Thread: Chevy Volt

Originally Posted by justoneman

I read that to charge the Volt, (depending on what part of the USA) was about $2.50 over night. The max you are getting in the Volt is 30 miles on that charge. Play the radio and run the heat and go up and down hills and you can cut that mileage in half. Your $0.85 is not correct.

You're speculating wildly without any hard data to back it up. Why do you dislike electric vehicles so much?

Leaf, Volt tests show electric cars cost less per mile to operate

Chevrolet Volt owner shows Newt Gingrich how to put a gun rack in one | Motoramic - Yahoo! Autos

The price per kwt vary wildly from state to state. The average stated in the article it is 11 cents. In Connecticut it is over 18 cents. In Hawaii it is 30 cents. The USA average yields a cost of $1.20. so that is 3.8 cents a mile, if you assume the range of 30 miles. Of course people use heat and AC and this majorly affects the range. In this case the price per mile goes up.

so in Connecticut the charge overnight would be about $1.80 and in Hawaii it would be about $3.00

How about that science, huh?

Bacteria normally found 30 kilometres above Earth have been identified as highly efficient generators of electricity.

Bacillus stratosphericus -- a microbe commonly found in high concentrations in the stratosphere -- is a key component of a new 'super' biofilm that has been engineered by a team of scientists from Newcastle University.

Isolating 75 different species of bacteria from the Wear Estuary, Country Durham, UK, the team tested the power-generation of each one using a microbial fuel cell (MFC).

By selecting the best species of bacteria, a kind of microbial "pick and mix," they were able to create an artificial biofilm, doubling the electrical output of the MFC from 105 Watts per cubic metre to 200 Watts per cubic metre.

While still relatively low, this would be enough power to run an electric light and could provide a much needed power source in parts of the world without electricity.
Among the 'super' bugs was B. stratosphericus, a microbe normally found in the atmosphere but brought down to Earth as a result of atmospheric cycling processes and isolated by the team from the bed of the River Wear.

Publishing their findings Feb. 21 in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Environmental Science and Technology,
Grant Burgess, Professor of Marine Biotechnology at Newcastle University, said the research demonstrated the "potential power of the technique."
"What we have done is deliberately manipulate the microbial mix to engineer a biofilm that is more efficient at generating electricity," he explains.

"This is the first time individual microbes have been studied and selected in this way. Finding B. stratosphericus was quite a surprise but what it demonstrates is the potential of this technique for the future -- there are billions of microbes out there with the potential to generate power."

The use of microbes to generate electricity is not a new concept and has been used in the treatment of waste water and sewage plants.
Microbial fuel cells, which work in a similar way to a battery, use bacteria to convert organic compounds directly into electricity by a process known as bio-catalytic oxidation.

A biofilm -- or 'slime' -- coats the carbon electrodes of the MFC and as the bacteria feed, they produce electrons which pass into the electrodes and generate electricity.

Until now, the biofilm has been allowed to grow un-checked but this new study shows for the first time that by manipulating the biofilm you can significantly increase the electrical output of the fuel cell.

Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the study identified a number of electricity-generating bacteria.

As well as B. stratosphericus, other electricity-generating bugs in the mix were Bacillus altitudinis -- another bug from the upper atmosphere -- and a new member of the phylum Bacteroidetes.

Stratospheric superbugs offer new source of power

So. You were saying about electricity costs?

Originally Posted by justoneman

The price per kwt vary wildly from state to state. The average stated in the article it is 11 cents. In Connecticut it is over 18 cents. In Hawaii it is 30 cents. The USA average yields a cost of $1.20. so that is 3.8 cents a mile, if you assume the range of 30 miles. Of course people use heat and AC and this majorly affects the range. In this case the price per mile goes up.

so in Connecticut the charge overnight would be about $1.80 and in Hawaii it would be about $3.00

Energy is more expensive in Hawaii, not just electricity.

Originally Posted by justoneman

I read that to charge the Volt, (depending on what part of the USA) was about $2.50 over night. The max you are getting in the Volt is 30 miles on that charge. Play the radio and run the heat and go up and down hills and you can cut that mileage in half. Your $0.85 is not correct.

Looks like I shot way high according to USA-1's link.

Volt production being suspended.

GM temporarily halts production of Volt
By Keith Laing - 03/02/12 03:39 PM ET

General Motors has temporarily suspended production of its Volt electric car, the company announced Friday.

GM, which is based in Detroit, announced to employees at one of its facilities that it was halting production of the beleaguered electric car for five weeks and temporarily laying off 1,300 employees.
http://thehill.com/blogs/transportat...-of-chevy-volt

No way there were going to sell enough of these to the general public. Way to expensive.

It's the EV-1 all over again.