In which a strange man rambles on for far too long about what may or may not be a good thing? Here's that 4ET50 teardown that's excellent: • Chevrolet Volt 4ET50 T...
The discussion of 'excess' battery capacity reminded me of the old joke: The optimist sees the glass is half full. The pessimist sees the glass is half empty. The engineer sees the glass is twice the size it needs to be.
I'm too busy watching the lava lamps. The video is long enough that they're going to erupt some time... but WHEN?? Will blue or orange be the first? (Edit: rats, they were already hot and just bulged up instead of erupting.)
Gen 1Volt owner, true believer! Bought nine gallons of gas during first year ownership, 7000 miles, charged only on solar power overnight. But, twice in the last few years have had to drive cross country. Didn’t have to give it a second thought. Wonderful concept. Great car, sorry they stopped production.
@@maxant4285One can have a battery installed with a home solar array so one can access that solar energy at night. It’s more expensive and less efficient than charging during the day off of home solar. But most people drive away from their home for the bulk of the daytime on a work day.
yes, there are a lot of people who live in townhouses or apartments where it is not feasible to do overnight charging; at the same time, spending 30 minutes at a fast-charge port might also feel like a lot when most cars are able to go to a gas station and fill up in 6 minutes or less
You're describing a series hybrid. Honda has what you want with their E-Drive. BMW's i3 with Range Extender is an example as well. GM never really did this. Once the traction battery is depleted the ICE mechanically propels the car anywhere above 36mph. While the ICE can drive the generator to charge the battery, it's really not designed for it. It's essentially no different than a Prius mechanically, using a planetary gearset to allow the ICE to operate as a transmission in a parallel hybrid. Honda E-Drive and the i3 are essentially pure EVs (no transmission) and the ICEs provide a charge for them. Hondas system can connect the ICE directly, but without any gearing and only under specific low thrust conditions around 50-60mph.
Hate to burst your bubble. GM was very secretive about what the Volt really was. A regular hybrid. NOT a EV with a generator. I remember having discussions with Volt engineers who get huffy & puffy about it. They also claim they don't consume any fossil fuel just because they charge at work. Nope sorry, I Don't believe GM runs off solar.
I enjoy how you've internalized the voices of the hater youtube commenters so deeply that you're basically embodying and having conversations with them right on camera.
I love my volt. I go months without buying gas and when I feel like it, I can do a big road trip without ever thinking about finding a place to charge it. It just works for the world we live in now.
Sorry pal i'll take a 67 Impala or a 68 Mustang or a 72-78 firebird over a wimpy EV. Cars are meant to be loud and fast,not quiet and slow. But as they say, you do you.
I've always wanted to pick one up. Very cool car with a great concept. I'm a bit bummed GM discontinued it, hopefully someone makes a similar car and can fill the void or market it better.
I wanted a Volt so badly, and I cannot believe more manufacturers didn't go this route. It's a much, much better "hybrid" model. 90% of what I need a car for on the rare occasions I need a car is for trips under 10 miles. But, a couple to several times a year, I need to do a long-range road trip of 180-600 miles.
It's awesome. Like many people who've had dozens of cars over decades; my (2015 Premiere) is my favorite car I've ever owned. I had a 2017 Corvette Z51 Manual Convertible but couldn't drive it 5 months or of the year in Michigan for instance.
When the Volt first came out, I loved the concept and decided that I would own one someday. It took me until 2019, but I finally got my wish; I bought a second hand 2015 Volt on the day they stopped making the Volt. I must report I have never in my life been happier with my car. I live in an area where there are NO charging stations anywhere - and I charge at home with a level 2 charger in about 4 hours. I only have the one car and can't afford to have another car just for long trips. When I bought it, I was sort of sad that they were not going to be making this car anymore, but after driving it around for a few years, I am certain Chevy is making a MASSIVE mistake ending the Volt's production. Much of the US is rural and has no easy access to chargers - the only viable option to electric is a vehicle like the Volt. So far, my Volt has been problem free and very economical to drive, especially charging off my home's solar panels, but I really hope when I do have to get my next car, there is another cutting edge electric car out there that suits my needs as absolutely perfectly as the Volt does.
The Volt is perfect for places like where I live, Alberta Canada (or what I like to call Texas North). This province is the opposite of progressive. We have next to no charging infrastructure but vast open roads connecting our widely interspaced cities. Here, the argument that even long range EVs would be difficult to use on roadtrips actually has some validity, especially if you plan on going on remote mountain roads. Consequently, after first subscribing to the "all or nothing, full electric or bust/Elon Musk is the only true God and Savior" religion, I eventually came around to the more pragmatic view that (for the time being) a vehicle like the Chevy Volt is as probably as close as I can currently get to the green ideal I would like to hold myself to. And when I say, "a vehicle like the Chevy Volt", what I really mean is the Volt and only the Volt because there's really nothing else quite like it. The BMW i3 comes close. Sadly we ruled it out because, although to my own surprise, I kind of dig its Bizarro styling and it has more EV range than we need for the city, unfortunately even with the gasoline range extender, it still has less total range than we would be comfortable with for intercity trips. The Prius Prime also comes close, but it was ruled out because of its mediocre EV range that would likely see us burning gas even in the city. Well, and then there's the yuck factor of its abhorrent styling. But after those two (and I suppose the Hyundai Ioniq plug-in hybrid) there's really nothing else remotely fits. All my city driving needs are met by the Volt's EV range (with a small cushion left over if we run more errands than usual). Plus, on road trips I don't fear getting stranded in the middle of nowhere. Which is exactly what most of our province is, the middle of nowhere. We only have a few decent sized cities and then vast, vast nothingness in between. In 10 years, my hope is that infrastructure will have developed enough to allow us to get a full EV, because this is what I would prefer. But in the present, we would either need 2 cars (an EV AND a gas guzzler) or the one and only Volt. But the Volt is without question more efficient even when burning gas than any pure ICE vehicle out there. I'm sure I'm not the only one who fits in this boat. I fear that with the discontinuation of the Volt and dearth of similar options, we're leaving people who want to go electric but live in places like I do with little to no realistic alternatives and forcing them to stick with their gas guzzlers for another decade or so. And I think those who are climate aware would all agree that that's far too long.
Not a bad idea, but it was made by GM, who has a terrible reputation for making absolute garbage, because they try to make everything as cheap as possible.
12:06 -- That's GM's wheelhouse: making awesome cars that they never tell anyone about, and then killing them shortly afterwards because they didn't sell.
I like your “anti-smug” in the forefront of most statements. I just bought a PHEV and I love it but I’m not going to make anyone else feel bad about what choices they’ve made. I can only control my own actions. Why ruin things for others?
A big thing about the Volt's battery stability was, that GM actually COOLED that battery using the radiator, and battery heat is generally the death of a battery. The Volt is perfect for me because i (a) drive around town during the week, never use gas for that, (b) most weekends have to go across the state, oopsie for an EV, at least an aggravation, (c) shoot to Florida once a year, and i put that thing on 80 miles an hour so i can make it in 13 hours.
What you've taught me from this video is the Volt is literally the kind of car I've always said I wanted, right down to the engine starting up to provide heat... and naturally from my luck the car is gone when I hear about it.
That's what I'm doing. The word used is an ugly word to consumers. I. Buying from an authorized chevy dealership a 2019 volt and I cant wait to drive it
@@VideoArchiveGuy Wrong, video saver. I've had about 75 personal vehicles, including 2 Volts and 5 Teslas, and as much as many folks like to say poor build quality about both, those 7 cars were built better and more reliable than 80% of the others.
I dream of a world where I can just connect and disconnect my heavy long range battery packs, allowing me to have better efficiency and cargo capacity when I'm not in road trip mode.
GM ran out of federal tax credits for it. Once they hit 200,00 units the tax rebate was done. It then became noncompetitive with vehicles that do still qualify for it like the Honda Clarity.
It's not popular, neither was the prius, insight, bolt, even tesla is not popular. They all are excessively expensive to own, maintain, or operate. Plus mining the metals is very expensive. Standard car batteries are expensive too.
One ev difficulty is living in cities where basically no one has a driveway/garage. It won't matter how big the battery is if you can't charge it easily overnight because you have to park on the street.
