I've asked around and nobody has any facilities for charging these commercially produced vehicles yet and there are no plans (that I have found) to produce a dock or port where you can leave your vehicle un-attended for 8/16 hour intervals and no means to pay for the metered service either. A 240 VAC 50/60 Hz. 2 wire 30 AMP Nema 3R (encl.) service is recommended. A recent NY times road test stated that 4 people in a Chevy Volt traveled over 300 miles and averaged 64 miles per gallon of premium gasolene. The AC battery charge cost was not given. That is better economy than any motor vehicle currently on the road. So is the electric car going nowhere fast or what? Your thoughts?

Cheers, DPW [ Always remember that you are not going to live forever.]

 

Sounds like the cars are a bit ahead of their time, if that ever arrives. If it's pure electric and you can't charge it except at home, it's just a grocery-getter.

I'd like to see the corrected figure for the mileage equivalent, with the cost of the recharge factored in.

My Honda FIT gives me 38 MPG. Base is still down around $15K.

 

Here in TN, where there is a Nissan Plant, we had a statewide Electronics Instructor meeting 3 weeks ago. In the meeting we were informed that Nissan is putting together some sort of instructional package just for Instructors on what the requirements would be for the charging stations.
That will help us to train the students on what will be required as far as state codes. We did not get information as to how people would pay for a charge in a public area.
When that release will be is still not known, not by us anyways.

 

Yes, the electric car is just a grocery getter IMO. I don't think there will ever be such a charging station. The hybrid is just an over-unity device IMO (i have only briefly looked at how they work, hence the IMO, so correct me if I'm wrong). what is a good idea (IMO, of course) is a plug-in hybrid. Change the programming so that the car will be full electric until the battery depletes to a certain level and then kick on the gas engine. It could be your fully electric grocery getter all week until you go to the beach on the weekend, at which time it turns into a fuel efficient compact.

 

To me it isn't so much about electrical outlets, they are outside almost every home in the USA, but speed of charge.

An electric hybrid is not overunity, they exist, and are documented. They are just very, very efficient. Overunity does not exist, and the documentation and repeatability is always iffy or nonexistent, with no hard numbers to back them up. Overunity is always a matter of faith and opinion, with numbers considered unimportant by the true believers, while scammers will make up number (it is, after all, what they do).

There are engines I am really curious why they are not used, as they are much more efficient than internal combustion engines. Stirling engines would seem to be ideal for electric hybrids, as they are much, much more efficient. All the things that make Stirling engines impractical as the only power source for a car, such as lack of a good throttle, is excellent to drive a generators/alternator.

 

To me it isn't so much about electrical outlets, they are outside almost every home in the USA, but speed of charge.

An electric hybrid is not overunity, they exist, and are documented.

No doubt they exist. I understand that overunity is mythical and when I made the comment I was suggesting that the idea that adding an electrical cycle to a mechanical system does not increase efficiency. Back when the prius first came out, I read somewhere that a group of university students removed the battery & motor from a hybrid and it got better gas mileage.

There are engines I am really curious why they are not used, as they are much more efficient than internal combustion engines. Stirling engines would seem to be ideal for electric hybrids, as they are much, much more efficient. All the things that make Stirling engines impractical as the only power source for a car, such as lack of a good throttle, is excellent to drive a generators/alternator.

I have never seen a stirling engine power anything. The only times I ever see one is on display, running independently of a load. I suspect they don't produce enough energy to power anything except themselves. The whole principle of expanding/contracting air is cool and I plan to make one some day and see for myself if it's hype as I suspect.

 

I have never seen a stirling engine power anything. The only times I ever see one is on display, running independently of a load. I suspect they don't produce enough energy to power anything except themselves. The whole principle of expanding/contracting air is cool and I plan to make one some day and see for myself if it's hype as I suspect.

Scratch that, I just found a 55KW stirling generator....

 

They were meant to replace steam engines by a scottish minister who was tired of seeing some of his flock being killed by steam explosions. The reason they didn't take off then is metals melted at too low temperatures, and ceramics as we know them today didn't exist. Technology has only improved them.

They were experimented with during the 70's gas crunch by auto manufacturers. Several prototypes were successfully constructed.

There is a commercial where a railroad claims it can move a ton of freight 500 miles off of one gallon of case, these are also hybrids taken to monster sizes.

 

There is a commercial where a railroad claims it can move a ton of freight 500 miles off of one gallon

When you divide the total diesel used figuring on a 2000 ton train, the mileage figure is pretty good. When you add in those other 1999 tons, the figure is not so hot. The ratio of train weight to freight varies a lot, too.

 

You don't really think a commercial is going to mention the down side, do you?

I look at it as efficiencies in scale.

The other thing I forgot to mention about the Stirling engine, it can use anything that burns, being an external combustion engine. I suppose candle wax would clog the works, but it would work as long as it is liquid.

 

[QUOTETo me it isn't so much about electrical outlets, they are outside almost every home in the USA, but speed of charge.

][/QUOTE]

One of the issues was what voltage/current configuration was going to be implemented.
Apparently the faster rate charger is of a higher voltage or current on the mains.

 

To me it isn't so much about electrical outlets, they are outside almost every home in the USA, but speed of charge.

An electric hybrid is not overunity, they exist, and are documented. They are just very, very efficient. Overunity does not exist, and the documentation and repeatability is always iffy or nonexistent, with no hard numbers to back them up. Overunity is always a matter of faith and opinion, with numbers considered unimportant by the true believers, while scammers will make up number (it is, after all, what they do).

There are engines I am really curious why they are not used, as they are much more efficient than internal combustion engines. Stirling engines would seem to be ideal for electric hybrids, as they are much, much more efficient. All the things that make Stirling engines impractical as the only power source for a car, such as lack of a good throttle, is excellent to drive a generators/alternator.

You have a Nema 3R, 240 AC outlet outside your home? You're the only one I know...

 

Apparently you didn't bother to read the owners manual.

http://www.chevrolet.com/assets/pdf/owners/manuals/2011/2011_chevrolet_volt_owners.pdf

Page 9-56.

The following are the minimum
requirements for circuits used to
charge this vehicle:
. 120V/15Amp
. 240V/20Amp

You assumed, I looked it up. Assumptions are not a good idea when stating something as fact.

I assumed too, but since 120VAC is the norm in the USA (not 240VAC) it made sense. Using 240VAC does speed up the process since it has more wattage, but like I said, almost every home in the USA has an external 120VAC outlet.

 

A lack of charging data is the first issue. Should you use 120 VAC., 15 amp service or 240 VAC., 40 amp service? To charge your battery bank expeditiously, 240 VAC should be used it seems or perhaps, waiting an additional 8 hours for the 115 VAC service to provide sufficient charge is warranted. A lack of specific charge data is not only annoying but can leave you stranded with no transportation because with no battery, you cannot even start the gasolene engine!

No applause for GM this time, DPW

 

No argument there. Still, overnight is not a bad thing, and I doubt it will be 8 hours. I used to service forklifts, which had some monster batteries. It was one of my least favorite jobs.