GM road-tests batteries for Volt electric car (AP/CNNMoney.com)

[eppur_se_muova]

WARREN, Michigan (AP) -- The lithium-ion batteries to be used in General Motors' Chevrolet Volt electric car will soon be installed and tested in specially-equipped versions of the Chevrolet Malibu, the company said.

This will allow the automaker to test the batteries in actual driving situations, the company said during a media event in the Detroit suburb of Warren.

According to GM's plans, the Volt will be produced as a mainstream electric vehicle that can be recharged by being plugged into a household outlet. It will be have a small gasoline engine that will be used only to recharge the vehicle's batteries if they run down while driving.

Because of the extreme power demands involved in driving a car in the real world, the vehicle would be powered by lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are lighter and can store and release more power than the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in today's hybrid cars.

Fully charged, the Volt should drive about 40 miles without using any gasoline, according to GM (GM, Fortune 500). The small conventional engine would extend that range allowing the car to get as much 150 miles per gallon, depending on the distance driven.
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more: http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/03/autos/bc.na.fin.com.us.gm.volt/index.htm?cnn=yes

[xxqqqzme]

1. Test???? WTF

There was already a fleet of GM electric cars here in CA that were all DESTROYED.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. Many of them were, yes

A fleet of test vehicles.

So, since they were destroyed you never want to see GM actually market an electric car?

[KansDem]

2. Am I the only one who thinks this whole process is moving like molasses in winter?

I mean, this should have been done decades ago. And it seems like every bit of news concerning alternative-fuel vehicles is some ort of information given out to appease environmentalists and climate-change activists.

I don't know...GM already had an electric car that was much better than the one described in this article.



And that was...what?...10 years ago? Will GM kill this one too?

[Kolesar]

3. No, but I don't agree

Battery technology was not mature with the EV-1

[tinrobot]

6. Yep, they blew it with the EV-1... but we know that.

Thanks for the history lesson. Seems like every thread about the Volt has at least a few people who lament the demise of the EV-1. GM made a huge mistake with the EV-1. That decision, however, is history, the cars and tooling are gone, and now GM is forced to start over.

Instead of lamenting the past, let's focus on what GM is doing now. The specs seem good and GM actually did produce a good electric car (the EV-1) before, so there's a good chance they can do it again. Hopefully this time they will actually sell the cars outright instead of leasing them, so they can't be recalled like the EV-1.

And the development cycle is actually going pretty fast with this car. Here's a history lesson - the EV-1 was first shown in 1990, but didn't actually ship until 1997. The Volt first was shown last year, and is slated to come out in 1-2 years. That's pretty quick. I hope they make their deadline, because if they don't, some other company will make something similar.

[OKIsItJustMe]

8. Actually, the development of the Volt is going so fast, because of the work GM did on the EV1

No! Really!

http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/articles/index.jsp?id=1

...

The good news is that both the technology and the GM team who developed the EV1 live on. Chevy's next generation of low- and zero-emission vehicles - Tahoe and Malibu Hybrids,(1) Equinox Fuel Cell electric vehicles,(2) and our range-extended electric E-Flex system (found on the concept Volt) - all feature technologies and innovations from the EV1. We didn't kill the electric car; electric vehicle technology is far from dead.

[OKIsItJustMe]

9. GM's EV1 -- Who Killed Common Sense?

http://blogs.edmunds.com/karl/239

GM's EV1 -- Who Killed Common Sense?

I just finished an interview with ABC News' Bill Blakemore. I was a guest on his show covering the new movie Who Killed the Electric Car? The other guests were the film's director, Chris Paine, and a former EV1 sales assistant, Chelsea Sexton. The film has some basic points it tries to make, all of them quite predictable in a world where most Americans feel they pay too much for gas and faith in the stability of the Middle East is at an all-time low. In terms of timing I give Mr. Paine credit -- the political and cultural atmosphere is ripe for a film like this to make money. Now let's hit the basic points in the film, along with my responses to them:

1. Rumor: There were 5,000 people who wanted an EV1, but GM wouldn't let them buy it.

Fact: There were 5,000 people who expressed interest in an EV1, but when GM called them back and explained that the car cost $299-plus a month to lease, went between 60 and 80 miles on a full charge, and took between 45 minutes and 15 hours to re-charge, very few would commit to leasing one (not too surprising, is it?). The film likes to quote a figure of 29 miles as the average American's daily driving needs, but that is a national figure and the EV1 was only sold in California and Arizona, primarily in Los Angeles. Anyone wanna guess what the average L.A. resident's daily driving need is? I'm betting it's higher than that national average.

As a comparison I actually ran the numbers on a 1997 EV1 against a 1997 Volkswagen Jetta Turbodiesel based on electricity and fuel charges at the time. Between lease charges and fuel/electricity charges, the EV1 cost at least $500 more a year to operate than the Jetta, and the Jetta could hold over twice as many people (five versus two), 50 percent more cargo (15 cubic feet versus 10) and would go almost 600 miles on a tank of fuel versus 60 miles on a charge. And when the Jetta did need filled it took 10 minutes -- not 45 minutes for a partial re-charge and 15 hours for a full re-charge. Ask me again why the electric car died.

...

(More at the link)
http://blogs.edmunds.com/karl/239

[zazen]

4. how do you plug in if you're in an apartment/condo/townhouse?

[tinrobot]

5. You don't.

That's a big problem that needs to be addressed.

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. These people think they have an answer

http://www.projectbetterplace.com/

[gear_head]

11. the TH!NK electic car will be showrooms later this year .n/t