Chevy Volt Tidbit

I wondered how many times that would be incorrectly published.

It was 8:53. Notice that clock in the video only goes to up 59, not 99. So the time was actually 8.89 seconds.

This is another great example of how GM is directing our attention away from the much asked, yet still unanswered question of Volt efficiency in CS-mode.
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The volt is a great car and I can't wait to check it out but it's MPG rating once the battery is depleeted is rather dissapointing

 

The price, CS MPG and highway passing are the most dissapointing. Premium gas requirement and not qualifying for AT-PZEV and missing out on the HOV lane in CA are more dissapointments.

If it runs on battery for the first 40 miles, then the design goal is met. We will just have to see how it does in extreme weathers.

The lifetime MPG in the screenshots range from 50.5 to 71.5 MPG. The fans seem to be ignoring them.

 

Video: Chevy Volt Does 0 to 60 in 8.53 seconds, Gets Over 40 Miles EV Range and Under 30 MPG in CS Mode

comments indicate the expectations now are for a faster 0-60 time when the production software is in place, but cs mode economy between 34-38 mpg. IMHO the 1.4L non di, non turbo, premium fuel using engine is giving even a worse performance than gm indicated when they chose it.

http://gm-volt.com/2010/08/23/gm-ac...ons-for-next-generation-chevy-volt-generator/

 

10miles may sound nice and good enough for anywhere, but then there are mountain passes where you need to go 70mph+ up a 8% grade then down, then up, then down, then up. Much more than 10miles at high speeds at high grades. Methinks the volt will need to crawl up the side with the tractor trailers after a couple hills.

 

The thing that really bothers me is that GM is avoiding releasing any CS numbers and the launch date is quickly approaching. I'm happy for the Volt's release but I feel they are being a little deceiving with their numbers to their fans. Being honest to their customers and fans is a better approach.

 

I'm not sure where in America this is but can't imagine its much of a problem. IH are limited to 6% grade, and the car is set to have an 3.2kwh battery buffer in mountain mode. The car will recharge on the less steep parts and down slopes.

This video may finally push GM to release a number. They have been saying around 40, admitting to 37 seems less risky than leaving the thought of 27mpg in CS mode out there.

 

Actually watching the 'stopwatch' shows that while the divider was a ":" the right-most digits were going from 00-99, so 8.53 seconds is correct. And in my timing along with the video it seems like 8.something is accurate.

 

It may very well be ... eventually ... if/when it hits the sales room ... but how can you really say it's a great car when:

1) There are none yet

2) Only GM people (which are NOT world famous for truthfulness), and their hand picked test subjects have driven the prototypes.

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Hey I got to drive one, no restrictions on people if you were at the right place. But no want to really tell, since we were kept on a really small loop.

I would say if you drive more than 15K miles a year the volt isn't for you. It's mainly economical only in 3 year lease for at 12K miles per year before a surcharge. I drive about 13K miles per year and would use only about 3K miles a year in that over 40 mile range. That would only be 100 gallons of gas at 30mpg, likely less. But I have a less than 1 year old prius and gm needs to prove quality. There is definitely a market out there, especially if they get price down, fix the inevitable bugs, and change out that poor engine. Remember they were estimating prius efficiency CS mode with a 1 liter di turbo flex fuel ice. GM doesn't appear to be willing or able to build this beast but there are at least 4 similar engines available next year from other manufacturers, and none of them need premium gas.

The biggest impact from the volt might be to get other car makers of the pot and build other plug ins that we want.

 

Rocky Mountain passes over I-70 are the ones I come into most. Yes interstates are limited to 6%, however you can get waivers today to go above that limit. Also this was the first interstate built through the mountains when there was no such limit and as such goes to 8%+. There is little that can be done to limit grades when passing through gigantic mountains other than take the Japanese approach and literally tunnel straight through everyone of them.

8kwh is nice, but at those speeds uphill it will be gone fast. This seems like the worst case scenario I could picture myself in if I were to ever buy a Volt.

There will not be much time for recharging since you are going so fast. You have less than a minute of recharge for another battery taxing steep grade uphill climb at high speeds. Essentially it is miles after miles of steep uphill with breaks every few minutes for a very limited time.

Sort of like SOC: 100%, 90%, 91%, 81%, 82%, 72%, 73%, 63%... You regain some (i.e. 1%) but you expend more (i.e. 10%). Note the numbers were pulled out the air for example

So I guess we need to know what sort of kwh/mile uphill it needs and its maximum CS charge rate to figure out if it will strand you on the side of a mountain.

 

My guess: no stranding, but somewhat limited climb rate in the Rockies. I also wonder what such driving will do to pack life if done regularly.

 

sorry, bad math on my part, the buffer is 3.2 kwh (20%*16kwh), somehow I multiplied by 40. If we take the weight to be 2000 kg then this is enough power to lift the vehicle about 1800 feet (3200wh*3600sec/hour/9.8m/s/s/2000kg). add in what ever std climb you get from full engine hp at speed and you will get the point that the car needs to slow down.

 

Nope, it's still wrong!

I downloaded a copy of the video, all 130 MB of it, then marked the file with precise begin & end. I did it by viewing the video frame-by-frame with Pinnacle Studio. That measured an index from when he tromped his foot down to when he said 60.

The software noted time came to 10.22 seconds.
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That is like Prius, maybe slower.

The Volt would feel like a V6 from 0-30 mph but above 60 mph will feel sluggish. 62-79 mph acceleration is 3 seconds slower than Prius.

 

Driving the Prius ?

 

The generator pushes about 53 kw sustained maximum. If 15 kw is used for everything but the climb, then 38 kw can pull the car up at a rate of

mgh/sec = 38000 watts, or 2.15 meters/second for a 1800 kg car. An 8% grade implies (I think) 12.5 meters distance for 1 meter height, or 60 mph

However ... braking and passing would have to come out of the battery buffer. Some degree of restraint would be smart, which may or may not be a feature of the driver.

 

Yup. The past few times have been in my GenII. No problems maintaining speeds of 75mph+. Only trouble is when you get cutoff and then have to accelerate to speed up those grades. Maintaining is no problem, accelerating can be hard after 65mph or so.

Battery SOC drops to 40% (1bar) within minutes of getting to the area, then regen kicks it back up then down again and so on.