14 DAY TRIAL // A US vehicle manufacturing company to mass produce a fully electrical car? Is it too good to be true, or is the US finally starting to turn around and cut its massive contribution to the greenhouse effect? Believe it or not, General Motors - famous for producing petrol thirsty cars - has recently revealed the concept for an electric car capable of going 22 kilometers per liter with the help of a propulsion system designed during the period of World War I and used in submarines.
The Chevrolet Volt is intended to go in mass production as late as 2010, and will be powered by an electric motor which received energy from a set of rechargeable Li-ion batteries. Most car manufacturers today are trying to shift towards the production of hybrid vehicles, where the petrol engine is supplemented by an electric motor.
On the other hand, General Motors is slowly moving away from the production of the hybrid vehicle, which although popular amongst people has no perspective in the near future. The Chevy Volt is build on the chassis of a Cobalt model and can reach 100 kilometers per hour in about 8.5 seconds, with the help of an electric motor with a power of 120 kilowatts, powered by 16 kilowatt-hours batteries. GM argues that the new Chevy Volt will maintain a 50 percent reserve of power, while the other 8 kilowatts will be send directly to the wheels, so that you can get about 64 kilometers with the respective amount of power.
The car will require about 6 hours to recharge from a standard 110-volt outlet, however to fully recharge the batteries at least 8 hours are required. This means that at the current price of electricity in the US, you can recharge the Chevrolet Volt at a price of about 90 US cents.
Additionally, the Chevy Volt will also carry a 1.3 liter engine with 3 cylinders that will be able to recharge the batteries while driving, giving you an autonomy of another 64 kilometers. The tank supplying fuel to the engine will have a capacity of about 44 liters, meaning one could be able to drive as much as 1,024 kilometers before running out of gas.
Similar propulsion systems has been used on submarines during World War I and II, however the engines recharging the batteries were working on diesel cycles, and could not recharge while being submerged. Also, the submarines had the capability of recharging while standing still, a great advantage, but small in comparison with the fact that you can charge your car from a standard outlet. GM has not yet officially announced the starting of mass production of the Chevy Volt, mainly due to a series of small technical difficulties, such as heat dissipation.