Saturday, January 11, 2014

The Chevrolet Volt claims up to 70 mpg what is the real number?

best electric bikes 2010 on The Electric Bike for Hell's Angels
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Hankm


I would like to know the real comparison between a high mileage gasoline car and an electric or hybrid car.

It would include the cost and environmental impact of manufacturing exotic batteries and rare earth materials for the magnets in the motors. and the costs of the charger and electricity to recharge.
AND don't forget a sinking fund to pay for the crushing cost of replacing the battery pack every so often (they always conveniently forget this one)



Answer
What is a "real" number may depend upon what you want to consider. In an effort to increase the apparent mileage some of the volt advertising only counted the actual gasoline used and not the energy in any electrical charge. This is how they made the "outrageous" claim of 230 miles per gallon. They have since backed off this number and the marketing attempt is not to their credit. More recently they are claiming around 70 to 100+ miles to a gallon. While this is more reasonable and some test drives have determined that they were getting a combined gasoline/electric "mileage equivalency" of around 90mpg, the credit goes to the electric motor and not the petrol engine.

Tesla had calculated their electric drive train at over 6 times more efficient than a petrol engine.1 We say that a petrol engine is around 15% efficient but just starting out, standing in traffic or even in stop and go traffic it would probably be fortunate to achieve this. "Fuel efficient" cars are using the same tricks that an electric vehicle uses to extend its range: lighter vehicles, better aerodynamics, and less rolling resistance. What the gas vehicle does or cannot have is the more efficient drive train or regenerative braking.

So given the efficiency differences of the drive train if the average petrol vehicle gets around 20 mpg then the "average" electric vehicle should get about 6 times this or about 120 MPGe. Present electric vehicles are doing better than this.2

There are a number of ways to consider the cost of the battery pack. I would argue that you should not include it for the initial life of the original pack. When you buy a new electric car, you are paying for the battery pack. It depreciates until its useful life is gone in about 8 to 10 years. Both the Leaf and the Volt are warranty their packs for 8 years. To amortize the cost of a new pack over the initial miles is to consider the cost twice. For a bit of a rundown on the costs per mile you can take a look at my answer here.3 The "crushing cost" of a battery pack is presently down to approximately $9000 and you may be able to find a pack with double the range and half the cost before the warranty runs out: http://electric-vehicles-cars-bikes.blogspot.com/2010/05/nissan-say-leaf-ev-battery-pack-cost.html

Although you are asking for an analysis of battery chemistry's and motors these vary widely. The AC motor does not use rare earth magnets, there are many different battery chemistry's and technology is advancing rapidly. Ultracapacitors are already being used in some buses (4) as a means for energy storage and it is likely that they will increasingly be combined with some battery chemistry to produce a composite energy storage system.5 Such an extensive analysis would have to be compared to refinery pollution, transportation pollution, the overwhelming "oil spill" from improperly disposed of drain oil, gas station and highway run off each year.6

What kind of dirt bike should I get? I want something faster and more powerful.?




Isaac


I'm 14 and have been riding for about 6 years. Im about 6 feet tall and about 200 or so pounds, im still growing.I really want to get something faster. Currently I have a Honda 150 that is custom made it is boarded out to about a 200 and has enough torque to do a no clutch wheely in second gear and a small wheely in 3rd. I want about the same amount of torque with a lot more speed, any suggestions?


Answer
Look at the crf250r or the crf250x. The 'r' being the mx race bike and the 'x' more of an enduro/trail bike but still with a lot more power than the basic trail bikes. The 'x' has things like larger fuel tank, electric start and is geared for enduro style riding. If you want the mx version just avoid the 2004 model as that was the first year of production and they had issues with valves and also the 2010 model as that was the first of the fuel injected models and they came with wiring loom issues and a few other small problems.




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Title Post: The Chevrolet Volt claims up to 70 mpg what is the real number?
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