Realistic Mileage Figures for the Chevy Volt are Still Impressive, But Not 230 mpg
August 12, 2009 by Rico Mossesgeld
Filed under Automotive
Everyone’s buzzing over the Chevy Volt, which is basically a hybrid car (runs on an electric and gasoline engine) with ginormous batteries. Eyes have bulged over the claimed 230 miles per gallon mileage.
But Math-dude turned blogger Mark insists that “The method that GM used to produce that mileage figure is extremely dishonest and completely uninformative”. In other words, the figure publicized is technically true, but would turn out different in practical situations. That’s because GM apparently came up with figure by computing how long it would take for the car to actually start consuming gasoline, if the batteries were fully …read more
Efficient Three-Wheel Car = US Gov’t Fail
March 27, 2009 by Rico Mossesgeld
Filed under Automotive
So you come up with the Aptera 2e, a really efficient two-seater, three-wheel car. Even better, it runs as much as a hundred miles on one 8-hour charge from your standard wall outlet. Even even better, the car draws energy from the friction generated by its brakes, and its built-in solar panels.
Even even even better, you’ve got at least 4000 people who’ve actually paid for the car! So why can’t manufacture Aptera Motors rely on the government for some badly-needed cash to push its ideas further?
Here’s the thing: the US Department of Energy’s $25 billion loan-program for alternative-energy cars only …read more
