230 mpg -- 40¢ to charge up!
Senior Member
Joined: 04-19-2009
Posts: 385
From: Green Bay
Or could just add gas to the tank as running out of gas is the only way for the batteries to die. More fuel makes the engine produce more electricity for the batteries to power the wheels.
Senior Member
Joined: 01-20-2006
Posts: 1,707
From: Centralia, Missouri
It's a solid idea.
Electric motor drives car, gas generator charges battery.
Big questions are:
Battery life and cost of replacement.
Charging infrastructure (i.e. charging stations in parking garage)
Electrical demand if car is a hit (sure, electricity is cheap now, but put more stress on our already stressed grid...)
I wouldn't mind having a Volt myself, but if the rumors I've heard of a $40,000 price tag are true it is far out of reach for me.
Electric motor drives car, gas generator charges battery.
Big questions are:
Battery life and cost of replacement.
Charging infrastructure (i.e. charging stations in parking garage)
Electrical demand if car is a hit (sure, electricity is cheap now, but put more stress on our already stressed grid...)
I wouldn't mind having a Volt myself, but if the rumors I've heard of a $40,000 price tag are true it is far out of reach for me.
Senior Member
Joined: 08-18-2006
Posts: 1,036
From: Hatboro, PA
Senior Member
Joined: 07-17-2006
Posts: 6,053
From: Dallas, GA
Thread Starter
Founding Member
Joined: 11-23-2007
Posts: 8,210
From: Texas
The HYBRID battery's current cost is around $3500 dollars, but they are warranted 8/80. Now if you had a wreck and they were damaged. The car would probably be totaled.
Member
Joined: 05-14-2009
Posts: 47
From: Oshawa ON
Thats less then an engine replacement, so it seems reasonable. Still that initial cost.
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Joined: 02-16-2009
Posts: 6,038
From: Frankenmuth/Flint, MI
But you're pretty much guaranteed to have to replace the battery at some point, right? The engine in a car doesn't always need replacing if you take care of it... I don't know if I'd want to have a car and keep it once it was old knowing I would HAVE to spend that much....and then there would be no resale either because no one else would want to buy it if it needed a new battery....right?
I'm not 100% sure on how these things work, but that's my understanding.
I'm not 100% sure on how these things work, but that's my understanding.
Senior Member
Joined: 04-19-2009
Posts: 385
From: Green Bay
Senior Member
Joined: 06-21-2008
Posts: 332
From: Dallas, Texas
Saw this today on how that got that estimate:
I guess this method is ok for now as long as every still uses gas. MPG does give you a nice visual for how much it costs to drive even though your not always using gasoline. Miles per kWh (MPW?) makes more sense for that Nissan all-electric though. You need to know how many miles you can get on a charge, right?
The EPA's tentative EREV testing process won't actually measure gasoline usage. Instead, it rates vehicles in kilowatt hours per 100 miles, then converts that measurement to miles per gallon. Effectively, the testing procedure doesn't give an mpg rating. It merely shows that a vehicle will use energy that equates to a certain mpg rating.
To illustrate this point, Nissan quickly followed GM's announcement with its own, claiming the upcoming 2010 Nissan Leaf electric car will earn a 367 mpg EPA rating. The rules, it seems, can generate a miles-per-gallon rating for a car that doesn't even use gasoline.
To illustrate this point, Nissan quickly followed GM's announcement with its own, claiming the upcoming 2010 Nissan Leaf electric car will earn a 367 mpg EPA rating. The rules, it seems, can generate a miles-per-gallon rating for a car that doesn't even use gasoline.