The Volt: GM is, slowly but surely, screwing it up...

[fan-atic]

The battery on the Prius weighs 117 lbs. I think it holds 1.3kwh. The Volt battery was supposed to be 16kwh and weight less than 400 lbs. However, the only contract GM has signed so far is with a Japanese supplier. If you do the math, it has to weigh at least 700lbs (before armoring) to get the 16kwh.

[TonyPSchaefer]

Originally Posted by fan-atic

If you do the math, it has to weigh at least 700lbs (before armoring) to get the 16kwh.

If I'm not mistaken, that exceeds the Prius hauling capacity: something like 650 pounds.

[daniel]

Originally Posted by fan-atic

The battery on the Prius weighs 117 lbs. I think it holds 1.3kwh. The Volt battery was supposed to be 16kwh and weight less than 400 lbs. However, the only contract GM has signed so far is with a Japanese supplier. If you do the math, it has to weigh at least 700lbs (before armoring) to get the 16kwh.

The Prius battery is NiMH. The battery for the mythical Volt is supposed to be lithium. Lithium has a much greater energy-to-weight ratio.

There's no problem with the Volt battery except that it doesn't have a car to go into. The EV-1 went 120 miles on a charge and the Tesla Roadster goes 245.

[Jimmie84]

You do have to step back and take a look at what GM is doing. Hopefully this car will bring them many rewards in the future. If gas keeps going up at the rate it does people will be buying these types of vehicles left and right.

But, Heres the kicker. The vehicles of the future will soon be here. Most electric vehicles that will require an overnight charge. Now electricity will be in high demand.

Does it matter what we do? It seems were screwed in the long run.

[darelldd]

Originally Posted by Tideland Prius

The EV-1 went 120 miles on a charge and the Tesla Roadster goes 245.

The NIMH EV1 went better than 120 miles. I could go well over 100 miles in the lead car. I only drove a NiMH car for four days, and my best was 165 miles on a charge. My best in the lead car was 113. These were real-live freeway miles, not back-road hypermiles.

While I understand the frustration with the Volt (and it doesn't surprise me a bit to hear of the proposed changes to spec) I don't understand the concern of a 400 pound battery. If you want to drive highway speeds for 40 miles, you need a bunch of battery. The complaint should be with the several hundreds of pounds of ICE and fuel system! We just take that for granted as being needed, and complain about the battery for the EV side? I don't get it. My Rav has 1100 pounds of NIMH batteries in it that allow me to go about 100 miles on a charge. Yes, Li-Ion is more energy dense - but it also will require liquid cooling and all kinds of pumps, plumbing and radiators. 400 pounds sounds reasonable to me! Let's leave the weight of the batteries and try to take the weight off the passengers.

[miscrms]

Originally Posted by TonyPSchaefer

If I'm not mistaken, that exceeds the Prius hauling capacity: something like 650 pounds.

Just for the record, according to the DOE the 2004 Prius Payload capacity is 905 lbs. Not stellar, but about typical for a small to mid-sized car these days.

Rob

[Sitting Duc]

So, GM has noticed the "real world" and started to make some engineering compromises...
These will make the car less popular...
Which gives GM an excuse when they don't sell as many as expected...
So GM can start the recall even earlier, all the while protesting that "People just don't want Electric Cars".

Deja Vu * 2

I for one would love a purely electric car for my all-of 7 miles round-trip daily commute; not that the Volt will ever make it this far south and since this isn't the Pancake forum, I can't say what I think of the electricity supply down here anyways.

[JackDodge]

Originally Posted by DaveinOlyWA

*yawn*... it almost seems like everyone here is surprised that gm isnt putting up what they promised. when the volt was announced, about 90% immediately dismissed it as complete hype or total BS.

I don't believe that we're all that surprised. Perhaps disappointed but not surprised. It's what GM gets for reacting to being caught with their pants down after they pooh-poohed the Prius and dealing with it by making up a really cool design first before bothering to find out if the insides would work. Did Toyota come up with the Prius exterior and have the designers make a hybrid system fit inside of it? Of course not. It's part of the overall reason why GM loses market share every year and blames it on everything and everyone but themselves. They don't need new cars, they need to change their way of thinking and that's about as likely as the Volt coming to market as promised.

[Tideland Prius]

Originally Posted by darelldd

The NIMH EV1 went better than 120 miles. I could go well over 100 miles in the lead car. I only drove a NiMH car for four days, and my best was 165 miles on a charge. My best in the lead car was 113. These were real-live freeway miles, not back-road hypermiles.

While I understand the frustration with the Volt (and it doesn't surprise me a bit to hear of the proposed changes to spec) I don't understand the concern of a 400 pound battery. If you want to drive highway speeds for 40 miles, you need a bunch of battery. The complaint should be with the several hundreds of pounds of ICE and fuel system! We just take that for granted as being needed, and complain about the battery for the EV side? I don't get it. My Rav has 1100 pounds of NIMH batteries in it that allow me to go about 100 miles on a charge. Yes, Li-Ion is more energy dense - but it also will require liquid cooling and all kinds of pumps, plumbing and radiators. 400 pounds sounds reasonable to me! Let's leave the weight of the batteries and try to take the weight off the passengers.

Well we know how much power is needed to criuse on the highway so I would think that'll extend the charge range too.


Good point on that (esp. with the hybrid haters complaining about x lbs of extra weight)

[darelldd]

Originally Posted by Tideland Prius

Good point on that (esp. with the hybrid haters complaining about x lbs of extra weight)

In the biking crowd I hang with, people fret over accessories that add grams to their rides. My standard response is: Have a salad for lunch and save even more weight than the expensive Ti widget that you're lusting after.