Chevy Volt Gets 230 mpg City?

I don't get the hate towards electric cars. The batteries are rapidly improving in power density, life span, toxicity, and energy density. If you could get a couple hundred miles of range, fast charge when necessary and get the price down (all of which are beginning to happen at a rapid pace) the electric car would be the way to go. Especially high performance cars. The power curve of an electric motor is for all intents and purposes flat from 0 rpm to it's max rpm of say 14000 or so. There is a little peaking, but nothing close to that an ICE does. Anyway anyone who understands cars understands what this means from a performance perspective.

Now I'm not a fan of government subsidies by any means, but something this important to our national security certainly qualifies it for help in my mind. Man made global warming is a joke, but expensive oil wrecking the economy and forcing us to fight wars in areas of the world that we have no business being is.
 
GM has trucks that can get 45MPG.

Instead of coming out with products like that they took the easy kickbacks from the oil tycoons.

Just saying.
 
wtiger said:
The power curve of an electric motor is for all intents and purposes flat from 0 rpm to it's max rpm of say 14000 or so. There is a little peaking, but nothing close to that an ICE does.
Click to expand...

The power curve is far from flat. Torque, however, is amazingly flat. Max torque at 0 RPM = win. Perfect for driving.

Source
 
TechieSooner said:
GM has trucks that can get 45MPG.

Instead of coming out with products like that they took the easy kickbacks from the oil tycoons.

Just saying.
Click to expand...

wow.... you really believe that GM got paid enough in "kick backs" that they went bankrupt instead of marketing a truck that gets 45 miles to the gallon?
 
vengence said:
wow.... you really believe that GM got paid enough in "kick backs" that they went bankrupt instead of marketing a truck that gets 45 miles to the gallon?
Click to expand...
Believe? I know.
Heck, there was stories on the news of a dude that was taking Hummers, charging their owners $80,000, and when he gave them back, they got 60MPG. He won't tell anyone how he did it, all he tells you is that he was approached by an un-named oil company, and given a lump sum of money to stop doing what he was doing.

Hulk said:
Yeah, buddy, and ford has minivans that get 80mpg. :rolleyes:
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Roll those eyes all you want, it's freaking fact. Actually turned out to be a mistake that they never shouldn't let out of their facility... They were out same day, loaded that sucker up, and gave a blank check to buy whatever truck he wanted, as long as he looked the other way.
Granted I can't prove on that one that GM is getting kickbacks from the oil companies, but why else would you be keeping a potentially great selling vehicle off the road?


You honestly think we don't have the technology to hit 80MPG, you're kidding yourself. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but after both of the above stories which I witnessed, all I'm saying is that *something* is up... Preventing this technology from being released to the consumer.
 
TechieSooner said:
Believe? I know.
Heck, there was stories on the news of a dude that was taking Hummers, charging their owners $80,000, and when he gave them back, they got 60MPG. He won't tell anyone how he did it, all he tells you is that he was approached by an un-named oil company, and given a lump sum of money to stop doing what he was doing.


Roll those eyes all you want, it's freaking fact. Actually turned out to be a mistake that they never shouldn't let out of their facility... They were out same day, loaded that sucker up, and gave a blank check to buy whatever truck he wanted, as long as he looked the other way.
Granted I can't prove on that one that GM is getting kickbacks from the oil companies, but why else would you be keeping a potentially great selling vehicle off the road?


You honestly think we don't have the technology to hit 80MPG, you're kidding yourself. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but after both of the above stories which I witnessed, all I'm saying is that *something* is up... Preventing this technology from being released to the consumer.
Click to expand...


I'm Batman.
 
TechieSooner said:
Believe? I know.
Heck, there was stories on the news of a dude that was taking Hummers, charging their owners $80,000, and when he gave them back, they got 60MPG. He won't tell anyone how he did it, all he tells you is that he was approached by an un-named oil company, and given a lump sum of money to stop doing what he was doing.


