Chevy Volt - 100 KM's on 1L of Gas

[icarus]

I like the Volt and the Tesla, but I'm waiting for the Ampere and the Coulomb to be released.

[Dynamic]

Anyone else think GM has turned the corner? The wife was in the market for a Rav4 or CRV. We heard good reviews for the 2010 Equinox so just for fun we took a gander. It drove better than the Rav4 and was much less than a similarily equipped CRV. I was so impressed that we bought one and pick it up this Saturday.

[Hack&Lube]

Give me a Honda FCX Clarity and a Hydrogen Refueling Station instead please.

[Pastiche]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Give me a Honda FCX Clarity and a Hydrogen Refueling Station instead please.

Hydrogen is dead.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Pastiche

Hydrogen is dead.

Electric will be dead when Hydrogen busts out!

[alltherage]

Originally Posted by icarus

I like the Volt and the Tesla, but I'm waiting for the Ampere and the Coulomb to be released.

The Ampere is the volt with Opel tags. And looks like an acura rip off... those headlights are too crazy for me.

[Bob]

^^^

Oh wow, that's ugly.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by SebC

The economic analysis people are doing here is only for the early adopters. The more people buy electric vehicles the less you'll save on fuel by owning one - lower gasoline demand will lower gasoline prices.

Fuel prices are based on global demand. Given the constant population growth and the industrialization of the developing world, it will be a long time before average global fuel consumption drops.

As for the price. It won't be as a big a factor as people are claiming. I know people who spend upwards of $400 a month on gas. If this car can save you $300 on fuel consumption it might be worth paying an extra $150 on the lease instead of buying the Honda Civic.

Not to mention the image factor. If this car proves to be practical, the upper middle class will eat this up with a spoon.

BTW that Ampere is mad ugly. What were they thinking with those weird headlight ruts? Aerodynamics?

[burn_this_city]

That Ampere is no worse than the abortion they call the new Acura TL

[alltherage]

Originally Posted by blankall

Fuel prices are based on global demand. Given the constant population growth and the industrialization of the developing world, it will be a long time before average global fuel consumption drops.

As for the price. It won't be as a big a factor as people are claiming. I know people who spend upwards of $400 a month on gas. If this car can save you $300 on fuel consumption it might be worth paying an extra $150 on the lease instead of buying the Honda Civic.

Not to mention the image factor. If this car proves to be practical, the upper middle class will eat this up with a spoon.

BTW that Ampere is mad ugly. What were they thinking with those weird headlight ruts? Aerodynamics?

They were thinking, how can we make this look different from the volt while spending the least amount of money?

A quick photoshop shows how similar these are. No better than sunfire/cavalier:

[3 Justin 3]

I am sure most know this, but GM owns Opel. You really think they are going to spend money to design a new car? My Cobalt is a Pontiac G5. GM isn't the only one's who cheap out. Chrysler does the same thing, that is why the Town and Country looks EXACTLY like the Dodge Caravan.

But this technology won't last long. Hydrogen WILL be the future, just depends how long it will take them to put hydro stations all over N.America/Europe. The FCX Clarity blows this thing out of the water. It doesn't look like a pile of sh*t either, not that it is good looking, it is just less worse.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by 3 Justin 3

I am sure most know this, but GM owns Opel. You really think they are going to spend money to design a new car? My Cobalt is a Pontiac G5. GM isn't the only one's who cheap out. Chrysler does the same thing, that is why the Town and Country looks EXACTLY like the Dodge Caravan.

But this technology won't last long. Hydrogen WILL be the future, just depends how long it will take them to put hydro stations all over N.America/Europe. The FCX Clarity blows this thing out of the water. It doesn't look like a pile of sh*t either, not that it is good looking, it is just less worse.

I seriously doubt hydrogen will be the future, as it requires huge infrastructure upgrades. Either model requires much more power then we can provide now, but we already have power lines going everywhere, we don't have hydrogen fuel stations.

I haven't heard the media anywhere really hypeing up hydrogen much in the last while, meanwhile everyones' talking about electric cars.

Hydrogen cars are pretty much only feasible in California right now, where there are a few stations. Electric cars are feasible everywhere, right now.

[Table 5]

With the whole hybrid/electric/etc car movement seeming to gain more and more momentum, what does this spell for Alberta? Obviously the complete need for oil won't go away (as we of course need it for other uses), but even if you managed to get 25-50% of North American/European cars running on a different form of energy in a decade or two, it seems like that would be a pretty huge fall-off in terms of demand for oil. Is the growth of China/India and the supposed weaker oil supply enough to offset things?

The Alberta energy industry seems to have taken a pretty head-in-the-sand approach when it comes to alternative energy. Obviously, I want everyone to get away from relying on oil since the negatives are pretty obvious....but it would be nice not to see our province crumble either. I fear Alberta is not really doing much in this regard to ensure that they become the leaders of the new energy movement.

[burn_this_city]

We'll be fine. We're close enough to peak oil that we really need these alternatives just to keep us from entering an energy crisis in the next decade.

[You Need a Thneed]

Industry growth in China alone will make up for any loss in demand in North America, I'd imagine.

That's no reason to not support alternative fuel sources in the province though. We have lots of sun and wind here in southern Alberta, we should make use of that for more power.

[Bobblehead]

By the way, interesting story today about the Tesla.

Premium electric car maker Tesla Motors announced Friday that it achieved achieved overall corporate profitability in July with approximately $1 million of earnings on revenue of $20 million.

http://www.reuters.com/article/mnGre...39238720090810

Small numbers (relatively speaking) but definitely a step in the right direction.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

By the way, interesting story today about the Tesla.


http://www.reuters.com/article/mnGre...39238720090810

Small numbers (relatively speaking) but definitely a step in the right direction.

Canada should have sent every dollar that they sent to GM and Chrysler to Tesla instead. Get them to build the cars here.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Table 5

With the whole hybrid/electric/etc car movement seeming to gain more and more momentum, what does this spell for Alberta? Obviously the complete need for oil won't go away (as we of course need it for other uses), but even if you managed to get 25-50% of North American/European cars running on a different form of energy in a decade or two, it seems like that would be a pretty huge fall-off in terms of demand for oil. Is the growth of China/India and the supposed weaker oil supply enough to offset things?

The Alberta energy industry seems to have taken a pretty head-in-the-sand approach when it comes to alternative energy. Obviously, I want everyone to get away from relying on oil since the negatives are pretty obvious....but it would be nice not to see our province crumble either. I fear Alberta is not really doing much in this regard to ensure that they become the leaders of the new energy movement.

If natural gas power production takes off, we'll be fine.

If not? Oh crap.

[photon]

Hydrogen doesn't make much sense in my opinion.. it just adds another place in the chain for losses.. if you are going to use electricity to make hydrogen to put in cars so that the hydrogen can be converted to electricity to drive the electric motors, skip hydrogen altogether and the losses associated with conversion and just make purely electric cars. I'd think differently if hydrogen could easily be stored in a car at a high enough energy per unit volume to approach gas, but there isn't.. so might as well just put that research $$ into finding higher density batteries and remove a link in the chain.

[photon]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

If natural gas power production takes off, we'll be fine.

If not? Oh crap.

Then we could hope that hydrogen cars do take off, since the biggest chunk of hydrogen production globally comes from natural gas.