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Volt Battery Plant Workers Paid To Play

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by zenMachine, Feb 15, 2013.

  1. John H

    John H Senior Member

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    Yes, I mentioned the thread earlier, although it was commutes in excess of the 12 miles.

    For the pure EV driving it demonstrated that the Volt and PiP were at worst on par, and at best favored the Volt.

    From those results I would tend to conclude that there is not a case where the PiP is overall more effecient than the Volt, unless you can't charge.

    That is not to say that there are cases where a PiP is more appropriate than a Volt, if you need the 5th seat for instance, or you can't charge the vehicle at all.

    The larger battery approach also allows not only longer range in EV mode, but more power available to the electric motor for acceleration and the flexability to use some electric for cabin heating. Larger cell count also allows for greater regen capture, and faster charging opportunities, although the Volt doesn't take advantage of that as well as the Tesla.

    Another advantage of a larger battery approach are fewer deep discharge cycles resulting in a longer projected lifespan for the battery itself, possibly even outlasting the vehicle but still valuable for 2nd life applications like emergency power storage, peak shaving, or grid stabilization. While it is speculation at this time, it may turn out that a phv with a large battery may have an inflated "salvage" value just for the recovery of the battery for these 2nd life applications. Tesla is already targeting the recovery of used EV batteries to build out their nationwide solar powered supercharger network.