AutoblogGreen

What they should do, is provide a smaller battery non plug in version. The battery is the major cost element here. Instead of a $15000 battery, put in a $3000 battery. The batter will have lots of juice for smoothing the transients and providing some EV only range, while knocking several hundred pounds of weight and $12000 off the production cost. This way they can sell more vehicles at a lower price point and better amortize the cost of other components.

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Wow! I just realized that maybe eliminating the dead weight of the engine and gas tank along with the mechanical / maintenance would make the car lighter and simpler. Maybe the cost of adding a few more batteries would actually not cost much more. Now it makes sense why Toyota wants to keep it a Synergy Drive. I wonder why we never hear about the next Prius.

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'architected'? didn't know architect was a verb. how about 'the volt wasn't designed' for that mode.

sorry to be a grammar nazi but I hate it when we make up verbs when perfectly good ones are available. conserving our natural nouns is just another way to be green.

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I think this is wondeful news and would personally LOVE to see a BEV version of the Volt. 100 mile + range around 30-35K. I'm a customer!

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mark:
You're too late. Architected and the verb architect has been in use in computers/tech for over 10 years now.

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Could this guy stop talking to the press! I am all for the colt but i just cant stand him sitting there hogging valuable air time. Because of his arrogance and constant spot lie when the volt comes out people will expect th very best and they will be criticized to the extreme because they were always in te spotlight . Once people are depending on you people will criticize your work to the full extent

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Why 'Maximum' Bob? I can understand why he's been given a silly nickname because lets face it, Bob is a 'Corporate Clown'.

Perhaps some other 'Clown Style' nicknames would be appropriate. Like, say 'Bobo Lutz', 'Bob Putz' or 'Maximum Boob'.

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Toyota is keeping its cards to its chest regarding the new Prius. The only thing we can know that it will come out in 2009.

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Dave, 100+ miles and 35K is not going to happen soon. If you take figures that the current battery is 600# and $15K to get a 40 mile range you would need a 1500#, $37.5K battery to get 100 miles. Eliminating the (small) gas engine and fuel tank could never save the 900# difference in weight unless it was a diesel V8 (The Duramax 6.6L is close to 900#). At most the gas powered part of the drive train costs $10K, so you've still adding $12.5K to what Bob has said is more likely to be a $40K vehicle.
The current concept is probably the best solution for our current level of technology, IMO. But, give it 10-15 years (or a big redesign with a chassis more like the EV1)

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No, the EV1 is the best solution for the vast majority. But, the EV1 still lies Dead in GM's IT Backup Library.

My question is will GM do to the Volt what they did to the EV1? Build some ridiculous dealer questionaire, like Do you know that you will be driving an electric car, and you will have to plug it in daily? Making dealers spend so much time on paperwork that no salesman will want to sell any?

The Volt is more Green BS, just like the Tahoe Hybrid. Too expensive to actually replace even 1% of the gas cars on the road. LONG LIVE THE AUTO-OIL MONOPOLY!!!

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A smaller battery would also have less power, so there is a limit to how small they can make the battery and still have a practical car.

Even so, there is a good argument to allow some selection in battery pack sizes. Some people might be willing to pay for a bigger battery just to get higher power and better performance. Others would prefer to save some money up-front, and would be happy with the more modest performance and shorter range in a smaller cheaper battery.

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I want to see mileage estimates when taking one on a long trip where no plug is available.

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Chris, those estimates are all over the internet. Google the Chevy Volt website and I think they are there as well.

Mike, the EV1 series hybrid would work for the majority of people. The EV1 would only work as a 2nd or 3rd car for most people. I know I would push the range of the EV1 several times a week and I live in the Detroit metro area. The basic layout of the EV1 (2 seat, compact, low drag) is what needs to be pursued however. All this talk about the Volt seating four "comfortably" makes me think it will be Malibu sized, which is a giant and far larger than needed for four comfortable people.

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The Volt is being built on the next generation Astra platform. It won't be Malibu sized which has a 112 inch wheelbase.

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"First off is the idea of the E-Flex platform operating entirely free of batteries, with the engine/generator simply running continuously and feeding electricity to motor. While this is certainly technically possible, the current E-Flex system is not architected for that possibility.

The generator has no direct connection to the motor, rather it feeds the battery." !!!!!!!!

Well call me hotdog and cover me with mustard. The generator must be connected to the battery, right ? And the battery, via the controller, must be connected to the motor. Ergo, the generator must be connected to the motor.

Minimum Bob is Robert Nardelli of Chrysler so called because he has minimal skills to run a car company, his record with Home Depot,previously, not great either. Why Bob Lutz maximum Bob ? search me.

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"First off is the idea of the E-Flex platform operating entirely free of batteries, with the engine/generator simply running continuously and feeding electricity to motor. While this is certainly technically possible, the current E-Flex system is not architected for that possibility.

The generator has no direct connection to the motor, rather it feeds the battery." !!!!!!!!

Well call me hot dog and cover me with mustard.
The generator is connected to the battery right ?
And the battery is connected, via the controller, to the motor ? Ergo the generator IS connected to the motor.
Aa a general comment why would a company of GM's size not have a design team heading up each of these variants ? Why leave credit for the battery free version on the table for Honda ?
T2
Minimum Bob is Robert Nardelli who is said to have minimal skills to run a car company. His record at Home Depot was not good either.
Maximum Bob. I'm not sure where that originates but someone is bound to post.

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Chris wrote: "I want to see mileage estimates when taking one on a long trip where no plug is available."

Derek wrote: "Chris, those estimates are all over the internet. Google the Chevy Volt website and I think they are there as well."

Derek, Chris was being sarcastic. Picture driving from Reno to Denver in your 1500-pound battery-only Volt, and running out of charge 100 miles from Reno. Where do you plug it in? The best you can hope for our there right now is haggling with a gas station or motel manager to plug your car in for 8 hours.

Others seem to suggest that plug-in hybrids are evil imposters to the virtuous purity that was EV1. I think that's self-defeating, because EV has a major chicken/egg problem -- the absence of a ubiquitous rapid-charging stations is a huge barrier. Plug-in hybrids will create a market for a nationwide charging infrastructure. Once that infrastructure is in place, EV can take over.

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"'architected'?"

Yes. Architect was, er, "verbed" (*duck*) a long time ago.

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T2: The generator in a serial hybrid feeds electricity to the main power bus, which delivers that power directly to the motor controller and/or battery pack, as needed. No, it is not necessary to route all the power through the batteries. There is a direct electrical connection between the generator and motor, but there is no mechanical link between the IC engine and the wheels - that is what makes it a "serial hybrid".

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