Yes, charging problems can be and will be solved. I'm not going to argue about that.
But they are not yet solved and networking effects work against us (almost nobody is going to use pure EVs until infrastructure is in place and nobody is going to build EV infrastructure until they are common enough).
Range-extended vehicles provide a nice stepping stone for EV adoption.
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.
I'm keeping statistics of my trips. Usually I average at 30 miles per day. However, about once per month I need to travel about 90 miles.
So I'd have to rent a car at least 1 time a month. That's not acceptable, because I'll be spending more on rent than on fuel for a conventional car for this whole month. I suspect that quite a lot of people have the same situation.
Besides, there's a problem with ROI. Right now it's cheaper to produce a 40 miles range-extended car. It will still require gasoline, but it will require 10 times less of it than a 'normal' car. And it will give us time to build an EV-infrastructure.
So range-extended vehicles are the way to go for now.
Yes. But there are gas stations _everywhere_, so even if your fuel gauge reads 'zero' you most probably can still drive safely to the next gas station.
And then drive 300 miles after 5-minute stop to fill your tank.
"It means the ICE does not run at a fixed rpm. This pretty much kills the whole point of a series hybrid."
The engine in Volt works in several fixed RPM bands so it's pretty optimal. They use a planetary gear system, somewhat similar to Prius to achieve this.
And in future it's certainly possible that engine will be decoupled from wheels completely.
"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.
We use EFI to boot a Linux image loaded into EFI flash. So it takes less than a second to start the kernel (around 500 milliseconds - we haven't timed it precisely).
Russia had its own pretty advanced computer technology till 70-s. BESM ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BESM ) computers were on par with Western Bloc models and there were original developments like Setun' computer with ternary arithmetic ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setun ).
Then came a 'bright' idea to partner with IBM. USSR actually paid for licenses for IBM hardware (IBM software was probably free at that time) so it was not pure piracy.
"Ha. I wish. If China were truly Communist without social classes, the bulk of the people would be treated a whole lot better and the system would either collapse or work properly for the first time Communism has been put into practice. Instead you've got some sort of hybrid closer to socialism than the United States is that keeps itself working by slowly implementing more and more capitalism. I still can't understand how people can call China "Communist" when the income, living conditions and rights of a rice farmer in BFE greater China is not even comparable to a banker in downtown Beijing."
I've been to China recently. Hell, there's not a shred of socialism in Beijing. It's pure unadulterated capitalism.
I lived through several hyperinflations. When prices were growing two times in two weeks. I'd prefer two years with high inflation and then a speedy recovery to a long painful 10-year slog to full recovery.
And we're not talking about hyperinflation. 4-5% percents per year will be enough.
"Boehner has been quoted that he is more than willing to work with President Obama, as long as what they're working on is what he and the Republicans want"
As if it ever was a problem with the Republican president Obama.
Slashdot Mirror
"No, it's 50,000,030 years old no matter where you are."
Uhm. I'm moving at 0.8c. It looks very much like 25000015 years old to me.
Are you suggesting that there's a global frame of reference?
I pay 54 euro for one day of rent, without delivery (it's another 6 euro).
It's a little bit cheaper if I use it frequently, but only for about 15%.
See for yourself: http://www.hertz.ua/en/index.php
Yeah, Volt's fuel efficiency is nothing to write home about.
However, your argument works for it - average users won't need to use Volt's gas engine that often.
Yes, charging problems can be and will be solved. I'm not going to argue about that.
But they are not yet solved and networking effects work against us (almost nobody is going to use pure EVs until infrastructure is in place and nobody is going to build EV infrastructure until they are common enough).
Range-extended vehicles provide a nice stepping stone for EV adoption.
Oh, sorry. Of course, it's 120V.
220V is better because it cuts time in about 3 times. So you'll have to wait 'just' 2-3 hours instead of 6 hours.
Realistically, you need to have 500V fast-charge outlets. And they definitely are NOT common.
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.
"There are more electrical outlets than gas stations."
So? It takes 6 hours to charge Volt from a standard 128-volt outlet. And then you need to do it again after 40 miles.