Roll those eyes all you want, it's freaking fact. Actually turned out to be a mistake that they never shouldn't let out of their facility... They were out same day, loaded that sucker up, and gave a blank check to buy whatever truck he wanted, as long as he looked the other way.
Granted I can't prove on that one that GM is getting kickbacks from the oil companies, but why else would you be keeping a potentially great selling vehicle off the road?


You honestly think we don't have the technology to hit 80MPG, you're kidding yourself. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but after both of the above stories which I witnessed, all I'm saying is that *something* is up... Preventing this technology from being released to the consumer.
Click to expand...

*the twilight zone theme begins playing*

So where do I sign up? I want to pay $100,000 so my ten year old truck will get 80mpg.
 
one would be a fool to think that technology for better MPG hasn't been suppressed. The simple fact that they made electric cars in the 90's and then decided to take them all in a land field and destroy them should be enough evidence for anyone with reason.
 
Hulk said:
I don't get it, Sir:

You like camaros yet bought a prius. The new corvette gets like 30+mpg on the highway due to its aerodynamics and gearing, why not have gone with that?

Yeah there's a difference between 30 and 45mpg, but its not like 30mpg is that bad.

:confused::confused::confused::confused:
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Not my Prius, my boss'. Regardless, the 'Vette is rated for 26mpg freeway mileage. There is a large and noticeable difference between 30mpg (or 26mpg) freeway mileage, and 40+mpg all the time. The 'Vette is rated for 15mpg city, and the particular example I'm familiar with tends to be more around 13mpg. The Prius is above 40mpg as an average of ALL driving. Which is why the Prius gets used as the commuter, and the 'Vette gets driven on Sundays ;)
 
TechieSooner said:
Believe? I know.
Heck, there was stories on the news of a dude that was taking Hummers, charging their owners $80,000, and when he gave them back, they got 60MPG. He won't tell anyone how he did it, all he tells you is that he was approached by an un-named oil company, and given a lump sum of money to stop doing what he was doing.


Roll those eyes all you want, it's freaking fact. Actually turned out to be a mistake that they never shouldn't let out of their facility... They were out same day, loaded that sucker up, and gave a blank check to buy whatever truck he wanted, as long as he looked the other way.
Granted I can't prove on that one that GM is getting kickbacks from the oil companies, but why else would you be keeping a potentially great selling vehicle off the road?


You honestly think we don't have the technology to hit 80MPG, you're kidding yourself. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but after both of the above stories which I witnessed, all I'm saying is that *something* is up... Preventing this technology from being released to the consumer.
Click to expand...

Dude, I totally believe you. I have a car that runs on seawater, but I can't let any of you in on it because of the nondisclosure agreement I signed with GM and Big Oil (not to mention the large residual I get every month from them). Seriously, I think I am one of the reasons they went bankrupt. If only they had listened...
 
wtiger said:
I don't get the hate towards electric cars. The batteries are rapidly improving in power density, life span, toxicity, and energy density. If you could get a couple hundred miles of range, fast charge when necessary and get the price down (all of which are beginning to happen at a rapid pace) the electric car would be the way to go. Especially high performance cars. The power curve of an electric motor is for all intents and purposes flat from 0 rpm to it's max rpm of say 14000 or so. There is a little peaking, but nothing close to that an ICE does. Anyway anyone who understands cars understands what this means from a performance perspective.

Now I'm not a fan of government subsidies by any means, but something this important to our national security certainly qualifies it for help in my mind. Man made global warming is a joke, but expensive oil wrecking the economy and forcing us to fight wars in areas of the world that we have no business being is.
Click to expand...

This. The jackass on page 3, or anyone else, saying they needed his v8 to drive on the highway or it just didn't feel right, grow up. That's not only short-sited for the country but it's ignorant: the electric engine is perfectly capable of the same power as your v8 and it's more efficient, and transposes the problem onto much more manageable, and efficient, sources of energy.
 
TechieSooner said:
Believe? I know.
Heck, there was stories on the news of a dude that was taking Hummers, charging their owners $80,000, and when he gave them back, they got 60MPG. He won't tell anyone how he did it, all he tells you is that he was approached by an un-named oil company, and given a lump sum of money to stop doing what he was doing.


