Sales of the GM Volt.

[rwh11385]

They also have ships and subs that never need refueling....



well maybe not in EU :)

I know a guy with a wind-powered ship. It's revolutionary!!





Who would have thunk it?

[Fusion]

Hate (who am I kidding - I enjoy it) to break it to you, but using a magnet to create current is nothing revolutionary at all. Have you ever had a physics E&M lesson?

And engine efficiency, as mentioned earlier in the thread, is limited by the laws of thermodynamics.

Simple things can seem amazing or challenging things "obviously" possible to the uneducated.

Its not the use of magnets to create current that is awesome, but the fact that it makes the current on its own without an external source of energy ie. your hand, a motor etc., for an unlimited time span (until the main bearing fails). You need to move the magnet to create energy with it. Have you ever had a physics E&M lesson?

In other words, if someone were to research it, create one that would be able to power the electric motor in a car, you wouldn't need those damn batteries, no plugging in to the damn grid, no relying on the damn sun or wind. You could drive around endlessly for free.

[rwh11385]

Its not the use of magnets to create current that is awesome, but the fact that it makes the current on its own without an external source of energy ie. your hand, a motor etc., for an unlimited time span (until the main bearing fails). You need to move the magnet to create energy with it. Have you ever had a physics E&M lesson?

In other words, if someone were to research it, create one that would be able to power the electric motor in a car, you wouldn't need those damn batteries, no plugging in to the damn grid, no relying on the damn sun or wind. You could drive around endlessly for free.

[Fusion]

You made me lol, but your "argument" is pathetic.
Although that ignorance may be the same as the car manufacturers', who'd rather keep trying to find ways to get a bazillion expensive batteries in a car to power it long enough for someone to go on a date, which has proven to be like banging their heads into a brick wall, for for the last couple decades.

[Vedubin01]

i know a guy with a wind-powered ship. It's revolutionary!!

Who would have thunk it?

og!

[Vedubin01]

[Wiglaf]

An electric motor capable of casually dropping 1000ft-lbs of torque from 0rpms on up has no efficiency penalty compared to a smaller motor, save for a few extra pounds of copper. actually it will likely be more efficient.
Unlike a large displacement V8 compared to an compact inline 4. This extra weight is ok since you can totally lose the transmission.

Average power for a car to cruise 80mph is like 25HP. so have a little motorcycle size generator tuned for max efficiency, and a driveline that eats planets. Best of both worlds.

To me this has nothing to do with being green. It's about the car being more powerful, responsive, smoother, and more reliable. The second you drive an electric you'll be wondering why we've put up with transmissions and crappy torque curves for so long.

If the car had a motor for each wheel to fully realize torque vectored steering with independent traction adjustment for each wheel, would I still have to endure arguments about what the gas price will have to be for a 10 year payoff? The GTR is the closest thing we have, it costs an arm and a leg and has this huge fuckoff transmission that's apparently made of glass.

The LOL PRIUS argument is like basing your entire gas motor opinion off a yugo. So knock it off, the quicker these get out there the quicker they'll crash and I'll have decent motors to play with. That is all.

[z31maniac]

Its not the use of magnets to create current that is awesome, but the fact that it makes the current on its own without an external source of energy ie. your hand, a motor etc., for an unlimited time span (until the main bearing fails). You need to move the magnet to create energy with it. Have you ever had a physics E&M lesson?

In other words, if someone were to research it, create one that would be able to power the electric motor in a car, you wouldn't need those damn batteries, no plugging in to the damn grid, no relying on the damn sun or wind. You could drive around endlessly for free.

So, if someone would just solve the problem of perpetual motion, we'd all be just fine.

Is this what you are saying?

[u3b3rg33k]

Some guy recently built a magnet motor able to power a 20W light bulb for free (and itself of course, with no external power). The project is open source and avaiable for anyone to build.

