flacaltenn
Diamond Member
Gee I'd LOVE to invoke govt and corporate conspiracies as the reason why the Volt only has 70 mile range and takes 8 hours to charge. Even with 220V 40A service -- it charges at the equivalent of 10mi/hr. But I'm an engineer/scientist who recognizes that storing electricity in an energy dense container is a hard problem.
It IS disgraceful.. But there is difference between what CAN be done and what can be done with a price tag, safety margin, reliability and customer acceptance in the marketplace. Does no good to announce or hint at breakthrus that require 14 oz of gold/platinum to make or takes 2 days to charge.
The Volt is a wonderful example of engineering. They built an EV with 40 miles of range that feels really, really like a damn regular car. Certainly won't scare anyone off who has ever driven a regular automobile.
Now pitch that bitch in the trash and give me 4 electric motors, one hooked to each wheel, up the voltage available, let me use more of the battery capacity when I need to, shorten the range if you have to but make sure I can burn down the quarter mile in 9 seconds and that baby will FLY off showroom floors.
Saving the world from this peak oil nonsense, or save the world feelings in general, by making a car comfortable to granny ain't where it is at! Roasting Corvettes at stoplights is what my wife wants, saving the world is just secondary in all of this.
Oh so you want the Fisker Dealership (or Tesla) !! But roasting Corvettes doesn't come cheap.. And you gotta worry if getting parts for those in 10 years is gonna be harder than finding DeLorean parts..