Here's a detailed article on the Volt:
http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=42982
In response to CenterIce's questions;
Cost - The article says 6 hours of charging on a 110 Volt circuit will provide enough charge to go 40 miles. I pay around 9 cents a kilowatt-hour for electricity. Assuming a 20 amp circuit is required (this is what most homes are wired with), that means the Volt requires 20 amps X 110 volts x 6hours, or 13.2 KWh. Which works out to about $1.19 to go 40 miles.
Availability - Is there enough power on the grid to support the added load of millions of plug-in hybrids. The answer is no. That means our electric infrastructure has to be beefed up considerable. We can do it with coal and petrolium fired power plants, but that does little to help the environment. We can think about solar and wind power. In my opinion these have promise. I have a 3.4 Kw solar array on my house that averages about 15.5 Kwh a day. If we believe GM's numbers, that's more than enough to power a car that will take me 40 miles a day. While solar and wind have potential, I believe near-term needs have to be supplied with additional nuclear power plants.
Before we go off and start celebrating, I'm afraid I have to throw some cold water on GM's data. One horsepower is about 746 watts. That means the 6 hour re-charge is only enough to support a 17.7 Hp motor for one hour (13.2 Kwh/0.746 kw/hp). If the 40 miles is driven in half an hour, the energy is enough to supply a 35 hp motor. Quite frankly, I don't think a 35 hp motor car move a vehicle in a manner that would supply the general public (meaning it would be really slow). Throw in other losses such as heating and air conditioning, and I think there's a credibility issue here.
Despite my reservations, I believe we should credit GM for moving off in a new and exciting direction.
There's a nice web site that has GM videos on the Volt and other autos released at the Detroit auto show.
http://gmtv.feedroom.com/ifr_main.js...101.6939743364
Regards,
larry4pyro