@@SewerShark That's no good though if you'ven had to make a long journey so are low on power, need to get to work the next morning, it's late, the nearest charger is 20 minutes walk away and when you get there it's full with everyone else doing the same, and they're going to be there all night. Unlikely in suburbs, but big cities WILL have that problem if they go that route. Being able to fill up with a liquid fuel in minutes that doesn't have an expensive tank that progressively shrinks and doesn't vanish in cold weather is a better way. It doesn't then matter if you need to suddenly drive hundreds of miles more than usual, just fill up in 5 minutes and carry on. It adapts around you, you don't need to adapt around it. The Volt was one way of approaching the problem from that angle. We should be going forwards not backwards. There are ways to clean up transport without having to add in extra incoveniences that most of us do not have to put up with today.
@@thegearknob7161 you are still thinking EVs as regular cars. With gas and diesel, you need distribution centres (Gas stations) due to delivery restrictions. With electric, you already have an infrastructure...electric poles. All you need is the outlet. So, city councils could install those in your sidewalk, in the same way as there are parkimeters. But its too expensive, you say? Yes, but not everyone on your street has an EV, right? So you could ask the city hall to install it, and you and your neighbours could pay to install and have it partially subsided by the city council. Each charging station could be used for, let's say, 2 or 4 households, and you don't need to pull an extension from your window to the street. I think it's a win-win situation.
@@SewerShark Where I live there aren't really electric poles. It's all buried under ground and would involve digging up all the roads to get at. Which inevitably leads to yet another terrible patch job to cover it, and greatly adds to the cost. Can't use street lighting either because they aren't wired thickly enough to handle the current draw of charging hundreds of EVs at a greater rate than a hamster with a dynamo. I lived in a block of flats where the only parking was on the street, and was very limited. If everyone drove EVs, the council would have to install chargers down the length of that road to charge every single car since due to the way EVs get used, they're all going to be on charge overnight. The chargers would also take up space on the narrow pavement, to the point it may not actually be legal to install them there. My friends' house is another example. It's in an area that wasn't built with driveways. There is like a big communal car park, which the council have washed their hands of. Everyone hates each other and there is constant vandalism. There's no electric supply up that end, but even if there was and chargers were fitted you can bet that the chargers would get vandalised. Battery EVs are a concept that work if you are rich and have a house with your own driveway, but for the rest they are impractical.
Public charging stations by ALL public parking, including on street. Kinda like putting a charger in everywhere there is a currently a parking meter, and many more
Chevy should've been the forefront for American Diesel hybrids. There's not a single popular hybrid with a Diesel option, not even the Prius. GM was the pioneer of introducing a Diesel option for pretty much most of their passenger car lineup, but that's no longer the case.
The volt is a good niche alternative to people who often do extend the range of a regular ev. They can drive electric most of the time but the couple of times a month they need to drive a lot they can just use the extender and not worry about it. For the rest a regular ev make much more sense and for the few people who do drive hours a day every day an ev is not a practical option anyway at the moment.
...and a mode where that diesel drives the wheels mechanically, rather than through a generator-motor path. On the highway onramp, a single, large, battery powered motor powers the drive shaft. On the highway, a second, smaller, battery powered motor cooperates with the first. When the batteries fall below a certain level, the engine turns on and the smaller motor acts as a generator, to take over for the batteries in powering the larger motor. When the batteries have fallen below a certain level, and the car is travelling at higher speeds, the electric motors turn off and their rotors become mechanical links in the drive train, between the engine and the drive shaft.
I loved the concept. I was really hoping all their vehicles would have gone this way. I think a big market loss was naming cars Volt and Bolt. “I said Volt, not Bolt!” “You’re just saying the same thing over and over!. 😂
@@TheRainHarvester not really... And if you drive 50 miles a day, there is a lot of saving here... Of course, DMV wants their taxes and gears are turning to add in an ev road tax...
@@TheRainHarvester When I bought my 2014, I kept hearing the average new car purchase price was about $35k. Yea, there are plenty that cost less and there are plenty costing much more. Granted there aren't any new EVs at the low end of the market. 100k / 28mpg * $2.75/gal. = $9821.00 some people get better mileage, some get worse.
I think manufacturing the extra batteries even if not carried all the time is part of the cost/issue.. also in their present form, lithium batteries suffer from not being steadily used almost more than being used steady so not cost effective for intermittent use ore long term storage
@@charlesfowler4308 Currently Tesla charges somewhere between $3000 and $7000 for replacement batteries, in most cases. While not cheap, this is still far less than a new electric car.
Found this video at random after watching some of his channel...as a car car guy,this blows me away that I never heard about how the Volt ACTUALLY works. Im glad a stuck around for this,like Ive been on the fence about buying a older electric for regular driving...but this has totally opened my mind to this car. Blown past these things all the time,never thought anything of them...kinda cool
The "premium" recommendation might make sense in some locales. Where I live in Canada, some of the gas stations only offer ethanol-free fuel as premium, and ethanol-free fuel tends to keep better in my experience. In my vintage motorbikes, ethanol fuel tends to collect moisture and gel up with time vs. ethanol free fuel keeping without issue.
Range anxiety kills electric cars. Most people don't realize that the voltech technology eliminates that. The marketing department at Chevy really messed it with how the Volt works. Want an electric car you have one. Want a car that can drive unlimited miles as long as you have gas,. You have one. Most people don't understand that.
GM engineers must have been so pissed off when they drop the car, what an insult to the amazing job they did. GM never trained dealers how to sell this car and most dealers never wanted to sell the car. My 2013 is amazing car, I let people drive mine and then they go out and buy one also. I have sold 6 Volts now.
@@LeonSteelpaw no, people just assume you fully discharge batteries, then charge for hours and repeat. Never mind that you can simply recharge daily without an issue
Yeah, you’ll never finish if perfect is what you want. That’s what has destroyed so much of contemporary music, IMO. You got much better results with limited technology and faster turnaround time, as it used to be in the music recording industry.
@@TheProphet3113 Well yes, but also no. If you have a vision, you either fully realize it or you don't know what you want when you make it. Planning is a crucial phase in mending your ideas before you continue forward with them.
I'm not sure if anyone has thought of this, but a temporary extension battery (in the trunk?) that you can rent from a dealer would be ideal: * You don't carry the weight when you don't need to * You can get the range extension when you need it * The battery can be used(refreshed) by other people when *you* are not using it * This does rely on the dealer buying the battery and taking good care of it
Yes but when people travel long distances often times they are going for a getaway or a weekender. This would require them to need the trunk for storage.
this is something that irks me about electric vehicles: why are the battery packs secured so obsessively into the chassis of the vehicle? you pretty much have to take the entire car apart to do anything with them.. I understand that rechargable batteries are kind of a dangerous product, that can cause fires, but surely there must be a way to make them easier to add or remove so you could have modular energy setups for people who either need more range, or don't need as much
I'm a bit late to this party, but I just have to chime in. I just bought a 2012 Volt to replace the giant van that I loved, but no longer need. I absolutely love it. Even though it is 11 years old, it works beautifully and suits my needs perfectly. I really wish more auto makers would have gone this route as an option. A refined version with a 100 - 150 mile battery with a small backup generator for an additional 100 - 150 miles would be a fantastic transitional car while we switch over to electric.
@@markusstrobl1067, indeed. In many ways its more about the cooling system than the batteries cells themselves. Still, I expect the tiny 8.8KWh battery in our O’Toyta Prius Prime to fizzle a lot more quickly than a Tesla’s, since I (pre-COVID anyway) cycle it twice a day! Also, it’s only forced-air-cooled rather than liquid-cooled, but for a tiny battery like that, that’s probably quite sufficient. Granted, that’s cycling only the middle ~5.5KWh of its full 8.8KWh raw capacity, which cuts the stress on the battery way down, but still, two cycles per day is definitely going to take a toll on it! So far though, its been getting 4.6 miles/KWh after 3 2/3 years! That doesn’t appear to have changed much, *yet at least* .
I drive a Model 3 and formerly drove a Leaf (and before that a 2007 Prius). I think the problem with the Volt is simple: people don't buy vehicles based on a logical assessment of their needs and objectives, they buy vehicles based on emotion. The Volt is a reasonable, practical choice. It's a vehicle that is almost as clean from a tailpipe emissions perspective as a pure EV, but which you can take on long trips. That should be an appealing prospect, but it's just not appealing emotionally. If you're not a green wonk, you aren't going to buy Bolt or a Volt. They just aren't cheap enough or otherwise appealing enough to appeal to someone who doesn't care about the environmental benefits. If you do care about the environment though, the idea of driving around in a vehicle with tailpipe emissions "sometimes" is icky. You have already decided to spend more, and now you're looking at the Volt in the mid-30k range. For close to that price, you could buy a Leaf Plus or a Kona or even the Model 3 SR+. Yeah, the Volt is more practical, and almost as clean. But you're still driving a vehicle with gas in the tank, and for many in the green crowd that's a no-go. The Volt is too expensive up-front for most people who don't care about the environment and doesn't have enough green cred for the people who do. The math says the Volt would be a great choice for a lot of people, but most people don't buy cars based on math. If they did, non-plug-in hybrids would be much more popular, because they almost always pay for their extra cost and then some in gas savings. Tesla's big innovation was to build a car that's high-tech, fast, and good looking, which happened to be electric. Everyone else believed that EVs should be sold to environmentalists, Tesla realized that the real market was rich people. I respect GM with the Bolt, and Nissan with the Leaf, and Hyundai with the Kona. I think all of them have their advantages. The Bolt is a great car in the wrong market. It's a tiny (on the outside) hatchback that's roomier than you think on the inside. That appeals to me, and to many in Europe elsewhere, but most Americans aren't willing to buy a vehicle that small. Tesla has quality issues, Elon says a lot of stupid things on Twitter, and their cars are in many ways weird. But the Model 3 is also, by far, the most technologically advanced EV on the market today. It has the highest efficency. It charges the fastest. You can get it with AWD. It has the best driver assistance features, even if Elon's self driving claims are silly. I am not a person who is going to trash GM or Nissan or Hyuandai for making EVs, or trash people who buy them. My parents drive a Leaf Plus, and I seriously considered buying one instead of the Model 3. I also considered the Bolt, but adaptive cruise control is a must for me.
People buy vehicles based on the actual needs rather than their "emotions". When I was shopping for a car a couple of years ago I knew that I had to have proper fully functional four wheel drive because the winters here in the mountains make the roads very dangerous if you don't have 4X4, so that immediately took anything that is "all wheel drive" off the list (because all wheel drive isn't proper four wheel drive) along with striking off ev's hybrids and most small cars off the list. So my remaining choices were: (A): Pick up truck: which I decided against because I couldn't find the one that I wanted (Ram 1500) with the diesel engine I wanted at a reasonable price. (B): mid sized SUV: I couldn't find one that was affordable without either being old or having really high miles. (C): Small SUV (Jeep Cherokee/Compass/Patriot): I ended up getting a patriot because it was the perfect size for my needs, had proper 4X4 and I could get a nice one for around $20.000.
@@Hammerhead547 I think you're both correct in that people have different relationships with cars. For some they're a status symbol; for others it is just a means to get from A to B; other people sit somewhere inbetween. That being said, most of the people in both groups aren't going to go into the sort of depth this video does, it is for the car manufacturers and distributers to package these technicalities in a way that makes sense to their target market, otherwise like the Volt, it will flop.
@@Hammerhead547 Your story does not prove that people don't buy cars based on emotions. All you told us is that you bought a car based on your needs, and that your needs didn't align with buying any kind of EV (which is fine). If everybody bought a car based on their needs instead of emotions, the roads wouldn't be congested with all these CUVs that nobody needs. Anyone who actually needs a lot of space should buy a minivan or station wagon, because CUVs have the same amount of space inside as a sedan (at least every one I've been in does). Anyone who actually needs off-road or bad weather capability should buy a real SUV like you did, because CUVs are terrible for off-road. CUVs really don't make sense in any situation, but people buy them anyway because they're for some reason considered "cool" while more practical vehicles aren't. Minivans are for "soccer moms", so soccer moms buy a CUV instead because they think it's cooler (even though as far as I'm concerned CUVs make you less cool than a miniman, because now you're not just a soccer mom, you're a stupid soccer mom with an impractical car).
>> If you're not a green wonk, you aren't going to buy Bolt or a Volt. That's not always the case. Take me, for example. I couldn't care less about being "green." But I've had two Volts nevertheless. First, I leased a 2012 Volt, and later bought a new 2014 Volt, because I wanted to do two things -- and neither was environmentally oriented (not that there's anything wrong with that). First, I wanted to flip OPEC the bird as much as possible. Second, I wanted to SAVE MONEY. Yes, the price of entry might be high, but that's NOT the same as TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP. I've saved far more than the difference in price vs.a comparable gas car, in "fuel" savings alone. FWIW, I live where electricity is about 14c/KWhr, right around the national average, so it's not like I live where I have cheap hydro or some other low-cost electricity either. None of this even addresses the performance and reliability of the Volt, which has been phenomenal. Best cars I've ever owned! But that's a whole other topic.
Cool! I worked on the 2nd gen Volt, BoltEV, and the next gen powertrain over 9 years at GM. A lot of what's made has to do with EV government credits, and somewhat marketing. I'd be glad to talk about non-proprietary stuff if you're interested - I left GM a few months ago.
@@rafterh2181 There were ones that do similar things as the Volt, but not the exact same power flow or clutch configurations / optimizations. A couple years before the Volt (2010), the BYD F3DM (2008) was the first extended range EV (can run as a pure EV at all road legal speeds and then as a hybrid when the battery runs down), and was old only in China. The Prius Prime is probably the closest thing to the Volt that still exists, being able to drive at up to 80+mph without the gas engine. However, the Prius Prime's EV range of 25 miles is shorter than both the F3DM and Volt (especially the 2nd generation with 50+ miles EV range).
@@rafterh2181 I forgot the BMW i3 Rex (no electric top speed limit, but generator can't keep up with battery drain at sustained high loads) and i8 (EV mode top speed of 75mph).
@@yueibm So do they work like a Volt in that they are an EV with a generator? If you blow an engine in a Volt you could still charge it and drive it 50 miles
Although the video was a little long and disconnected at times, I completely understood it and you blew my mind. I had no idea that Mode 4 even existed! I just assumed the Volt was an EV with its own gasoline charger and nothing more. Turns out it's a much cool car than I realized!
I was always surprised how many people asked if it was possible to charge the battery from the gas engine like that was some amazing feature in practice you almost never use it.
@@lawnmowerdude selling plug-in hybrids on the grounds of energy efficiency is hard when 93% of the car-buying public doesn't know what energy is or how energy relates to automobiles
Yep, there's a few PHEV models that work effectively just like that. The BMW i3 is an example since it has a 2 cylinder gas engine as an optional range extender (albeit due to this, many people call it a REEV, Range Extended EV). The engine has no physical connection to the wheels, and instead ends up going right to a generator
I was just thinking that. For people who think the Volt is more complicated than a regular car, think about how much more 'stuff' would be needed to make a pure diesel locomotive. As they are right now, from what I understand, the diesel motor purely generates electricity, which drives electric motors. Change around the series / parallel connections to the different motors and you have electric gearing. Can you imagine the transmissions they'd need if you needed to transfer the diesel motor directly to the wheels? The 'hybrid' diesel electric is far more simple.
I'm thankful for the explanation. I always understood the Volt was as an electric car that has an on-board generator that has no function other than to re-charge the battery. Basically, a diesel-electric locomotive but in a sedan form. The railroad industry figured out that this was a great idea in the 1950s, and somehow GM didn't market the car in that fashion. It seems like it's basically like that in modes 1-3, but mode 4 kind of throws the wrench in that academic definition since there's then a mechanical link between the engine and driveline.
