Chevy Volt is 99% Ready

Back in the early 1950's there were a few European manufacturers that made diesel-hydraulics. Several US railroads tried them for several years. Eventually, however, GM and GE "won the day" with the diesel-electrics. I am not sure what the comparisons were, it may have just been too early for direct-drive transmissions. Neither am I sure if diesel-hydraulics are still used in Europe ... or anywhere in the world for that matter.

 

I am not taking exception to your comment ... just adding a bit of additional info.

Each train car has a small amount of space between each coupler. When a train starts (especially long freights) from a dead stop, in reality they are only getting one car rolling .... then the next, then the next. If the start is on an incline, frequently a pusher locomotive will be at the rear to push the slack out of each coupler so the lead locomotive/s are not trying to get the entire weight of all the cars rolling in unison.

I have stood on the last car of a long freight, and you can hear the slack coming .... bang, bang, bang getting louder as it gets closer. When it arrives at your car, it can be a real jolt. Trainmen must be careful, else the coupler will be stressed more than it can handle.

You are absolutely correct in the statement that each axle has a traction motor.

 

so the volt will be a 'diesel electric cereal wheatabix hybrid"?

 

Can you imagine trying to start a train without slack in the couplers? That would be some task.

As long as we are on this topic, starting torque was one of the big problems with steam engine locomotives. Most of them lacked gearing, so the engine essentially had to start in top gear. If you watch videos of them starting, you will often see the drive wheels spin and catch, spin and catch.

Some of the steam engines incorporated a small kicker motor in the tender, which was geared just for starting. It was like carrying your own helper engine.

Tom

 

qbee42 - Thanks for your response. I fired a steam locomotive for several years. While it is true our locomotive did not have gears, there is a way to change the mechanical advantage. On the right side of the cab there is a "reverse lever" which controls the valve settings between the cylinders and the driving wheels. When starting, the lever is full forward, and it mechanically changed the valve gear to the longest stroke. As the locomotive accelerated, the lever was brought closer to neutral, and the stroke was reduced, less steam is consumed, and less fuel is needed to convert water to steam. Another additional factor that determines tractive effort, is the diameter of the wheels. Freight engines had smaller wheels for max. tractive effort, where passenger engines had large wheels for speed. And lastly, steam pressure was all important. Steam engines CAN provide maximum energy at the first stroke, but it all comes down to the steam pressure, the weight on the drivers, and the size of the driving wheels.

The wheels slipping is more a matter of traction, or lack there of. One of the domes on top of the engine is for sand ... the engineer can sand the rails whenever it gets slippery. I recall pulling up a long incline at the crest of which was a highway. The locomotive was on the road, but the coaches were still on the hill. The wheels spun because of the automobile grease and oil on the roadway. The engineer backed off the throttle, sanded the rails, then gradually applied throttle and we did not stall.

One last train story: Diesels can spin also. I have been in the cab of a GP-7 when there were wet leaves on the rails. The engine lost traction, and came to a stop. We had to back down, apply sand, and take a running start.

Steam engines are obviously my first love.

 

No more news since August.
By now should be 99.5% ready.
Come on GM, you can do much better than that.

 

The first 99% of the car accounts for the first 99% of the development time. The remaining 1% of the car accounts for the other 99% of the development time

 

I live in a suburb about 35 miles north of Detroit and saw my first Volt in the wild last night. It was parked in a high school parking lot and had a Michigan manufacturer plate on it. I was late for the event at the high school so I could only walk around it once very quickly and take a quick look. I really wished I had more time to check it out. I really had no time to make any observations but I recall my first thought when I saw it was that it was really small.

 

This was odd but I saw one leaving a Papa Johns the other day here. I did a triple take as I couldn't believe it. Maybe final testing? I wanted to turn around. Looked nice.

 

Recently there was report of 40 non-saleable production cars having already been manufactured.

http://gm-volt.com/2010/09/13/chevr...e-first-40-salable-builds-have-been-produced/

BTW, how come there have been no reports of test drives by newspapers and magazines ? Afterall we have had tons of Leaf drives .... and beginning next Friday anyone can register and get a test drive.

 

Lots of automotive "writers" got to drive it around parking lots. What, that ain't good enuf for ya? Damn commies!

 

:d:d:d

 

I got to sit in a preproduction vehicle. It's small, feels like a smaller Chevy Malibu. Nice center console though. I think it's really funny that people around here are going at this thing with so much fury (e.g. teenage-girl-like OMFG!!25milerange!!!). Seriously. It's a car.

 

I was at my local Home Depot Today and I have attached 3 photos of a Volt test model in the parking lot. Notice the large yellow emergency kill switch on the dashboard. We have GM Delhi here where they are also doing fuel cell development. I asked the Volt driver about availability and he said select markets such as NYC , LA will be in November. Secondary markets probably spring. It will recharge overnight on 120v or 3-4 hours on a dedicated 240vac charging station.

 

Doesn't look too bad. Thanks for the pics. And, where do I get one of those large kill switches?

 

GM's lolly-gagging on the volt would be hilarious if it wasn't sad. 36 months since the introduction of the concept there are still no volts on dealer's floors.

Typical GM...lot's of sizzle but no bacon.

Yawn... I'm 99% not interested any more.

 

I will test the Opel Ampera (the EU Volt) but only in cold winter in order to estimate the impact of the heating on autonomy.
What could be the result ?
Not sure that it could be as good as hoped ?
I think that Prius Plug-In will be better.

 

"Chevy Volt is 99% Ready"
again?

 

You would think that GM would be actively advertising this vehicle now to build up demand for it.

I get the feeling that GM really does not want to produce this automobile (kind of like the EV-1). It looks like the market / government will force them into producing the vehicle - kicking and screaming all the way.

Keith

 

Why waste money on advertising on a car that will sell everyone they can make for the first year or two? That would be a big waste of money. It will be along time before they can make more than they can sell.

GM provides a better warranty than Most others and also has better mpg for their whole range of cars/trucks.

Give them/volt a chance. Drive one then bash