Roll those eyes all you want, it's freaking fact. Actually turned out to be a mistake that they never shouldn't let out of their facility... They were out same day, loaded that sucker up, and gave a blank check to buy whatever truck he wanted, as long as he looked the other way.
Granted I can't prove on that one that GM is getting kickbacks from the oil companies, but why else would you be keeping a potentially great selling vehicle off the road?


You honestly think we don't have the technology to hit 80MPG, you're kidding yourself. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but after both of the above stories which I witnessed, all I'm saying is that *something* is up... Preventing this technology from being released to the consumer.
Click to expand...

Haha, you were actually the ignorant jackass I mentioned above, but now I see you were just joking. Good one!
 
Attean said:
This. The jackass on page 3, or anyone else, saying they needed his v8 to drive on the highway or it just didn't feel right, grow up. That's not only short-sited for the country but it's ignorant: the electric engine is perfectly capable of the same power as your v8 and it's more efficient, and transposes the problem onto much more manageable, and efficient, sources of energy.
Click to expand...
Oh yea, because an electric car like the Volt could TOTALLY tow my boat :rolleyes:
 
Diesel is sold everywhere in the US. Though, sometimes at a premium over gasoline. However, Volt is only sold in CA. When you factor in the cost of the car itself, $$$$$$, and the extra cost to charge the car up wherever you go, there is no cost saving factor.

"Much more importantly, you will need NO GASOLINE for drives up to 40 miles.

Another very important feature of the Volt, and the reason some people (not GM) still consider it a hybrid, is that it will still have an on-board gasoline/E85 combustion engine. Only in the Volt, this engine is the smaller one, and has only one task, it produces electricity for the motor when the stored power gets low. The engine is not connected to the wheels, it is only a generator. "

So, plan to spend $40-$50,000 on a vehicle that will allow you to go get groceries. That's it. No trips to granma's house. No trips to your favorite vacation spot.

This car is a waste of resources. And to hype this car as getting 230mpg when the gas used has no relationship to power on the ground. How long does it take to charge the batteries using the engine after you have driven the batteries down? I mean, six gallon tank??

I tell you what!! You get me a car that can go 300-450 miles without a single drop of gas or adding to my electric bill, and then we can talk.

When am I going to get a nuclear powered car? What is the point of using gas engines to power the batteries when a nuclear cell will do it more efficiently and safely??
 
TechieSooner said:
Believe? I know.
Heck, there was stories on the news of a dude that was taking Hummers, charging their owners $80,000, and when he gave them back, they got 60MPG. He won't tell anyone how he did it, all he tells you is that he was approached by an un-named oil company, and given a lump sum of money to stop doing what he was doing.


Roll those eyes all you want, it's freaking fact. Actually turned out to be a mistake that they never shouldn't let out of their facility... They were out same day, loaded that sucker up, and gave a blank check to buy whatever truck he wanted, as long as he looked the other way.
Granted I can't prove on that one that GM is getting kickbacks from the oil companies, but why else would you be keeping a potentially great selling vehicle off the road?


You honestly think we don't have the technology to hit 80MPG, you're kidding yourself. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but after both of the above stories which I witnessed, all I'm saying is that *something* is up... Preventing this technology from being released to the consumer.
Click to expand...

Well, part of my deal when I took my check was to actively discredit my own work. Since I'm sure they don't check this forum I guess I should admit that I secretly invented this technology in my fridge. Free gas for life is sweeeet!
 
Xaero_toast said:
Wow. Conspiracy Theory much?
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lol i love a good conspiracy theory. I dont know if i believe what he says but if you think about it. Throughout the years they keep adding more horsepower and or torque. If people weren't so worried about #'s and the companies just made better motors while keeping the power good then i think they could have a 45 mpg + truck out.
 
well my ford explorer runs on cow urine and gets 210 mpg. If I showed you how it worked I'd have to kill you though. :D
 
TechieSooner said:
Again, anyone that thinks a 45MPG truck isn't feasible is just a plain fool.

You REALLY think the industry has just been more or less stagnant these past several years?
Click to expand...