There isn't a mechanical link to the drivetrain,. Mode 4 simply holds the voltage at whatever limit you set it to (essentially giving you a reserve for extended hill climbs over what hill mode does, or lets you keep that capacity for later)
@@tom4775 Transaxle mode, not driving mode. The 4th Transaxle mode directly connects the engine to the wheels at highway speeds to improve fuel efficiency. Though, it's only the case for gen 2
I think that having a larger battery that you don't use often is better for battery longevity. Lithium batteries last longer when you don't fully charge or discharge them, so if you have a larger battery that lets you have 50 miles of range while staying between 60% and 40% of battery charge, the battery will last longer before seeing degradation.
I agree. Also a larger battery gives some breathing space as it gets old for current draw (like old phone batteries causing a phone to reset as the power draw drops too low).
Another misunderstanding of how the Volt works. The Volt''s battery algorithm neither charges nor discharges the battery pack to theoretical limits. It works in the middle range of charge to increase battery longevity.
jodudeit As in all things engineering, there is a point of diminishing returns with battery size. Audi’s ridiculous e-Tron is 25% battery by weight, 1400 lbs!!!, yet has a range of roughly 200 miles. Essentially towing the gas station.
We love this. Totally on the ball! Also, we want to do a collab with you some time ;) Just a point: BMW i3 Rex has a much smaller engine than the volt:)
Yes, and the BMW i3 REX is still not a road trip vehicle.. The car is good up to 160 miles... 80 on electric, and 80 on gas... then you need to stop every 80 miles to put 2 gallons of gas in it as that is the size of the fuel tank. The i3 is fun and great for short trips, but it has a very limited radius. The newer i3s have a bigger battery, but I think they remove the REX to make room for it for a total range of 150 miles on electric.
@@davidlovy1271 the i3 is a city car though. City cars are a thing Americans struggle to understand with a fierce passion. Just like we have weekend cars for leisure, city cars are for inner city driving, so a city car will be horrible for long trips, it's not meant for them.
I love this video, because your question is something I've been thinking about for a while. I'm quite disappointed that nobody is coming out with a REx pickup in the half ton category or higher, because the more energy you need to move the vehicle (such as with a high kW & heavy vehicle like a truck), the more the battery vs REx calculation shifts to favor the REx
I understand that this isn't easy but it would be cool if you could just have expansion battery packs. So you have your main daily driver which is lighter but if you want to go on a road trip you just plug in extra capacity
Having driven many cars in the past, the Volt is by far the best vehicle I have ever owned in terms of ride performance and convenience as a commuter car. The engineering is brilliant and GM should be applauded for pulling this off, especially through the rough times following the great recession. The major problem (as was pointed out in the video) is that the average American can't understand the concept behind the Volt, and the dealership network has an even lesser understanding.
My 2018 Volt is very well built and engineered. My first car was a 81 Olds X-body, not very reliable but can say after a year with the volt... best fit and finish of any car I've owned. My last 2 cars were Hondas and these cars are pretty damn reliable and well built.
@@electrictroy2010 It is more than eliminating fear, it is eliminating the whole need for charging infrastructure. BMW i3 has a backup generator but it is less efficient snd low power so it is just a backup to an electric vechile. You can not really use BMW i3 without charging it and it would be a pain to go long range on its backup generator if a particular car even has it. Chevrolet Volt switches completely to conventional gasoline drivetrain on a highway when it is most efficient (after you have successfully drained most of your battery) and it is an EV in slow low range city traffic when an EV is most efficient. Its gasoline motor is not just some backup device, it is designed to be used regularily when it is needed in some of the normal use cases.
I bought a 2017 Chevy Volt late last year, and it's been an excellent car for me, perfectly fills the niche of my uses. I wanted a second generation Chevy Volt because day to day, I wanted to drive something that was 100% electric for my commutes, errands, etc, but I also didn't want to be limited on the range I could drive in it in a day since I take a lot of road trips, nor did I want to wait hours for it to charge at each stop, or even worry about there being stops for that matter (I visit friends and family back home where the nearest public chargers are hours away). But I also didn't want something that'd break the bank or look ugly, because imo, lots of hybrids and electric cars look like they're trying to stick out like a soar thumb. I didn't like that, I wanted something that looked like a nice and normal ass car. And the Chevy volt second gen checks all those boxes.
First Gen Volt owner here. I love the thing. It *TOTALLY* sucks that GM ditched them. I agree, I'm afraid we're making a bit of a mistake here by swapping to huge battery packs and completely eliminating the unlimited range option like Voltec provided. In my mind Voltec is a *more* convenient option, so from a convenience perspective it's *better* than huge battery pack vehicles. I can drive from California to New York if I want to, and I *never* have to wait and charge the vehicle if I'm in a hurry. You can't say the same about any pure EV.
@@SherrifOfNottingham Do we need to understand that you live in Outback of Australia or Northern territories of Canada with sign posts on the road - here is a gas station, next one is 500 miles away/980 km away?
The mining engineer in me wonders what it would take to make a modular design with either of these systems. Make some kind of mount that you keep in your garage, and design one end of the car such that it opens up entirely (front or back, if you can't go into your garage forwards or backwards, you probably should practice your precision while driving) to reveal a space where either the extra large battery or the combustion engine backup slot into place when needed. Thus: when you're doing your short range runabouts around town, you can use the short range battery alone. But say you need to take a shopping trip down in the big city or whatever, you have that option to add the extra range capacity for a special trip. It's no more inconvenient than stopping at a gas station to top up the fuel tank before heading out onto the highway, and you can just keep it stashed safely at home when you don't need it. Yes, this requires engineering a device to move quite heavy objects into position correctly, and making sure they reach a fairly precise position. That's doable, grocery stores have used palette jacks for ages, and you could use similar technology to make an engine or battery easily movable. Guide rails could be designed to channel the motion of the range extender to ensure it slots precisely into its proper location. For a battery the connector is very simple, you just need things to hook up to the circuit, that's hardly a challenge. For the combustion engine, it would be a significantly greater challenge unless you had its generator as part of the range extender, thus making it effectively a fueled battery, but mechanical engineers are smart, I'm sure it's doable. And yes, some people will prefer to have their range extender plugged in at all times, so maybe this feature is a premium option for those who are most interested in minimizing the environmental impact of their new EV as much as possible rather than a thing everyone does, but it could definitely be a thing for those more environmentally conscious drivers. After all, it seems reasonable that at least in the short term future, the people buying EVs are typically at least somewhat conscious of the environmental impact of driving, so you might be surprised how many people want it.
German Chevy Volt owner here (one of only 73, I think). Thanks for the video I only saw now, but most of your points and thoughts are spot on and overlap with mine a lot. Gas efficiency isn't hat bad, I get about 6,5 L/100 km (= 35 mpg), which is not bad to be fair. My moms mercedes B class with the 2L engine and the same hp needs more: 9L (= 25 mpg). Shame GM stopped offering the Volt/Ampera here in Europe in 2014. In 2016, german government started sponsoring EVs and hybrids massively, but the car was gone by then. The Netherlands supported them from the start, so you can see them everywhere. Here, the 44.000€ pricetag was considered way too expensive, and also dealerships didn't want to sell you the car.
pinkace That is a completely inadequate understanding of the brilliance of the Volt. What you are describing is made by other manufacturers, but the Volt is far more sophisticated. Read up on it. It is fascinating.
sdmitch16 Well, you could do the research the same way I have, web searches for terms such as “Volt motor generator design”, for example. Omit the opinion results and seek out the somewhat denser technical documents. It’s really been worth the time for me. The concept isn’t rocket science but the execution comes pretty close. There are also RU-vid channels with tear-downs showing the actual machinery of the Volt that I find to be a great complement to the dry text. Even Volt owners aren’t aware of what’s going on in their cars. It is NOT just an electric car with a gas generator. Ironically, even this guy, talking for over a half hour, fails completely to point out the salient features. This upload is the worst possible way to learn about this fascinating design. He may know what’s going on, but he couldn’t possibly do a worse job of communicating it. In short, the Volt has both a gasoline engine and an electric motor, each of which drive the same wheels through the very same driveshaft, sometimes even simultaneously, according to a constantly evolving set of conditions the car is being used in. This is in stark contrast to every other hybrid vehicle, including train locomotives, Prius, BMW i3, etc. All of these use a simpler hybrid drive design combining existing methods and machinery. GM alone undertook the very hard work of a clean sheet of paper approach to solve all contingencies. Somewhere in a spreadsheet is a number representing a total of unrecoverable engineering investment for the Volt and I’ll bet that number is 10 digits long.
pinkace a 4 cylinder generator? Not quite. The engine is not just to charge the battery and actually doesn’t do a very good job of charging anyway. It’s there to create electricity to run the motors up until highway speeds. At highway speeds, then it’s off electric and on the gas engine. Lutz was not as happy as he could have been with this design, but it still got him noted as the first VP to get the “electric car” from GM to the masses. I wanted to get one way back, but my family size was too large to fit everyone. New things are on the way though. Pickup trucks in the future from all the auto makers and not just Tesla. Stand by for the future.
