Volt Birth Watch 79: Production Volt Spied on Transformers Set
Published: August 29th, 2008
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Well, here it is, courtesy of LeftLane News. Maybe. The Chevy electric – gas plug-in hybrid sure doesn't look like the show car that GM's been advertising (as if you could go down and buy one). On the other hand, the Volt shown here isn't a Malibu-a-like, which is a good thing. (Unless you ascribe to Ye Olde German "Different Length of Sausages" School of Model Design.) On the other other hand, the Volt pictured lacks the Toyota Prius' instantly identifiable "quirkiness" and attendant green cred. In fact, in this guise, the Volt's front end shares more than a little gestalt with the current Ford Fusion. So, over to you, our Best and Brightest. Did GM's designers get it right?
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If the volt is essentially a prius/A2/insight shape with a chopped roof (might just be the high beltline) it might be able to pull off better aero #s than the Prius through a reduced cross section. Once again CdA is the number to worry about. Cd means squat.
There is a small car company starting up with a car that pays total attention to the areodynamics of a car. The car disposes of the double rear wheel. that causes drag. The car is designed like a tear drop that provides for the best drag numbers for a car. The single rear wheel drive disposes of weight complexity and a 30% reduction of friction loss from all those gears trying to figure out which wheel should get the power. The instability will be resolved by a anti-roller chip controllering the anti-lock breaks. A four passenger version can be had by making the seating into a diamond. This will sell in both left and right hand drive countries. Small is so much easier than BIG CEO's Big board of directors and total loss of creativity as engineers are lost in morass of studing single angolrithms for 30 years. This car is a two seater, one rear wheel drive and will get 200mpg to 300mpg and cost $25,000. Now why is anybody buying a hybrid and to all of the big car companies you folks think have the nerve to build a car for MPG of ethanol. THINK AGAIN
@KixStart: it started this year, and the Prius languished for its first years, too. Go to a university campus and see what the "Inconvenient Truth Fanatic" professors are driving- Civic Hybrids. Students are driving them too- its shape is much better proportioned, the price is lower, and the mileage is similar. It probably isn't all about the shape- It probably has to do more about the fact that the Prius is a miserable car.
z31, And reduced cross-section means... what? Lower roof? Narrower vehicle? Those changes reduce the capacity and utility of the vehicle. mikeolan, Except you can't prove that at all... you've no way to factor out gas prices and I doubt you've done a comprehensive study of American universities, anyway. And the Prius as miserable car? I've driven one; I liked it. On the other hand, I'm satisfied with a 10 sec 0-60, which is probably about what my 283 Chevelle Malibu did. At 15 to 20mpg. With less headroom. As for "Inconvenient Truth Fanatic" professors... if they're the chem, physics and biology professors... I guess I'd be really worried about global warming. If it's the political science types, then maybe not. On the other hand, where I work, we have quite a few PhD types, in R&D and manufacturing. The people I know who are the most concerned about global warming happen to have physics and chemical engineering doctorates (and several work in aerosols). Added: By the way, mikeolan, the Prius had a waiting list pretty much from teh get-go.