Opel Ampera coming in 2012

[UtwigMU]

So Opel (Euro version of Chevy Volt, Vauxhall for people with steering wheel on the wrong side) Ampera is coming. This thing has a top speed of 160km/h and takes 9s to 100km/h (~60mph). 60km range only on electric power (I suspect if you want to drive normally petrol engine might kick in). Petrol engine is 1.4 with 86hp (worse than my 11y old Polo, they can now squeeze 180hp from 1.4 with turbocharger and supercharger in production cars). Range 500km. (I can drive 600km with my 11y old Polo 1.4 16V which has higher top speed also even after 11 years.)

Fuel consumption unknown but based on that Volt has 35 liter tank (smaller than my Polo) and range of 500km it's about 7l/100km or 33mpg (again worse than my Polo if I really drive lightly i can go more than 600km on one tank).

Price, now this is where this gets really pathetic: It will cost between 35 and 42.000 Euros, depending on subsidy. Ford Mondeo costs 16-30k, VW Passat costs 24-34k. This is good BMW 1 and midrange BMW 3 series territorry.

The city folks, who drive less than 60km (this will realistically be less with aircon, lights, which are mandatory in many countries) often don't have garages to charge it. The companies who do small distances (I was averaging 20-40km/day at one job with work car) are better off with pure electric vehicles (they can have some charging while others out, state subsidy is higher and you can buy Peugeot iON today for 35k) and few diesels for long trips. The people more further away with houses and garages will only do some part (half) of daily driving on electric.

Everyone else is better off with BMW 1 or 3 series diesel: you get much better car with lower fuel consumption for same price. Or you can buy Skoda Octavia 1.6 diesel for 17k Euros and have enough left for fuel for about 313.000km (194k miles). (6l/km, 39mpg, 1l of diesel costing 1.225 EUR or 3,79 USD / fill a bucket with 70.000 grains, now draw a line and pour fuel up to the line)

[UtwigMU]

Looks cool for now but it's the kind of design that will age like Renault Megane. (Will look old in 10 years unlike classic design like BMW, VW, Mercedes).

[UtwigMU]

I also think Americans won't like this prospect as while 33mpg might be good compared to V8 muscle cars, 86hp is not enough in car this size. You guys generally need 150hp minimum in Ford Focus class to drive on highway.

[TransformX]

I also think Americans won't like this prospect as while 33mpg might be good compared to V8 muscle cars, 86hp is not enough in car this size. You guys generally need 150hp minimum in Ford Focus class to drive on highway.

I have to disagree with you there because in electric engines, the power is linear.

[Dr Mordrid]

I may be the only one here who's dtiven a Volt, so..

The acceleration is very strong at those speeds where you use them most, and many of the standard track tests don't really reflect this. Also; most testers are using its normal or economy modes, not the performance mode whicb can be quickly dialed in if needed. This reprograms the electric motors governor and kicks in the generator for extra juice if the load requires.

As to economy, it depends on your trip length. I know 3 people that have Volts and they all report that they rarely use gasoline save for trips and topping off every 3-5 weeks. They plug it in at night, drive their 35+ miles (with practice 50 is possible) and perhaps use a bit of gas on the return leg.

One of them went over 1,000 miles before topping off, and since he's a senior citizen on Detroit Edison's Senior Plan and charges in the off-hours he's paying about $.06/kWh. Since Volt reserves 4 kWh of its 16 kWh battery a "dead" one only needs a 12 kWh charge to top it off. The only exception is if "limp mode" engages, this when both the battery and gas are depleted and it dips into the battery reserve. Do the math.

[Marshmallowman]

Torque curve of an electric motor is usualy linear, the power curve is NOT linear.

Max torque at 0 rpm to 0 torque at max rpm. Quite nice for a vehicle(hence used in almost all modern trains)

power curve usualy peaks at 50% max rpm( gross over simplication)