Webchat: Andrew Farah Answers Your Volt Questions
Chevrolet Volt vehicle chief engineer Andrew Farah took the first pre-production Volt for a spin this week and will be on FastLane to chat live with you about it at 4 p.m. EDT today.
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I think regulars at GM-Volt would like to get answer to these questions: 1. How much? Never mind tax credits and all that… what’s the base vehicle MSRP going to be? 2. People are curious about the size of the “auxiiary fuel” tank (hey, if this goes according to plan, gas is will be an auxiliary fuel, won’t it?!). So, how big is the gas tank? If you’re building vehicles expected to be production vehicles, you really should know by now. 3. Will it be E-85 capable?
I also noticed Lyle Dennis got a look at the Generator/Drive Motor assembly. Why are they in the same housing? They don’t need to be mechanically linked, do they? And if “a driveshaft” comes out, then it seems there’s one drive motor and the car still has a differential. Why not two electric motors instead, one per driven wheel? Differentials aren’t 100% efficient, are they? Wouldn’t two drive motors be more efficient? Did the decision come down to practical experience with FWD-differential cars vs “too much engineering” to get to a two-motor car or is a single drive motor and a differential really the ultimate way to go and, if so, why?
How many pizza boxes will the Volt hold?
I would like to know what the gas mileage is once you deplete the batteries of the overnight charge? Will the ICE be running constantly or at some point say cruising on a long trip down the interstate the ICE will come on intermittently?
man i am a big time Chevy fan probably since i was 7 i’m now 26 one thing gets me mad is why is gm doing all this electric car again they had good electric cars back in 95 like the blazer ev that gave 40 miles a charge gm is doing a lot of thing wrongs they kill the impala project the impala was a great car with that 5.7 engine with sport design and what we got in 2000 a v6 that was the end for impala.gm did the same thing the gto, Chevy silverado 454 ss, chevy silverado 400 ss, the two door Tahoe, the Oldsmobile national i mean this were great cars and they were the spirit of Chevy bad and fast cars the type of cars that people didn’t want to see in their rear mirror. gm can do alot better i know because it has done this on the past but they way things are getting done i just don’t know but i’m still a gm fan i love my Chevys and i would not trade them for no others cars.
Your plan is to stop the generator when the vehicle stops? That’s all very well and good for noise reduction, but not very practical in the everyday sense. having the engine slow it’s RPM’s when the vehicle is at a stop seems like a better plan. That way it can still run the climate control, the stereo, the wipers, the lights and whatever else might be plugged into the outlets. The engine once started should only stop when the batteries are recharged, or when the owner turns the car off.
~~ 4:38 [Comment From Bob M. ] In charge sustaining mode, when stopped for a traffic light, is engine noise annoying?
~~ 4:39 Andrew Farah: Our plan is to stop the engine when the vehicle comes to rest, so that the experience is very similar to when the Volt is in EV mode.
Mr. Farah,
If the engines stops when the vehicle is at rest, does that mean then that if I’m on a trip and have the car parked at a motel, that I can’t let the ICE run to bring the battery to a full charge?
~~ 4:05 [Comment From Augie Churchill ] Mr. Farah, Do you have any preliminary projections yet for the “Mean Time Between Failures” of the Volt’s Lithium-ion battery? Will there be a warranty for the battery separate from the car’s basic warranty? Have you thought of leasing the Volt’s battery so customers can swap out batteries as the technology evolves and better batteries become available?
~~ 4:06 Andrew Farah: We’re designing for the battery pack to have a 10-year life and there has been discussion of all sorts of battery business models, but we’re working form the perspective that it will be sold with the car.
Mr. Farah,
You say a ten-year life, but what will the life of the battery be in terms of charge-discharge cycles? After how many recharge events will the battery capacity start to deteriorate?
A commuter using a Volt would probably go to work about 200 days a year. If the car is used only for commuting, that would be 2,000 discharge-charge events over a ten-year battery lifespan. Most rechargeable batteries now have a life of no more than about 1,000 discharge-charge events. Does that mean you’ve cracked the code?
My daughter is single mother and green and drives an 02 Cavalier coupe. I showed her pictures of three new GM cars, the Chevy Cruze, the new Astra, and the Volt. She can’t afford a Volt because of price, but she picked the new Astra.Why aren’t you building here? Why spend the money to design two different models off the same platform? The Astra in coupe, sedan, 3&5 door models and maybe the twintop would have made more sense as a world car than the stand alone Cruze sedan.
My question would be, what is GM’s reference when they say you can get “up to” 40 miles on a charge?
Imagine driving up a hill in the middle of a rain storm on a hot day. Wipers on high, A/C on, headlights on, and probably radio on as well.
That’s gonna put a serious load on the electrical system.
I should hope GM is taking situations like this into consideration of the final distance/charge rating.
Reminds me of the old SAE-net horsepower ratings (pre 1973). Buicks were rated at 425 hp. Yeah. And my dog can sing like Frank Sinatra.
