AutoblogGreen

In case you're interested, you can add or embed the video of the reveal to your blog:
http://gmtv.feedroom.com/bounce.jsp?url=%2Findex.jsp%3Fi%26rdm%3D38837.171576852445

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I want a fuel cell car or truck. Did they present any at the show? I don't understand why they wouldn't use fuel cells to take us to the next level of breaking the dependence on oil.

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GM isn't offering fuel cell vehicles for 5 simple reasons:
(1) Fuel cells suitable for cars require expensive platinum catalysts, thus are very expensive.
(2) High pressure 10,000 psi storage tanks must be made of many layers expensive carbon fiber composites, thus costs almost as much as the fuel cells.
(3) Hydrogen is still much more expensive than the equivalent amount of gasoline, and will remain so for decades, if not centuries.
(4) GM realizes that there is no market for half million dollar cars that cost much more to run.
(5) While fuel cell vehicles may never make it to market (in spite of the hype), there are better alternatives available now.

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The Volt looks amazing too me. I love the idea of it, and that it is so close. I just hope they can find a suitable LiPo battery source, and ensure those cells are safe!

I would also like to know how much the electricity would cost to fully charge the car every week day night. I assume power station pollution is not greatly increased due to reduced load at night? And that electricity cost is cheaper at night?

-James.

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Consept here and consept there....stopp giving us all theese consept cars and come on with a REAL Buyable Car. The Global Warming is in FULL effect RIGHT NOW and is making Winters to Summers and the Summers to Hot Saunas. You Americans, you are famous arond the World for Action Rignt Now. You invented The Extreeme Capitalism and have sold Millions of cars arond the World. Is All you can come up with now when the earth i heating up a CONCEPT CAR??? Please, show the world what you ar built of. Reguards. Paul Berg, Västerås, Sweden

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How much will my electric bill go up if I plug this car in every night? I hope it is less than the $20.00 per week it costs for gasoline for me to drive about 180 miles per week.

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#5 and #6: you'd do well to re-read some of the previous articles on the Chevy Volt. This IS a production car, or at least it will be once they've sourced the batteries. The idea is that we see this exact car on the road by the end of the decade.

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I don't know the recharging requirements for a vehicle this size, but to fully charge my Segway HT which has approx 50lbs worth of LithIon batt costs less than 25 cents a charge. I think I read the Volt's Batt weight was approx 400lbs. Is it safe to assume it to be around $2 a charge or $14 a week? I know it is much more technical than this, but this should be a rough est.

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Cost of charge: The battery has a capacity of 16 kWh. If the battery is discharged every day, and you charge it every day, here are the costs (in Oregon, where our electricity is relatively cheap):
Energy Cost: 8 cents per kWh
Total Electrical Energy: 16 kWh
Electricity Cost per night: $1.28
Cost per week (assuming you charge EVERY night): $8.96
Cost per average month (again, if you charge EVERY night: $268.8
Mile driven per month on electric: 1200 miles

Of course, almost no one drives this way. But, these are the maximum electricity costs for this car.

Most folks will have much, much less energy usage.

-Jon

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Math correction: Monthly usages would be around $36.00 bucks. My bad.

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GM, please build this thing. Save us from dependence on foreign oil and annoying diatribes from the tree-huggers.

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I don't know about you guys but this vehicle will be in my garage if it works as predicted. I drive about 50 miles a day round trip so, gas usage would be minimal. I'll also hang a solar cell on my garage for overnight charging. Looks to be big enough to carry 4 people and it will be quick enough with on-demand-torque provided by electric motors. on top of all that, it looks pretty nice to boot. Count me in.

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Is it just me or is a 3 cylinder engine a bit overkill for a glorified generator to recharge the batteries?

Bill
Charleston, SC

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You are right on target Paul Berg! I am the recent proud owner of a Ford Ranger ALL ELECTRIC TRUCK made in 2000! Proof that an American car company made them at one time. It works fine and is a great truck! Why did they take them away? We Americans need to get off this studip perpetuation of the need to burn oil!!! Battery tech is not that far off from improving driving range and SOLAR POWER is the perfect way to charge those batteries. Everyone should push to get this to happen! Time to wake up!

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MikeInNC said, "I'll also hang a solar cell on my garage for overnight charging." I like that. What is the energy content of moonlight? Or maybe that should be moonshine?

It reminds me of my old high school econ teacher's favorite mythical product for illustrating supply and demand principles, the solar powered flashlight...(yeah yeah, I'm sure I'll hear from all of you out there about some reasonable and almost cost-effective means of capturing enough PV-generated electricity during the day to charge up one lowly vehicle, but it's still pretty funny)

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HA! an electric car from a company that has such crappy electical systems.

I hope they don't sub out the parts to the people who made the alternators, windshield wiper motors, and window motors in my old pontiac or that volt will be all volts but no amps :-)

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#13, MikeInNC: Ummm... that solar cell won't work very well at night, when you need to charge the car. Yes, you could charge some sort of storage system in the daytime that feeds back to the car at night (more expense and efficiency losses) but you're probably better off exploring whether or not your local electric utility offers peak/off peak rate differentials, maybe using the solar to offset your daytime usage and looking at making your house efficient than putting in a big rack of batteries to charge more batteries.

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GM isn't offering fuel cell vehicles because fuel cells are still too expensive, 10,000 psi carbon fiber H2 storage tanks cost too much, and H2 is pricy. Not much market for half million dollar cars that run on fuels twice the price of gas.

Electricity is more practical, at a cost 1/4 that of gasoline.

Lets say you drive average 180 miles a week, a daily commute 35 miles plus some on weekends. In the GM Volt that would be all electric, 1 to 2 cents a mile, for a weekly electric bill of $1.80 to $3.60

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Just makes my heart go pitter-patter! I feel like it’s my prom all over again. Yes, I have a long memory!! Anyway… Questions:
How much will it cost? Can I purchase, or will they only "lease" it to me? Can I take delivery in 2007? Can I have the option regarding all electric range (40-60-90-120 miles) at extra cost when I purchase. Can I have the option of which battery technology I choose? Is the APU gas, diesel or VegOil?

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You are all forgetting to add-in the costs of the gasoline to re-charge the batteries. The pure-electric range of this vehicle is only 40 miles. It is designed to recharge the battery seamlessly while driving, when needed, for up to a 640 mile range when you have a full gas tank (12 gallons). This means you will more than likely have to use at least some gas on your round-trip to work when you add in the occasional trip for lunch as well, of course depending on your commute distance.

Even if you don't have a long commute, you will still always have to have gas in the car just in case you go somewhere else (like shopping, to the movies, out for dinner, etc). Bottom line: If you do cost calculations, Gas is still a factor, and at least a minimal amount should be included in your cost calculations.

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