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GE To Buy 25,000 EVs, Starting With the Chevy Volt
DeviceGuru writes "In what's claimed as the largest-ever single electric vehicle commitment, GE plans to acquire 25,000 electric vehicles by 2015. The buying spree will initially involve 12,000 GM vehicles, beginning with GM's Chevy Volt in 2011. By converting most of its own 30,000-strong global fleet, and promoting EV adoption among its 65,000 global fleet customers, GE hopes to be in a strong position to help deploy the vehicles' supporting infrastructure, including charging stations, circuit protection equipment, and transformers. In contrast to the all-electric Nissan Leaf, the Volt implements a small gas engine, which can recharge the vehicle's battery to extend its range beyond the 100 mile limit of all-electric cars like the Leaf, leading some to question the Volt's EV credentials."
That's because Georgia is GA, not GE.
GA is the Georgia the American State, GE is the accepted abbreviation for the former soviet nation Georgia. Google it.
From www.mychevroletvolt.com : "The First 200,000 Chevrolet Volt’s qualify for $7500 in federal tax credits (After which there is a phase out schedule)."
So this consumes rebates from a limited pool that may have gone to individuals. I don't necessarily have a problem with that: first come, first served I guess. I like that GE is doing this to jump start infrastructure sales rather than a one time tax benefit.
Georgia the nation has a GDP of $20 Billion, General Electric has a revenue of $157 Billion. Odds are the government of Georgia could not afford 25,000 Chevy volts.
Everyone knows who GE is, no one cares about broke Soviet Bloc nations.
GE is a huge supporter of the Obama administration and the Obama administration is desperate to prove that its takeover of GM and its pushing of "green jobs" wasn't just a bunch of unconstitutional meddling driven by a hunger for political power. The incestuousness of this is appalling. It calls to mind something that Benito Mussolini once said, something like, 'For the State, everything. For that outside the State, nothing.'
Under normal, battery-charged conditions and under 70 MPH, the gasoline engine does not run at all.
For most folks who commute less than 20 miles per day (80% of the population, according to GM), the vehicle will always be on the battery.
Sounds like an EV to me.
The ideal would be to do it when you retire vehicles and have to replace them anyway. Those fleets have pretty high turnover.
"Depends on where you are. In the Scandinavian regions, there is a huge tax break for electric vehicles. However, a Chevy Volt would not count as an electric vehicle there because it has an ICE that comes on automatically as part of normal operation."
ONLY if battery power is exhausted. You can have 100% gasoline-free operation if you don't travel more than 40 miles per charge.
a diesel gas turbine (i.e. fuel oil turbine) is more efficient than your typical diesel generator. It's effectively a jet engine.
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Wrong, there is a planetary gear between them. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/automobiles/17VOLT.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Chevy%20Volt&st=cse
At least do a little research for making ridiculous claims.
Only half as much CO2 if you get the power from fossil fuel generating plant. They are roughly twice as efficient as an internal combustion engine. Also, you are buying large and increasing amounts of power from British Columbia which is all zero emission Hydro-electric.
I would have thought that with constant stop-and-go driving, regenerative braking would be a huge win. The article says it's a 35% fuel savings. But apparently even that isn't enough for them to switch all their new vehicle purchases to hybrid.
electricity demand could increase significantly
Hopefully people will wake up to the benefits of Nuclear Energy. It is in fact our only hope for future energy demands.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
http://www.motortrend.com/features/editorial/1010_unbolting_the_chevy_volt_to_see_how_it_ticks/index.html
With pictures for you.
And here is the line from the article I gave you, it was on page 1. So reading might be something you could try doing:
the 4-cylinder gas engine does provide some assist to the drive wheels.
NG is currently commercial price is $6 / 1000cubic feet for 1 million BTU's worth. Diesel is 2.39 for 130,500BTU.
so Diesel price is around 2* more expensive at commercial. Retail price (NG to your home) brings that down to Diesel 15% more expensive.
GE manufacturers the "charging stations that the government is going to subsidize being installed all over the country. If there aren't enough electric cars on the roads, people are going to complain about their tax dollars going to subsidize the installation of these charging stations. By buying a bunch of electric vehicles, GE hopes to prime the pump for people to buy electric vehicles.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison