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GM Chevy Volt
- Thread starter vfx
- Start date
Ouch, murdered that joke.
Nice recovery.
Norbert
TSLA will win
The Chevrolet Volt is attracting new faces in the face of persistent critics
Coming from gm-volt.com ...
Coming from gm-volt.com ...
GM has a building in Palo Alto. Do they have public plug boxes out front? And are they listed on Charge maps? I accidently found a GM building near here that had two plug boxes in the parking lot (and apparently two more in the parking garage). Was told by someone there that hey were not public. Can someone swing by and report?
http://thespeculativetechinvestor.blogspot.com/2011/08/electric-vehiclevolt-meet-up-gm-office.html
http://thespeculativetechinvestor.blogspot.com/2011/08/electric-vehiclevolt-meet-up-gm-office.html
Yeah, there are two Voltec EVSEs right in front of the GM advanced tech research center (next to Fry's electronics).
They are clearly marked for GM use only.
Also, those Voltecs might only be 16A.
If you are in that area, there are a couple of 'public' ChargePoints at the CreekSide Inn a couple of blocks away.
They are clearly marked for GM use only.
Also, those Voltecs might only be 16A.
If you are in that area, there are a couple of 'public' ChargePoints at the CreekSide Inn a couple of blocks away.
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Over here:
Public EVSE Charging Stations, Retrofitting, and Who is Responsible?
DonC wrote:
As people compare the efficiency of gas use compared to MPGe of different vehicles, how does this factor in?
If you leave a Volt plugged in for a long time with it "constantly conditioning the battery" how much extra energy was used for maintenance?
If a gas car's tank is fully sealed and doesn't leak, then it shouldn't lose MPG just sitting there, but I gather a Volt's MPGe goes down from being parked and left on charge. The car readouts probably only track based on miles driven versus energy pulled from the pack, not energy used at the wall to control temperature of the pack. Perhaps someday the "wall to wheel" efficiency needs to take into account the average power used by a particular vehicle when it is just left plugged in for long periods of time.
Public EVSE Charging Stations, Retrofitting, and Who is Responsible?
DonC wrote:
DonC said:
As people compare the efficiency of gas use compared to MPGe of different vehicles, how does this factor in?
If you leave a Volt plugged in for a long time with it "constantly conditioning the battery" how much extra energy was used for maintenance?
If a gas car's tank is fully sealed and doesn't leak, then it shouldn't lose MPG just sitting there, but I gather a Volt's MPGe goes down from being parked and left on charge. The car readouts probably only track based on miles driven versus energy pulled from the pack, not energy used at the wall to control temperature of the pack. Perhaps someday the "wall to wheel" efficiency needs to take into account the average power used by a particular vehicle when it is just left plugged in for long periods of time.
Further reading suggest that the Volt may actually self drain the battery when the car isn't driven for a while to help make the pack last longer.
(Storing at 50% SOC is better than 100% particularly if it is hot.)
A Leaf doesn't do that as you have no "fallback plan" when your battery runs out, but a Volt engineer can decide "we would rather have you burn some extra gas to help the battery pack last longer since we have a long battery warantee to consider."
Public EVSE Charging Stations, Retrofitting, and Who is Responsible?
(Storing at 50% SOC is better than 100% particularly if it is hot.)
A Leaf doesn't do that as you have no "fallback plan" when your battery runs out, but a Volt engineer can decide "we would rather have you burn some extra gas to help the battery pack last longer since we have a long battery warantee to consider."
Public EVSE Charging Stations, Retrofitting, and Who is Responsible?
Those proud Volt owners that are doing 99 percent of their driving in full electric mode are doing more damage to their battery than a Leaf or Roadster owner.
Haven't heard it for a while but one of the downsides to the Volt hybrid is that the battery gets fully charged and discharged many more times than a larger range full electric traveling the same amount of all electric miles per year.
The Volt's battery management system when not charging may be trying to coddle that battery like the Roadster does but the owner above really needs it much more for sustained battery life.
Full cycle case:
Roadster 100K miles @ 240 miles per charge = 416 cycles
Volt 100K miles @ 40 miles per charge = 2500 cycles
And a typical Li-ion cycle life chart tends to be in a few thousands I think.
So, yeah, they are probably hoping most people don't do 100% EV driving in their Volt.
And if a typical daily drive is 40 miles, and people charge every night, the Roadster owner only does a small 16% daily DoD compared to 100% for the Volt. Night and day.
(Yeah, I know, particular battery chemistry is a big factor too, but still...)
Lithium Cobalt:
High-Power Cobalt-Based Lithium-ion Battery - Battery University
Roadster 100K miles @ 240 miles per charge = 416 cycles
Volt 100K miles @ 40 miles per charge = 2500 cycles
And a typical Li-ion cycle life chart tends to be in a few thousands I think.
So, yeah, they are probably hoping most people don't do 100% EV driving in their Volt.
And if a typical daily drive is 40 miles, and people charge every night, the Roadster owner only does a small 16% daily DoD compared to 100% for the Volt. Night and day.
(Yeah, I know, particular battery chemistry is a big factor too, but still...)
Lithium Cobalt:
High-Power Cobalt-Based Lithium-ion Battery - Battery University
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ljbad4life
Member
I've read that the chevy volt's battery only charges to 80-90% and never goes below 30% of total battery capacity (16kwH, it uses 10-11kwH for driving).The Volt's battery will stay in that sweet spot while the unconditioned LEAF will have range swing wildly with temperature and degrade quicker. The Volt's battery is thermal conditioned just like the roadster. I will track down the facts in a bit.
Yes they are. PHEV duty cycles have got to be the hardest on battery life. The Volt compensates by only using 65% of the rated capacity, which helps cycle life. Active thermal management, like the Roadster (maybe even better than the Roadster in cold climates), helps also.
If you think about it, the Volt drivers that seldom use gas, are arriving home with some EV miles left, and are not using the full 65% capacity. The volt drivers that use Gas everyday are putting a "full" cycle on the pack. Someone driving 80 mi to work, charging during the day, then driving 80 mi home would be the toughest case, not the 99% EV driver.
GSP
If the info I saw is correct, and the Volt "self-drains" the pack to ~50%SOC when not driven for a while, one would hope that they could use V2G to give the power back the grid when plugged in. Unfortunately, I would bet (at least for now) they just "burn off" the power in an effort to keep the pack in storage charge range. Does anyone know how they do this? Run the A/C and Heat while unattended until the pack is at a lower SOC?
Some of this Volt behavior seems to be (at least in part) behind why GM was so keen to make sure Volts can be left plugged in for long periods at airports and such. I gather that someone could remotely command the Volt to adjust pack SOC and cabin climate just before they get back to their car if it is left plugged in.
I wonder if voltage self-drained and then added back later is factored into the MPGe numbers?
Some of this Volt behavior seems to be (at least in part) behind why GM was so keen to make sure Volts can be left plugged in for long periods at airports and such. I gather that someone could remotely command the Volt to adjust pack SOC and cabin climate just before they get back to their car if it is left plugged in.
I wonder if voltage self-drained and then added back later is factored into the MPGe numbers?
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