This is a effing joke. I hope you Obots are happy. You just wasted BILLIONS more of our money on this $41,000 lemon. A holes.

The elevation difference between home and work is about 1,300 feet over the 21.5 miles. The last 6.5 miles on the way home account for 975 feet of the elevation difference.”

Comment:
In a report posted at http://www.ct.gov/dot/LIB/dot/documents/dresearch/CT-2223-1-04-6.pdf is an account of driving the Autoroad on Mt. Washington, New Hampshire, in a “Solectria” electric car with 16 kWh NiCd battery. Manufacturer’s specifications for the Solectria’s AC induction motor state that it will deliver approximately 44 HP and is a brushless sealed design that weighs 78 pounds (lbs). Company specifications further state that it has extremely low electrical resistance; nominal power is 12 kW and nominal torque is 20 Nm; while maximum power and torque are 37 kW and 70 Nm, respectively. Nominal motor speed is 4,000 rpm and maximum motor speed is 12,000 rpm. The manufacturer states the motor has an efficiency of 92%. As you can see, this car had less power than a Chevy Volt, but a battery of similar capacity. The Solectria with NiCd battery weighed 2,700 lbs.

The summit of Mount Washington is 6,288 feet above mean sea level. The Mt. Washington “Autoroad” is approximately 7.6 miles long and rises roughly 4,600 feet to about 6,227 feet elevation (you have to climb the rest of the way by foot to the summit). The average grade (slope) on this road is 12%, while actual grades vary between 8 and 15%, with maximum grades of about 22% very near the top. The road contains about 35% paved and 65% unpaved sections.

The EV manufacturer was consulted prior to our drive. They modeled the drive and assured us there was ample battery power in the nickel cadmium (NiCd) pack. The NiCd BEV was successfully driven up the Mt. Washington “Autoroad” on a single charge. The car had ample capacity for this hill climb. In fact, as a result of regenerative braking on the descent, the car appeared to have enough energy in its batteries to repeat the drive to the summit, but our schedule did not allow sufficient time for a second drive up the mountain.

Summary of Ascent
The distance registered on the car odometer during the ascent was 7.6 miles. In all, 47.06 Amp-hours were used to drive to the top. This equates to 7.02 Kilowatt-hours (DC). The speed-limit advisory is 20 mph on the Autoroad. The elapsed time to the top was one hour with four planned roadside stops.

Summary of Descent
The downhill distance registered on the car odometer was 7.3 miles. The car recovered 17.93 Amp-hours through its regenerative brakes. This equates to 2.71 kWh Kilowatt-hours (DC). The downhill speed varied, but was generally about 15-18 mph (posted speed limit was 20 mph). Table 5 in the report shows the data recorded for both the ascent and descent on the Mount Washington “Autoroad.”

Regenerative braking was all the braking required for most of the descent. Recovered energy was stored in the NiCd battery. The regenerative braking system recovered 38.6% of the energy expended for the uphill drive.

Other observation: The Solectria with 16 kWh NiCd battery consistently provided at least a 70-mile range on a charge, year round. The experience with the Solectria and what I’ve read about the Volt leads me to believe a Chevy Volt driven in central Connecticut will provide 40 miles on a charge for average drivers, but 55-65 miles for “efficient” drivers.