Details on the Volt's sealed gas tank

Prius not so smart after all

quote: GM knew other technologies were possible. On earlier Prius models, for example, Toyota tried a bladder tank, where there was an outer shell with a flexible shell on the inside that would shrink to try an reduce the space where vapors could form and deal with emissions this way. "That didn't work so well for them," Stec said.

 

My Prius has the fuel tank bladder, and does its job admirably. The only downside I am aware of is in cold weather once in a while the fuel pump at the station tends to cut off before the tank is full. A slower fill rate solves the issue.

I suppose some may call this a problem, to me it is a trivial curiosity.

 

That is the most optimistic statement that I have heard lately, other than a "Little" radiation is OK!

 

Combined with the guessgauge, it likely lead to some drivers getting stranded. That isn't trivial.

 

Just look at the evaporative emission results.

 

I think the level that CARB calls zero evaporative emissions is 350 mg for the hot soak test. I am not sure what test they are using, but gm says they will meet this in 2012, they may already. The volt gets very low levles of evaporative emissions but leaks a great deal more than the prius when not moving. Given the amount "bellow zero" the prius gets is remarkable. The gen III gets rid of the trouble of the bladder tank but uses more vapor recovery. Does anyone know if the Gen IIIs resin tank is sealed? Lev III will likely lower the level of zero, but the prius should easily beat the new tests.

 

Ah yes, let's listen to GM's opinion on the Prius. Queue the quote from Lutz (?) on how everyone at GM makes fun of the Prius.

GM, with its sales that must be over a thousand Volts now has the best engineers in the world, delivering a $40k+ car that gets worse mileage than a decade old two-generations-ago Prius.