Chevy Volt

General Motors, that company that was given an extreme amount of money by our government not too long ago is now beginning to turn the corner and give promise back to all us tax payers it seems. In what is going to be the first true "mass assembled" electric car of our lifetime, General Motors flagship car company chevrolet, will introduce the Chevy Volt. What makes the Volt an interesting piece of technology is that it is by no means a hybrid. The volt is propelled exclusively by lithium ion batteries that have a distance of about 35 miles. Yes, that does not seem like much, but it has an on board gas generator that refreshes the batteries to give an additional distance of 340 miles. So altogether, the volt can reach 375 miles before its proverbially "out of gas". The car also retains energy when it stops with regenerative braking that takes the energy required to brake a car and converts the energy into being able to recharge the battery. What is pretty fascinating about the car is that it is able to be fully charged on roughly a $1.50 of electricity. On a standard outlet of 120v in a household it takes about ten hours to fully charge. But GM has partnered up with utility companies around America so that if you do purchase a Chevy volt the utility company can install in your house a 240v outlet where needed (garage) for a highly reduced cost. Add to that the large rebate you get from the government for purchasing a volt and the installation doesn't cost you money and you save some. Where it gets interesting is in the inside for this car. By way of GM's onstar division, which gives drivers the ability to unlock doors if they lock their keys inside their cars, locate vehicles that are stolen, etc, onstar plays a key role in the technological developments of the Chevy Volt. If one has a smart phone they can download the GM application that links ones smart phone to their Chevy Volt. What this effectively does is give a person control of their car even when they are no where near the car. The Application can give the owner readouts of how much charge is left in the batteries, how much gas is left in the generator, can unlock or lock the car from the phone, if its cold out, one can use their phone to turn on their Volt and get the heater to warm up the driving compartment, the app can allow the owner to set when to start charging the car if it is plugged in already (like off peak hours when the owner cans ave more money), the app can tell the car when to stop charging, the application can even help the owner figure out their blue tooth in the car as well, and download MP3's into the Volts 30gig hard drive. What we are seeing is the future of cars here I believe. As gas becomes costlier, we are going to want cars that are cheap to drive in some shape or form. The Chevy Volt shows us how just as phones have evolved to become more savvy and efficient, so can our cars become more savvy and efficient on many levels. I think this car will become a success but it will take some time for it to catch on. I have noticed that cities like Portland, Oregon (one of the greenest cities in America) have already installed public charging ports for Volts. If that catches on, one could think of the numerous possibilities out there in regards for electric cars. Charging ports can not only be a possible theft deterrent (car's alarm goes off if plug is detached before owner uses keys to unlock it), they could be meter services for cities to make money, and can be a way for owners to save possible money then to charge car at home if cities give electricity at a discounted price. Just as the gasoline automobile had revolutionized America, so too do I believe that the Electric Automobile will do it again.