You are correct Sir we are all fools. The car companies are all going bankrupt and for some really strange reason they are keeping their 45mpg trucks a secret (in Area 51).
 
You realize that a 45mpg truck wouldn't save them at this point right? They're in the shitter because they've been sitting back and doing nothing to stimulate sales. Whether they were being lazy and didn't produce anything new, or they were holding back all this new stuff because of kickbacks.. it really doesn't matter, they died on their own terrible business model.
 
Hulk said:
You are correct Sir we are all fools. The car companies are all going bankrupt and for some really strange reason they are keeping their 45mpg trucks a secret (in Area 51).
Click to expand...

You could talk me out of the guy that tweaked the Hummers, with the right argument (I don't know what that'd be, considering it's air-tight...)

But you WON'T talk me out of the fact of the 45MPG truck. I witnessed that one first hand.
 
captainfish said:
Another very important feature of the Volt, and the reason some people (not GM) still consider it a hybrid, is that it will still have an on-board gasoline/E85 combustion engine. Only in the Volt, this engine is the smaller one, and has only one task, it produces electricity for the motor when the stored power gets low. The engine is not connected to the wheels, it is only a generator.[/I] "

So, plan to spend $40-$50,000 on a vehicle that will allow you to go get groceries. That's it. No trips to granma's house. No trips to your favorite vacation spot.
Click to expand...
Why can't you go to grammas? The gasoline engine recharges plenty fast to keep your electric one on the road. You don't have to pull over to recharge. Get your facts straight.
captainfish said:
I tell you what!! You get me a car that can go 300-450 miles without a single drop of gas or adding to my electric bill, and then we can talk.

When am I going to get a nuclear powered car? What is the point of using gas engines to power the batteries when a nuclear cell will do it more efficiently and safely??
Click to expand...

Wait, what are you smoking? I want some. When you get back to reality, where we don't have tiny nuclear reactors, and free energy, feel free to post something that actually makes sense.
 
captainfish said:
I tell you what!! You get me a car that can go 300-450 miles without a single drop of gas or adding to my electric bill, and then we can talk.

When am I going to get a nuclear powered car? What is the point of using gas engines to power the batteries when a nuclear cell will do it more efficiently and safely??
Click to expand...


hydrogen electric cars are the answer to the first part.

WTF?! is the answer to the next part. I really want the jackass dancing in his car next to me to be in control of a nuclear reactor...:rolleyes:

nuclear power plants and hydrogen fueled electric cars are the answer in my eyes. nuclear power plants for the power to produce hydrogen.
 
4b5eN+EE said:
hydrogen electric cars are the answer to the first part.
Click to expand...

No it isn't. Hydrogen is just being used as a batter that can be charged really quickly at the cost of using more electricity than a battery. Hydrogen is not an answer, its a workaround.

TechieSooner said:
Believe? I know.
Heck, there was stories on the news of a dude that was taking Hummers, charging their owners $80,000, and when he gave them back, they got 60MPG. He won't tell anyone how he did it, all he tells you is that he was approached by an un-named oil company, and given a lump sum of money to stop doing what he was doing.
Click to expand...

You mean the guy that got 60 MPG by converting his Hummer into a hybrid bio-diesel with hydrogen injection? http://gas2.org/2007/12/14/car-hackers-hummer-gets-60-mpg/ or http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/120/motorhead-messiah.html - he isn't quiet or secretive AT ALL about how he did it.

Yeah, no oil conspiracy, unless you think people would actually go for a vehicle requiring TWO fuels that occasionally spins up to full tilt to recharge the batteries? Of course they wouldn't. It is, of course, totally awesome, just not something that would ever see the light of day in production vehicles for practical reasons - not conspiracy ones.
 
Steve said:
I might have to get a Volt to offset the Camaro.

230 mpg city

vs.


4 mpg city


=

average 117 mpg

My household would then be environmentally friendly. ;)
Click to expand...


Hate to break it to you, but given the nature of the MPG statistic / formula, you have to use the harmonic mean when finding the average to get the overall MPG, assuming you drive both cars the same distances.

