Chevy Volt out of juice? Here’s what happens next
Say it’s 2010 and you’re driving a Chevy Volt down the expressway. The trip meter twitches on 41 miles and just as it ticks to 42 the battery gauge dips below 30%. You’ve reached what GM calls the customer deletion point — what happens next?
An engine will purr to life, at least if everything goes as planned for the Chevy Volt. That engine will run on power generated by burning gasoline and it will convert that into the electricity necessary to turn the Volt’s wheels. That’s a common misnomer with the Chevy Volt according to Andrew Farah, who was interviewed by GM Volt.
Most people seem to believe that the gas engine will generate power to charge the lithium-ion battery, but would cause inefficiencies in the energy conversion process.
So why then do the engineers at GM kick the gasoline engine in at 30% capacity rather than push through a few more miles on electric only energy? It’s a backup mechanism. The engine isn’t able to provide the same level of power output as a charged lithium-ion battery.
Remember the electric generator is about half the size of the motor. So you say, how come you don’t have performance problems if you’re trying to go up a hill with only basically half the power capability? That’s where the battery comes back into play. Because the customer depletion point is not full depletion, there’s still energy available. That’s by design. The idea is during certain other peak situations such as climbing a hill or merging into traffic, you will actually take some more energy out of the battery. So you may actually come down a little bit below customer depletion level.
The Chevy Volt will then recharge the battery when possible through regenerative braking or spare energy that’s available when the car is coasting.
It’s comforting to learn that GM is focused on making the Chevy Volt a reliable experience that combines the energy savings of an electric vehicle with the range flexibility of a traditional gas sipper.
Related Posts:
August 26th, 2008
“You’ve reached what GM calls the customer deletion point — what happens next?”
That’s customer depletion point not deletion point.
I’d hope they wouldn’t delete me just because the battery gauge dips below 30%.
August 27th, 2008
The 30% charge point is where the battery has to begin working hard (and heating up) to deliver more if needed. Chevy is betting this won’t happen too often because it eats into the battery’s longevity. Since it’s an 80/20 shot that this event happens, I suppose they’re well positioned to back the guarantee and support those folks that buy the car even though they have more than 40 miles/day to go and wind up burning the battery out before its time.
October 15th, 2008
42 miles of range huh? Maybe someone can explain why BMW can equipe their MINI Coppers with an 100% electric format (with company: Hybrid Technologies), with a top speed of 130 mph with a 200 mile range and yet, GM can only manage 40 some odd miles. Oh yeah, and we just cannot seem to leave that petrol engine out of the car whereas BMW can. Don’t take my word for it – check out the YouTube videos featuring the car and the initial 500 car release in California. The Volt started life as a $15k car and now has typically been made much more boring than the concept version and with a new and much improved price tag of over $42k. Given the economy as it is, I just don’t see many folks rushing out to plop down $45k for the Volt. GM has much homework still to do.