* actually several all plugged into each other. They would have gone further but they didn't know how to unwind those ones on drums
By making the trip from Luton to Ellesmere Port.
Apparently it'll be the longest single trip by an electric car. I hope they do it so I can tell them to "stop messing about and bring it out
already"
Get away, there's already been longer trips than that in EV's...
I think this one is being classed as the longest as Vauxhall are not using batteries, its a really long extension lead*
* actually several all plugged into each other. They would have gone further but they didn't know how to unwind those ones on drums
The annual Solar Challenge in Australia is from Darwin to Adelaide, about 1877 miles...
I dunno that's what they said on the news, it might be longest in Britain, or longest with an electric production car (I'm sure the range on that G "Whizz" isn't too far)
Quote -
A PROTOTYPE Vauxhall electric car that could be built in Cheshire is set to make the longest-ever journey by an electric car on British roads.
The new Ampera – which will go on sale in the UK in early 2012 – will be driven on Tuesday from Vauxhall’s Luton headquarters to its Ellesmere Port
manufacturing plant, a journey of more than 170 miles.
hmm doesn't look too bad
Hmm, shame the Ampera isn't actually an electric car. It's a (thankfully) restyled and rebadged version of the Chevvy Volt range-extended
hybrid. It can only do about 40 miles on batteries and there's still a petrol engine on board.
And there is already an EV that will do 245 miles on batteries alone. The Tesla Roadster. One did 313 miles on a trip across Australia.
They'll also do 0-60 in less than 4 seconds and 125mph. A bit pricier though!
Iirc the original blurb said that it was a hybrid, but it relied mainly on the electric while the petrol motor was for charging... Let me check it and
get back
Yep from what I can see here the petrol motor doesn't drive the wheels whatsoever, and theoretically
if you work less than 40 miles away you could get away with not using any petrol at all.
[Edited on 22/6/10 by Ninehigh]
That's what they mean by "range-extended hybrid". The engine is really there jsut to drive a big alternator, and doesn't actually
drive the wheels, as you say.
I do think this type of REEV arrangement is the near-future for most 'transport only' cars, but just wanted to point out that it isn't
a true Electric Vehicle. Driving it from Luton to Ellesmere point isn't especially difficult and not really a news item at all - it'll
still reply on burning petrol in an ICE to get it that far.
It seems like a pre-emptive move in case people think it's an EV and get that notorious 'range anxiety'. Strange though that they
don't emphasise the really big benefit which is that possibility of a zero-CO2 daily commute for many people.
Yeah and if they actually build it up here then there'll be about 7000 made over the next couple of years, as the entire staff will be able to
get to work for pretty much free.
And I'm still undecided if it looks bloody angry or not.
I like it. The engine driving a generator to charge the batteries type of electric vehicle is the best type of EV at the moment. It's what I would do if I were making one. It even looks nice. How much will they be? If its the price of a normal car, I'll buy one.
I wanted to do something similar on the 7..
Emailed Vauxhall about it, hopefully I'll get a reply soon and post it here.
quote:
Becky Lancaster, Vauxhall customer service manager
Dear Mr Bridge
Thank you for your email dated 23 June 2010, regarding the new Vauxhall Ampera.
Regrettably, at this moment in time we have no indication as to the prices of the new Ampera, as it is still at the development stage. May I suggest you remain in contact with the Sales Manager at your local or preferred Vauxhall dealership, who will be happy to keep you informed on future developments.
May I thank you once again for taking the time to contact us and allowing me the opportunity to comment.
Yours sincerely
resurection alert!
ISTR the ampera will be £28k, which i think largely eliminates the benefit of saving a maximum of 80 miles of fuel (40 commute with a charge whilst
working). Assuming an alternative normal car would do that trip on 2 gallons or maybe £12, so over a 250 day working year, £3000 of fuel would become
(if 2p a mile is correct as they state) £400 of electricity (or £200 if your employer didnt bill you for the charge at their end!).
Saving £2.5k a year wouldnt persuade me to spend £28k, esp with the exposure to expenses such as battery replacements.
And that example is the ideal situation, others might only save a grand a year.
When the price comes down, and petrol goes up, it will make more economic sense.
They're actually making it? 
I was under the impression that the when the engine is used to generate electricity you got more miles per gallon than you would from a normal car so
the total saving would be more per year (Though as you say paying £28k for a car to save money is nonsense). The engine only needs to drive the
generator so has no ancincleries and is less complex, added to this what you doing doesn't have much bearing on the engine so when your breaking
or stopped your not wasting fuel and you get the benefits of all the power available all the time.
I love the idea but I couldn't afford one and wouldn't trust a used one (In the future).
I worked on an electric project for an old fella for a number of years. A car slightly smaller than an (Austin) Mini, did over 120 miles on 6 deep
duty truck sized batteries. 50mph in 4 secs, but only 50mph max! Project died with the old guy about 5 years ago.
I'll be using all the same running gear in a classic Mini copy, just as soon as I get the moulds finished. Tax exempt, no congestion fee and no
parking charges in City of London. For a local runabout it should be great, and about 70 pence to fully charge, or zero if I charge it during the day
from the solar.
The big misconception about most electric 'hybrids', is that 99% are just petrol engines with an electric transmission, and batteries for a
buffer. Just like trains!
Cheers,
Nev.
Very true there nev, but hopefully as technology improves the all electric range will improve. Am i right in saying that cars like the toyota prius start the engine very soon after setting off, and aim to keep the batteries full? This defeats the point, since really you want to charge the batteries from a cheap source.
The Ampera is just the Europeanised version of the Chevy Volt which is already out for sale here in the States (tho few are actually buying it).
It's a 'parallel hybrid', in that either the electric motor or the gasoline motor can drive the wheels. It's actually a really
cool system but the car it's in and the surrounding politics and marketing disaster have made the whole thing a sorry tale.
The Volt can drive up to 40ish miles on pure electric power, though the engine kicks in at higher speeds both for extra power and because it's
just more efficient than using the electric motor at high rpms. The Prius can't stay fully electric for very long at all (even the new plug-in
one is just 13 miles), and not at all at higher speeds, but overall the system works so well that you still get very good mpg. The difference is that
there are people with Chevy Volts saying that they can manage most of their daily lives with just that 40 electric miles per day and so only have to
fill up with petrol every few months. Pretty good going!
Fully electric is the (rapidly approaching) future, but these aren't bad efforts for right now, and the Ampera looks a damn sight better than the
butt-ugly Volt and will hopefully be a bit classier inside!
Of course it will look great, all concepts do!