In most cars, accessories like windshield wipers, air conditioning and the stereo are powered by the battery, which is recharged by the engine through the alternator, or directly by the engine. But the Volt doesn't have an alternator, and it has something draining the batteries other cars don't - the wheels. They need all the juice they can get. "You really start taking away from the range when you're using 10-speaker audio systems, wipers," Allen says. "These systems need to be redone, and they are being redone." Full Article
That's funny, I use my 6-disk in-dash 9-speaker stereo almost every day and still achieve more than 65MPG in the summer. And I always thought that it was the friction on the road - not the wipers - that hinder my mileage in the rain.
[sarcasm] Hmm....If they have to raise the price much more, say to provide adjustable seats (that also use battery power) they might have a reason to cancel the project, because you know because no one would want to buy one at that price...... [/sarcasm] My Prius only has 9 speakers, maybe they should go with 9 speakers for $30k instead of 10 speakers at $35k.
Perhaps I am wrong but shouldn't the Volt use some sort of Regenerative Braking, the bulk of the parts are already there.
Then, what's the generator sitting infront of the range extender(ICE)? Just carry them around as dead weight? A big price to pay to brag as an electric car (with range extender) instead of series hybrid. The concept of Volt is completely opposite of HSD. Volt's electric and ICE are mutually exclusive where HSD utilize the synergy between gas and electric.
Dang, there goes the 20-way power heated, ventilated, massaging, active bolsters front seats with 3-way memory!
Yeah, I brought this up in the other Volt-bashing thread. This has got to be right up there with some of the most idiotic price-increase excuses I've heard. Powering the radio reduces range? And wipers? Good lord. My back of the envelope calculations show that at most that could account for about 12' of range. Show of hands now. Who'd rather listen to a two-speaker stereo, and apply RainX to save $5,000? How can you take these guys seriously? I understand the price increase. There was no responsible way to sell this car for the rediculous, and seemingly random price tag that was first suggested. (not to mention how silly it is to mention a price when a battery hasn't even been decided on yet!) So suck it up and increase the price. No reason to make pathetic excuses like this! Surprise, nobody was really expecting the Volt to meet the initial specs. At least nobody who was paying attention.. and who isn't Malorn.
As the average person has 2 ears why not 2 speakers, maybe 4 or 6 but why is 10 a requirement? when you have 4 six inch wide tyres on the ground I can't see 2 1/16 inch wide wiper blades making a huge drag. I'm guessing GM products normally offer wipers as an optional extra? Otherwise I have no idea why it wasn't in the original pricing.
Although I agree it's bizarro to blame wipers and 10 speaker stereos, there is a good reason for more speakers. A given size speaker only produces certain frequencies ranges well and you want to cover at least the front and the back. So, at least you want woofers and tweeters for the fronts and maybe a "full-range" speakers for the rears or also the same setup as up front == 6 to 8 speakers.
Funny thing is my Camry and I got by fine with a couple of midrange duel cone speakers up front and a couple of 3 way 6 inch speakers up back. Oh well. My Prius sounds fine to me with 6 speakers. Lots of people here have said the premium sound system sounds better if the front centre speaker is disconnected meaning 8 beats 9.
I wonder if they ever thought of using a hybrid/combo battery pack. To keep the prices lower. Set a target to have full Lithium by the last year of generation 1 or the start of the gen 2 as the price of the packs become cheaper. Example year 1 battey (50 % LiION + 50 % NiMH) year 2 battery (60 % LiION + 40 % NiMH) and so forth. Then each year they would be gradually reducing weight and pack size and increasing space or gradually reducing weight and extending range. I'm no battery electrical engineer but it seems like that would be possible. Obviously GM's advertising is flawed, based on reading other forums as it seems the average idiot poster seems to think that the 40 mile charge range means that you cannot drive more than 40 miles. It sort of reminds me of how many times have I read an article that mistakenly says that the Prius runs on batteries at speeds less than 35 mph and only uses the engine at speeds greater then 35 mph. The general public will never get the concept, my wife's entire family all think that that the battery in my Prius wont last the life of the car and think I'll be lucky if it lasts 5 years.
I suspect that the charge/discharge characteristics of LiIon and NiMH batteries are not the same. Besides, to get the range, they need something like the LiIon - Much more power (4X??) available for an equal sized battery.
I guess that I will just add: If they still need to finalize the design of the HV battery using a Li-Ion technology that no other company has used in a production vehicle to date, the announcement that they need to reengineer the windshield wipers leads me to believe the project will be significantly delayed if not cancelled altogether. :doh:
My God! How did Man survive when cars didn't have radios, let alone surround sound? Perhaps the obvious solution is one of those wind powered generators to run the stereo and manually operated windshield wipers which would give the passenger something to do. That wind powered generator would probably only add another $1000 to the "cost".:loco:
You could put a retractable one on the rear bumper, which would come out in a tail wind greater than the speed being travelled!
+1 Here is a prediction: If GM continues to post poor financial performance (and there is every indication they will have another negative quarter for 1Q2008), expect the Volt to be cancelled. Everything I have seen from GM says that they just don't get it.
Not only will the Volt be cancelled, GM is in danger of cancelling itself I guess they should have kept those EV1's around, it probably could have meant GM's survival, instead of their eventual demise. mitch
