Comments on: Congress Throws Cash At Plug-In Hybrids

By: Zero X Owner

Zero X Owner — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:41:55 +0000

How sad that the credit was gamed so that my registered daily driver, my high performance electric motorcycle with a 2kWh lithium power pack, doesn’t qualify. Only cars that don’t exist and the Tesla Roadster currently qualify for the credit in 2010. What a rip.

By: Flash

Flash — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:13:31 +0000

Try spending $2,333.33, not $2.3 billion dollars. Do the math!

By: Bryce

Bryce — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:48:38 +0000

Probably the one with more horse power and torque, which the Volt would have….lol.

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 15:24:40 +0000

Any bets on who “zips by” who, Bryce?

By: Bryce

Bryce — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:02:18 +0000

limited use of a series hybrid. I don't know about you, but no complicated transmission makes it LESS complicated. The biggest barrier now is software optimization and battery development. The battery is there and the software is being written as we speak.

Like I said before, you can drive whatever car you want, but while you are burning gas, I will be zipping by on only electricity.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:02:05 +0000

Dom, the first thing I'd suggest you buy with your share of that money is "The Video Professor's Remedial Second Grade Arithmetic" DVD

700 billion divided by 300 million is about $2,300, not 2.3 billion. If it is divided amongst the taxpayers fairly, in the proportion of taxes they paid in, since 10% of the taxpayers pay 90% of the taxes, regular guys like you and me would get $230.00. That will probably get you the video prof's DVD and a nice player, and maybe a couple of beers to help you through it.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:50:50 +0000

Bryce, I think you misunderstand the technology differences between the Prius series-parallel hybrid design and the more limited technology of either a series hybrid like the Volt or a parallel hybrid like the Vonda. You should do a little more reading before you bash, because your comments look a little foolish and naive.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:46:17 +0000

What the hell is congress doing rolling this up in the bailout plan?

By: Bryce

Bryce — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:35:16 +0000

The difference is the prius is a parallel hybrid while the Volt is a series hybrid. One uses no gas, and one will always use a little. Volt only will use that little bit of gas if you happen to go beyond its range, which in all likelihood, in a day, you won't.

The site is gm-volt.com

It is run by a guy back East who was really enthused by the concept last year and created the site to essentially make sure GM made the car. You can thank him probably for this car actually coming to fruition. It has articles on it (new ones almost every day, sometimes twice a day) that talk about new developments in the underlying technology. He has managed over the past year to get lots of inside connections on the project, so besides the people actually building the Volt, he probably knows more about it than anyone else.

By: Shines

Shines — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:31:59 +0000

Bryce – I recall you mentioning another site that kept up on all the Volt’s engineering details, can you pass that along again?
As far as highway driving; 50 mph uses much less energy than 65 mph. I’m not convinced on the Volts all electric range – we really will have to wait and see.
Bill Cosworth – The Volt is also a hybrid
Who’s to say putting a Lithium battery in the Prius (old school) hybrid system won’t extend its range to 40 miles on electric alone…
Seeing as the Prius is here today and the Volt is still over a year away I’m not sure how you determine what is old school…