From the explanations in the video and below, it's apparently a more complicated setup. My question would be, "Is more complicated better?" One thing I like about electricity is that it's so simple and trouble-free, and I wonder how well this engineering wonder will age.
There was a concept a while ago for interchangeable batteries on busses to allow for longer uptimes on them. I could see having different capacity battery packs that the owner can change out as needed. You could have an everyday pack and a road trip pack to keep in your garage. Or if they are too cumbersome, you could go to a service center and trade one pack out for another. I'm imagining this as similar to how we do propane tanks for a grill. It would also add to the longevity of the cars themselves.
My story. In the 1970s I built an electric car. It was a Fiat 128 powered by a surplus Aircraft starting motor, and had a Briggs & Stratton range extender. It worked, sort of. Segue to 2016. I bought a 2013 Chevy Volt. My wife loved it and bought another 2013 Volt. I set up level 2 charging for both, and we loved them! Almost no gas was bought unless I visited my Wyoming property. (No charge stations.) As of now my wife still has her low miles 2013 and I traded mine in for a 2019. Best car GM ever made! 99 percent of the time, we don't even notice what the current gas prices are.
At 29:15 reminded me of a BIG gripe I have with a lot of car reviewers. Inevitably when they talk about level 1 120v charging they always frame it in a way like “it will take days to charge” yeah a completely dead 300 mile battery pack. If you plug it in every day like a normal person, level 1 would be fine for most people’s 30 mile usage.
Spaced Invader neither one is adequate. If you want to know how quickly the battery is getting filled, you need to look at watts, not volts *or* amps. The thing is, for “120V” you can read “a standard 120V outlet with 15A capacity”, which means 1800W. Which is not a lot! A standard outlet in Europe is 230V by 16A aka 3680W. But in the US, “a 120V outlet” *means* 15A, typically. If you want a fast charger, you need 230V by 40+ amps, aka 10.000W or so. And if you want to charge 80kWh in an hour, well, you need about 80kW. That’d be 230V at 350 amps or, more likely, 400V three phase at 63A. That’s a pretty chunky cable.
Gen1 Volt Owner here - Volt required 91 Octane. I bought 89 because I didn’t notice any fuel efficiency increase from 91 or 93. Highway MPG was poor after my battery depleted. At 75 MPH, I got maybe 32 max MPG. Any faster I’d get 28 MPG. I ended up trading the car in because the radiator for the Charging System caught a leak from what the dealer thinks was an impact with a small stone on the road. There was a bulletin from GM regarding the install of a Rock Guard, but it was never done.
Now we can build cars with ~3x the normally needed range, build the car with the base 1x range battery, and a space to slide in the other 2x battery. This add-on battery could be rented for the time needed.
He sold me on my first Volt (a 2017 Premier) in September 2019, and that one sold me on my second one (for our daughter in nursing school, a 2012). Fantastic cars. We already had a rice cooker. 🤣
They probably decided it's more efficient to just run the engine than to run a separate cabin heater that may require running the engine later anyway. Don't forget, you'd normally just throw that heat away anyway.
They could make the air conditioner capable of pumping heat in the reverse direction to achieve heating at greater than 100% AFUE. That is to say they’d get more usable heat into the cabin than by just turning fuel directly into heat. There are home heating systems already doing this.
You could have removable battery packs that you can add or remove depending on your needs. The problem is that those are pretty heavy and people who drive electric cars cannot lift anything heavier than 60lbs. Although, this concept could work if you would rent the extra batteries if you need to do a long trip. The rental place could have burly employees, or machine, to load up the extra batteries.
In 2013, I bought a 2012 used Leaf for roughly half the original cost. It was my daily driver for nearly 4 years. I only charged off 110 at home and a level 2 at work (limited to 4 hours a day). That was perfect for my usage. The issue came when trying to plan a trip to WDW. There is a level 2 and 3 void south of Macon, GA to the Florida line. It just was not an option. I always had to borrow my mom's ice car for trips longer than 80 or so miles. Because I was moving further away from work and the battery degrading I had to make a hard choice. I had to sell my little blue baby. In late 2017, I purchased a gen 1, 2013 Volt. In the first year, I drove to Florida three times; twice to WDW and once to the in-laws. Yes, I killed the overall MPG range for the vehicle, but I am slowly building it back up. Let's put it this way, I only had to put gas in my Volt three times in 2020. I only ever used gas when we traveled across town (especially in winter, not so much in summer). If we went near downtown, I had options to charge if I wanted, but sometimes opted to stay warmer and park closer to my destination because I had the range extender. I plan to drive my Volt for another 3-4 years before trading it on some newer EV/hybrid. I won't know until that day comes, but it will likely be a used EV again. For context, I live in East Tennessee, so we have many hills that have a definite effect on the range of EVs, hence using the gas extender during winter.
Love my Volt! I’ve driven long term an i3 REX, a Model 3, and a Model S. The Volt is my recommended electric car. The Volt is the best value for your dollar. It’s comfortable like a Cadillac with surprisingly good electric range, decent handling, great acceleration, and very low cost of ownership. The cost to drive 1500 electric miles is only $40 with the ac and stereo blasting. Looking forward to picking up a second Volt soon. Keep up the great work.
I was just about to say that, the whole point of a big battery pack is to use the energy from say 30-70% and not charge past that or discharge less than, and potentially avoid fast charging as much as possible, it will get the absolute best out of the battery and if you keep that in mind even a tesla battery we're taking only about 40% of it's capacity (i know 40% here doesn't exactly reflect 40% of it's entire energy capacity but i'm trying to simplify things) using the example above which is extremely conservative but still for short distances it's what you want and thus again your 100kw battery pack turns into a "40kw" battery pack again veeeeery simplified here just for some quick youtube comment level of engineering numbers. Also bigger batteries allow you to fast charge with less damage to the battery pack just the fact you're sending less energy to each cell (given the same charge speed).
@@dashtesla "The whole point" bullshit my dude, the point of a bigger battery is to shout about how much more range it has. Go to tesla's website right now and go look at how they differentiate the battery sizes for each model: the range; and the acceleration.
The concept of standard and removable batteries across manufacturers would be great. Short range, you have 1 battery. Going for a longer trip? Go to a gas station and 'rent' more batteries. Gas stations could be battery swappers instead of chargers. No wait. (Didn't read all comments - unsure if this idea was circulated)
Well yes and no. One company is very clearly putting out a voice that drives towards a more renewable future in the face of critics...the other is just chasing short term profits and uses Environmentally Friendly marketing when there's an easy win. But also happy to ditch their geen products if it's a bit unconvenient.
@@bosstowndynamics5488 uhm no. Sure, the Volt has been a good stepping stone and was a good car for the time. But GM is not pushing sustainability, they are focussed on 1-5 year profits. They're doing the bare minimum, just look at how proactive VW is being in their electrification efforts! Especially given their Dieselgate I am super impressed by how they have risen to the challenge. GM..."yeah sure we might make some electric cars here and there, but 85% will still be gas powered in 2023". Also Tesla is very proactive in allowing users to repair or tinker with their own cars. They released a big repair guide and offer super convenient on site repairs and proactive/predictive maintenance. There's also a huge aftermarket supply of products to enhance or repair the car and even Tesla service people will recommend them to you. Heck RU-vidrs are turning them into pickup trucks! Your comment about them binning more parts makes absolutely no sense. Also, their charging network is proprietary but only because it pushes the boundaries of charging speed and Tesla has invited other manufacturers to use it IF they can do so at an acceptable rate as to not block stalls beyond what their own cars do. GM doesn't use is because they can't do so. Tesla has been very generous with their patents all in support of global fleet electrification which manufacturers actually do make use of. Tesla has shown that it will pursue the long sustainable game at the determent of profits. They very much want other manufacturers to succeed, but will keep pushing them until they do. So yeah, there absolutely is a Huge difference in culture between the two and as such I think it's fine to hold GM accountable for their behaviour and have people argue that one company IS better than the other wether that's Tesla, VW, Volvo...but GM and BMW are pretty darn low on that list IMO.
