Automotive The Racket

The Chevrolet Volt , the extended-range model of the U.S. firm will be sold in eight cities in China, according to the company anunciaco the Guangzhou Motor Show . The cities chosen for the marketing of this vehicle to be sold in the Chinese market at a price of $ 75,533 (56,370 euros), are Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Foshan.

In this way, China will become one of the first global markets which offer the Chevrolet Volt, a vehicle that can travel over 80 miles in electric mode, thanks to a 151 hp engine . When the battery is discharged, another motor fuel in this case, causes a generator to produce electricity, which allows travel another 500 miles.

The battery is charged by connecting the motor to the power supply of 230 V for just under four hours.The charger is located under the trunk, making it necessary to remove the charge for use. You can select four load intensities (16, 13, 10 or 6 amps) which, in principle, should allow recharging from any wall outlet without skip the PIA (the circuit breaker that controls the network overload). The smaller the selected intensity greater time to recharge.

Technically, the main difference between the Volt and a Prius is that the Volt, the electric motor is the main fuel and serves to increase autonomy. The Prius, the main engine is the gas and electricity is used to support or to move at low speed. Functionally, the difference is that the Volt can travel many more miles without hearing the gasoline engine (about sixty miles, compared with two of the Prius). Prius plug-in version, not yet commercialized, has an electric range of about 20 km. Also, the battery of a normal Prius has a capacity ten times less than the Volt and the plug about a third.

In 1978, Chevrolet was proud of the 25 years of his Corvette. Therefore, the pace car of the Indianapolis 500 was a Corvette, which then sold replicas to ordinary people. In total there were 6502 units sold very quickly indeed. The original owner of image unit bought with the idea of saving and waiting for its revaluation , which would justify the 13 miles of your odometer (or odometer). Look at the video behind the jump seats steering wheel and still have the protective plastic from the factory.

But in 1995 the owner sold her house and took the car to a barn where he has spent the years between stacks of boxes and objects, until the owner has decided to sell it to pump some dogs. Now the car is on sale at Corvette Mike New England Center. Best of all is that according to the announcement, the original wheels are still air, but more importantly, the engine starts. Also started with the original gas remaining in the deposit…

If the intention is very nice and the look of the Volt is reminiscent of attractive five-door Malibu Maxx, but I think Chevrolet is still far from providing a really sensible proposal for an electric car.

It seems that GM did not want at all to market an electric vehicle, but it does so many people buy a BlackBerry, although he does not see the utility and do not believe in his performance, is fashionable and others already have one.

If GM really believed in the concept of an environmentally friendly vehicle from zero or low emissions, would focus on raising the battery life achieves only a measly 60 km, but the real irony is that the Volt relies on a motor of 1.4 internal combustion to rotate a generator that feeds the battery once it is downloaded.

That’s where people are asking (not the people of GM, of course):

* Why not just a gasoline engine 1.4 and you? It would save space and weight of the battery and the car would perform better!

* Why not reduce the gasoline engine to 1 liter or less and is used in electric rear axle configuration and gasoline in front? Read the rest of this entry →