Edmund Storms wrote:
4) trim the 4-cylinder down in power and weight to about 35 kW and
make it a diesel, possibly a two cylinder diesel.
At that power, the car will have a hard time keeping up with traffic
when the batteries are exhausted. This would be the death of the idea.
35 kW = 47 HP. I have a 1994 Geo Metro with a 3-cylinder 55 HP motor.
It has lost umph over the years, but even when it was new, it was
scary to drive at highway speeds in Atlanta. Going up a moderate hill
with the accelerator fully floored the traffic would fly by me. Going
up the hill south of Chattanooga was scary. As I recall it was barely
making 50 mph.
(That hill is famously steep and long. The Union Infantry took it in
a famous battle in the Civil War. It is hard to believe anyone run up
to the top fully armed and then storm the lines at the top.)
The Metro is a fine car for the city, but impractical for the
highway. Turn on the air conditioning and it drops 5 mph. It gets
excellent mileage though! Around 35 mpg in the city, and supposedly
42 mpg on the highway, with a 5-speed manual transmission. Fun to
drive, too. Much safer than a motorcycle, as I tell my wife. Specs here:
http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/1990-to-1994-geo-metro-6.htm
I doubt that the Volt will be lighter or significantly more
aerodynamic than the Metro, so I doubt that 35 kW would be enough. It
would be marginal. The Prius ICE is variously quoted at 57 kW (76 HP)
to 82 kW (109 HP). Maybe it depends upon the model year.
- Jed