4 mpg and 230 mpg =

7.86 mpg

sorry :D
 
kllrnohj said:
No it isn't. Hydrogen is just being used as a batter that can be charged really quickly at the cost of using more electricity than a battery. Hydrogen is not an answer, its a workaround.



You mean the guy that got 60 MPG by converting his Hummer into a hybrid bio-diesel with hydrogen injection? http://gas2.org/2007/12/14/car-hackers-hummer-gets-60-mpg/ or http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/120/motorhead-messiah.html - he isn't quiet or secretive AT ALL about how he did it.

Yeah, no oil conspiracy, unless you think people would actually go for a vehicle requiring TWO fuels that occasionally spins up to full tilt to recharge the batteries? Of course they wouldn't. It is, of course, totally awesome, just not something that would ever see the light of day in production vehicles for practical reasons - not conspiracy ones.
Click to expand...

Now that makes a bit more sense. The hummer jet engine generator/Electric appears to be the same concept as the Volt only done on a much larger scale. Cool idea but yeah a bit impractical on maintenance costs alone.
 
ianken said:
Bullshit. Diesel is everywhere because trucks rely on it./QUOTE]

Yes and no. Diesel is widely available on and around interstate highways where the majority of truck traffic is. Start getting into suburban areas and it's availability drops off.
Click to expand...
 
Nanan said:
GM isn't going anywhere, a few divisions have been folded or sold to cover the bankruptcy but the main GM,Chevy, GMC will survive.
Click to expand...

Lets all thank the federal government for playing "Weekend at Bernie's" with GM and a few billion dollars ;).
 
If you want an electric car fire up the nuclear power plant. Oh wait, can't do that. Why, because electricity comes from coal. Oh well I don't need any AC in my desert home.

Government Motors = FAIL!
 
caniba said:
If you want an electric car fire up the nuclear power plant. Oh wait, can't do that. Why, because electricity comes from coal. Oh well I don't need any AC in my desert home.

Government Motors = FAIL!
Click to expand...

The beauty of electricity is there's more then 1 way to get it. There's only 1 way to get gasoline, and once it's gone, we're screwed.

As far as coal power plants, we could replace it with much more friendlier methods. We've had the technology for a long time.
 
the volt was gonna sell in the low teens but the dam battery alone is 9grand so......it could sell for low 40s is the figure i heard thrown around.
 
Over 150 posts and very little of the focus has been on how accurate the 230 mpg figure is. My argument is that the Volt should be rated somewhere between 50 and 80 mpg.
 
TechieSooner said:
Again, anyone that thinks a 45MPG truck isn't feasible is just a plain fool.

You REALLY think the industry has just been more or less stagnant these past several years?
Click to expand...

Stagnant?

F-150s haven't improved their gas mileage in a long time, but they've greatly improved their power. Trucks are meant for heavy duty work (though not everyone uses them for their intended purpose), so power should be more important than gas mileage should it not?

The following base model fwd trucks get the same gas mileage:

1995 F-150 - 145 hp
2000 F-150 - 205 hp
2005 F-150 - 231 hp
2009 F-150 - 248 hp

At best, if Ford decided to drop the horsepower back to 145, they might be able to build a 30 mpg truck (compared to 20 for the 2009 F-150). No freaking way they could make that tank get 45 mpg. Small cars can't even do that, or are the oil companies paying off EVERY car company worldwide to neuter their car's gas mileage?
 
beowulf7 said:
Over 150 posts and very little of the focus has been on how accurate the 230 mpg figure is. My argument is that the Volt should be rated somewhere between 50 and 80 mpg.
Click to expand...

I'm sure it's "accurate", but it all depends on the testing procedures. Heck, you could pull 1000+ mpg on a Volt if you charged it every night and didn't go over the 40 mile battery limit much.
 
caniba said:
If you want an electric car fire up the nuclear power plant. Oh wait, can't do that. Why, because electricity comes from coal. Oh well I don't need any AC in my desert home.

Government Motors = FAIL!
Click to expand...

Some people hate GM for taking so long to build an(other) electric car and others hate them for building it? Sounds like a lose lose situation to me.
 
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