Chevy Volt - series hybrid

[Dr Mordrid]

Remember the post about series hybrids?

While the Volt is a concept vehicle those introduced at the Detroit Auto Show have a way of going to production, often sooner than announced target dates (2010-2012 for Volt) if interest is high at this show.

IMO the sooner GM can get this on the road the better for them. If priced anywhere near competitively the series hybrid drive system will sell a lot of vehicles for someone.



Scientific American....

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The Volt's high-mileage hybrid power train is aimed to appeal to customers who are increasingly interested in fuel savings, whether for environmental or economic reasons, or to reduce oil imports, according to Posawatz. "One half of U.S. households drive less than 30 miles a day and 78 percent of work commuters travel 40 miles or less each day," he says. Many drivers in the former category will thus use little or no gasoline at all. Compared with a typical, 30-mile-per-gallon automobile, the Volt will save these motorists about 500 gallons of fuel a year, which also will result in a substantial cut in annual carbon dioxide emissions which are associated with climate change. Most daily commuters in the 40-mile-a-day classification will get the equivalent of 150 mpg in a Volt...
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MSNBC....

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Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research, an automotive research firm in Oregon, said that if the battery technology can be developed, a fully electric car makes more sense than the more complex gas-electric hybrids now on the market.

Hybrids obsolete?

“If they can pull it off, every hybrid on the road right now becomes obsolete,” said Spinella.
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[Technoid]

That car is FUGLY

[Brian Ellis]

Many drivers in the former category will thus use little or no gasoline at all.

What have these guys been smoking? If it uses no fuel, why put in an engine and gearbox that uses fuel, add to the weight and drive and firmware complexity? This would add to the cost and reduce the autonomy. Can't they decide whether they want a commuter's/household EV or a hybrid?

if the battery technology can be developed, a fully electric car makes more sense than the more complex gas-electric hybrids now on the market.

Agreed, but that will not be in my lifetime and it is unlikely to be in yours, as mainstream vehicles a) because the battery technology is far from available and b) few countries, including the USA, have the power generating and distribution infrastructure allowing it to happen. Batteries, to conform to requirements, would have to be able to store at least 500 kWh to give a mid-sized car 4 hours autonomy, they must be at least 85% efficient during their lifetime, they must have a 5-10 year lifetime permitting partial charges and discharges, they must not weigh more than, say, 100 - 150 kg and small enough to be lodged without significantly reducing passenger or baggage space, they must require minimal maintenance, they must work at near full capacity over the ambient temp range of, say, -40°C to +50°C, they must be able to be fully charged from empty in, say, 4 hours, the power must be instantaneously available (no warm-up), they must be safe in case of an accident, construction materials must be plentiful, cheap and readily available (no semi-precious, precious or rare earth metals). What can meet these specs? Nothing that we know of today. The nearest, except for weight, size and safety, is the lead-acid battery. Just to put things in proportion, a 12 V 60 Ah battery, typical of what is used in ordinary cars today has a capacity of 0.72 kWh, so you would need 700 of them to give you 4 h autonomy with average driving. NiMH batteries (as used in today's hybrids) have a much better weight/size factor for a given capacity; the one in my hybrid (on order) is tiny, about 100 x 50 x 15 cm (from memory, having seen one). I don't know its characteristics, but I doubt whether it will supply more than 4 or 5 kWh. Hecatuple* that and you would need to put it in a trailer!

And please don't quote special concept cars to counter what I'm saying. I'm talking about a car the size, comfort, performance and passenger/baggage space of, say, a Toyota Camry, which is pretty average.

If such a car became available at a reasonable cost with the power companies providing the necessary infrastructure, then yes, I could imagine the hybrid disappearing. Provided the extra power was generated by nuclear means, I would even welcome the notion (but not by coal or any other fossil fuel. Unfortunately, I have my feet so well planted on terra firma that I know we are talking about a pipedream with the technology of the foreseeable future.

*Yes, I made the word up from the Greek hekatos=100! :-)

[Dr Mordrid]

Brian, at least read the article

For those driving ~30 miles it would be running on batteries only, meaning no gas burned by the vehicle.

Also; the batterys use in long drives is for burst capacity, meaning they don't have to be near as large/powerful as in an all electric like the Tesla. Otherwise the vehicle would work much like a diesel-electric train; no mechanical link between I/C and wheels and electric drive, which is very efficient.

Estimated range on long trips (12 gallon tank): 640 miles/55 mpg. Short trips: up to 140 mpg (first 30mi on the batteries).

As for our power grid, we had that argument over the DoE study a couple of weeks ago. I'll go with their evaluation that our off hour capacity is more than enough.