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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."
GE plans to acquire 25,000 electric vehicles by 2015.
Do corporations get the same tax break as consumers do for electric vehicles?
If so, then GE could get a $187,500,000 tax credit (25,000 * $7,500) in the process.
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
That's because Georgia is GA, not GE.
The new Tesla Roadster claims that it can do 245 miles on a single charge ... and it's a hell of a lot cooler than a volt! 100 miles on a charge, pfft! :)
I was wondering for a long time why fleet vehicles that stop and start every couple blocks were not electric since it seems like electricity would work best in well managed systems more than for consumers. But instead it's the personal vehicle that is the first to do this at scale. I suspect the answer to my query is pretty basic: namely delivery vehicles have to travel more miles on one route than electric storage can sustain. Or does someone have a better explanation of this hole.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
"leading some to question the Volt's EV credentials." ???
Let's be realistic here! It may not be a "pure" EV but the infrastructure is not here yet to support a pure EV. We are at the very start of a transition from gas stations to charging stations. Until charging stations can be found in most places at least a small gas engine to recharge the batteries is needed.
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. However, if they make a variant that forces the driver to manually turn on the ICE, then they will count it as an electric vehicle with a backup generator. There's one problem with the Volt though. The engine directly generates torque for the wheels. I will be very curious to find out if that will prevent it from being classified as an EV.
I see the glass as full with a FoS of 2.
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.
You're right. There is no infrastructure to support electric vehicles.
What we need is some kind of nation-wide distribution network for electrical power. That's probably decades away assuming you can find someone willing to spend the billions of dollars to install one.
Oh wait...
What you're missing: You charge your vehicle primarily at home - where your car spends the vast majority of its unused time anyway. Charging stations external to that are a bonus but not strictly required. For example you might have an exterior outlet on your office building you can use in lieu of a dedicated charging bollard.
If you're one of the people who think there must be an exact gas station analog in place for electric vehicles, you are wrong. The entire premise of EVs is that the "energy economy" they work in is completely different; distributed instead of centralized. Every outlet is a potential "gas station."
=Smidge=
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.
It means the ICE does not run at a fixed rpm. This pretty much kills the whole point of a series hybrid.
You are also now going to have parasitic drag from that coupling or whatever you use to disconnect it at all times. The real losses is going ICE->Batts-> Elec motor-> drive train -> wheels.
A transmission in an Elec car seems pretty ass backwards.
And with a top speed of ~70MPH. The gearing means the electric motor hits top RPM right around there, and without another source of power you're not going any faster.
Ignoring the fact that you'll need a "kit" to convert the Volt as well, the Prius can (and does) run just fine in all-electric mode. Basically the procedure is the same for both vehicles: remove the ICE and lock the shaft it used to be connected to. Presto, both are now pure EVs.
The only difference is the Prius uses an electrically assisted ICE, and the Volt uses an ICE assisted electric motor. It is also not possible to use the Volt's engine as a generator without the vehicle moving, which I'm not sure counts as a good thing or not.
=Smidge=
I can see a family with two cars getting one all-electric vehicle. Probably 90% of the driving my family does is within the round-trip range of an EV. But right now I'm not seeing a really mass-market EV. An EV should be cheaper to manufacture than a gasoline powered car if you compare the complexities of the drive systems. EV: Battery, electric motor, differential and final drive system. Gasoline engine: Battery, ignition system, fuel tank, fuel pumps, fuel injectors, air intake, air filter, intake manifold, pistons, crankshaft, valves, cam shaft, coolant pumps, radiator, coolant thermometer, exhaust pipes, EGR valves, muffler, catalytic converter, flywheel, clutch, transmission, differential and final drives. The number of moving parts in a gasoline engine that need lubrication is huge. In an electric motor there is one. Lithium batteries are somewhat exotic and expensive but so are the precious metals they put in your catalytic converter.
I think the manufacturers are happier selling you a hybrid vehicle with two engine systems and charging you more than a gasoline powered car instead of selling you an all electric vehicle and charging less. Or they'd rather make a pure EV that is so exotic they can charge Porsche prices for it, like the Tesla. The only possible exception coming soon is the Nissan Leaf. It'll be interesting to see how Nissan does with it.
If you think electric heat is expensive just wait until you start charging an EV every night...
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
"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.
