GE Employees Get Chevy Volt Electric Cars, All-Gas Use OKed Sometimes
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Sixteen months ago, General Electric announced it would place the "largest order in history" for electric cars, to be used by its employees who are issued company cars.
Now, those cars are starting to arrive and be placed with employees.
And where changes are made, personnel policies are sure to follow.
A person inside GE recently forwarded a memo to us that covers some of the nuts and bolts of using the 2012 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car. It's from the fleet operations manager for GE Healthcare.
Among the interesting points:
- "All sedans ordered in 2012 will be the Chevrolet Volt"
- Crossovers and minivans will be replaced by electric-vehicle sedans, i.e. the Volt
- Field engineers (who presumably have to carry equipment and spare parts) are the exception to the Volt-only rule
- Home assessments for installation of a 240-Volt Level 2 charging station will be provided to all Volt drivers
- If it's not possible to install a Level 2 station, employees should use standard 110-Volt charging
- If no electric power is available, driving the Volt using only its gasoline range extender is permitted
- Employees should expense both public charging-station costs and the Volt-recharging portion of their monthly electric bills
- If new GE drivers opt out of the fleet-vehicle program and choose to use a personal car, GE will not reimburse those expenses
- Existing drivers will not be reimbursed for personal-vehicle use after January 1, 2013
Stand by for shrieking from certain segments of the media about how "GE Forces Employees Into Electric Cars!"
But, more seriously, why is GE pushing the Volt so hard?
First, its fleet managers have likely calculated that over the multi-year lifetime of the Volt, the company will save money on operating costs.
Fleet managers are notoriously hard-nosed spreadsheet jockeys, and are willing to spend more upfront on a car (the 2012 Volt starts at $39,995 before the $7,500 Federal tax credit) if the running costs end up saving money over the total mileage it covers.
The cost of a mile driven on electricity is generally one-third to one-fifth that of a mile driven on gasoline (depending on gasoline and electricity prices and the gas mileage of the comparison vehicle).
So GE likely figures that paying recharging costs will end up saving it money on gasoline over several years.
Second, GE makes electric-car charging stations, and its WattStation ads have been heavily publicized.
For the company, championing electric cars is a good way for employees to get familiar with plug-in vehicles that need to be recharged. In Silicon Valley, they call that "eating your own dogfood."
The GE order could add many thousands of vehicles to Volt sales in 2012, and we suspect that most GE drivers will warm quickly to the smooth, quiet experience of electric propulsion.
One note of concern: The electric-car advocate who sent us the memo was deeply disturbed that all-gasoline running was allowed.
We're not quite so worried about that, since its ability to run on gasoline once the battery pack is depleted is the heart of the Volt's flexibility--no range anxiety.
Since most GE Healthcare employees will use their company cars on fairly predictable daily travels, many of them less than 40 miles, their Volts are likely to spend the vast majority of their miles running on battery power.
After all, Level 2 charging or not, everyone's got a 110-Volt socket somewhere.
For all we know, GE may have a deal with GM's Onstar to get access to the detailed usage data for its Volts--which would allow the company to learn exactly how its employees drive its Volts.
A year hence, we may see a GE press release touting all the gasoline it has displaced by running on grid power. We hope so, anyhow.
We've reproduced the entire text of the memo, addressed to GE Healthcare's "Americas Team," on the next page.
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As I'm sure you know, the torque that is occasionally provided by the Volt engine through the motor to the wheels is less than the torque of the e-motor itself.
This gives us a dividing line between a "range-extended electric car" or "series hybrid" (e.g. Volt, Karma) and a "plug-in hybrid" that has a larger, wall-chargeable battery pack but still gets most of its total torque from the engine (e.g. Toyota and Ford PHEVs).
We do so to make clear to readers that the Prius Plug-In & the Volt operate very differently & feel different behind the wheel. [cont]
Really? Is a LEAF charged from an NG generating plant make it a hybrid? Or a fuel oil plant? Obviously there is a difference with an on board generator, and that makes it a hybrid.
You are joking, right John? I didn't know you had a sense of humor.
So, John, does that mean that the Leaf has to tow a fleet of diesel generators behind them to charge their battery when it runs down after a hundred miles like the Volt has to haul a ICE, tailpipe and gas tank behind them and stop to charge their battery for 16 hours every 40 miles? You do realize just how unusual your statement sounded don't you?
In the end, we feel it's important to highlight the differences for buyers in e-range, driving experience, and efficiency in different modes between series hybrids and plug-in power-split hybrids. Hope this helps.
Also, what if Chevy drops the Volt range to 10 miles all electric, does it then become a plug-in hybrid?
Does the Karma change from an E-REV to a plug-in hybrid when you put it in "Sport mode"? After-all, it is then getting more "torque" from the gasoline engine.
Seems like you are making a distinction without a difference. There is a continuum of modes of operation here.
To me, I think it makes more sense to draw the line based on solely on the e-range and not consider whether or not the gas engine kicks in to get you up to highway speed.
And a related Q: Do you agree with the absolutist position often used to complain about our practice that if it has ANYTHING else beside a battery pack and a traction motor (e.g. a range extender--or perhaps a hydrogen fuel cell), then "it's not an electric car"?
