Posted on 11/18/2010 11:16:32 AM PST by Nachum
The 2011 Chevrolet Volt beat back competition from Asian rivals including Nissan and Hyundai to win the Green Car of the Year award at the Los Angeles auto show on Thursday.
The General Motors-built car pipped the prize from a top five which also included the Ford Fiesta, the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid, and the Nissan LEAF.
The award to the US carmaker will provide a morale-boosting shot in the arm for the ailing US car industry, still struggling to recover from the near-meltdown amid the 2008 global financial crisis.
"I'm very humbled to stand up here with this car," said GM vice-president Joel Ewanick, receiving the Green Car Journal-judged prize at the LA car show, which opens to the public on Friday.
Paying tribute to his engineers, he added: "They wanted to make a great car, but they also felt that they were doing something for the environment, for the world, to give us energy security going forward."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Chevy’s Volt, is a BS POS! The only appreciative sales will be ‘fleet sales’ like GE’s foolish move.
The government is buying FLEETS of these phoney, overpriced green cars.
Didn’t the Germans already bring out an electric car that exceeds the Volt in every conceivable way, with a 6 minute charging time?
Buy those GM shares while you can!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Imaging that POS being used as a pursuit vehicle? ROTFLMAO!!!
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
LLS
The Volt is only a little more useful than if cell phones had been marketed in 1965. Looks nice but where is the infrastructure to support it and the cost is prohibitive.
I don't think it's possible to move that much energy in 6 minutes with any known technology in production.
... Other than a battery-pack swap -- that's where drive into the "charging" station, swap your drained pack for a charged one, and drive away. -THAT- might take only 6 minutes. But it'll take a couple hours to charge the drained one back up for someone else to get.
If I'm wrong, and you know of such a thing, please provide a link or other reference so I can read up on it. Thanks.
Just recently one of the electric cars spontaneously broke out in fire of one of the Hollywoods celebrities and burned down the whole garage. Lithium likes fire.
You bet lithium burns nicely; it is in the same series/group as sodium and magnesium. As if these things catching fire is unexpected.
Maybe we could fee the lithium to the libtards...they could use it.
Explanation: I'm speaking of moving electrical energy into a battery pack. Watt-hours, by charging the battery.
Obviously, you can move that much energy in a few minutes easily if it's in the form of, say, gasoline...
That was Neil Young, and it was an experimental do-it-yourself converted 1959 Lincoln Continental, not a modern production electric.
My son has a Fisher Price Power Wheels Jeep that gets about the same mileage but is a heck of a lot cheaper.
This wasn’t a politically motivated win. Oh, no. /s
Proof that GM is a good stock to own while the fascist union thugs are in power. Even the EPA is overlooking the estimated $5,000 disposal cost of this car, not included in the ownership costs.
Except that the average invester can't buy it yet. The cronies will come in, drive the price up, then let you buy so they can take your money...
Batteries, regardless, are somewhat prone to this type of problem under the conditions that an all-electric system will impose with constant discharging and recharging.
It's not about the "constant" discharge/charge cycling. It's about charging rate and the internal resistance of the battery, and the fact that they don't get a chance to cool after rapid charge.
I've got rechargeable batteries in my electric razor, electric toothbrush, etc. that discharge/charge every day for years and years (NiCad technology). They charge at a gentle rate.
Traction batteries used in forklifts and so forth get discharged/charged/rested every day in 8-hour shifts, and last for years. Charging quickly through the internal resistance heats them up, but they give them time to cool down before the next use.
The only problem with the automotive batteries (but it's a significant problem) is that people demand:
I personally think the eventual solution will be a standard interchangeable battery pack (see my comment #9 above).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.