The biggest draw back to the all electric car, is the distance traveled on a charge, and the time to recharge and recharging stations. My idea to you is to drop a fifth wheel (idler) on the car, that drives by belt, chain, or direct drive a generator/altenator of sufficiant size with regulated output to maintain a charge on the batterys equal to or better their depletion rate.
Robert L Young
864-421-5100
This is for GM only, not to be published
Marty D brings up a good point. Will there be any way the driver can start or stop the ICE? There’s his example of wanting to recharge while not moving, or say, before climbing a mountain. Or suppose you were close to home and wanted to prevent the ICE from starting so you could recharge at home.
Does the ICE operate at varying RPMs? They used to say it was bad for the engine to stay at one RPM level for long periods.
“My idea to you is to drop a fifth wheel (idler) on the car, that drives by belt, chain, or direct drive a generator/alternator of sufficient size with regulated output to maintain a charge on the battery’s equal to or better their depletion rate.”
Robert L. Young,
You’ve been dipping into the historical literature on perpetual motion machines, haven’t you? Well, good luck with your idea, but there are scores of inventors who’ve tried to file similar patents with the USPO, and who have had such patents rejected.
Do you think your idea would pass this test: Connect the output to the input and see if it keeps running.
GM to sell a version of Toyota’s Prius?
Is this report from Bloomberg news true? Toyota Said to Consider Offering Version of Prius Hybrid to GM
“June 30 (Bloomberg) — Toyota Motor Corp. may offer to supply a version of its Prius hybrid car to General Motors Corp. during a meeting between the companies’ chief executives, two people familiar with the plan said.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda and GM’s Fritz Henderson will meet in Michigan in August said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plan isn’t public. “
I hope the Chevy Volt hits on all cylinders when it comes out of the gate. However, I am a skeptic based on GM managment’s history or embedded practice of being either no better or just barely equaling the competition and making foolish decisions. I can just see it now the Volt bested by the Honda fuel cell sedan that is quietly and efficiently making its rounds. Speaking of GM management, they just announced another foolish decision relating to killing off the Pontiac Vibe and the NUMMI plant instead of rebadging the car as a Chevy Nomad or as some sort of Buick. The Pontiac Vibe and the NUMMI plant should be touted by GM. That vehicle is one of the only GM products out of the boatload that they make and that you can count on one hand which has a much better than average reliablity rating and is a recommended used car by Consumers Reports. So in GM’s backwards thinking they kill the car and get rid of the plant. Those workers there should be rewarded. This is why I would never consider buying a GM product ever again for the aforementioned reasons (i.e., making foolish management decisions, and not surpassing the competition). I don’t care what they make from here on out. Every current and even last few generations of Honda, Toyota, and VW models have better quality and/or features than any GM product made for the North American market, with the exception of the Vibe. That is a fact. For instance, a $15,000 VW Golf/Rabbit has passenger assist grips all around, a locking fuel filler door, three rear seat headrests, and air conditioned glove box and console bin. Try to find those same features on a $20,000 plus GM Malibu, G6, Aura, or even a $30,000 CTS! With decisions like this the Obama Administation should stop thowing good money after bad. GM management before long will have GM permanently shuttered. Patriotism can only take you so far, especially when it has been taken for granted for the last 15 to 20 years! North Americans will continue voting with their feet and dollars until quality and features are delivered in GM products! This means better in all aspects than the foreign competition.
Sell the Vibe as the Chevy Nomad
“Speaking of GM management, they just announced another foolish decision relating to killing off the Pontiac Vibe and the NUMMI plant instead of rebadging the car as a Chevy Nomad or as some sort of Buick.”
Darryl,
I like that idea — rebadging the Vibe as the Chevy Nomad. It seems obvious Chevy should start selling the Vibe (the Vibe has been one of the top-tier GM models) but calling it the Nomad and building on that historic legacy is a stroke of genius.
CEO Frtiz Henderson owes you one for that idea. (Although I doubt anyone at GM will listen, even though we now control a majority share of the company.)
Sell the Vibe as the Chevy Nomad
“Speaking of GM management, they just announced another foolish decision relating to killing off the Pontiac Vibe and the NUMMI plant instead of rebadging the car as a Chevy Nomad or as some sort of Buick.”
Darryl,
I like that idea — rebadging the Vibe as the Chevy Nomad. It seems obvious Chevy should start selling the Vibe (the Vibe has been one of the top-tier GM models) but calling it the Nomad and building on that historic legacy is a stroke of genius.
CEO Frtiz Henderson owes you one for that idea. (Although I doubt anyone at GM will listen, even though we now control a majority share of the company.)
I say Darryl Ross has it exactly right.
I don’t get it either.
GM management is collectively coo-coo. Now that I’ve come up to Michigan for the summer, and found out the Pontic Vibe is really a Toyota, I’m gonna go look for one for sale cheap
Andrew Farah,
Marty Dalrymple asked a good question above about the life of the Volt’s battery in terms of discharge-charge cycles. It seems obvious that the number of charging cycles the battery can go through will be more critical than the lifespan in years. Are you going to answer his question?
