The absurdity of Donald Trump

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by tw

This problem is easily seen in one of the world's crappiest cars - Chevy Volt.
...
Worse, a Chevy Volt engine cannot even recharge its battery. It is that Donald Trump dumb.

That is weird... I guess I understand their explanation (arriving at the destination with an empty battery and charging there will likely be cheaper than charging using gas). Whether it's a good strategy would likely depend on your usage; if you almost never fully drain the battery, it probably is a cost saver.


But they're eliminating the Volt, so it'll be up to Tesla and foreign manufacturers to learn any such lessons.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

I guess I understand their explanation (arriving at the destination with an empty battery and charging there will likely be cheaper than charging using gas).

The Chevy Volt was suppose to be 100% electric. But the design, when it was proposed, was subverted repeatedly by cost controllers. To save the design, it was patched together to a gas motor.

Read what Toyota did to implement a gas motor with a battery, energy from brakes, etc. That controller is complex - more complex than the design of a new motor. So business school graduates did what they understand. They understood obsolete technologies. So that was pushed into the Volt as a separated system.

Cost controls. Eliminate the complex interface and costs go down ... only on a spread sheet.

Chevy Volt is a kludge created because business school graduates constantly 'fixed' the design. Then they made some silly excuse that people would rarely need the motor.

BTW, gasoline uses less energy than recharging from fossil fuels burned in some distant generation station. Also explains why electric heat is also so expensive. Currently is no alternative to fossil fuels - either burned efficiently in the car or burned far away and transported to the car with greater thermodynamic losses and further battery losses.

Well it could be worse. Someone could foolishly propose hydrogen as a fuel.

What makes a hybrid so superior? Same reason why 1940 locomotives used that technology So that a rail car can go 400 miles on one gallon of fuel. Electricity stored in a battery could never do that. Too many losses.

Hybrid was the innovation in 1990s. 2020 and GM business school graduates still cannot make one. Mary Barra must now first what the Donald Trump types did that long ago.

GM (like Kmart and Sears, GE, etc) are first indicators of a recession that has started. First to be hurt are companies who made profits rather than innovated ten years ago. What happened ten years ago determines an economy today. In the case of the Volt, what happened 17 years ago is why that piece of crap exists today - destroying jobs.

[tw]

From that article:

When the battery is depleted, a 1-liter, three-cylinder turbocharged engine spins at a constant speed, or revolutions per minute (rpm), to create electricity and replenish the battery.

It was a lie back then when we engineers were saying so long ago. They lied for the same reason why The Don lies. Its all about enriching the Central Committee of the Party. And raping the many fools who know only because they are liberal or conservative - do not think for themself.

Facts and numbers said Chevy Volt was promoted using Trump style lies. Like Trump, they were business school graduates - educated to even make spread sheets lie.

Another lie pushed by same liars was ethanol (ie E85). That lie also was expose here long ago by others.
Why gas prices are too high...
Rescind The Ethanol Mandate
Again, from that article is what so many naysayers should now be sheepishly admitting today:

We don't know how to feel about this news. Certainly, from an engineering perspective and total cost of operation, it does make sense. That 1.4-liter four-banger doesn't have the power to both motivate the quite-beefy Volt and recharge the battery pack, and it probably allows the on-board generator to take advantage of constant RPM efficiency tricks.

It does not have power because GM engines often need two extra pistons to get power routinely found in patriotic Toyota, BMW, Hyundai, Mercedes, and Honda engines. This was also constantly discussed here long ago - horsepower per liter. Problem exists because so many wackos hate America: "Buy American" rather than do what patriots do: "Believe in the free market. Buy the best."

But patriotism does not create bigger bonuses for the Central Committee (Trump types). So even the naive here denied it back then and may still deny these many examples today.

Anyone can see why diesel-electric locomotives in the 1930s were the future. And still GM cannot make one work in 2010s - eighty years later. And GM even made locomotives. Another trophy for people who are as smart as Donald Trump.

Fortunately Volt is a first victim of what appears to be the beginning of a Trump inspired recession. Volt has long been an example of what makes America grate.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by tw

From that article:

It was a lie back then when we engineers were saying so long ago.

Indeed; the article itself is about how that quote was not true. I was talking about the later quotes, also in the article.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

Indeed; the article itself is about how that quote was not true. I was talking about the later quotes, also in the article.

Which ones? As stated earlier, recharging from the grid is less efficient than a gasoline-electric or diesel-electric technology. Losses in creating, transporting, charging and storing energy in a battery is still inefficient.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by tw

Which ones?

There are only two others.

"a gasoline/E85-powered engine generator seamlessly provides electricity to power the Volt's electric drive unit while simultaneously sustaining the charge of the battery."

"The reason it does that is because we want you to arrive with the batteries 'empty,' filling up on grid power costs about 1/6th of what it does with gas."

Originally Posted by tw

As stated earlier, recharging from the grid is less efficient than a gasoline-electric or diesel-electric technology.

As stated earlier, I doubt it, or we'd all be running our houses off of generators.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

As stated earlier, I doubt it, or we'd all be running our houses off of generators.

Other factors (ie changing loads, constant maintenance, less reliability, etc) make home generation impractical. And that is only one of many reasons why batteries are not - cannot be 1/6th less expensive. Less expensive than current obsolete gas only? Yes. Only slightly. Obviously. Because even the changing load problem is massive in cars. Gasoline engines are particularly bad - efficiencies drip massively - when loads are constantly changing.

Best efficiencies are still found in gas-electric and diesel-electric technologies. GM does not even have that. Then suddenly those business school graduates will make electric only work? Well, that will probably be the technology in 30 years. But currently it still does not work - except in vehicles that never travel any distances. And in vehicles that can wait long periods to recharge.

What is the worst (most destructive) thing to do to a battery? Run it all the way down. Then batteries must be replaced often. American hybrids (from companies who let engineers design) will get about 100,00 miles from a battery. Why? Batteries are not deeply discharged. One never wants to arrive with the battery empty.

BTW why do you give credence to a guy who only recently discovered that the Volt was that crappy? He did not know what was obvious back then. So where is he getting his numbers from? He does not give a single reason why. He has a credibility problem.