Related to that, something like the GEM is an EV or BEV, but I don't suspect we would ever want to end a sentence without more qualifications. We would always say NEV so that no one mistakes for a serious vehicle.
We already at pains to explain hybrids as "start-stop" or "mild" or "full" because there is such a significant difference in performance.
If it gets power from anything other than on board batteries it's not an EV, and twice as complex.
Our search data indicates that people searching for "hybrids" are NOT interested in the Volt. They are looking for info on standard, non-plug-in hybrids.
The search term used by the general public for *anything* that plugs into a wall socket is "electric car" (not "EV"), btw.
The Volt plugs into the wall. There is no "hybrid" model of the Volt, and in fact GM avoids that term altogether. In the eyes of the public, it is an electric car--because it plugs in--regardless of whatever else it has on board.
The test will come with the Prius Plug-In Hybrid, since the public knows a Prius IS a hybrid ... but it also plugs in.
Personally, I like EREV for the Volt (not hybrid) and I think as long as a vehicle has at least 30 miles of e-range, it should be categorized as an EREV.
But I think there is an important concept missing in the PHEV40 concept. For argument sake,let's say that the plug-in Prius had a 40 mile e-range, and so does the Volt. At that point, is there NO difference between the plug-in Prius and the Volt?
Seems to me that it is impossible to use the plug-in Prius in a gasoline free way even with a 40 mile e-range. That is a key difference from the Volt.
1) first 40 miles per day, pure EV (like LEAF)
2) after that, hybrid (like the Prius)
So in order to make that case that the Volt is Primarily a hybrid, you have to envision more than 81 miles per day of usage. Then I think it is fair to call the Volt a hybrid for that user.
Less than 40 miles per day, the Volt is a pure EV for that user, which seems likelier to be the case for most people.
Between 40 and 80 miles per day, the Volt is somewhere between and EV and a hybrid. That is why I like the E-REV designation for the Volt.
At any mileage per day the Volt is still a hybrid, it's dragging around an ICE, gas tank, exhaust system, etc. and is much more complex than an EV. Part of the benefits of an EV is it's mechanical simplicity, and reliability. The Volt is more complex than an EV, or an ICE, since it's both. Always, no matter how it's being driven at the moment.
To get a long range, you are going to have to drag something heavy around with you either an ICE range extender or a large battery that seldom gets used.
Yes, if your interest is primarily in CO2 emissions, there may be little difference between the Volt and the Prius.
If you are like Voelcker and have less interest in the environment and more on "driving dynamics" (whatever that means) the Volt is better because the torque is all from the electric motor.
If you are interested in getting off foreign oil, the Volt is better again because you can drive daily without using any oil. That is not the case with the Plug-in Prius and is an important psychological difference (even if the practical difference is little).
Actually the battery always gets used, but since it's larger it is usually shallow cycled and lightly loaded, which increases it's lifespan, far beyond that of a hybrid. Not only does a hybrid carry around a potentially unused ICE it also has to severely limit the usable capacity of the pack, and the smaller pack is always under greater load compared to it's size, shortening it's potential lifespan.
Depends on your driving needs. As I understand it as long as your speeds are under 60mph the Prius won't use the ICE until the pack is depleted. Regardless people with specific interests that detailed will be able to easily figure out the differences before they buy.
Governmental consumption in action...
EVs will greatly aid wind power. The wind tends to blow more at night when demand is low which leads to lower profits. Bringing a lot of EVs to the grid and charging them at night will increase wind farm profits. Higher profits means more turbines installed.
The wind tends to pick up in late afternoon in Wyoming which makes it a perfect partner for SoCal solar power, it's why transmission lines are being built to tie Wyoming wind to the Pacific and Intermountain Interies (HVDC transmission lines).
The availability of wind at night often drives the wholesale cost of electricity close to $0.00/kWh.
MrEnergyCzar
Haters have to hate and lovers of conspiracies love to fine depper meaning that is really there. hate it, if you want, but don't call others like of the vehicle dishonest, that's just a paranoid attack on others.
$40k-$42k purchase price, $7.5 tax credit->let's use $33.5 in the middle. At 15k miles/year and 80/20 EV use, compared to a vehicle with 25 MPG overall, it saves 514 gallons a year. 600 versus 86. Even at $4 gas that will only increase, that's $2,056/yr. in fuel savings. Even paying for electricity adds only $60/month (I'm using my local nightime rates in MI), so -$720/yr., so still a savings of $1,316 year. In five years, savings=$6,580.
So $33.5-$6,580, or less than $27k. Not insignificantly, about the average cost of a Prius.
Yes, EVs are horrible and foreign oil is much better. I mean, eventually, we'll win a war in the Middle East that doesn't cost more than a trillion.
Using your definition "an "electric car" is any vehicle whose wheels are turned *primarily* by the electric traction motor(s)." would make every Diesel/Electric Locomotive an "Electric Train".
"Electric Car with extended range" is GM Marketing pitching one of the advantages of a hybrid electric vs. a pure electric car. Toyota could market the Prius as an "Electric Car with extended range and performance" if it wanted to. You can drive it as all electric until the battery runs down or you want to go faster then 10mph. Then it switches to the "extended" mode by starting the gasoline engine to charge the batteries and drive the wheels.
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