Auto Car | Chevrolet Volt Concept in 2007 | advanced technology vehicles of this century to bring the Chevrolet Volt concept, with its unique design and luxurious car is able to accommodate four-passenger electric vehicle that uses a gas engine to create additional electricity to extend the range. with large capacity vehicles is also able to doze stuff and mountain climbing.
A technological breakthrough required to make this concept a reality is a large lithium-ion battery. This type of electric car, which the technical community calls an 'EV range-extender,' would require a battery pack that weighs nearly 400 pounds (181 kg). Some experts predict that such a battery – or a similar battery – could be production-ready by 2010 to 2012.Jon Lauckner, GM vice president of Global Program Management, said the Volt is uniquely built to accommodate a number of advanced technology propulsion solutions that can give GM a competitive advantage.'Today's vehicles were designed around mechanical propulsion systems that use petroleum as their primary source of fuel.' Lauckner said. Tomorrow's vehicles need to be developed around a new propulsion architecture with electricity in mind. The Volt is the first vehicle designed around GM's E-flex System.
'That's why we are also showing a variant of the Chevrolet Volt with a hydrogen-powered fuel cell, instead of a gasoline engine EV range-extender,' said Lauckner. 'Or, you might have a diesel engine driving the generator to create electricity, using bio-diesel. Finally, an engine using 100-percent ethanol might be factored into the mix. The point is, all of these alternatives are possible with the E-Flex System.'The Volt concept car is built on a modified future architecture, Lauckner said, similar to the one GM uses for current small cars, such as the Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR.According to Larry Burns, GM vice president for research and development and strategic planning, the world's growing demand for energy and its dependence on oil for transportation is the common theme behind today's headlines.
'Whether your concern is energy security, global climate change, natural disasters, the high price of gas, the volatile pricing of a barrel of oil and the effect that unpredictability has on Wall Street – all of these issues point to a need for energy diversity,' said Burns. 'Today, there are more than 800 million cars and trucks in the world. In 15 years, that will grow to 1.1 billion vehicles. We can't continue to be 98-percent dependent on oil to meet our transportation needs. Something has to give. We think the Chevrolet Volt helps bring about the diversity that is needed. If electricity met only 10 percent of the world's transportation needs, the impact would be huge.' While the Volt concept is an electric car with a small turbocharged engine to keep the batteries charged, the edgy sedan's "E-flex" technology provides a template for future fuel cell vehicles. The clever layout showcased here offers the flexibility to bolt any power source into the Volt to keep the battery charged. Very cool. Read our full story below.
Looking at two of Chevy's concepts here at the Detroit show -- retro-gorgeous Camaro and the futuristically menacing Volt -- you'd never know that Chevrolet doesn't have a single styling hit on its hands apart from the Corvette. Strange as it is, it seems that the General's value brand has found its design niche: in aggressive sports cars.Oh wait - despite the twenty-one inch rims, the Volt isn't a sports car. It gets 150 miles per gallon and seats four. 150 mpg? Well, kind of. Keep reading.Other than its drop-dead styling, the coolest thing about the Volt is its powertrain. It starts with a lithium-ion battery that provides the electric motor with a 40-mile range and can be completely charged by plugging it into a 110-volt outlet for six hours.Then, the Volt has a 1.0-liter, three-cylinder turbocharged motor that never powers the wheels directly. As an "EV range-extender", the Volt uses the combustion engine, which runs at a constant speed to maximize efficiency, to generate electricity to power the electric motor and charge the battery when necessary.
Here's the 150 mpg bit: If you have a 60-mile round trip every day to work, 40 of those miles could be dispensed with using only the battery. The remaining 20 miles would be propelled with the gas engine running -- at 50 mpg. The result is that you travel 60 miles on just 0.4 gallons of gas, averaging 150 mpg.That sounds wonderful, but the Volt doesn't actually exist yet. Why? Because it would require a 400-lb lithium-ion battery, and lithium-ion batteries that large aren't ready for production yet.One particularly clever feature about the Volt is its E-Flex System, which is an architecture that's designed to accommodate different types of engines. The three-cylinder installed in this show car can run on gasoline or E85, which is a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. But instead, a diesel could be fitted. Even one that runs on bio-diesel. Or a hydrogen-powered fuel cell. Or pretty much anything (except, maybe, a jet engine. That would be hard to fit.) Expect to see different variants of the Volt at future car shows.Way to go, Chevrolet, for making a flexible electric concept vehicle that looks good enough to grab the attention of sports car fans.
