yes but its the only unique existing one that is not powerd by a petrol engine. It is purely driven electric the engine is just a backup-generator to make extra power for the electric (hence it only used 1.8 liter petrol for 8000km distance driven on fuel). One problem they have found on it is but this should not apply to normal users. They had the car on show fully chaged mains bank plugged in permanent and its got a seperate 12 volt car battery for normal stuff like interior light etc. The 12 volt went flat just as the show ended. It did not charge the 12 volt battery because the main battery bank was full, that was over 4 days or so, so no normal person will have the car parked up and messes with the interior in park for 4 days. They had to give the 12 volt a wee charge and once they drove it it repowered the 12 volt back up.
intrade,
Aug 16, 7:40am
if you where to drive it and never pugging in on mains it will use 1.8 liter petrol to travel 100km. so far superior to a prius or hybrid honda its got a 150 hp electric motor and is electronically cut off at 160kph fuel tank is 30 liter pressurized system like most usa cars important not to loose the fuelcap or it will display a fault code its so no fumes escape as that would mean extra emissions
drsr,
Aug 16, 8:28am
Having the petrol engine only drive the generator was the original concept but it got a lot more ingenious in the final design. In "charge sustaining" mode, when the battery is down to its minimum level and the petrol engine takes over, at lower speeds only the electric motor is driving, but at higher speeds the petrol engine provides some direct drive assist as well as driving the generator.
This gives about 10% more efficiency because the main electric motor's efficiency drops at higher speeds. In electric-only mode they run the generator in reverse as a motor to provide the same assist. There are some videos here that go into much more detail: http://www.youtube.com/watch!v=an-VyIau-FM
intrade,
Aug 16, 8:33am
yea quite tricky they got quite some knowhow gm made the mars-electric rover and they also made the ev1 so that knowhow is in the ampera volt now
intrade,
Aug 16, 10:46am
chevi volt is 40 grand us. problem is it be left hand drive but the uk pay this for the ampera and they are rhd so for 8 grand more it be in nz NZD 57,438.59nz$ = GBP 28,995.00 http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/vauxhall/ampera/19725/vauxhall-announces-ampera-price 40 k us isNZD 50,498.67 = USD 40,000.00 the pommy option is probably what to get since holdon have a name for assembly of cars with shell be right mate attitude.
intrade,
Sep 17, 9:05pm
bump , anyone drive it in nz! I recon it be absolut mint for auckland traffic
gadgit3,
Sep 17, 9:50pm
Sounds like an interesting drive Intrade. It's got most of the same fetures as the plug in Prius, regen braking, ele A/C, ele driven transaxle (no gears) also sounds like it's running the synergy drive!
intrade,
Sep 17, 9:56pm
its probably based on the GM ev1 it drives purely on electric there is no direct driveshhaft or gears from the generator to the wheels. the generator helps drive the electric motor , quite complicated , under bonnet looks like a engine flanged to normal gearbox for the naked eye with loads of orange cables and covers . orange is high voltage.
I think you will find the system is based on the synergy drive system rather then the EV1. The synergy drive is bang on what you have been discribing. Were the engine has no direct connection to the wheels and is really there just driving the gen set. this is the 2nd gen synergy drive that the Prius ran and was made available to other makes when the 3rd gen synergy drive was developed.
intrade,
Sep 18, 1:55am
you know that toyota developed the ev1 with Gm in 96 gm had there ev1 and toyota ran a rav4 model with the same technology. they had a cross patent on . you can see that on movie "whom killed the elctric car"
gadgit3,
Sep 18, 2:21am
Yea EV1 was the base for alot of other EV systems but synergy drive was an on flow, starting with the gen1 turn key Prius. Then went into gen2 push button start, engine dissconnection this is the base of alot of other EV systems since it was realsesed on to other makes. and gen3 is what the Prius is running today. I'm not saying it's a copy of the Prius just alot of what you have said the Prius has had for along time and now we have the plug in available in NZ (for the past 2 years) The Ampera is a nice looking car tho
intrade,
Sep 18, 2:24am
gadgit yes probably correct i just posted that so others know where gm and toyota have there expirience from.
drsr,
Sep 18, 3:52am
The Voltec system does use planetary gears and two motor-generators but is otherwise quite different from the Prius HSD. Voltec has three clutches to switch different drive and generation elements in and out depending on the mode (petrol or all-electric) and speed. The engine is directly connected to the wheels under certain conditions. See the video I posted earlier.
gadgit3,
Sep 18, 4:22am
Yea watched the vid. still looks like a gen2 synergy drive system. It could run EV mode and high speed opperation also with a dissconnecting coupling between the gen the drive motor and the petrol engine.
intrade,
Sep 18, 4:28am
does not really matter the generator of the volt is not controlled by the drivers throttle it operates one one fixed speed to make power and drive the gerabox in some complicated way this is how i did understand how it operates.
intrade,
Sep 26, 1:56am
here is a tutorial video how the powertrain of the volt works. its not a hybrid car its a "electric car with extended range"its not driven by the petrol engine as i posted above its got 2 electric motors driving the planetery gearbox and the "genereator-combustion-en- gine" provides theelectric power to charge the battery and help power the electric motors .
UK - 29,995 pounds US - 39,145 USD OZ - 59,990 AUD
Gee, our strong dollar is really working pffft.
rsr72,
Oct 18, 10:51pm
Yep, nz$85,000 is fraudulent. Serves GM Holden right if they sell bugger-all in NZ. (maybe they really don't want to!)
intrade,
Oct 31, 8:59am
anyone test driven one here doubt any of you be stupide enough to have purchased one at that price
curlcrown,
Nov 1, 2:29am
Youd probably run a corolla for 10 years with the difference in price between a new corolla and a new volt.
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