This is not going to work.
"I'm pretty sure I can find a few places where there are no gas stations for 300+ miles in any direction."
Not much (in the USA). Because not all vehicles can travel more than that on a single tank.
I suspect that a simple manual engine switch will suffice for this law :)
I'm keeping statistics of my trips. Usually I average at 30 miles per day. However, about once per month I need to travel about 90 miles.
So I'd have to rent a car at least 1 time a month. That's not acceptable, because I'll be spending more on rent than on fuel for a conventional car for this whole month. I suspect that quite a lot of people have the same situation.
Besides, there's a problem with ROI. Right now it's cheaper to produce a 40 miles range-extended car. It will still require gasoline, but it will require 10 times less of it than a 'normal' car. And it will give us time to build an EV-infrastructure.
So range-extended vehicles are the way to go for now.
Yes. But there are gas stations _everywhere_, so even if your fuel gauge reads 'zero' you most probably can still drive safely to the next gas station.
And then drive 300 miles after 5-minute stop to fill your tank.
No. It doesn't unless there's not enough energy in the battery.
I'm following gm-volt.com and allcarselectric.com :)
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.
I know this. But people still buy 'off-road' SUVs even if they are not taken off-road more than 1 day a year.
Also, 100 miles is just not that much. It's quite easy to exhaust this limit - just forget to plug-in once you get home.
And now try to travel more than 100 miles.
Whoops. There are no outlets in the middle of this interstate road. And even if there was an outlet, you won't wait 6 hours until your car is charged.
And it's well known that people (somewhat stupidly) buy cars for the 'worst' case.
"It means the ICE does not run at a fixed rpm. This pretty much kills the whole point of a series hybrid."
The engine in Volt works in several fixed RPM bands so it's pretty optimal. They use a planetary gear system, somewhat similar to Prius to achieve this.
And in future it's certainly possible that engine will be decoupled from wheels completely.
"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.
We use EFI to boot a Linux image loaded into EFI flash. So it takes less than a second to start the kernel (around 500 milliseconds - we haven't timed it precisely).
It was more complex.
Russia had its own pretty advanced computer technology till 70-s. BESM ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BESM ) computers were on par with Western Bloc models and there were original developments like Setun' computer with ternary arithmetic ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setun ).
Then came a 'bright' idea to partner with IBM. USSR actually paid for licenses for IBM hardware (IBM software was probably free at that time) so it was not pure piracy.
"Ha. I wish. If China were truly Communist without social classes, the bulk of the people would be treated a whole lot better and the system would either collapse or work properly for the first time Communism has been put into practice. Instead you've got some sort of hybrid closer to socialism than the United States is that keeps itself working by slowly implementing more and more capitalism. I still can't understand how people can call China "Communist" when the income, living conditions and rights of a rice farmer in BFE greater China is not even comparable to a banker in downtown Beijing."
I've been to China recently. Hell, there's not a shred of socialism in Beijing. It's pure unadulterated capitalism.
?
Do you mean Quantitative Easing v2.0? It won't be nearly big enough to make more than 1% dent in inflation.
I lived through several hyperinflations. When prices were growing two times in two weeks. I'd prefer two years with high inflation and then a speedy recovery to a long painful 10-year slog to full recovery.
And we're not talking about hyperinflation. 4-5% percents per year will be enough.
That's irrelevant. Any inflation reduces the 'real' amount of outstanding debts.
That might be bad if you have a stagflation, but right now we're in a liquidity trap and it'll only help us.
We NEED dollar devaluation. It will immensely help the economy.
However, it's not going to happen. There's not going to be a significant inflation, and even a little deflation might happen.
"While not giving the left everything they were after, he rapidly increased federal spending with little transparent oversight"
Wrong. Federal spending grew by about 3%, as it did under Bush administration. Obama has really done so little, that it's getting ridiculous.
"Boehner has been quoted that he is more than willing to work with President Obama, as long as what they're working on is what he and the Republicans want"
As if it ever was a problem with the Republican president Obama.