OT. Chevy Bolt Killed Off

[Dean Hoffman]

So says a report on the local news. Reasons are battery fires and lack of sales The plant will be retooled to make some sort of EV pickup.

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Chevy's solution to the battery fires was a computer fix where the battery cannot not be fully charged.

Since this reduces the range considerably there is a big class action suit over it:

To get political, there are those here that vote for those pushing EV's down our throat.

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American engineers used their traditional knowledge of lead-acid and nickel-metal hydride battery to deal with lithium-ion cells. I have experience playing with high current lithium-ion cells decades ago when I was into the hobby of flying model helicopters. It was an expensive hobby because helicopter crashes easily, unlike the very stable modern hobby drones with 4 propellers at four corners.

Just like charging lead-acid and NiMH batteries, you get diminishing charging efficiency when the battery is approaching full charge. The excess charging current will starting turning the water in the electrolyte into hydrogen and oxygen (electrolysis). It is harmless in lead-acid batteries because the gas can escape and you can add pure water back into it. The lithium-ion batteries I bought were slabs of soft material without a hard casing. It will bulge when overcharged and there will be risk of fire because the bulging can push some conductors together to cause short circuit. It will be catastrophic because those lithium-ions can produce much higher electric current than lead-acid types.

Therefore, you should avoid charging a lithium-ion battery to full capacity, and never trickle-charge a lithium-ion battery because lithium-ion batteries cannot release the gas and will bulge and self destruct.

The good thing about lithium-ion batteries is that the remaining capacity inside is reflected by the terminal voltage, unlike lead-acid battery's constant voltage until it is almost dead. That's why Sony camera lithium-ion batteries can tell you exactly how much battery charge is remaining.

[Dean Hoffman]

There's an article here about someone needing a tow because he ran his battery down in an EV. This driver would've been ok if he had a hybrid.

Here's a Consumer Reports article about hybrids.

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This graph shows the relationship of remaining capacity and terminal voltage at different temperatures from -20C to +40C.

It shows that lithium-ion cell capacity drops dramatically below freezing point, but you can still tell from the terminal voltage that the charge capacity is reduced. The EV should be able to use the terminal voltage and ambient temperature to estimate the remaining charge capacity of that particular lithium-ion battery pack.

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I get good mileage on my Subaru Crosstrek with a CVT and recall Consumer Reports write up on the Crosstrek hybrid a few years ago which maybe only got about 3 mpg better but maybe cost $5,000 more. They said the hybrid was not worth the extra cost.

If you do drive a lot and want to save on gas the Toyota Prius has been around for over 20 years and does hold up well.

While reading the article on the Bolt law suit I saw an article praising the new Rivian EV for how well it performed in snowy Canada. What was funny was charging overnight on a home charger in cold weather would give you an extra twenty miles range but if you just left the vehicle out in the cold without charging they lost 10% of the existing charge. The battery uses itself up to keep warm in cold weather.

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EV doesn't even need transmission. Electric motors in EV naturally have high torque at low speed.

[Slevin]

Yah, when it's time to travel, the hypocritical demonrat EV shill politicians all have private aircraft that run on jet fuel.

They should make Hunter drive from DC to his paternity court hearing in Arkansas in a Chevy Bolt. Fill the trunk with Tranheuser-Bush Pud Lite so he has something to drink while waiting for the Chevy Chitbox to recharge.

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Read it is a Prius option.

From what I gather with my Crosstrek looking at similar AWD vehicles I might get 5 mpg more with CVT than regular automatic.

[T]

I think this is the expected outcome of government interference with the marketplace. GM should have never taken the money. Form did not.