Lutz: Photovoltaic Roof to be Unveiled in January and Development Ahead of Schedule

[ericmvest]

It is good to hear some good news in a very bad news week. Another piece of good news, General Motors gained 13 cents per share or 2.73% gain today. Its a step in the right direction.

[cadsrbest]

Volt's starting to look better and better for us...

I wonder how much more the photovoltaic roof option will cost?


Just an educated guess, I would estimate the MSRP of the option at $1500. I base this on the cost of providing solar power to boat and RVs. Where I live several coworkers and friends live on boats. To provide that level of output these must be the higher efficiency panels.

Any other estimates/guesses?

[slowinthefastlane]

Originally Posted by johnny smallblock

At $25K, yes.
At $40K, no.

The lease on an EV1 was around $500/mo (at least that's what Saturn of San Francisco/Colma quoted to me back in 1998).

It was expensive and made a huge impact on the public perception of GM's - mostly negative as of late, though.

[ph39]

Can't see how this is anything more than marketing ploy -

"The roof, he said, will be able to charge the battery from 1/4 to 1/3 over 3 hot blazing days of sun"

So - if the volt is good for 40 miles based on 50% of battery life (80% to 30%) - then 3 days in the hot blazing sun charges the battery from 25% to 33% - this means that you gain about 5 miles.

Not sure what that works out to in $$ - but 5 miles in a car that gets 30 mpg is worth about $0.50 of gas. Assuming its much cheaper to use plug in electricity - 3 days in the sun is probably worth $0.25 of electricity.

[F14CRAZY]

Originally Posted by ph39

Can't see how this is anything more than marketing ploy -

"The roof, he said, will be able to charge the battery from 1/4 to 1/3 over 3 hot blazing days of sun"

So - if the volt is good for 40 miles based on 50% of battery life (80% to 30%) - then 3 days in the hot blazing sun charges the battery from 25% to 33% - this means that you gain about 5 miles.

Not sure what that works out to in $$ - but 5 miles in a car that gets 30 mpg is worth about $0.50 of gas. Assuming its much cheaper to use plug in electricity - 3 days in the sun is probably worth $0.25 of electricity.

yeah...that's not much of a charge

[vdoh182]

Originally Posted by F14CRAZY

yeah...that's not much of a charge

Guys, a photovoltaic roof is also beneficial in that it can power fans to keep the car cool when it is parked in the sun, this greatly reduces the need to run AC at full blast the first 20 minutes ur in the car, saving gas. Also, on sunny days that are not that hot (late April, May, or September weather in NE) you wont have to use your AC at all you car will be cool already.

[edsuski]

Originally Posted by ph39

Can't see how this is anything more than marketing ploy -

"The roof, he said, will be able to charge the battery from 1/4 to 1/3 over 3 hot blazing days of sun"

So - if the volt is good for 40 miles based on 50% of battery life (80% to 30%) - then 3 days in the hot blazing sun charges the battery from 25% to 33% - this means that you gain about 5 miles.

Not sure what that works out to in $$ - but 5 miles in a car that gets 30 mpg is worth about $0.50 of gas. Assuming its much cheaper to use plug in electricity - 3 days in the sun is probably worth $0.25 of electricity.

While I agree that the efficiency of solar cells (at least the ones they will likely use) is low - I think what Lutz means is that you could get between 1/4 and 1/3 of a full charge after three days of intense sunlight. That would translate into about 10 to 13 miles range. It is hard to imagine how it will be worth the cost of the option, but it is still cool.

[edsuski]

Originally Posted by johnny smallblock

At $25K, yes.
At $40K, no.

Here is the deal - Tesla has sold 100% of the available (1000) vehicles at $109,000.00 each. Now think about the number of people who can afford a $40K car (as easily as the first 1000 Tesla customers could afford a $109,000.00 car). GM will have no problem selling every single Volt they can produce for at least the first 6 months - maybe the first year. As production continues, the price is likely to come down some and more and more people will be able to afford the vehicle. I am "predicting" long lines at the Chevy dealer for a long time to come. Do you agree?

I already have my order in at the local Cadillac dealer (even though there is no confirmation that Cadillac will actually get a Volt derivative).

[1BadPig]

I guess there won't be a Volt convertible, huh? Or even a sunroof...

[jry]

Originally Posted by rueben44

Wow the Prius and the Volt are two different kinds of cars. Theoretically the Volt could go without using gas period if you stay under 40 miles a day. Why would they sell that for the same price as a car that can't claim this?

Because they are products of Toyota.... the company that can do no wrong.
You could have a crappy Toyota and a gold plated STS, priced the same, and i swear that folks would buy the Toyota. That Volt could recharge itself, run 80 miles, one way and climb a building and some folks would yawn.

[ogg vorbis]

Originally Posted by Aerodynamix

^^^ Exactly. I expect the take-rate here in Canada to be fairly low unless the pricing is on par with the Camry Hybrid which starts at $30,660. For comparison, the Prius starts at $27,400.

i was going to mention the huge government rebates on the volt. we also have to consider the MASSIVE beating the canadian dollar has taken this month. seriously, with the US market collapsing, shouldn't the canadian dollar at least maintain parity, if not rise?

if the volt is a premium niche vehicle, it escapes the normal supply/demand cycle. it's not a 50 mpg sub compact car. it will sell...hopefully enough that gm can start passing on economies of scale.

i wish they'd sell a pure ev for those who can use it. but they won't. the ev1 is still the best ev created...but there's no money in service/parts. even toyota and honda crushed their less successful ev's. that's why hybrids are proliferating - it gives consumers a warm fuzzy feeling, and toyota/honda still make money on service/parts, and oil companies supply lubricants and fuel.

i'm surprised that gm is offering a plug-in hybrid. i hope they're running li-po cell durability tests concurrently with the current battery...or which ever battery tech is most desirable. they could have a better battery soon after the volt's release.

[Ytriox]

Cool. A Volt with a "Sun-Roof".

[GG_TECH]

Yea, Photovoltaic cells or solar sunroof would be a plus. However, one of the drawbacks of solar it does not generate enough current to charge the Li-ion battery to meet the demanding needs for a vehicle in comparison to a alternator or stator. The prototype more than likely will be a technology demonstrator.

Although, Chev. doesn't mention the size of the area of the photovoltaic sunroof, if Chev. can maximize the size of the solar cells lets say double their current size then those 3 days of charging could mean a up to a full charged battery meaning 20- 40 extra miles.

I like photovoltaic cell technology as electricity produced is from free energy from the sun. In specific photons in the light from the sun smash into the solar cell and creates an electric current. Not very effiecient at this time but it is free energy. The photovoltiac cell technology are improving in terms of effieciency as new more exotic materials are utilized to increase the electric current.

[mbukukanyau]

to put it simply, the Prius is a gasoline car with a small electric motor, the volt is an electric car with a small gasoline engine,

[1BadPig]

Even if photovoltaic cell technology isn't that efficient, by using the it to power other things such as DRLs, radio, etc., wouldn't that leave more juice for the car. So effectively increasing the Volt's driving range?