GM: Volt to come early, cheaper

[Dr Mordrid]

The Volt was originally planned for late 2010 and to be priced at about $35,000, but it looks like GM's plans have changed.

IMO if they can pull this off, along with producing the several planned Opel variants in Europe on an accelerated timeline (some of which would appear in the US as Saturns) things could get interesting fast.

Also: the local rumors (meaning info leaked to the local media) are that the Volts drive train & batteries have exceeded expectations on the dyno & track.

This could translate into a plug-in range significantly longer than the originally planned 40 miles. Higher performance than previously expected may also be possible, or they could downsize the drive train to further extend the range.

Link.....

FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - General Motors Corp. aims to start selling electric cars for less than $30,000 each by 2010, earlier than planned, chief executive Rick Wagoner told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview.

The company previously said it plans to start serial production of an electric car, the Chevrolet Volt, by the end of 2010.

"Our two challenges are lowering the cost of batteries and convincing consumers of the advantages of the Volt," Wagoner told the newspaper in an excerpt of an interview to be published on Friday.

General Motors presented a prototype of the Volt in January last year.
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[Lizzard[MPE]]

I love the blue glass of the chevy volt.

[Dr Mordrid]

Don't know if the blue glass will make it past NHTSA, but wait until you see the other E-Flex vehicles coming from Opel.

Also on the hybrid front: Chrysler will be coming out with Two-Mode hybrid versions of the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen SUV's for the 2009 model year.

Two-Mode tech was developed by a consortium of GM, Daimler-Chrysler and BMW. Though Chrysler is now a privately held company (not with Daimler anymore) they still have the rights to the tech. Two-Mode's use a very high-tech tranny that has the electric motors and special gearing built into it, allowing the conversion of mid and large vehicles into hybrids.

The first Two-Mode was the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid, which gets the same city mileage as a Toyota Camry 4 cyl. Not bad for a 6500 lb SUV. It won the the "Green Car of the Year" award this year, which was presented at the LA Auto Show.

Chryslers Envi division continues to work on vehicles inspired by their 2008 show cars: the EcoVoyager electric minivan, Dodge Zeo electric sports car and the Jeep Renegade - an electric Jeep of course.

[Lizzard[MPE]]

I like the CHRYSLER NASSAU.. and the Dodge ZEO.

But if the bolt can go 640 miles at a time its the clear winner.

[Dr Mordrid]

Volt, not bolt

640 miles is out for practical reasons: they found that if it were mainly used as a plug-in (as most people would) the 12 gallon tank that allows the 640+ mile range would be emptied so infrequently that the gas would spoil

The fix is to design a specially sealed tank and reduce the capacity down to 5-6 gallons, which should still give it a 400+ mile range. Some have even suggested a 2-3 gallon tank for those who will just be using it as a commuter car, but IMO unless they get the battery range >100 miles that isn't likely.

[Technoid]

Volt, not bolt

640 miles is out for practical reasons: they found that if it were mainly used as a plug-in (as most people would) the 12 gallon tank that allows the 640+ mile range would be emptied so infrequently that the gas would spoil

The fix is to design a specially sealed tank and reduce the capacity down to 5-6 gallons, which should still give it a 400+ mile range. Some have even suggested a 2-3 gallon tank for those who will just be using it as a commuter car, but IMO unless they get the battery range >100 miles that isn't likely.

How the heck does gas spoil???

Evaporate it might if the tank isn't sealed but SPOIL?!?!

[Tjalfe]

I just hope they make enough leg/head room that I could fit. When is the more practical family vheicle version of the volt platform coming out, and what will it be like?

[MultimediaMan]

How the heck does gas spoil???

Evaporate it might if the tank isn't sealed but SPOIL?!?!

Fuel Tanks are not sealed. They are vented, and even though the vent is run through a charcoal filter with a check valve, there still exists the possibility of the introduction of contaminates... and think for a moment what the tank might be venting could be some of the lighter additives within the fuel evaporating. These are usually wetting and anti-fouling compounds.

Gasoline, especially when mixed with MTBE or ethanol will break down over time (usually a period of weeks or months depending on storage conditions): the most common type of gasoline contamination is the introduction of water into ethanol-added fuel. Ethanol is very hygroscopic (and IMHO actually introduces short term benefits to the fuel system - the "automatic" removal of water), becomes a liability when the fuel is stored. There are several fuel preservatives out there which can help with this, but none are effective without periodic agitation.

[WxDude]

After a period of time, the gas will break down and turn into a varnish. I've
seen this happen to my dad's snow blower once. He forgot to put gas
stabilizer in the tank or to run it dry at the end of the previous winter. When it
came time to get the snow blower ready for the coming winter, he had to
rebuild the carb as it was coated in a layer of gunk and would not work.

I can see the same thing happening with the Volt. But I think it is pretty lousy
to have such a small gas tank. It will make it much less attractive to people
looking for a longer distance fuel efficient car.

[Fat Tone]

My lawn mower manual doesn't mention draining its tank over winter, but it does say not to use old fuel. The first start each year is a little harder, but normally it just takes a couple of pulls.

400 miles is more than I generally get in my car, so it wouldn't put me off. Petrol prices here are going mad* so alternatives are looking really attractive.

* Around last september, unleaded was ~83pence per litre, now its ~115pence per litre and rising every few days.

[RedRed]

You can get bacterial infection in petrol and deasel (deasel bug - a scum that grows on the fuel air interface) is a common problem in boats laid up over winter). Ethanol (oftern added to petrol these days) is hydroscopic - it absorbs water.

Both of these affect the burn over time and messing with sensors- especially in engines with direct injection.

Further, old petrol (in engines with metering and with carbs (thus a lawnmower, snow-blower)) - will evaporate its lighter fractions first, and disolve contaminants over time.

Whoops - i didnt realise that it had been answered (twice!)

[Dr Mordrid]

Well on a slightly different tack...

we've been running the Caravan's on E85 for 2 weeks and from the mileage standpoint it delivers slightly less, maybe 2 mpg, but then it costs 50+ cents/gallon less in our area: $3.48 vs $4.03 - $4.12 for 85 octane gasoline.

How do they run? Perfect. You'd only notice the performance hit in a street race, and that's not a Caravan's thing anyhow.

Engines: 3.3 liter port-injected V6 flex-fuel.

[WxDude]

It's interesting to see that the E85 had such a small negative affect on your
mileage. I'd always heard that it would be a much greater reduction than
~ 2 MPG.

[Dr Mordrid]

We were pleasantly surprised too based on the "official line" you usually read.

Mostly around-(small) town miles at speeds of 25-45 mph where we usually get about 22-23 mpg we're getting 20-ish - 19.5 to 20.x. We're both light footed on the gas and both vehicles have 4 speed UltraDrive self-programming automatics. These have computers with flash memory on which it stores the users driving patterns & reprograms its shifts to match.

Also a factor is that "E85" can run from 70% to 85% ethanol depending on region in the US. As such a formulation with a higher percentage of gasoline can deliver higher performance and mileage. Not sure what our formulation is, but I plan on checking the pump better next time.

[Dr Mordrid]

Update:

got a full-tank E85 mileage on one of the Caravan's: 20.1 mpg.

As previously stated E85 can run from 70% to 85% ethanol, and all that's on the pump is "at least 70% ethanol". Not very helpful

One thing the wife noticed today when she was loading groceries into the rear: when I started it she says the exhaust smells a bit like acetone.

Otherwise both vehicles are running great on $3.48/gallon E85.