Re: [Phys-L] electric cars

[Richard Taylor <rtaylor.physics@tx.rr.com>]

I've had a Chevy Volt for over a year. (Volt owners always tell their number: We're 1705-- the 1705th Volt to be made.) The Volt gets about 38 to 45 miles on a charge; the low end in winter and the high end for the warm summer. This is a serial hybrid. After the battery is fully discharged a gasoline engine comes on running a generator that continues to power the electric motor that drives the car. There is no "range anxiety" as there is with the Nissan Leaf, though the range on the Leaf is perhaps double the electric range on the Volt. I have about 15000 miles on the car, 12000 electric and 3000 on gas. Last summer we drove to Florida (from Dallas) and back to see the last Shuttle launch, and that accounts for most of the gas miles. On gas I got about 39 miles/gallon. The cost of the electricity converts to about 120 miles/gallon. 
 
For about nine months I charged it with 120V-- I just plugged it into the wall outlet in the garage, and it fully charged overnight, about 10 hours. More recently I had a 240V charger installed, and it now charges in maybe 4 hours. Apparently current limits keep if from charging four times as fast. There have been absolutely no problems with the car. There were concerns that the batteries might burst into flames in just the right kind of accident, so GM brought the car back, gave us a dorky rental, and added reinforcement to the battery compartment. Chevrolet has been good to us. Each Volt owner is assigned to a representative who contacts us by email from time to time to make sure we're happy.

I drive about 14 miles to work, so a 40 mile range keeps me all electric. For a while I would have to run on gas when I needed to run long distance errands, but now the school has installed a charging unit, so I really don't use much gas at all. I guess it costs them 40¢ a day, more or less, to present the school as an environmentally conscious system. My wife and I use the Volt as our primary car. The last time I put gas in the car was in January. 

It drives great! I think that I may have gotten the first speeding ticket in an electric car doing 81 mph in a 60. What the cop didn't know was that I was slowing down from going 101 mph-- it was the 3rd day I had it and I was checking it out. It accelerates and handles well. Rear seat passengers don't complain, but this is not as large as a Prius (our other car.)

The car is not cheap-- I think the sticker price was about $42K, including leather, GPS, and all the fine accoutrements. (We got $7500 of that back on our income tax.) If you buy a car of equivalent size but gas, it will cost less. But it won't be nearly as cool. People pay extra to have cool cars-- you have to think of it as an expensive cool car, and you get a bonus of never having to make a fast stop at a gas station on the way to work in the morning. 

We love our Volt-- it's quiet, clean, and fun to drive. It's nice to see heads turn and have people stop and ask us about it. And we've had no complaints.
  
--
Richard L. Taylor
The Hockaday School
Dallas

"He who repeats what he does not understand
is no better than an ass that is loaded with books"
   Kahilil Gibran



On Jun 20, 2012, at 10:59 AM, Anthony Lapinski wrote:

> I think (and hope) that electric cars will be the future of the automobile
> industry, and also help the environment. I know this technology is not
> fully developed/advanced.
>
> I am hoping to buy a new car next year or so. I usually keep a car for
> over ten years. I mainly drive locally, about 10k mi/yr (25 mi/day). I
> know there are some hybrids and electric cars on the market.
>
> Does anyone have an electric car? The kind you can simply plug in at home.
> Are the electric cars on the market "reliable"?
>
> Any advice for people thinking about purchasing an electric vehicle? Wait
> five years?
>
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