Now explain how some guy with good knowledge and some change to buy magnets and plexyglass is able to come up with something that revolutionary in his living room, while billion dollar companys can only come up with totally useless cars and/or engines that are a bit more efficient (than 20!?! years ago), but are very likely to have very short lives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_battery

See old russian lighthouses.

It's NOT free. TINSTASFL. Entropy.

So, if someone would just solve the problem of perpetual motion, we'd all be just fine.

Is this what you are saying?

Take a flywheel and put it in a box in a vacuum. Close the box. Now you have perpetual motion, as it is both spinning and not spinning until you open the box and alter the system. (Put a cat in a box...)

Perpetual motion is not free energy.

[Blackout]

[Fusion]

I can say I have some experience now.

I drove an electric car on Sunday. First time I've driven one, first time I've actually seen one in person (not counting Priuses and shit).
My friend has owned it for a couple years now, bought it with dead batteries. Those were replaced with modern, higher capacity, and 200kg lighter ones.
The car is a 2000ish Peugeot 106, about 3000 of them were manf'd, and cost him about 3000 eurodollars plus the new batteries, charger, other stuff, another 8000. That's about 16 grand american. 10 yo car with 30K miles.



The car has about 17HP and the batteries last about 85 miles. It was really weird driving it at first, but I got used to it quick. Since it's a small, light car, the power output is adequate for city and suburb driving. Top speed is limited to about 60mph.

If you were to charge at home from the grid, the price per mile is about a quarter of the cost in fuel, ie. the same car with a 1.0l engine. Not taking into acount things like oil changes, belt changes, clutch replacement etc. But the same car with the small gas engine, same production year costs about a tenth of the price.
Of course you could get solar panels or wind power at home, thus driving "for free".

He's a real "electricity nerd" (not an ecofascist nor poser though, he has a Jeep), so his aim was just to own one of these. He can fix, upgrade, maintain anything on the car himself, because he has the knowledge.

So would I get one? If the total cost of the car was a third, I would start thinking about it. I drive some 20 miles to work, 20 back every day, plus some errands in the city. The power is fine, you won't be slowing anyone down too much. But a second weekend/vacation car would be mandatory. I would also have to somehow estimate the selling price in five years, so I could count the price per mile. I would get one only to save some change in my wallet, and the low range would have to be justified in that ppm.

[antil33t]

I always thaught the Volt was a good idea... Diesel Generator powering some electric motors.

Bit like a Train. or a Boat.

[joshh]

125 Chevy Volts sold in July.

Now they can be found on lots. They're just not selling. Is that a real shocker considering the price.

From The New American

A search of cars.com site showed nearly 500 Chevy Volts listed for sale. I had originally assumed that GM dealers were advertising vehicles that were not actually available for sale, since GM has stated that there were only a "few" Volts available. I decided to call a few dealers within 75 miles of my location to determine what the true situation was. I stopped my research after finding that five of the first six dealers I called had Volts in inventory available for immediate sale. Two of the five dealers even had two each in stock. I can now safely assume that GM is, once again, not being entirely honest with its facts. The demand for the Chevy Volt is not as strong as GM would have us believe.

[rwh11385]

Who the hell would use New American or Cars.com as a source?

There are four available at two dealers and that is reason enough to assume that the 100 unclaimed is a lie?

You really ought to re-evaluate what garbage you read and take in as 'fact'.


Volt sales were so low in July because Hamtramck was shut down to re-vamp to have a higher capacity before they release to more states. With only SEVEN markets currently... it shouldn't be a surprise that four are available within 75 miles of one 'reporter' or crazed blogger who likes to make assumptions and idiots who read and believe them.

[herbivor]

I saw one on the road. Pretty cool looking car. I think the upcoming plug in hybrids will make the Volt just another car pretty soon. I haven't seen a Leaf on the road yet, but got to drive in one. It's convinced me that our next family car will be electric, not for the hippie green shit, rather because it was such an enjoyable experience. Any news on when the BMW i3 is expected? I understand it may have a motor for extending range as well.