GM says Volt to get 230 miles per gallon in the city
OIL WARS to end with GM leading the way!
by Johnny Punish
DETROIT – General Motors Corp. said Tuesday it’s Chevrolet Volt rechargeable electric car should get 230 miles per gallon of gasoline in city driving, more than four times the mileage of the current champion, the Toyota Prius.
This fact got me thinking….why doesn’t the government offer a “cash for clunkers” deal exclusively on this car and piss on giving incentives to buy the crappy cars that get a minimal 30 mpg. I mean, 230 mpg! OMG, take that in the face DICK CHENEY, KING FAISAL, GEORGE BUSH, AND SADDAM HUSSEIN!
This car will end the OIL WARS that the capitalists have waged on us, the people. I love this car already because it represents a true start to freeing us from the scurge that is the dirty and old technology of OIL. And we the people need to support this car with tax credit incentives, big promos, and a total shock and awe business attack.
The Volt would be the first car to exceed triple-digit gas mileage in automotive history. Now that’s true American ingenuity.
The Volt is powered by an electric motor and a battery pack with a 40-mile range. After that, a small internal combustion engine kicks in to generate electricity for a total range of 300 miles. The battery pack can be recharged from a standard home outlet.
Most automakers are working on similar plug-in designs, but GM could be the leader with the Volt, which is due in showrooms late in 2010.
Toyota’s Prius, the most efficient car now sold in the U.S., gets 48 miles per gallon of gas. It is a gas-electric hybrid that runs on a small internal combustion engine assisted by a battery-powered electric motor to save gasoline.
The first-generation Volt is expected to cost nearly $40,000, making it cost-prohibitive to many people even if gasoline returns to $4 per gallon. The price is expected to drop with future generations of the Volt, but GM has said government tax credits and the savings on fuel could make it cost-effective, especially at 230 miles per gallon.
“We get a little cautious about trying to forecast what fuel prices will do,” said Tony Posawatz, GM’s vehicle line director for the Volt. “We achieved this number and if fuel prices go up, it certainly does get more attractive even in the near-term generation,” he said.
GM was to present details of the mileage figure on Tuesday morning at an event at its technical center in the Detroit suburb of Warren.
Figures for the Volt’s highway and combined city/highway mileage have not yet been calculated, Posawatz said. The combined mileage will be in the triple digits as well, he said, but both combined and highway will be worse than the city because the engine runs more on longer highway trips.
The EPA guidelines, developed with input from automakers, figure that cars like the Volt will travel more on straight electricity in the city than on the highway. If a person drives the Volt less than 40 miles, in theory, they could go without using gasoline.
The mileage figure could vary as the guidelines are refined and the Volt gets further along in the manufacturing process, Posawatz said.
GM is about halfway through building about 80 Volts that will look and behave like the production model, and testing is running on schedule, Posawatz said.
Two critical areas, battery life and the electronic switching between battery and engine power are still being refined, but the car is on schedule to reach showrooms late in 2010, he said.
GM is simulating tests to make sure the new lithium-ion batteries last 10 years, Posawatz said.
“We’re further along, but we’re still quite a ways from home,” he said. “We’re developing quite a knowledge base on all this stuff. Our confidence is growing.”
The other area of new technology, switching between battery and engine power, is proceeding well, he said, with engineers just fine-tuning the operations.
“We’re very pleased with the transition from when it’s driving EV (electric vehicle) to when the engine and generator kick in,” he said,
GM also is finishing work on the power cord, which will be durable enough that it can survive being run over by the car. The Volt, he said, will have software on board so it can be programmed to begin and end charging during off-peak electrical use hours.
Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Co., and Daimler AG are all developing plug-ins and electric cars, and Toyota Motor Corp. is working on a plug-in version of its gas-electric hybrid system. Nissan Motor Co. announced last month that it would begin selling electric vehicles in Japan and the U.S. next year.
We are truly entering the dawn of the new age and seeing the end of the OIL century and its wars on the people of the world. We the people need to get behind this stuff NOW and demand our Congress back it up. This car is the car that needs us to stand and make it happen.
Bailout for the VOLT I say. Here ye, we the people want our government to give us incentives to buy this car only and send a message to the rest of the carmakers that we are NOT going to take it anymore. You produce cars that put our country first or you’re done!
LONG LIVE THE VOLT, GM, and all the little people who’ve been on these types of projects. That’s American Patriotism at its best!