Original Post : www.automobilemag.com
A technological breakthrough required to make this concept a reality is a large lithium-ion battery. This type of electric car, which the technical community calls an 'EV range-extender,' would require a battery pack that weighs nearly 400 pounds (181 kg). Some experts predict that such a battery – or a similar battery – could be production-ready by 2010 to 2012.Jon Lauckner, GM vice president of Global Program Management, said the Volt is uniquely built to accommodate a number of advanced technology propulsion solutions that can give GM a competitive advantage.'Today's vehicles were designed around mechanical propulsion systems that use petroleum as their primary source of fuel.' Lauckner said. Tomorrow's vehicles need to be developed around a new propulsion architecture with electricity in mind. The Volt is the first vehicle designed around GM's E-flex System.
'That's why we are also showing a variant of the Chevrolet Volt with a hydrogen-powered fuel cell, instead of a gasoline engine EV range-extender,' said Lauckner. 'Or, you might have a diesel engine driving the generator to create electricity, using bio-diesel. Finally, an engine using 100-percent ethanol might be factored into the mix. The point is, all of these alternatives are possible with the E-Flex System.'The Volt concept car is built on a modified future architecture, Lauckner said, similar to the one GM uses for current small cars, such as the Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR.According to Larry Burns, GM vice president for research and development and strategic planning, the world's growing demand for energy and its dependence on oil for transportation is the common theme behind today's headlines.
'Whether your concern is energy security, global climate change, natural disasters, the high price of gas, the volatile pricing of a barrel of oil and the effect that unpredictability has on Wall Street – all of these issues point to a need for energy diversity,' said Burns. 'Today, there are more than 800 million cars and trucks in the world. In 15 years, that will grow to 1.1 billion vehicles. We can't continue to be 98-percent dependent on oil to meet our transportation needs. Something has to give. We think the Chevrolet Volt helps bring about the diversity that is needed. If electricity met only 10 percent of the world's transportation needs, the impact would be huge.' While the Volt concept is an electric car with a small turbocharged engine to keep the batteries charged, the edgy sedan's "E-flex" technology provides a template for future fuel cell vehicles. The clever layout showcased here offers the flexibility to bolt any power source into the Volt to keep the battery charged. Very cool. Read our full story below.
Looking at two of Chevy's concepts here at the Detroit show -- retro-gorgeous Camaro and the futuristically menacing Volt -- you'd never know that Chevrolet doesn't have a single styling hit on its hands apart from the Corvette. Strange as it is, it seems that the General's value brand has found its design niche: in aggressive sports cars.Oh wait - despite the twenty-one inch rims, the Volt isn't a sports car. It gets 150 miles per gallon and seats four. 150 mpg? Well, kind of. Keep reading.Other than its drop-dead styling, the coolest thing about the Volt is its powertrain. It starts with a lithium-ion battery that provides the electric motor with a 40-mile range and can be completely charged by plugging it into a 110-volt outlet for six hours.Then, the Volt has a 1.0-liter, three-cylinder turbocharged motor that never powers the wheels directly. As an "EV range-extender", the Volt uses the combustion engine, which runs at a constant speed to maximize efficiency, to generate electricity to power the electric motor and charge the battery when necessary.
Here's the 150 mpg bit: If you have a 60-mile round trip every day to work, 40 of those miles could be dispensed with using only the battery. The remaining 20 miles would be propelled with the gas engine running -- at 50 mpg. The result is that you travel 60 miles on just 0.4 gallons of gas, averaging 150 mpg.That sounds wonderful, but the Volt doesn't actually exist yet. Why? Because it would require a 400-lb lithium-ion battery, and lithium-ion batteries that large aren't ready for production yet.One particularly clever feature about the Volt is its E-Flex System, which is an architecture that's designed to accommodate different types of engines. The three-cylinder installed in this show car can run on gasoline or E85, which is a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. But instead, a diesel could be fitted. Even one that runs on bio-diesel. Or a hydrogen-powered fuel cell. Or pretty much anything (except, maybe, a jet engine. That would be hard to fit.) Expect to see different variants of the Volt at future car shows.Way to go, Chevrolet, for making a flexible electric concept vehicle that looks good enough to grab the attention of sports car fans.
Original Post : www.automobilemag.com
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