:lame:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090811/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gm_volt_mileage
They should have achieved this goal 5 years ago! What is going to happen when 100,000 people plug these cars in at the same time?
Good question. It says you can charge it in a standard (110/120) home outlet. I would guess that it draws about 1/3 the power of an electric oven or clothes dryer.
yeah so…hotels and apartment complexes and “charging stations” will charge an ass load for you to plug in your car…
and a sticker cost of 40,000 wtf ill keep my paid for gas car…with no montly payment…and pay for gas…
The Volt will be the final nail in GM’s coffin.
Honda has the right idea with the Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCX Clarity). GM has a few hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, but it seems they stopped development work on them to put all their resources into the Volt.
Deisel cars (VW Jetta) are the alternative fuel vehicles of now. Too bad the American buying public still has a bad taste in their mouth from the GM deisels of the early 80’s. Most european ‘high mileage’ vehicles are deisel.
I don’t understand how you can have a brand new company like Tesla Motors come along and make a 250+mi range vehicle, while GM has all these R&D teams, billions of dollars to throw at it, etc., and can only muster 40. GM said people didn’t like the EV1 because of it’s crummy range (50-75mi), so they develop an EV with a lesser range and strap a gas engine to it…
I’m not sure how to feel about hydrogen - you’re essentially using it to power an electric motor, but we’d need another new fuel delivery infrastructure to get it from point A to point B, and we’re not horribly efficient at obtaining hydrogen quite yet. It’s essentially building an energy distribution system parallel to our already-existing power grid.
I guess I’m of the opinion that, rather than spend all kinds of money developing hydrogen technologies, building hydrogen plants, delivery infrastructure, etc., simply upgrade the power transmission system we already have in place to accommodate for the increased draw.
the stretch marks on your asshole will instantly disappear.
It shouldnt be that bad for you. The standard “ass load” is based on the dimensions of a 5’10, 165lb man’s ass. Therefore, with an ass of your size, you should be able to carry around at least 2 or 3 normal ass loads. So proportionately, you would be paying a lot less.
If anyone had half a brain, there would be much more work being done on natural gas powered cars. There’s already a sizeable infrastructure. all you would need is a tank and a compressor and you could fill up at your house. Any gas station that already has a natural gas feed could be converted to also dispense NG for very cheap. It’s WAY cheaper than oil. Much more abundant domestically. Much cleaner. It’s the bridge we need to get from oil to completely renewable sources.
Think with your dipstick Jimmy!!!
Chevy had a LOT tougher act to bring. They have a much smaller budget. The demographic that they are looking to reach needs much different things out of the car. Chevy has to worry about the sourcing of parts. It has to worry about mass production issues. It has to worry about a LOT more things than Tesla.
If you commute less than 40 miles each way, you’ll be able to get the equivalent of 200+ MPG. What Chevy achieved for $40K is a hell of an accomplishment.
I disagree somewhat. Hydrogen recovery from natural gas is relatively easy, and places no additional stress on the available gas. The technology to displace it directly from water exists as well, using only electricity. As soon as packaging and cost for small home-installed hydrogen recovery units, it would be THE most viable solution for long-term energy dependance. Far more abundant than any other option, will eventually be cheap to produce…negating the need for “infrastructure” as we now know it. 60 years ago no one knew what the fuck a gas station was, so it’s seems plausible that 50 years from now there won’t be a station of any sort for vehicle refill on every corner…other than your then-bionic mother’s yogurt-catcher, that is :hsugh:.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that what they’ve done isn’t commendable - they’re (supposedly; remember, we’ve seen GM do this once before in the past) bringing a practical EV to traditional consumers. I’m using Tesla to question how they’ve managed to produce it with a 40-mile range when a relatively new company without the buying leverage and R&D facilities of GM managed to accomplish much greater.
It’s a step forward in the sense that we’re reducing our need for fossil fuel, but a step backwards in the sense that it’s going to cause us to settle for using X gallons of fossil fuel instead of using 0 gallons of fossil fuel.
Flatulance… there is an abundance of that going on in here.
But at the point when we’re using electricity to obtain hydrogen from water via electrolysis (which we’re not very efficient at), why not just hook the electricity straight up to the car and dump it in via batteries?
why cant the gas motor charge the batteries?
Why would you want to extract hydrogen from natural gas when you can just run the car on natural gas?
Tesla: 2700lbs/$120K
Volt: 3,500lbs/$40K
Thats why. It’s like saying “why can Bugatti make an 1,100hp car when Chevy, a bigger company, can only muster 630 out of the ZR-1?”
Different demographics. Different price range. Different level of performance. And you say that we’re going a step backwards? If your commute is less than 40 miles, you’re not going to burn a drop of fuel. This car isn’t built for long distance hauling.
To futher limit emissions, and leave useable by-products.
Hint: “Oh, the humanity!”
that is a famous quote spoke by a western pa native 
seriously, dude was from scottdale. Morrision was his last name. he ended up working for wtae tv
on topic–
none of the shit mentioned in this thread will ever replace gas cars. i wish chevy got it right, but they didn’t. ever run a propane powered vehicle? thats kinda the same problems you will have w/ the alternate fuels. you will run out and be fucked one way or another. if this shit was so proven/good, our defense department would have been all over it.
biggest gripe about chevy-- what about the energy needed to charge the battery pack? you think that electricity grows on telephone poles? turbines need to be run somehow–be it windmill/hydro/nuclear. so if you are tapping the grid to power your car, you are effectively going to strain our electric resources. so Allegheny power’s kwh rate is definitely going up. you may save $ at the pump, yet it will come back via electric bill or some other bill. that carbon footprint bullshit will get hit one way or another. now if the volt could regenerate its electricity, it is a win.
i heard that neil young had a hand in developing the volt…any one else hear this?
I don’t like chevy, but the volt is interesting. a mainstrean car that gets 200+ MPG seems pretty 
to me.
These alternative fuel cars will take a long time even think about replacing gas cars, but it’s nice to have the option to get 200 mpg if you are into that type of thing.