My view is that GM is a shitty company that doesn’t give a shit about it’s workers, customers or the enviroment. It also makes generally unreliable and poor quality products. I don’t want to give my money to a company like that.
Back in february 2019 (so 6 months before you posted this), Rivian patented a hot-swappable bed-mounted battery pack. Such a relatively obvious idea in hindsight. You can have a shorter range battery in the car that weighs less and then bring a few externals with you for the purpose of extended roadtrips or whatnot when they're necessary.
Not really as beneficial as you might think. You need a lot of protection to keep the batteries from blowing each other up if someone doesn't pay attention and connects a nearly depleted battery to a full one. Not a crazy engineering thing, but something that adds costs and complexity. The bigger issue is that the small battery will be heavily cycled, using up its lifespan while the big battery won't be used much and could be overly depleted if someone just left it alone for too long. And then the weight to install the big battery is another big issue. There is no possible way that battery would be light enough to left by hand, even with multiple people. You would need special equipment to left it and put it place. Nothing is beyond engineering a way to work. But it will be a lot more difficult and must less cost effective than people think.
There's a Chinese company that's developing a modular EV battery swapping station It's a subscription based business model Basically it relies on enough EV manufacturers to sign on, make their EV's batteries modular and is swappable, and then the drivers can take their cars to the battery swapping stations, drive in, remain in the car, the station swaps the battery for the car with a fully charged battery. I thought this is fantastic, batteries nearing the end of their lives will be collected and be sent to energy farms, and the vehicle's value are not going to be impacted as the battery degrades, and if the service is able to gather a critical mass of users, it'll become essentially a utility where it can likely secure government funding to keep it running for the masses.
There sure are a remarkable number of wind turbines popping up all around this country, and battery storage projects are being greenlit left and right. The switch to renewables is happening right in front of you. Do you care to acknowledge it? That's the real question.
@@TechnologyConnextras Those renewables aren't as universally available as you like to think. It's sorta like assuming everybody has to drive hundreds of miles a day routinely.
@@WCM1945 Well, yea - but it's no secret that the same people advocating a transition to electric vehicles are also advocating a transition to renewable energy sources. That's the eventual goal.
except that the engine is more than 'just' a backup generator since in mode 4 it does directly drive the wheels. So it switches between Electric, Extended Range Electric, and Hybrid. So it can be 1 of 3 types of vehicles depending on its mode which is where people get confuses as they want to just drop it into one of the predefined boxes, but it belongs in all 3.
@@Patmorgan235Us not quite, the EV motor and gas engine are both connected to the same transmission media.gm.com/content/dam/Media/documents/US/Word/101010_volt_launch/Drive_Unit.doc
I liked the idea of the Volt. Thought it should have been the model for the US. Battery use for commuters but doesn't limit to you to limited battery range. I didn't get one because I didn't like the drive as much and wanted something with more storage. Went for a Prius V.
I’ve been convinced by the concept behind the Volt since I first learned of it. I am currently shopping for a gen 2 Volt. This video has helped me feel that much more comfortable that this is exactly the kind of car for my needs. 95% of my driving is around my city. I take a longer trip only a few times a year. The Volt is just the car for this. Thank you for explaining it so well.
I'm one of the few that understand the Volt. I purchased my 2013 Volt used in 2016 with 21K miles for $16K - great deal. Why did I buy it? My new job is 30 miles away, so 60 miles round daily round trip. From studying up on the Volt I found a lot people making 45 to 50 miles on the battery. I calculated out that the monthly payment, insurance, normal wear and tear replacement items, charging, and any gasoline that I would use daily would actually be less per month than driving my Chevrolet Avalanche 2500 8.1L truck back and forth. After learning how to drive the Volt to get the best mileage out of the battery I could with the exception of on very cold days get 48 to 50 miles out of the battery. I was using less than 1/4 gallon of gas each day to make the final miles home after battery depletion. I could easily get 4 to 5 weeks out of a full 9 gallons of gas in the tank. Of course with COVID 19 many of us, including myself now work from home. However, today I had to drive over 35 miles (and it's cold so I'm not averaging that high range I use to get) but that's not my point. My drive today gave me 35 miles on the battery, but when I arrived home (70 miles total) my MPG averaged out at 71 miles per gallon. That's better than any other vehicle I've owned. Why didn't I buy a total electric? Because at the time (2016) I would have paid more than 2.5 times what I paid for my Volt, nullifying the economics of buying a second and very economical vehicle at that. I totally agree that Chevy screwed up the marketing on the Volt, but they screw up marketing on all their vehicles. They simply suck at marketing. For me, having the Volt for local runs to Walmart and other close places by, the battery does an excellent job. It also does an excellent job for longer distance travel. My overall average including the three years of the original owner is 117 MPG. One thing you didn't touch much on is the charging. I installed a 220 outlet for my Volt. Charging dropped from over 8 hours to less than 4. That is very reasonable for home charging. It's been a very reliable car and I really like it a lot, but just about everytime someone talks to me about the car, they as you have mentioned, just don't understand how it works. Even after I've explained it multiple times, some just can't seem to understand the concept. On my channel I have a complete video of driving to and from work, showing on two straight days I got more than 50 miles on the charge. I love that after the battery is depleted, I can just keep going. I benefit from the battery on short drives and having the engine to extend my range on long drives - and oh let's not try and explain that yes the engine cycles when in use, it does what? Oh Lord help me try and explain this to this person!
The Toyota hybrid was also a fantastic design... in its day... no switching gears in the "transmission", just a single planetary gearset that could allow EV Mode, or blend electric drive with mechanical drive... continuously variable transmission without any friction drives, clutches, or CVT nonsense. Our 2008 Highlander Hybrid has over 265k miles and has been unimaginably reliable... even the brake pads are original. But I won't replace it with another hybrid now that my BMW i3 BEV has shown me how maintenance free a car can be.
I never gave a thought to electric cars. I couldn't tell you the differences among an EV, a hybrid, a plug-in, a Tesla, a Prius, a Bolt or a Volt. But this video has me interested and thinking about it. Good on ya!
I bought a Volt because of this channel. I love it. It's a 2015 Chevy Volt and I drive around 20 to 30 miles a day. I rarely go to the gas station for gas which is great now that it costs an arm and a leg. I've taken multiple longer trips with it as well and since buying it used in 2019 I have put around 30,000 miles on it. I've also made the lifetime MPG stat go up from 111 to 116.
Honda Clarity owner here. Loved the car and sadly what you said about volt is also extremely true with clarity. Dealership and honda does a terrible job at promoting it. and Honda also just killed the clarity series recently. It operate just like an EV in most of the cases unlike the many other PHEVs out there (kind of offend by some of the PHEVs with gas engine kicking in all the time and have MPGe that are in the 40-60 range). It has a two-stage gas pedal, and you have to press really hard to get over that “click” and only the the gas engine will kick in to spin the generator to give more juice to the drive motor. Otherwise it operate as an pure EV in the full speed range.
Oh also speaking of the "but electricity is dirty" (and I'm not mocking the point, just paraphrasing it quickly, etc.) -- ANY electric vehicle powered by ANY large scale source of electricity, and by large scale I mean a full sized power plant, is going to be cleaner per mile than even the most efficient ICE vehicle. Meaning it's not just a matter of electricity being able to be produced by renewables, it's that the filthiest coal plant can power its weight in electric vehicles with less pollution generated per mile driven than any ICE vehicle. Our friend thermodynamics comes into play in that the power plant is always going to be efficient enough to beat the tiny engine in a normal vehicle pollution per mile wise. And obviously you're 100% correct in that the trend is away from Coal anyway (and Coal is the only fuel source that is even in the ballpark pollution wise, there's absolutely no contest comparing a Natural Gas-fired plant with ICE engines and it becomes more and more slanted in the Electric Vehicles favor from there, etc.)
