volt

Have fun Mikey :-)

The Volt and the EV1 is not the same thing.

Only thing they have in common is that they both have batteries and are over priced, over hyped and one is already over and the other one may well be over soon.

Volt is not an electrical vehicle so who cares anyway.

If the Volt will be made into an electrical vehicle it might be interesting but it is pretty surely priced way beyond any reason.

have you tried to watch (are you smarter than a fifth grader), it might be a little over your head but enough time and you will catch up. A good test buy a tesla that goes 100 miles then you go 101 miles across the desert then post how the return trip was. If I have a volt I will be back for 8 hours before you start back.

At least it is for guys like you who work at McDonalds ;)

The Volt and the EV1 is not the same thing.

Only thing they have in common is that they both have batteries and are over priced, over hyped and one is already over and the other one may well be over soon.

Volt is not an electrical vehicle so who cares anyway.

If the Volt will be made into an electrical vehicle it might be interesting but it is pretty surely priced way beyond any reason.

The Tesla has been reported to go up to a bit over 400 miles on one charge.

The battery packs get cheaper, last longer and are lighter all the time.

Stations with fast charge options are growing in number.

They fully charge in minutes.

One could buy THREE Volts for the price of a Tesla. ;)

The Tesla has been reported to go up to a bit over 400 miles on one charge.

The battery packs get cheaper, last longer and are lighter all the time.

Stations with fast charge options are growing in number.

They fully charge in minutes.

400 miles on one charge BS bells again, you would have to tow a trailer full of batteries or have a chase car. I think 5th grade may be advanced with you. your knowledge of automobiles would fit on a 3 X 5 card with 2 1/2 X 5 left over

A trailer full of batts isn't going to do it unless the dynamic breaking systems get close to 100% efficient. Forthcoming roll-over crash safety requirements will add lotsa mass. (My 2010 Lacrosse is roll-over test-capable and the mass of the rool pillars is unreal.)

Just gandering at the current crop of electrics and hybrids (having driven only a rental Prius), I think the aero and rolling drag (fat tires) on the current crop of plug-in's will limit the disconnected cruising range --- we'll be hybrid dependent for a long time.

Aside from a superfluous run to the post office or fast-food shop, most of my municipal trips average 40 miles round trip. When I combine a couple of side-trips on top of that makes it 55 or 60. The shortest trip I make out of town is a 150 mile, one-way venture with a lot of grades to burn kilowatts.

-- pj

Agree w/Mike on this.

I need three vehicles. I light-weight round-town 60-80 mile electric. About $ 15,000 in 2010 dollars.

And, a comfortable, over the road machine that gets good fuel mileage.

And, a performance car -- something that I won't care about gas-mileage wise. (will be driven 3-4K miles per year.

So don't buy an electric. There are many MILLIONS of people in the U.S. who would do fine with 40-

60 mile range plug-in for daily needs if the price is right. 100-200 mile range would sell even more, but there's plenty of market for 40-60. A smart seller will provide a platform that can be upgraded to new battery technology and promise that more miles are in the works, with a steep discount for battery trade-in. Keeping the promise is another story. The real issue is price. Always is. Long distance travel for pure electrics is an entirely different matter. Electrical infrastucture for long distance refueling isn't there. The "fast" recharging one guy here talks about is a pipe dream. Has to be standardization of batteries and connections so they can be quickly swapped out on the road at recharging stations. Factories with electric forklift fleets have been using the recharging station swap method for decades. On-car consumption meters can handle the billing. But setting up the rest of the infrastucture will cost big time. Starting with building more nuke generating plants. In the meantime plug-in hybrids look like an excellent option. Serves both short and long-distance travel. But it'll take $10.00 a gallon gas before things change much. The marketplace deals all the cards in the end.

That is most likely the case for many Americans. If gas mileage was paramount, we would be buying the midget and small cars that are available for every manufacturer. The fact is Americans prefer the larger safer, more usable, mid-size cars. GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, as well as the European and the Koreans best selling cars are their mid-size cars, not their midget and small cars.

The best selling vehicles in the US are not cars, in any event, they are pickup trucks. The best selling single brand vehicle in the US and the world is the Ford F150, it has been for over 33 years.

I currently drive a 2009 Mustang GT convertible and a 2010 Lincoln MKZ, that I use when I need seating for more than four people. I don't care about the price of fuel, but the Mustang easily averages 23 and the MKZ 26.

..

As time goes by then there will be more and more restrictions on old type cars. The cities will only allow electric cars with reduced speed. There are already quite a number of privileges for electrical cars. Long distance travel will mostly be with trains. Many trains allow you to bring the car along. For the country as a whole going electric is the way to go and more and more rules will be set in order to make it more feasible for the individuals to make that choice. Road tax on fuel will be used more and more. We are in for the biggest change in transport history ever.

You must get your info from comic books, what your saying would cost more than all the money spent to date on infrastructure.

All one need do is do a bit of traveling around the US and it will become apparent why trains will not replace the automobile in this country, in this century.

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om...

These kind of things have been happening in Europe and the rest of the world will eventually learn.

What you are not considering is that almost all of the countries in this world are so far in debt there is no money to pay for that massive undertaking. The US debt alone is

12 trillion bucks the govt says we cannot pay it back. if the countries holding our debt cash out we wont have to worry about the future it will be horse and buggy.

s.com...

I do consider that too.

I have traveled a lot in trains all over Europe for a great number of years and it is really amazing to see how they have changed over the years.

In Europe they have also had high tax on fuel so it is slowly changing the way people plan their trips, what kind of cars are bought and they higher prices now are no surprise.

The changes I am witnessing there are sure to happen in the states too but I have not seen it yet but it will.

It may take decades and it will definitely be costly.

Watching these kinds of changes is like watching the grass and trees grow. It is very slow but it does happen.

Cheap fuel in the past is proven to have been a very costly mistake.

*******

The Americans wont go to anything like this that will crimp the traditional transportation ritual until and unless it is forced upon us.

The totally electric car is not, at this time, viable in the USA.

That is the whole point.

It is starting to be forced.

The wages are going down, jobs going to poorer countries, price of fuel going up.

This is a trend that is going to continue and that will force the change.

How the change will be, how fast, where and when only time will tell.

Cars will become smaller and eventually only electric cars in cities along with more and more public transport.

The speed inside cities will go down, if and where cars are allowed in cities there will be no traffic signs and pedestrians will rule.

Major highways will be closed down and ever fewer lanes.

It is only a matter of time.

You can more or less see the trend in action in Europe, India and China going from different directions towards the same goal.

There are already a number of cities with electrical vehicles only and pedestrians and public transport.

Streets closed and made into pedestrian areas.

The time of the fuel hog is soon over.

The crisis of the big car companies the last few years is a sign of this trend.

If they do not go electric they will go under because the rest of the world is going electric.