Car Reviews 2026 Gm Volt Concept Car

GM VOLT A Study into a New Hybrid Car’s Fuel Economy and its Effect on the Environment Introduction When General Motors, or GM’, revealed its new concept hybrid car in January of 2007, many people looked at the statistics with disbelief. Those who read of it in newspapers all decided that the newspaper’s proofreader should be fired. Everyone I spoke to about this car refused to believe that it will achieve an astonishing five hundred miles per gallon. That’s close to eight hundred kilometers per 3.785 liters. If you’re having trouble grasping what this means, think of this. Say you lived in Edmonton, Alberta. You wish to travel to Toronto, Ontario. You would probably fill up you car’s gas tank fully for around fifty to seventy dollars. The trip to Toronto is around three thousand, four hundred seventy-two kilometers. On the way to Toronto, you would be required to fill up your tank numerous times. However, in the GM Volt, you would only be required to fill up your tank only once for around twenty to thirty dollars in order to make the trip. The GM Volt will be using high power, lithium-iron batteries, much similar to those found in laptops. The batteries are capable of powering a small car up to sixty-four kilometers on a single charge, and continue to power the car as a small gas engine starts up to power an on board generator. “For those people who drive less than sixty-four kilometers a day and power the car from home, you would never need to buy gasoline in the lifetime of the vehicle,” GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz was quoted as saying at the North American International Auto Show. The Volt would be able to travel continuously after the batteries are drained of power because the small gasoline engine can recharge it indefinitely on a variety of environmentally friendly fuels. So there you have it; an environmentally friendly car with the power to never stop. The future, however far away, is coming close at an extraordinarily fast rate. Statistics Amidst all the glory of its fuel economy, there still remains some very good questions about the car- How much will it cost? How fast can it travel? What’s its life expectancy (or how long can it last), and when will it be for sale? All of these can be explained. How much will it cost? Although General Motors has not released a target price, Tony Posawatz, head of GM’s now power source project named E-flex’, has stated that the Volt will not be an expensive car, but instead it is supposed to be a “Competitively priced, high volume Chevrolet model.” How fast can it travel? The Calgary Herald has the answer to that. It states that “The five seat car will be able to travel as fast as 120 miles per hour (193 kilometers per hour) and run at speeds of 70 m.p.h. (112 km/h) or higher for up to 640 miles (1030 kilometers) while consuming only 12.8 gallons (48.45 liters) of gas to fuel the generator, said Jon Lauckner, vice-president of global programs for GM.” How long can the Volt last? I had emailed General Motors on this one, but so far I have received no reply and do not expect one from them. However, while researching on Wikipedia.org, the on-line encyclopedia, I was able to find out that the Volt’s batteries; Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo4), has a lifespan of twenty-four to thirty-six months without being recharged. This leads to the assumption that the batteries would need to be replaced at around every four years. When will it be for sale? General Motors has stated that the Volt should be out in 2010 at the earliest. Calculations In the Introduction, I had an example on how the Volt’s fuel economy relates to normal cars of today. In order to figure out the figures for that, you need to understand the following things; 1.The distance from starting point and destination 2.1 Mile is equal to 1.609 Kilometers 3.The Volt gets 500 miles per gallon, or 800 kilometers per 3.785 liters. You can also read this as 211 kilometers per litre. 4.US Gallon is equal to 3.785 Liters 5.The average price of gas With that knowledge, you can successfully determine how efficient the Volt would be for certain situations. Take for another example going from New York, NY to Washington, DC. One: The distance is two hundred twenty-seven miles. Two: Two hundred twenty-seven times one-point-six-zero-nine is equal to around three hundred sixty-five kilometers. Three is a bit tricky: To find out how many liters of gas you’d need for the trip, and this trip is in kilometers, you need to cross multiply. You have 211 kilometers for one liter, so- 211/1 = 365/x. This is basically 365/ 211, which equals one-point-seven. Therefore you would need only two liters of gas to go from New York to Washington. Four: If you wanted gallons instead of liters, you simply divide the number of liters you have found, or one-point-seven, by 3.785. Five: Used to find how much money the gas will cost you. Multiply your amount of liters by the cost per liter, and the amount of gallons by the cost per gallon. Environmental Impact Here’s the biggie. Everyone probably believes that this car is absolutely amazing. But what is it doing for our environment? One of the major things that needs to be considered first is the effect on the power grid. Obviously, a car like this will probably be very popular. But if everyone and their dogs have a GM Volt, the amount of power needed will probably put stress on power plants. And, while some companies use wind and water powered generators, the coal plants will be pushed farther than they usually are, ending up with more carbon dioxide anyways, thus defeating the purpose of an electric car. However, some companies have started a campaign to neutralize the effect of the power grabbing. These companies are requesting that everyone replace at least one incandescent light in their house with a fluorescent bulb. These lights use one quarter the electricity of normal incandescent bulbs, and the resulting low energy input of the fluorescent will offset the amount of power needed for the cars, in the long run. Another issue is the fact that, although the Volt is an electric car, it still uses a gasoline engine for when the battery power is diminished. The Ford Motor Company is developing a similar car to the Volt, except using a hydrogen fuel cell to create electricity instead of a gas motor. However, General Motors is working on a hydrogen fuel cell of their own, called the Equinox. This is slated for production in 2010, as well. Overall, the Volt will have a very low ecological footprint- although it will not be eliminating CO2 emissions, it will at least be decreasing them a fair amount. Conclusion In conclusion, the GM Volt is a hybrid Gasoline-Electric car that will get 500 miles per gallon. It will be priced competitively, not expensively. And, most important of all, its effect on the environment is beneficial. Bibliography Calgary Herald; Monday, January Eighth 2007 issue http://www.gm-volt.com A fan-site for people awaiting the GM Volt. http://www.gm.com General Motors Incorporated http://en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia.org, the On-line Encyclopedia Category:Home › Autos • Will the trend toward economy-size car models lead Americans back to buying smaller-sized cars? — part 2 • You should never use after-market auto parts when maintaining or fixing your car • Should a new car be rust-proofed? • Will the trend toward economy-size car models lead Americans back to buying smaller-sized cars? — part 1 • Five safest cars in North America • How to ensure your teen drives safely after getting a license • Pros and cons of using an hydrogen generator for your car • DIY automotive maintenance: How to change the oil