HeartZ
08-03-2008, 03:27 PM
http://www.ecogeek.org/images/stories/x07cc_ch013.jpg
Have I been hinting enough? Have I been saying that GM is going to do something that, while not healing the hurt they’ve dealt out over the last few decades, will at least get their foot in the door of the gasoline rehab clinic?
Well here it is, and it’s beautiful.
The Chevrolet Volt is a hybrid hatchback that can get anywhere from a sixty to a million miles per gallon.
OK, so you all trusted me until I said that, and now you’re checking to see if it’s April already. But I’m for real.
The Volt contains two engines, like any hybrid car, a gasoline engine and an electric engine. However, the gasoline engine never actually propels the car.
http://www.ecogeek.org/images/stories/x07cc_ch007.jpg
All propulsion is accomplished by the electric engine which, in turn, is powered by the lithium ion batteries. The batteries are charged by plugging them into the wall. For the first forty or so miles of driving, the batteries have enough power to move the car from zero to sixty in 8 seconds and hit a top speed of 120 mph.
Then, after all that aerodynamic, electric, regenerative-brake-using driving, an ultra-efficient, small, inexpensive gasoline engine kicks on and recharges the battery. Using only power generated by the gas generator, the car gets about 60 mpg.
But if trips are less than 40 miles (which most daily commutes are) the car doesn’t use a drop of gasoline. So the majority of trips will use absolutely no gasoline at all. Technically, if you drive 40 miles a day, for 68 years, and then drove a bit more than 40 miles one day…you would get One Million Miles Per Gallon. Of course, the batteries would die long before that, and the gasoline in your tank would likely have evaporated away or, more likely, have been siphoned off by Mad Max and his post apocalyptic marauders.
http://www.ecogeek.org/images/stories/x07cc_ch015.jpg
Theoretically, the 40 miles number will grow along with battery technology. GM’s engineers have also made the innovative power train (which they’re calling the E-Flex System) modular. So, instead of a gas generator, a diesel, ethanol, hydrogen, or hydrogen fuel cell generator could be used.
All-in-all, this is a fikkin fabulous idea that will likely be showing up in consumer vehicles of all shapes and sizes in the next five years. This will almost certainly be the first new car I will ever buy, and I will be proud to own it.
http://www.ecogeek.org/images/stories/x07ar_ch010.jpg
http://www.ecogeek.org/images/stories/x07ar_ch009.jpg
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/420/
Have I been hinting enough? Have I been saying that GM is going to do something that, while not healing the hurt they’ve dealt out over the last few decades, will at least get their foot in the door of the gasoline rehab clinic?
Well here it is, and it’s beautiful.
The Chevrolet Volt is a hybrid hatchback that can get anywhere from a sixty to a million miles per gallon.
OK, so you all trusted me until I said that, and now you’re checking to see if it’s April already. But I’m for real.
The Volt contains two engines, like any hybrid car, a gasoline engine and an electric engine. However, the gasoline engine never actually propels the car.
http://www.ecogeek.org/images/stories/x07cc_ch007.jpg
All propulsion is accomplished by the electric engine which, in turn, is powered by the lithium ion batteries. The batteries are charged by plugging them into the wall. For the first forty or so miles of driving, the batteries have enough power to move the car from zero to sixty in 8 seconds and hit a top speed of 120 mph.
Then, after all that aerodynamic, electric, regenerative-brake-using driving, an ultra-efficient, small, inexpensive gasoline engine kicks on and recharges the battery. Using only power generated by the gas generator, the car gets about 60 mpg.
But if trips are less than 40 miles (which most daily commutes are) the car doesn’t use a drop of gasoline. So the majority of trips will use absolutely no gasoline at all. Technically, if you drive 40 miles a day, for 68 years, and then drove a bit more than 40 miles one day…you would get One Million Miles Per Gallon. Of course, the batteries would die long before that, and the gasoline in your tank would likely have evaporated away or, more likely, have been siphoned off by Mad Max and his post apocalyptic marauders.
http://www.ecogeek.org/images/stories/x07cc_ch015.jpg
Theoretically, the 40 miles number will grow along with battery technology. GM’s engineers have also made the innovative power train (which they’re calling the E-Flex System) modular. So, instead of a gas generator, a diesel, ethanol, hydrogen, or hydrogen fuel cell generator could be used.
All-in-all, this is a fikkin fabulous idea that will likely be showing up in consumer vehicles of all shapes and sizes in the next five years. This will almost certainly be the first new car I will ever buy, and I will be proud to own it.
http://www.ecogeek.org/images/stories/x07ar_ch010.jpg
http://www.ecogeek.org/images/stories/x07ar_ch009.jpg
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/420/