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January 14, 2007
Chevy Volt and The Possibilities
With all the news swirling around the hot concepts at the Detroit Auto Show, only one car grabbed my attention.
The Chevy Volt stands to be GM's answer to Japanese electric and hybrid vehicles squarely aiming for a market dominated by Prius' and Hybrid Civics. Throw in some American muscle into the design coupled with new battery tech means the Volt not only meets Japanese hybrids but also, in the words of Steve Jobs, "leap frogs beyond our competition".
Let's see, the Volt is technically a hybrid, but not in the traditional sense. The gas engine never powers the car. The only time it turns on is to recharge the batteries which are the primary source of propulsion. On top of that, GM seems to have solved a problem plaguing current hybrid batteries; power generated vs. consumption. Right now, my Prius can only travel under 10 miles on electric at below average speeds before it's completely discharged. The Volt manages 40 miles per charge at normal driving speeds. That's more than enough for me to go to and from work without the gas engine ever turning on. The Volt can be plugged into an ordinary wall socket for quick recharging and the batteries seem to be next-gen tech since it can be discharged and recharged hundreds of thousands of times without losing hold or charge capacity.
The only downside is it's concept status. Undoubtedly this vehicle is probably very expensive to build but as GM further consolidates it's manufacturing processes, the prospect of future vehicles with this tech can't be very far away. I'm salivating here.
more pictures after the jump
Posted by tranism at 9:25 AM | Permalink
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Comments
funny to see how many of the conceptual autos shown still relish the 90's "future-memory" (avant-reverse) design trend... the ford airstream actually is total gorge!
(i hung ten faves today)
Posted by: A.J. at January 15, 2007 9:53 AM
you know, i have total confidence that the visionary management at general motors will, by the time it's brought to production, brilliantly succeed in transforming this totally hot concept car into yet another unlovely, unwanted piece of rolling domestic mediocrity.
prove me wrong, gm--please.
Posted by: mkf at January 16, 2007 5:30 PM
That sounds so tight. Absolutely. And the design? DAMN! Although it feels like two car designs merged into one - an audi tt and a smart car i was looking at sometime last year.
nontheless it sounds so cool. i wont say i'm a econut (dont u dare!) but i'm into conserving the environment and all. It's cool.
But its definately gonna be expensive. the switch btw power source is probably gonna be control by some avionics type thingy...that's gonna be so cool...and how about the battery? its never gonna lose hold with that amount of recharging? how and where is it gonna be recharged anyway? a power house? i mean except yall want ur bill to sky rocket...(tho i'm probably just being naive ha)...it doesnt seem very feasible
Posted by: TC at January 17, 2007 6:31 AM
well for a battery that costs 10,000 dollars (lithuim ion car batterys are expensive) you would expect it to save power with a low power stream but high charging that is quick.
econut!
Posted by: Macha at January 18, 2007 11:02 AM