Not arguing, just curious: does that point take into consideration electrical transmission losses, or that during peak electrical use, oil-fired turbines and even diesel ICE 'peaker' plants are used? Its very inefficient to mine and transport coal. Coal mining also has a huge environmental impact.
@@Tommy_Mac No. That's all true, don't get me wrong. But those are more efficient overall than refining millions of gallons of gasoline and diesel. Even the few diesel-fired peaking plants are a more efficient use of diesel fuel as the larger the motor, the more efficient it is just because of thermodynamics. Coal-fired plants can hit 50% efficiency, Natural Gas fired turbines can match that and be as high as 70-75% in a combined cycle (where you use the hot exhaust to produce steam for an auxiliary steam turbine.) Even the losses in the transmission lines doesn't come anywhere near the inefficiency of using refined petroleum fuels. As a perfect example, it takes the energy equivalent of three barrels of petroleum to refine one barrel of fuels. At most you have to wash coal (speaking of high-sulphur coal), Natural Gas...something the United States is currently enjoying an enormous surplus in...is even less energy intensive to capture and much cleaner to burn. Depending upon petroleum directly is just the least efficient system anyway you slice it (and notice I didn't even mention climate change, I was talking solely about the economics of it, etc.)
@@nucflashevent "Coal-fired plants can hit 50% efficiency, Natural Gas fired turbines can match that and be as high as 70-75% in a combined cycle (where you use the hot exhaust to produce steam for an auxiliary steam turbine.)" Where do those numbers come from? The numbers I see are lower in every case. Now its true that Wikipedia is not perfect but this number seems a better fit for the physics. "and 56 - 60% (LEV) for combined-cycle gas-fired plants." You numbers seem to require Unobtanium for the turbines.
I was kind of disappointed when I learned Chevy discontinued the Volt. Once my beloved Prius reaches the end of its life, or I decide to sell it to a niece or nephew, I would like to go to something primarily electric for my regular commute but is able to utilize traditional unleaded fuel in some way for the occasional road trips. As much as I’d like to go all electric, they are just not yet feasible for most single car families due to the lack of standardized fast recharge stations in our current infrastructure.
I realise this video is quite old now, but the tech in the Volt is essentially the same as the tech in the Mitsubishi PHEV cars, and similar to the Nissan X-trail PHEV. Although in the Nissan the petrol engine only ever generates electricity, it cannot drive the wheels directly. I have just taken delivery of a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, and I chose it over a pure EV because for my primary use, the EV range is sufficient and I can recharge overnight. For travelling long distances or going on vacation, I wanted the flexibility that petrol range extension provides. It helps that I have solar panels and a battery, and can recharge the car for free. Currently using the onboard charging timer, but plan on installing a smart socket that I can tie in to the solar inverter so it charges when solar energy is in abundance. It's such a brilliant hybrid system, and I feel Mitsubishi are struggling like GM did with how to market it and properly explain the technology to people. It is a significant cost increase over a conventional hybrid in the same class, but it comes with flexibility that a conventional hybrid can't provide. I'll likely never recoup the cost difference over say a Rav4 hybrid, but my little green heart sings with the knowledge most of my car travel is done with zero emissions.
Putting regular gas into a computerized engine will not harm it...the computer will just adjust the ignition timing to prevent preigition and knocking...therefore your performance will be degraded.
@@emofreako true but still unlikely to cause serious damage unless you're putting in some seriously awful, very low RON / MON fuel. We carry out durability testing and engine calibration against poor quality fuels to make sure the knock controller has sufficient authority to deal with it safely :)
Just re-read and I think I missed the point slightly - you're talking more about stability tolerance to late combustion phasing? In this case, the only answer I have is: yes, engine design and calibration is a very complicated system of trade-offs and things like this are guaranteed to be the cause of many engineers' headaches and coffee jitters for any given engine variant 😅
Learning new stuff all the time. It never occurred to me that at least some modern engines may be able to adjust like that (even though that's essentially what flex fuel engines do to my understanding I never extended thought to high compression engines).
A knock sensor is just a microphone that listens for pinging from the combustion chamber. If there is, the computer retards the timing which degrades the power output for the combustion.
Because the Volt's battery was smaller, it had to be optimized more for power density rather than all out energy density, so having a smaller battery doesn't proportionally scale down the weight and cost, since it still has to deliver respectable all-electric performance (acceleration, top speed, over a range of SOC and temperature) in an EREV.
My mom has the Toyota Camry hybrid and the gas mileage is usually around 35 mpg so that's not all that impressive but it's one of the earlier models and the idea was to buy them in order to encourage companies to continue to work on making them better. At the time, she could afford the car so she was hoping that buying it would both help make them better in the future and bring the cost down. She went with the Camry because everyone in my family except for me is at least six feet tall so the Prius was a little bit small for them. I drove a motorcycle for nearly a decade that got 60+ mpg even if one was not being conscientious about driving in such a way so as to conserve gas. I got it brand spanking new for a small fraction of what any new car costs too. It was incredibly reliable and, even when I did have to get stuff repair, I could do much of the work myself and it was also pretty cheap to get someone else to do the work. There's a HUGE downside to motorcycles though and that is that other drivers are idiots. So I don't drive a motorcycle anymore because a drunk driver took me down and my motorcycle was totaled, plus I got pretty damn injured too and I wasn't even going very fast (which is extremely lucky because I often drove extremely fast, although the thing wouldn't go any faster than 95 mph). I am pretty thankful, though, that I drove a motorcycle back when gas was in the $6/gal range. The only other downside is that it's hard to get large items home from the store on a motorcycle. I did manage to bungee cord a new vacuum in its box onto the back seat of my motorcycle one time and I also got $90 worth of groceries home which included a 24 pack of Corona beer that I bungeed to the back seat, but it takes quite a bit more thinking than just buying whatever you want and throwing it in the trunk of a car. The weather can also be a factor but this is California so people are more understanding when you decide to stay home because of heavy rain. It snowed once while I had that motorcycle too and I called in "snow" from work because there was a little bit of snow that had accumulated on the seat of my motorcycle. Honestly, you also really notice a change in the physics of turning a motorcycle when the temperatures get to around freezing too but that doesn't happen terribly often here unless you go to the mountains. I considered buying a Prius C but the dealership treated me like shit and it was a bit expensive so I decided to use a different kind of hybrid system, which would be a hybrid between riding a bicycle and putting the bike on the bus if I had to go further than that. When you start talking, say a 30 mile range, well I can ride my bike that far when it is absolutely necessary because that's about how far my best friend lives from me. Then it's time that becomes a factor because it takes me like 3-4 hrs to ride that far because I'm kinda old and kinda fat. The weather is a bigger deal too, but not low temperatures as much as high temperatures because I tend to overheat pretty easily. It hasn't snowed at all since I started riding my bike but there have been times in which the water in the gutters has turned to ice but it's no different than when there's a lot of moss growing in it. You just don't brake or turn when you're going over the slippery part and the difference I noticed in the tires of my motorcycle doesn't seem to be a factor on my bike. However, if it's hot, it's usually in the day (although we do have a few days at least in summer where it never gets below 80 F even at the coolest time right before sunrise) and the bus runs during the day but, if you have to come home after that, you put your bike on the bus to get there and ride home when it's nice out. I have also made use of cooling towels and ice cubes put into every place possible to withstand those rides in warmer temperatures. So, these days, I burn ass, not gas. It isn't really extra cost to run a bicycle because the energy comes from your own metabolism and none of us has any choice but to eat whether we ride a bike or take the car. Getting big stuff home from the store is more difficult on a bicycle though but you can get one of those child carriages, plus a rack with bags on it and a backpack. I have used everything but the child carriage and I probably could get anything I needed home from the store for the most part but I am lazy so, if I have to buy cat food or something that's kind of big like that, I just borrow my mom's car. If I am just getting my own regular groceries, I simply take more trips to the store because it's not costing me really any more than the food that I would have to eat in any case. Bikes are even easier to fix that motorcycles and the parts are cheaper. That has been a problem for me before but it's because I am extremely poor more than anything else and the fact that I initially bought a bike online and it was too big for me so I broke a couple of axles trying to get off the bike, kicking the back rack accidentally, and then falling down while still mostly on the bike, which my axles apparently couldn't stand. I had to hammer a couple axles out to replace them but it was still more work than money. Then my mom bought me a new bike for my birthday a couple of years ago and that one's been fine and I've only had to spend money on inner tubes and chain grease but also the pandemic started happening so I haven't ridden as much, both because of the lockdowns and because I was also sick with COVID-19 for three months, after which I really struggled to stretch my lungs back out after that terrible pneumonia that nearly killed me. I still think that some of us who have really limited driving needs would probably be better off with the bicycle/public transportation hybrid and save those more long distance vehicles for people in truly rural areas, plus we need to come up with more efficient vehicles for them to drive. The last thing I want to mention is the fact that our dependence on oil has shaped our foreign policy for a long time and resulted in many wars and other unnecessary forms of conflict. As we move to batteries, we really need to be mindful of not doing the same thing in order to get lithium out of the ground in the same empire-like way. We meddled in Bolivia recently for exactly this reason. While we work to try desperately to save the habitability of our planet, it is important that we acquire the needed resources fairly, not only because of the moral implications of manipulating other countries into basically giving us their resources, but because of the lives lost, both among our troops and among the citizens of other countries due to these practices. That is my only concern with batteries but, since oil has already resulted in loads of this kind of thing already, it shouldn't be counted as a mark against batteries over gas-powered cars. In my situation, I can only afford to ride my bike.
