Archive for the ‘Hybrid Car’ Category
ABC News Test Drives The 2011 Chevy Volt
Here’s a good video giving us a first glimpse of how the new Chevy Volt looks on the road and its overall handling and performance.
The Volt will go up to 40 miles without using a sip of gas, and then the engine kicks in and starts using fuel so you don’t get stranded after you hit the 40 mile mark. I was thinking about how many Americans drive less than 40 miles back and forth from work every day, and this might be a huge appeal to them. You could literally go the entire week without using any gasoline if you drove less than 40 miles each day. This would be a HUGE money savings, but it sounds like the cost of these vehicles will be substantially higher than their hybrid car counterparts. And many Americans still view hybrids as overpriced. But having said that, for those people that don’t drive much during the week, the extra cost could really even out with the amount of money they save in fuel costs.
The performance of the car looks good as well. We all know that in the United States, ther are a lot of aggressive drivers, so you need a car that can perform well enough to maneuver on busy roads, and after watching this video, it looks like the Volt will be fine in that aspect.
What are your thoughts? Do you think the Chevy Volt will be a success or will the rumored price tag of $40,000 keep people from buying it?
Tags: chevy volt mpg, gm electric car, hybrid rental car
Will The Chevy Volt Blow Away The Hybrid Car Competition?
Yesterday, GM announced that their Chevy Volt will get an estimated 230 mpg in the city! Because of this extraordinary claim, there are many skeptics who question whether it’s truly 230 miles per gallon. Engadget was told that the EPA has released “a new methodology for determining a draft fuel economy standard for extended-range EVs like the Volt,” and it’s that non-standard measurement system that is giving Chevy’s boy wonder a triple digit MPG.
How Could It Possibly Get 230 MPG?
CNN has an article with an example that helps us understand the calculation better. The Chevy Volt and a standard hybrid car are different in the sense that the Volt will strictly use electricity from a battery, then switch to gasoline after it has been driven 40 miles. A hybrid car like the Prius uses a mix of the battery power and gasoline to power the car, but does it more efficiently than a standard car. Keeping that in mind, here is an example from the CNN article:
So let’s say the car is driven 50 miles in a day. For the first 40 miles, no gas is used and during the last 10 miles, 0.2 gallons are used. That’s the equivalent of 250 miles per gallon. But, if the driver continues on to 80 miles, total fuel economy would drop to about 100 mpg. And if the driver goes 300 miles, the fuel economy would be just 62.5 mpg.
Knowing this information and understanding this example, it’s more clear that the less you drive in the Volt, the more MPG you get, and if you drive a long distance, the fuel economy gradually decreases. So, for short commutes back and forth to work, the Volt really will get you 200 to 250 mpg, but for a 400 mile trip, you’ll get about the same fuel economy as a Toyota Prius or Honda Insight hybrid car.
How Do You Recharge Its Battery?
The Chevy Volt runs fully on a battery for 40 miles, unlike a traditional battery that operates the electronic components in your car and is continually charged by your car’s engine and alternator. So, in order to get that 40 miles of gas-free power, you would need to charge the battery every night. GM says that the battery can be charged in a standard residential, electrical outlet. They say it would cost about .40 cents a day in utility charges to charge the battery.
When Will the Chevy Volt Be Available?
Nobody knows at this point. Chevy had originally promised a release date of November, 2010, but they recently submitted a regulatory filing with the U.S. Treasury that means they may be having troubles with funding for a full launch in November.
Will GM set the standard for the beginning of electric cars or will it be a flop and open the door for another company to learn from GM’s mistakes? Only time will answer those questions. However, being able to use a car for short commutes back and forth from work that doesn’t use a drop of gas is an intriguing thought.
Tags: chevy volt mpg, gm electric car, green rental car, hybrid rental car