I'm watching the video now...so I can't comment on things he's said, yet...I'm only1/3 of the way through....BUT...I've heard people at GM say they want all their cars to meet or exceed class leading numbers before...not sure if that's what he meant to say...that being said, sports cars are safe, imo...that average factor of CAFE saves them.
Yep...
very expensive. The Volt's Lithium battery technology runs about $1k for every kilowatt-hour. The Volt's battery is roughly $16k. However, it will only wear down roughly ~90% in ten years, iirc. This technology is expected, however, to drop in price rather significantly like other electronic devices in the coming years.
That's not an answerable question, sadly. :(. You can't just drop the Voltec powertrain into any car. The batteries run down a central, T-shaped cavity in the vehicle, and things like driveshafts and transmissions don't mean squat anymore. While there's the added burden of a couple electric motors. The car has to be engineered from the get-go for this powertrain. If this will happen, expect to see it in a sixth-gen Camaro based on a smaller, lighter RWD platform.
Second, weight a huge issue with these electric drive cars in terms of load and strain on the battery/motors. Just like turbochargers, electric motors canbe matched in size and capacity to a vehicle. If the Volt got a 230 city rating, I can't imagine a Camaro-sized/weight car getting any less than 150.
And 'slow' is quite the assumption. I imagine that if the proper motors were used, the car would be no slower than the V6 Camaro...these things have a LOT of torque.
