse the pun) will cause a quantum leap in technology — at best it will focus the energy of the manufacturers.
The Dems dream for a miracle powerplant is sure nice.
But it is a lot of dangerous nonsense without the device.
IlikedAUH2O on August 12, 2009 at 7:23 AM
Buy some STABIL.
But they better put notices front and center right next to the airbag-in-your-face warnings so that people know to they need to put a fuel additive in.
NickelAndDime on August 12, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Using all these electric cars will not work.
What about the increased strain on the electric grid?
Where do these batteries get disposed of when exhausted?
halindez on August 12, 2009 at 8:53 AM
The truthers are going to be out in force over this, citing leaps in technology and looking for Hollywood sound stages, er, test tracks.
realityunwound on August 12, 2009 at 9:00 AM
I would say that only 1 in 5 cars in Chicago have access to an electrical outlet at night. That might be optimistic.
Anybody have a guesstimate about how many electric vehicles will be on the road in 10, 20 years? I think OPECs days are numbered.
Bill C on August 12, 2009 at 9:07 AM
I’ll say this – there is no such thing as “free” energy.
Yeah … you can go from gas to electric – but that electric COSTS something – and if electricity demand goes up – so do prices. Now there are “cheap” forms of electricity … uhm nuclear for instance – over the long term. But the same people who are cheering about the Volt are booing nuke plants.
I can only imagine how widespread use of this car would impact California electricity prices.
Also … are the batteries in this thing as reliable as the ones I have in my laptops? Hmmmmmmm?
HondaV65 on August 12, 2009 at 9:18 AM
It’s nonsense to think the cost of running electric powered cards is less than gasoline powered cars.
The government can distort the market, but eventually the market will control the costs.
There may be other reasons for electric cars, but cost will never be one of them.
notagool on August 12, 2009 at 10:13 AM
This is BS propoganda. They have not perfected the battery,
davod on August 12, 2009 at 10:16 AM
Get ready for unintended consequences… higher electronic gadget prices due to lithium scarcity. Volt batteries are 100X larger than gadget batteries and will stretch scarse Lithium demand accordingly. If we diverted all current lithium supplies to Volt battery production, you could only make 4- 8 million Volt cars before we run out.
Bottom Line: The Chi-Coms (who own most of the lithium carbonate supplies) are poised to grow wealthier still on the backs of our eco-folly.
Terp Mole on August 12, 2009 at 11:10 AM
At 52 yrs of age I don’t think I have enough earning yrs left to ever see the economic reasoning for many people who don’t make that much income either, to ever see this car pay for itself!
peoriaindian on August 12, 2009 at 11:18 AM
Question 1: How much will the typical electric bill go up from charging your car every night? I drive around 25 miles to work and 25 miles to get home.
Question 2: How long will the batteries last in hot conditions like Texas? How much is a replacement battery?
I have had to replace a car battery every 2 years at the best, and I have tried the expensive batteries and cheap batteries. With 60 100+ degree days in a row every summer, the batteries never last. Granted this is a different type of battery, but I like to keep cars until they are worth almost nothing. If the battery won’t last 10 years and costs over $1000 to replace, then it is not worth it to replace.
jeffn21 on August 12, 2009 at 11:53 AM
I’ve seen it asked a couple times, not answered once. How do you heat these things? How do you cool them…or is A/C a big no no now….what about our poor children and pets who can’t be left in a hot car, man, even with the windows rolled down a car without a/c on gets hotter than outside on a bright sunny day.
And as has already been stated, what about the dramatic loss of power output batteries have when it’s cold?
These electric cars aren’t all they are cracked up to be.
flyfishingdad on August 12, 2009 at 1:31 PM
Flyfishingdad,
It’s true. The temperature of the battery must be protected from extremes.
It’s easy to imagine how the ICE keeps it warm, but I’m not so sure how it’s kept cool enough. I’m sure it’s proprietary info that GM doesn’t want to blab about in too much detail.
silverfox on August 12, 2009 at 3:09 PM
The President wants us to believe health insurance companies need government competition to “keep them honest.”
Then as a sterling example of what this “competition” might look like — Government Motors churns out the Volt and offers a huge tax credit (compliments of taxpayers) to intice wary buyers to the signing table.
Next thing you’ll know they’ll be giving away free IRS audits whenever you buy a Ford.
Government business is usually bad business.
Stuart Lee on August 12, 2009 at 4:14 PM
The Left stopped the Non-CO2 producing nuclear power industry in it’s tracks and Barack Hussein Obama and the (D)emocrats have put another stake into the heart of that clean energy by blocking the storage of waste in Nevada. So now, most of America’s electrical power is generated by Coal and Natural Gas and we’ve all seen the video of Barack Hussein Obama promising to put Coal out of business. Even if every car in America could be converted to electricity… that would just mean more Coal and more emissions.
“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” — Barack Hussein Obama
DANEgerus on August 12, 2009 at 4:19 PM
Okay 230 MPG. Were is the rainbows and unicorns tank?
Use this as Logo
Flying Royal Scots
Caststeel on August 12, 2009 at 4:48 PM
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