The New Long Range Holden Volt
How would you like a car that costs $2.50 for 80 km, vs a Petrol car that costs you $10 PLUS for 80 km?
Take a look at the new Long Range Holden Volt
The first of the range of Holden Volt Electric Cars will be approx. $59,990 AUD
The Volt is a range extender concept, or an Extended Range Electric Vehicle, that simply means that the onboard batteries allow a range of 80 km when fully charged
They are then charged by a 4 cylinder generator powered by gasoline, while you drive.
This allows 80 km of travel (electric only) using the stored charge in the 16 kw/hr lithium ion batteries.
You can also charge the car’s batteries via a charging cord which will plug into a 240v home outlet.
Batteries only range of 80km will be extended to more than 600 km by the onboard generator, and unlike most hybrid cars, it runs exclusively on battery electric power.
This is made possible by a 53 kw generator that charges as you drive to produce 111 Kw via the electric drive motor.
This is the killer feature of the Volt, as the major problem with electric only cars is that when the batteries are flat, that’s it.
Most consumers don’t like the idea of being “limited” to driving only a set range.
They want to drive as far as they can in a day, and the Volt will allow that, unlike other electric cars.
Price: $59,990 plus on-road
Engine: 1.4 litre 16-valve petrol 4cyl, two electric drive motors, 16.5kW/h battery.
Level 2, 9 Help Street
Andrea says:
HI electric cars seem like a good idea until you have to replace the cars battery which I’ve heard costs nearly as much as the car itself. Are car manufacturers going to address this problem to make electric cars more affordable for consumers or will the batteries always make these type of vehicles out of most consumers price brackets
March 26th, 2013 at 11:25 am
Phil Spencer says:
The Volt appears to be somewhat comparable in features to a conventional car costing around $23,000, but costs near as dammit $60,000. The difference corresponds to about 296,000 km at $10/80km. That’s getting close to the effective lifetime of the car, at least for the new buyer. Sorry but that does NOT sound a good investment to me, and the maths doesn’t change much while the equivalent conventional car costs less than around $35k. And I’m betting the conventional car will have a bigger boot…
March 26th, 2013 at 12:19 pm
John Aquilina says:
The Volt is hopefully the 1st stage of a Vehicle type which will develop into something far more practical and easy to live with than we have today. It is too heavy, its range is too short, and it is way too expensive.
A Better Place charging stations have just announced it is no longer accepting any new subcribers and is not establishing any new charge points. Its parent company has pulled capital support in Australia.
Government policy in some states like NSW restrict it from being licensed as a public vehicle such as a Taxi or Hire Car because requirements were written years ago BEFORE EVs were even considered.
I personally don’t like EVs or the Volt, but I am open-minded enough to accept that there are applications that they can and should be used. Having Government impediments for the use of EVs should be changed to positive bias.
March 26th, 2013 at 4:56 pm
Fourbypete says:
The day that car makers produce a suv that can be driven for a full day on one charge is the same day I will buy one.
March 26th, 2013 at 7:03 pm
John Aquilina says:
An SUV would be a MUCH better platform to start a EV project – more space to carry those damn batteries, and the torque to each wheel would be fantastic off-road.
Too bad they haven’t developed a conductive paint that acts as photo-voltaic cell and produces an ongoing charge for an EV’s batteries. Heres hoping!
March 26th, 2013 at 9:05 pm
John says:
If the Car manufacturers were serious about electric cars they would be making them in commercial vans first. The floor space is huge and flat for large battery packs, Tradies are not concerned about looks and only need to go about 150 – 200 kms per day. and the Return on investment for them would be minimal as it is used sooo much. There are hundreds of thousands on the road and not running fuel in these would make a hell of a dent on the Greenhouse gas emissions not to mention reduced prices for trade services as no or little fuel is required to run the Vehicle therefore less overheads
March 26th, 2013 at 11:07 pm