That will likely not be an option at all in 2026 when the federal fleet average becomes 54.5 MPG. Unless some sort of magic is involved, this will almost certainly require some kind of hybridization. Look for car prices to increase dramatically.
@@cpufreak101 Doesn't matter. If car companies want to sell their vehicles in California, they will still need to adhere to those CAFE standards. Oregon and Washington are also considering joining them.
@@Chordonblue ah that's right, forgot about CARB there a min, though I do also know the current administration is trying to rule that California and other states do not have the "power" to enforce that, and as it stands right now I don't think anyone knows of it's legally enforceable or not
@@cpufreak101 I would think it is. If a state doesn't want to let a certain kind of car enter their borders, it doesn't matter what they base their decision on, really. I would think they could make this stick. After all, as California goes, so we all go, as the saying goes... Unfortunately...
A better use of the extra battery capacity would be grid energy storage. Imagine if virtually every electric car could be connected to your house at night and function like a powerwall charging on lower price energy and then supplying your house during the day. Alternatively, you could charge the car during the day on solar at home or at work and then power your house at night. Both options would justify having a battery which 80% you don't use for the majority of the year.
So you don't want to have a fully charged car? It sounds like you plan on just buying a car to leave parked as a battery, instead of driving as a car. Also, you are using life cycles for an expensive vehicle battery, so not really that great of an idea financially.
@@KaitouKaiju that's why you never charge the battery to maximum capacity, rather than running it to max and then discharging it into the grid. Every time you charge or discharge it takes life away from the battery.
You should revisit this topic as a main channel video. Also, you should look into the following things: - Stirling Engine: Much better for acting as an electric generator. - RCCI: Reactivity-Controlled Compression Ignition, for running Gasoline and Diesel at the same time - SPCCI: Spark-Controlled Compression Ignition - Hydrogen Combustion Engines - Isobutanol: Move over, E85.
Thank You, Thank YOU!!! Explained very well,, I too owned a Gen 1 chevy Volt and drove a 112 mile one way commute daily and I 5-6 years put 477,000 miles on this car before I wrecked it into a semi truck tire carcass laying on the highway. The car make way more sense when you own one.! Thank You for Wonderfully explaining this Wonderful Vehicle!!
This is actually similar to the first diesel train. This is actually not the first time similar concept was used. Diesel locomotives started the same way, diesel turbines powering electric motors.
@cedric1997 yeah they still are but not exclusively, I think diesel engines without the electric motor are used for shunting etc. Although there are ALSO electro-diesel trains which can run either as pure electric trains or as diesel-electrics, used on certain lines.
@@jcardboard No, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything besides diesel-electric locomotives (at least in the U.S.). There was only one kind of diesel-hydraulic locomotive ever produced for the U.S. but it was German design and failed miserably. The electro-diesel hybrid locomotive you speak of is most likely the ALP45DP used on New Jersey Transit, however in both modes the traction motors are electric. The difference being that the pantograph supplies direct current while the engine turns an electric generator.
I recently bought a Volt as my first car. For what I need it for, it's great. Pretty much every day I use only electricity. I haven't filled it up since I got it and still have half a tank left (I got it in February and now it's April) I love it so much. Totally agree with your "EV with training wheels" analogy.
I've been a follower of your main channel for quite some time now and just recently discovered this channel! Its hilarious watching a scripted/polished video on your main channel and then coming over here to see one raw, I love it!
Just an FYI when you mentioned Toyota hybrids containing a cvt although technically correct it is correct in the same sense that a volt contains a cvt the engine runs in an efficient rpm range while still delivering power to the ground without any need to change gears the Prius transmission and other hybrids based on it use an eCVT a system simmilar to the volt transmission with the 2 moter generators and a planetary gear system the biggest difference being the Toyota doesn't have as many clutch packs and relies more heavily on the motor generators to ensure that the engine can transmit power to the ground efficiently. On a completely separate note I would argue that a range extended EV is just a more extreme form of plugin hybrid and the ability to mechanically separate the engine form the road (regardless of whether or not it could be mechanically reconected) doesn't give it some honerary EV status.
2:29 "You are hauling around all that weight for no reason." I've always thought this about people who buy enormous ICE cars, trucks and SUVs for doing a daily commute of much less than 60 miles and not doing any hauling of heavy goods. Why not buy a compact car, save a ton of money and *rent* a more capable vehicle when you are going to be hauling lots of people or goods?
I refuse to buy an SUV because I have absolutely no need for one. I’ve got a sedan (which is arguably the least practical body right after a coupe) and yet it doesn’t matter. Because as most people, I drive alone to work most of the time, or at most there’s four people in the car when going out for dinner or something. Sure some people have 4 people in the family and they wanna all go on vacation, but maybe the public shouldn’t have given up on station wagons in US then
People generally need to buy a car for the most extreme duty that will be required, not the average. I mostly commute - I could, 5 days a week, own a 1 seat automobile. But I have a 5 person family, so I need a 5 seat car for any trip with my family; We are also very close to our extended family and frequently have "sleepovers" with their children, so we, about 5% of the time, need to carry 7 people. So we purchased a Dodge Journey - a relatively affordable 7 seat vehicle. As for SUVs (or more specifically crossovers, which most are, as opposed to truck-based SUVs) are taller and far more comfortable to ride in compared to sedans. I had a Ford Focus, which was a really nice car, but you sat really low and laid back, I prefer to sit more upright, but my head hit the roof.
I won't drive small cars in large part cause other drivers are idiots and driving is dangerous. These days my daily is a full size gas guzzling sedan in part cause I also have a lead foot, performance matters to me. I like the Volt concept but its too slow, some Teslas are fastish but won't go far enough and are too expensive.
What you need is something like a Chevy Volt but with a Stirling engine instead of internal combustion. This gets rid of the catalytic converter and the complex ignition and pollution controls. It also keeps the combustion gases out of the lubricant. The engine only needs a simple burner and could use pretty much any flammable liquid or gas. This has been done before. In 1986, NASA put a Stirling engine in a Chevrolet Celebrity: ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19880002196 The main reason we don't use them is that it takes about 45 seconds to warm the engine enough to start it. However, when you can take off immediately under battery power that isn't a problem. The Stirling runs better in cold weather and it doesn't require as much torque to start.
I had been looking at the Volt for years, when they announced it was getting killed I was sad, looked around and discovered the Honda Clarity. ~40 mile EV range, 350 mile ICE range, all the fancy lane assist and such was standard equipment on the base model. Took a week to research it and bought one to replace the Corolla that was about to die. Love it.