How many charge cycles will the battery be able to go through before losing its efficiency? Will your warranty be based on life in years, or life in charge cycles? (I assume you will have software in the car that will keep data on the number of charge events over the battery’s life, right?)
Also, if the battery’s software identifies itself as not being able to hold the rated charge early in its life, will the car’s owner get notice of that so s/he can go to the dealership for a battery swap at GM’s expense?
Darryl and Smokey,
You guys are on to something with bringing back the Chevy Nomad, but instead of rebadging the Vibe as the Nomad, GM should make a sport station wagon or minivan version of the Camaro and call that the Nomad.
A Camaro Nomad could be a real halo brand for the “new GM.” (Or maybe they’re reserving the name Nomad for a station wagon version of the Volt. How does the Volt Nomad sound?)
“4:06 Andrew Farah: We’re designing for the battery pack to have a 10-year life…”
Andrew Farah,
The key to the life of rechargeable batteries is how many charging cycles they can stand before losing efficiency, not how many years you expect the battery pack to last.. Charging cycles are a function of how the car is actually used and a much better metric.
How many charging cycles do you expect the Volt battery to last? And if the number of those cycles is in the range of 1,000 or so, when you divide the cost of the battery pack by the cycles, won’t that be a significantly high number?
Diesel Electric. With electric only, assist, engine-generator-motor, or engine only. The best of all worlds. GM has diesel-electric hybrid drive figured out. On a much larger scale.
The Volt is merely a step stone to the next level.
As long as the Volt can do all the things I can with our late 90s LeSabre, but with better mileage, I’d consider it. The problem begins to show when small, hybrid vehicles that have little use outside of a commuter vehicle. I need a truck, so if I’m going to get a hybrid it better be able to do all the things I can do with a passenger car, not just commute. If I can jump in with the family, the dogs, luggage, and head up to the Grand Canyon, or across country, then great. The problem with traditional hybrids is that as the battery is depleted, especially on mountain drives, they become dangerously underpowered.
Has anyone looked at Saab’s 2.0L turbo engine? Its pretty peppy and provides Excellent fuel economy. Why can’t GM use this engine and calibrate it differently for various platforms for small and mid size cars.
2.4L is another good engine, but its rough around edges. Chevy volt is a great marketing vehicle, but GM still needs other form of hybrids with 4 banger engines and produce them cheaply. How about making Chevy Traverse Hybrid?
Quick question – what happens when someone lives in a place that doesn’t have a garage (has to find parking along the street) or no outside outlet that allows them to charge their car overnight?
How do you sell to these customers? Have their been any suggested solutions to this problem?
Kats,
A good question, but pointless to ask in this forum. It is rare to get an answer to a question on this blog from someone at GM — no matter how good the question.
PM,
How about diesels in Chevy cars?
That’d fix a lot of problems.
“It is rare to get an answer to a question on this blog from someone at GM — no matter how good the question.”
Must be the “New GM” of transparency and open communication. Well, sometimes it does take quite a while for a policy directive from the CEO to filter down through the ranks.
All Auto manufacturers are rushing to build electric cars.
Will GM be able to compete in this fast moving market?
Nissan rushes to put electric car charging stations across Tennessee
By G. Chambers Williams III • THE TENNESSEAN • October 11, 2009
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With the rollout of Nissan’s first electric vehicles just over a year away in Tennessee, the race is on to figure out how to set up a network of charging stations swiftly enough to get ready.
It won’t be easy.
Thousands of chargers will be needed to satisfy Nissan’s ambitious plans to sell thousands of the clean-running cars in the first year as it strives to be the first automaker in the world to successfully mass market an all-electric vehicle.
Unlike the popular hybrids on the market today, Nissan’s new Leaf, a five-passenger compact hatchback, won’t have an internal-combustion engine onboard to back up the electric power. When the battery runs down, the car stops and drivers walk.
Getting the charging infrastructure in place may be a herculean task, said Mark Perry, director of product planning for Nissan North America Inc., but the automaker vows to be ready when the first cars come to market in December 2010.
Phoenix-based ECOtality Inc. has partnered with Nissan to set up the charging systems in consumers’ homes, as well as to create public networks in Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville and on the interstate highways between those cities.
Charging stations also will be set up in Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington, all of which are included in the first phase of Nissan’s rollout of the Leaf.
ECOtality has a $100 million loan from the U.S. Energy Department to help pay for the system, which will consist of “two layers of infrastructure,” said Colin Read, the firm’s vice president for corporate development.
Read said the first 1,000 buyers in Tennessee will get free home chargers installed, which could run up to about $1,500 each for the equipment and installation combined. Without that help, the biggest expense for some Leaf buyers might be getting their home garage wired for the 240-volt chargers, which themselves could cost about $500 each.