Electric Cars: Chev Bolt seems to be the first practical one.

[houstonscott]

Tomorrow we are leaving for a vacation that will involve a 9 hour plus stops drive for a total of about 10 hours on the road. That is over 580 miles in one day. If I understand correctly a pure electric would have to stop twice for an overnight charge before continuing the trip. Plus we will be running the air conditioner all the way. So the Bolt, with it's 238 mile ideal condition range, would take at least two or maybe three overnight stops to make it to our destination. Hmmmmm. While I would love to have one for a local runabout it would simply be impractical for use by my family. And my family now consists of myself and my wife. Now if it was back in the daughter's teen years when they had all that running around to this or that it might be okay. Once again, the pure electrics biggest failure, and the reason they will not become mainstream transportation, is the long 'refueling' period. They are great for a local runabout. No doubt they are better than an ICE as a local driver. But unless it is a hybrid or something else with some type on instant refueling they will only occupy a well defined niche and that is all. In my opinion anyway. RSKY

Think golf cart.

 

[IslandTractor]

Think golf cart.

Probably all you need in beautiful downtown Oglesby.

One point that keeps being forgotten here is that no single type of vehicle, ICE or nonICE, is going to suit every driver's needs. A Ford F250 is nothing but a PITA in downtown Boston. A short range EV would be fairly useless in Oglesby. It's silly to argue that Teslas in particular and the Bolt in theory are not useful for people that drive less than 200 miles a day which is about 95+% of the US population.

 

[vvanders]

That feature - matching the irregular pace of stop-n-go congestion - would be even more valuable than just freeway-speed cruise control that tracks the car in front. I want it! Can anyone explain Chevrolet's version in Volt, Bolt, and I assume other models? The salesman told me Bolt's option matched Tesla's, I don't believe it.

ML??

ML = Machine Learning. Basically trained feedback loops that use existing datasets to build fuzzy-matching in a tiered approach to find solutions to problems that don't cleanly map into discrete values(which computers understand very well). You setup a network of inputs + outputs, bias them randomly and then feed them in images/data/etc which are already tagged with a value you expect. The algorithm then adjusts the weights on the layers until it's "trained" to match the output that's expected.

For instance, this(Quick, Draw!) was a fun little ML thing google put up a while back where they try and guess the object that you draw just from a few small lines. Same thing for self-driving cars, except they're trained on millions of frames of images/video.

With respect to stop & go, most other mfgrs don't do resume from a stop. For instance our Subaru had Eye-Sight which is similar tech, however you couldn't engage it below 18mph and would turn off if you came to a complete stop. Everyone sources their their tech from Mobileye so they all have similar limitations. Telsa on the other hand has roots as a software shop so their customization is much more extensive and robust.

 

[aeblank]

A good description of ML is IBM's Watson learning what the letter "A" is. It sounds silly, but way harder than you'd think.

Of course, driving a car is orders of magnitude more harderer.

 

[MossRoad]

- Moss I re edited my post and added this link, The New Volt drive -a 5 mode capable unit
GM's Second Generation Voltec Drivetrain Explained (Voltec 2) - YouTube

Almost no carry over components from the 1st gen volt

and looks like it does use some of the ICE power coupled to the axles in (fixed ratio) mode

A comparison by a GM chief engineer

Chevrolet Volt Gen 2 Engine walkthrough - YouTube

Thanks! Very good info. :thumbsup:

 

[sd455dan]

she drives a car. Now she is hinting HARD that she wants an ultra mileage car like a (gag, swallow, swallow) SMART CAR! (insert bullet to my brain here) But, its HER car. Would an electric work for her? Gets cold up here ya know.

you might get a kick out of this- i did , tesla model X pulling a boat up a hill

@ 6:20 even some passing

Model X towing 225 kg/5 lb boat+trailer up the mountains - YouTube

 

[MinnesotaEric]

The Duke engine and the free piston engine really look like they have a future with hybrid cars. Duke is at the start of the video and free piston engine begins at 8:00 into the video.

 

[houstonscott]

you might get a kick out of this- i did , tesla model X pulling a boat up a hill @ 6:20 even some passing Model X towing 225 kg/5 lb boat+trailer up the mountains - YouTube

I can assure you this belongs in the stupid towing thread.

 

[houstonscott]

The Duke engine and the free piston engine really look like they have a future with hybrid cars. Duke is at the start of the video and free piston engine begins at 8:00 into the video. YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRnQFGskg9w

ICE and batteries are both mature technology's now. ICE hasn't changed much in last 15 years. Focus is on electronics in safety options, but the ICE is now a mature technology, nothing else to do... Tuning exhaust for each exhaust valve could still come but it too has been done.

 

[California]

Electrek article comparing Bolt / Tesla S.

The real meat is in the comments by people who own both, including Steve Wozniak. He prefers the Bolt for family trips from home into San Francisco for example (105 miles round trip) because visibility and the Tesla is too big to park in typical urban tight parking. He says on the other hand the Tesla is preferable for runs to Las Vegas because Tesla's supercharger network works better for long distance travelers compared to the random and less powerful 'standard' fast chargers available on the road for non-Tesla owners. Lots of other interesting comments. The difference between Bolt / Tesla S is not as great as I had expected.