Sales of the GM Volt.

[BMWerke]

I have to drive the Volt all the time for my job and I hate it, and its not that I believe its a bad car. I just don't like the styling, it looks like a Prius but gayer. Not to mention the corny interior. If you want to save the polar bears then buy it, but everyone else should just stay away.

[mrsleeve]

D.I. is having its own issues, ford is having a hell of an issue on their Ecco Boost shit with the intake valves getting shit piles of Carbon build up in very low mileage situations. Thanks to the Closed look PCV and EGR, with no liquid fuel misting over the intakes and intake ports. Fairly sure I have read that Audi, Porsche, and everyone else thats been running with D.I. is having similar issues as well.

[dirtysix]

Bring back carbies.

[rwh11385]

We can't all be experts at everything ;)

Way to creep out on me way back to 2004 Pavel. So because you think I'm just a business major then you believe that your vinyl knowledge makes you well informed on EVs??

Tell me about how your education (if you have one that is) and experience allows you to know better than an entire automotive industry that hybrids, EVs, and CNG are dead-end technologies.

[u3b3rg33k]

So let me get this straight: they are running high diesel-like compression but using normal gas, and getting around pre-detonation by using direct injection to not inject the gas until it's blow time.

Do tell. What is pre-detonation? does the fuel detonate before you want it to?

D.I. is having its own issues, ford is having a hell of an issue on their Ecco Boost shit with the intake valves getting shit piles of Carbon build up in very low mileage situations. Thanks to the Closed look PCV and EGR, with no liquid fuel misting over the intakes and intake ports. Fairly sure I have read that Audi, Porsche, and everyone else thats been running with D.I. is having similar issues as well.

Methinks they should start putting water injection on these engines. water makes everyone happy - and on an e30 related note, part of why I love e30s is that bmw managed to get the M20 to pass emmissions without air pumps, EGR, or half that other crap that 80s cars seemed to have on board to ruin a good thing.

Bring back boobies.

thank you. finally someone with a brain in this thread.

[frankenbeemer]

Yes, bring back the boobies.

Aside from the personal attacks, an interesting thread.

I noticed Clemson University is participating in the Wecar program. There are Volts parked at several locations on campus. Any idea on how well that program is going?

[Wiglaf]

Do tell. What is pre-detonation? does the fuel detonate before you want it to?

Exactly. If it happens a bit early in a normal engine we call it knocking or pinging, could be that the ignition is off or there's hotspots or bad fuel AFR or whatever. Worst case it starts at the beginning of the compression stroke and you end up doing an extreme pressure test on that cylinder (that most engines will fail).

Gas is much more volatile than diesel and burns much faster, trying to use compression itself to ignite it does not get predictable results. Predictability might be comparable to diesel but the faster burn rate makes it a problem.. A function of getting higher compression usually means a longer stroke. So 87~93 octane across the board will compression ignite when there could be another 20% or more of the compression stroke left to go..

Just using normal spark plugs seem better anyway for controlling spark timing, you don't see diesel sportbikes revving up to 13k rpms. That reminds me to look up the Audi TDI F1 car, they probably have a spark ignition on there to get things burning early. compression ignition is better from a simplicity/utility standpoint, not high performance.

[rwh11385]

I was gonna ask what Wecar is, but then googled it. There's ZipCar around here but just Ford Focuses and Nissans. Volt would be sweet especially since they are parked at a regular holding spot while not borrowed and most people stick to a small radius around campus.

Sleeve, I haven't read about the DI issues but every new technology comes with the risk of things not working as intended. Hopefully they figure out how to reduce that and establish a proper way to prevent complications. I can't imagine what you'd have to deal with from compression ignition gasoline though, and getting that to run right over a standard automotive life. Woof. What sucks when a company comes out with new wizbang tech but end up facing unexpected complications down the road.

[u3b3rg33k]

Exactly. If it happens a bit early in a normal engine we call it knocking or pinging, could be that the ignition is off or there's hotspots or bad fuel AFR or whatever. Worst case it starts at the beginning of the compression stroke and you end up doing an extreme pressure test on that cylinder (that most engines will fail).

... I was making fun of you, and all the other people that don't know what the proper terminology is. The term pre-detonation is misnomer - ignition is an event that should happen, detonation is not. pre-detonation implies that detonation is occurring before it should. Detonation is an undesirable condition that should never occur.

Detonation is when fuel explodes (burns in an undesirable fashion), and can either make funny noises, or ruin your engine in moments.

Pre-ignition is simply when fuel is ignited before the sparkplug sets it off - this can be caused by hot carbon deposits, too hot of a sparkplug, or an angry munchkin hiding in the crankcase. Our old VW would diesel on hot days after shutdown with no other issues, but pre-ignition can lead to catastrophic detonation, and detonation can lead to pre-ignition that causes catastrophic detonation.

[Wiglaf]

eh. tomato tomaahhto. Any time an explosion occurs it's a detonation, if ignited on purpose or not.
whatever, this might be the most pointless of everything in the thread to take a stand on. lol

[u3b3rg33k]

eh. tomato tomaahhto. Any time an explosion occurs it's a detonation, if ignited on purpose or not.

As we once learned in remedial combustion science class, both explosions and detonations are undesirable conditions in an ICE. Even worse in a glass of tomato juice (but much more amusing when someone drinks it and BLAMMO!).

[rwh11385]

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/oneyear/alternative/1208_2011_chevrolet_volt_verdict/

At 26,861 miles and during the very last week of its stay with us, our long-term Chevrolet Volt's computerized maintenance warning finally illuminated: Time to change the oil. For the First Time.

Still, the real headline here is that nothing ever went wrong the car. Zip. Zero. It was breathtakingly reliable, given that the Volt is (and try arguing this with me) the biggest quantum jump in automotive technology in decades. Spooky-advanced-tech cars like this, I've noticed, are actually frequently more robust than conventional cars because their engineers are playing it very, very safe, knowing that everybody's watching with magnifying glasses.

A close runner-up to that impressive reliability is the fact that the car operated exactly as Chevrolet claimed it would. Driven normally, our car usually traveled between 35 and 40 miles per charge (our average was 36.8; at worst, it was 24 miles; at best, 45). Our battery-depleted (gas-powered) mpg was 38.7 (the EPA says 37).

A parting thought? To all the skeptical "gotcha" observers and disreputable political talking heads, I'd like to remind you of the 2001 Toyota Prius. I well remember driving it. It was homely. Its regenerative brakes were soupy. It wasn't cheap. Many suspected that Toyota lost money on it, and its technology benefited from Japanese government support. It sold poorly.

Hmm, I just checked Prius (family) sales for April 2012, and guess what? It's in third place among all cars, behind the Camry and the Accord. My point is, we need a much bigger perspective here. The Volt's costs will come down. Efficiencies will be incrementally learned. Let's meet up again in 11 years and see how the 2023 Chevrolet Volt is doing then.

[Kershaw]

biggest quantum leap?

[rwh11385]

biggest Quantum Leap?

[u3b3rg33k]