Eric Kerby: Photography, Web Design, Programming

Archive for the 'Battery Technology' Category

The Chevy Volt is electrifying

November 30th, 2007

After a bit of reading on the web, I'm pretty much sold on the still-in-development GM Chevy Volt. It looks like General Motors can't resist getting back in the battery-powered-car game, despite the outlash from the lousy way they handled the EV1 (watch Who Killed the Electric Car). Fortunately, GM's Vice Chairman Bob Lutz is telling the world that they are very committed to making the Volt a success. So, picture this: a car that runs solely on battery power for up to 40 miles on a charge. That's a great start, but the Volt revs this up a notch by adding an internal combustion engine (as GM calls it, a "range extender") to keep charging the battery and ultimately obtain a 640-ish mile range! Current plans have the vehicle showing up sometime in 2010 with a production run 12 times the number of first-run Priuses. This is certainly a car I'm going to be watching. For more coverage of the Volt, check out EcoGeek's coverage of the LA Auto Show and a series of interviews with GM execs on gm-volt.com.