You don’t have to change the delivery system. While the driver is sleeping the car can be plugged in at home charging. If the driver goes less than 40 miles a day, which is the vast majority of commuters, not a drop of gas is used. However, unlike a pure electric car like the Tesla the Volt is capable of going any distance using the existing gas station infrastructure using the tiny gas motor to charge the battery. That’s what makes the Volt a legitamate car and the Tesla nothing more than a toy.
You get the best part of an electric car, the cheap domestically produced power, for the majority of your driving with all the range of a traditional gasoline car.
This is why most automotive engineers and scientists view the plug in hybrid as one of the greatest potentials for curbing our need for oil. Far greater than the traditional hybrid, diesel or even fuel cell vehicle. It’s the reason this car really excites me and why GM is going full steam ahead on this project.
in detroit they had a buick riviera concept that was more of a show car but the same general idea as the volt. able to use everyday outlets and very small gas dependency.
problem with all these silly hybrids, plug in or not, still use some sort of power generation to produce the electricity. nothing is gained but added complexity and greater cost.
every time energy is changed to one form or another, some energy is lost. you lose energy storing the power that you get from the little motor or from the house electricity. get enough of these and there is yet another drain on an overworked power grid.
its another useless exercise brought on by pipe dream feel good about supposedly helping the environment hippies. in reality, nothing has changed. power is still derived from burning something or from nuclear power, so the pollution released is still status quo. not that i care about this so called pollution crisis, but isnt that the point of all these alternative power source vehicle design? to lessen pollution? these environmentalists havent a clue about reality.
direct injection diesel is a better idea. keep refining that till it gets better. you only have one energy transfer there… combustion straight to rotational force (one step) rather than some form of combustion to electrical generator (loss), to either: 1. transmission lines to your home through wires and transformers (ie loss) to the cars batteries (ie more loss) to the electric motor (more loss) to rotational force or 2. small gas motor to electric motor (loss) to rotational force to the wheels. yet another retarded idea from the auto industry driven by a gigantic bunch of retards, the government and the scientific community.
Most environmentalists are fucking stupid. Agreed.
There is something to gain from electric drive. Many electric motors are over 90% efficient. Not only that but they generate massive amounts of torque from small packages at low speeds. They put gas motors to shame in these 2 departments. Storing the power is the biggest hurdle at this point.
If the power is still generated by Coal Plants then the gains are not as great. City smog will still be reduced by a great deal regardless.
If you can generate electricity through a decent source like nuclear, hydro, or solar then you can put together a system with a significant reduction in pollution.
Ya, but what about the owners and ceo’s of the big oil companies?! they will lose a lot of money and their children will have to go to public schools, and instead of driving ferraris they will only be able to afford mercedes…
comon now, think about the people they will hurt if we reduce our dependancy on oil
Sigh. Look a little further and see what the Sudanese government is doing with its power due to the natural resources it controls. Selfishness will seem like a really small issue.