Solar + EV = win. A neighbor of mine did this and his average bill is negative $2/month. Having an EV car shortens the solar panel system installation ROI period considerably.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
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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You can use your Volt in pure EV mode if your battery is not exhausted. Even at highway speed.
ICE is used only when battery is exhausted.
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.
Yes, there is. The last link in the summary even goes to a page with a diagram of the central planetary gear set. The engine can, and does, drive the wheels directly under certain conditions.
To quote said article:
"Once the Volt’s battery is depleted, the engine fires up and clutches to the generator to produce the power required to drive the car. Above 70 mph, when the generator couples to the ring gear, the engine gets a more efficient direct mechanical connection to the wheels."
=Smidge=
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.
Diesel is way to expensive to run even a decent size business generator on much less a power plant.
Just slightly more expensive. Where I work is 100% diesel generator power, has been for the last 15 years, with several hundred employees running computers, welders, air conditioning, etc. The cost has worked out to about $.26 /kwHr. My last home bill worked out to be $.24 / Kwhr when I divide the final bill by the electric used. Because my company also builds generators it does give a opportunity to test their generators. The previous job I had in the same area had much less reliable power from the grid, so overall Diesel generator is more expensive, not sure it qualifies as way more. Definitely not too expensive.
Problem is, you 'second' car will usually have to be an SUV or something like it to fit all your family. And likely it'll be still used daily.
So it's quite often more efficient to have two mid-range cars with good fuel efficiency then an SUV and an electric car.
That's where Chevy Volt shines - it can replace both of these mid-range cars, cutting you average fuel use almost to zero while allowing you to have unlimited range if it's required.
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.
Here's a cite for you: The island I live on has (almost) all of it's power provided by RECO, using Wärtsilä generators (disregarding the very low adoption of PV and wind, and the couple of gas stations that run their own generators).
According to the first link, RECO burns 15,000 gallons of diesel a day providing the power for this island, according to the second, it's one of 1550 such power plants around the world (specificly using Wärtsilä generators.).
Now, as you pointed out, this is a rather expensive way to go for power generation, but it's certainly done. Of course, the reason this makes any sense if because this is a relatively small island 50 miles off the coast of Honduras, we can't afford the infrastructure needed for a more efficient means of power generation.
Finally, in the interests of full disclosure, I will note that RECO was recently (3 or 4 years ago) bought out by an investor who has been investing massive amounts of money into it, and once he's done bringing the distribution infrastructure up to snuff, he's announced plans to change over to biomass generation.
I needed a sig so people would know who I am, but I was too drunk to make something witty, so you get this instead.
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.
For the comparison to be fair, you have to take into account the subsidies that the oil industry receives, which are not insubstantial. (In sheer dollar terms, they dwarf the subsidies that go to alternative energies.) Actually most major industrial sectors have managed to lobby for subsidies of one kind or another (whether direct cash or tax breaks).
Also worth noting is that gas has a massive infrastructure currently in place. So even if electric vehicles are cheaper in the long-term, once we reach steady-state (hence a "good idea"), it may be that they are somewhat more expensive in the short-term, as we build up our infrastructure, manufacturing capacity, and know-how (things tend to get cheaper as we engineer them better and better). In such cases, the argument for government subsidies is that the government spends a small amount of money in the short-term, subsidizing an industry that will save the populace large amounts of money in the long-term.
You may disagree with that particular analysis, and think that EVs won't be a net gain in the long-term, but saying that good ideas don't need subsidies is short-sighted.
Yes, it's absolutely possible to do better, however I would point out that there are a few key differences between Samsø and Roatán.
First, Samsø has a population of 4,300 according to wikipedia, whereas Roatán has a popultation of 30,000 according to wikipedia, and depending on who you talk to around here, the estimates go as high as 90,000 (The concept of a census is only loosely applied here.)
Second, the PPP GDP of Denmark is ~200B (Per capita ~31K), while the GDP of Honduras is ~15B, (Per capita ~3K).
Finally the conversion to wind power of Samsø was (as I understand it), largely funded by grants from the Danish Government, while for various lingering political reasons Roatán (and the bay islands in general) are the red headed step-children of Honduras.
So, to summarize, Samsø has at most 1/6th of the people to provide power to, has per capita income approximately 10x greater, and the government was actually willing to spend some of that money on the island.
This is more apples to oranges than apples to apples.
I needed a sig so people would know who I am, but I was too drunk to make something witty, so you get this instead.