Strange bedfellows: The $700B bailout and the Chevy Volt

Man-with-No-Name: When you finish, please send in pictures. (Or hey, send some now of the work in progress.) mconner@reedbusiness.com

I got a chance to drive the Chevrolet "Impact" (what a great name for a car!) aka the EV-1. It was a terribly expensive hand built lead sled with skinny high pressure tires. It cornered like a frisbee on blacktop and I certainly wouldn't want to drive it in the rain or snow. The reason they went to the shredder was that GM didn't want the liability associated with it's squirelly handling.

Peter assumed electric motors are twice as efficient as gasoline ones are. The ratio is a great deal higher than that from what I've read.

40 miles a day with air-conditioning? It'll be a niche vehicle. Mark my words.

You have to take care comparing gasoline energy to battery energy, because much more of gasoline's potential energy is lost as waste heat when it is converted to mechanical energy (electric motors are more efficient than gas engines). The Volt has a 16kWh battery pack: that's 57.6MJ, not 242. A car driven 40 miles per day could recharge at 120V/15A in about 10 hours, including losses. So a commuter living within 20 miles of work could use the car as a full-electric vehicle. And it still has a gas engine for long trips. It may not be for everyone, but it is far from a pure "niche" vehicle.

Well, yes, it _does_ add up. GM has said that a Volt will run up to 40 miles on a charge. Let''s assume for ease of math that it gets the equivalent of 20 miles per gallon, that''s 242 MegaJoules of energy that needs to be replenished -- instead of 44 hours it''s 4.4 hours to recharge @ 15A. We won''t go into losses that occur during charging, this is all broad strokes. I'm assuming the rest of your math is correct.

Peter (above) makes some good points. Some more points to consider: 1. This is at least a start for the technology, i.e., version 1.0. 2. Sales? Tree huggers and hollywood will love it. It "makes a statement." Our culture is now more about ''image'' than ''reality.'' 3. Our country is moving away from capitalism and toward socialism. (And Obama would accelerate this trend.) Food for thought...

Agreed. This is a niche market and it will stay that way for a long time. It may make cents for a limited number of people.

Thanks for pointing that out. I'll be sure to let others know about it.