Jay Leno drives the Chevy Volt

Looks like a good idea. Wouldn't work for many whose commute is really long, unless you can charge it at work. Speaking of which, how much is it going to raise your monthly electric bill?

 

Oh ... you mean if you don't have one of these?





It's not too late! Federal tax credits are at an all-time high ... paying 30% of your total cost, including labor. That, along with many state initiatives, you may only have to pay for 1/2 the cost!

You don't HAVE to pay off all your electric with solar, either. MANY utility companies charge a premium for higher usage ... so if you go solar & it only knocks out 2/3 of your usage ... you MAY be knocking your bill down by as much as 90% ... something to think about.

:focus:

I wish Leno would have run the Volt on ICE with depleted batteries ... the instant mpg display would have been VERY interesting.



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This is probably the most asked question I get. Why do people always ask this? Its always asked like paying for electric is more evil than paying for gas.

With my Hymotion battery I use about 100kWh a month. I pay around 8 cents per kWh. So I tell people it only costs me about $10 extra a month in electricity. I then explain that electricity is going to be WAAAAAYYYYYYYYY cheaper than gas for a PHEV or an EV. I then explain that in order for gas to be cheaper than electricity gas would have to be below $1.00 per gallon if driving a Prius or less than 60 cents if driving your average car.

 

Looking at the video it looks like a *really* interesting car - in many ways more compelling than the Prius. The 110kW/150HP electric engine sounds really cool, though the T shaped LiIon battery that sacrifices one seat (and space), likely some boot area as well, the raised trunk loading area, the 3900lbs/1770kg weight and the fact that a 4-cyl 1.4L engine is required to provide "just the necessary energy to run the engine" and not even recharge partially the battery - sounds all a bit strange to me. The battery is likely very bulky and very expensive to provide at least 40mi of range, you need a plug to recharge it as the engine cannot do it at all - which also means that if you run out of battery and the engine kicks in it will have to run continuously each time the car is moving to provide the electricity necessary each time the wheels are moving. At least based on the explanation of the Chevy Engineer.
Nevertheless - very interesting concept and really interested in seeing it on the road. Too bad we have to wait likely another full year before seeing it in the US, and probably even more in EU.

 

Jay Leno won't have to worry about his source of electricity. Between the solar panels and wind turbines on his garage, he could probably power his neighborhood with the excess energy.

 

That's an interesting bit of info which has really stirred the enthusiasts.

850 pounds heavier (from a car a little smaller than Prius) was way more than they were expecting.
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No need to assume anymore. We now know it will NOT get 50 mpg.

We also know that the battery-capacity will be reduced in the winter and the engine will be used (regardless of charge-level) to warm-up the pack when parked without plugging in.
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Li-Ion is different. Its chemistry is affected more by temperatures are below freezing.
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What, some guy squatting on my roof? Gawd, I hope not!

 

I hate it when programs are just advertisements.
But the gm guy did confirm something, the engine will run only at load once the batteries are at their lower limit.

I think the batteries are only charged 8kwh, not 16. They are not fully charged or discharged, so 8 is the key number on the price of electricity.

Hill, if I put up panels, is their modern protection from hail. We get plenty of sun, but I don't think panels here can take the ice balls the sky throws at us. The biggest load on our grid is on the sunniest days, so putting electric on the grid during the day, and pulling at night would help a lot here.

 

Ahhhh! but TheForce, you missed the REAL kicker. If liquid explosive fossil fuel were under a gallon, it'd be because the entire barrel of imported energy was cheaper ... and if THAT were so ... coal would be cheaper to mine ... natural gas would be cheaper to import, oil (and other fuels too) that BURNS ... gas that BURNS ... coal that BURNS to heat water to steam & turn generators to make ELECTRICITY would be cheaper ... so YOUR electricity would be cheaper to manufacture too ... so electricity would STILL be a lower cost! Electricity will always cost less ... even if you could drop fossil fuel costs ... which you can't.

YES!
UL (underwriters laboratories) listed panels (most are) are constructed out of tempered glass. It's a common question. I believe the testing is based off of panels being able to withstand a golf ball sized hit, at 50-60mph speeds. But just like car windshields, PV panels CAN break. But just like on car windshields, we have insurance ... and folks typically cover PV panels under the home-owners insurance policy. Otherwise, you'd have to be out standing in a hail storm ... taking pictures of the hail ... to collect under a UL warranty failure ... should PV panels happen to crack in a (for example) walnut sized hail storm. Better bring your steel umbrella

The thin film PV material is supposed to be even more resistant to hail / impact damage than tempered glass, but you pay for it in higher costs.
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Okay, for some reason I can't get the video to play. But judging from the picture? All I can say is that's one cheap ugly looking dash. IMO.

 

Hi pakitt,

Well, that is not really correct. When the battery gets down to something like 30 % state of charge on the Volt, the engine will maintain that charge level with a certain range.

This is similar to a Series Hybrid car.

As the engineer explained they are not going to recharge the battery all the way back up with the engine. So, what happens is the engine runs till the battery is up to say 35 % state of charge (which assuming a max charge level of 85 %) is about 4 miles of range. As the maximum efficiency of engines is at a little over half max power, this recharging by 5 % will only take a few minutes.

Here are some back-of-the-napkin estimation to back that up. I believe the Volt battery is 16 kwh. So 5 % of 16 is .8 KWH. An engine of 1.4 liters might have a maximum power of 90 hp, or 120 KW. At max efficiency, its going to be running say, about 70 KW. .8 KWH / 70 KW is about 41 seconds. Add in some generator and inverter inefficiency and its probably right about a minute of charge sustaining mode recharge time, in level terrain secondary road operation per five miles...