0
0
« It WAS a Brand New Car CarDomain Blog Home This Just In: New on the Net »
September 7, 2007
Plug 'n' Play
By David
AKA Highspeedhijinks
No, it’s not the next-generation Ipod that everyone is clamoring to get a look at. This is Volvo’s attempt at getting into the green market. The Volvo "ReCharge" concept, which made its debut last month at the Frankfurt Motor Show, is a real plug-in hybrid designed to recharge through your home wall socket. Powered by a 1.6L gasoline engine and four electric motors at the wheels, this car is capable of going 60 miles on battery alone before it needs another recharge. The purpose of the gas engine in this car is to power what they call the APU (auxiliary power unit) when the battery reserve hits 30%. This process they say will result in emissions that are 66% lower than current hybrids such as the Prius. I’m just curious to know: if this car actually hits the market, will a 100ft extension cord be considered an accessory?
Comments
Post a comment
Please login to CarDomain to post a comment.
Ted
Sep 10, 2007 at 1:23 am
If they were smart, they could market this car with computer mice shaped like the Re-Charge. Got the wire in the right spot!
Oh, and $30,000 is the price of a Cadillac, but instead of getting an STS, that $30,000 would buy something that returns the investment with a lower operating cost, which would offset some of that price. The more efficient, the more return.
If you could spend $30,000 on a car that saved you $450 a month on gas, wouldn’t that be like getting a car in the low-to-mid 20′s?
I don’t know about you, but I use a lot of gas. Before I got rid of the Durango, which I only occasionally use to commute to work, I was paying $600 a month to keep the tanks full. If I got something that went let’s say 80 miles on a gallon (and wasn’t a poor excuse for a car), the car would be an investment by virtue of it’s efficiency. The gas money would be going into car payments, maybe even covering them.
If we’re lucky, what I just described may be a choice available to us, but I emphasize that this choice would not include something that could only be loosely interpreted as a “car”.
Haaaa!
Sep 10, 2007 at 1:10 am
I got that!
…took about a half-hour, though.
Anonymous
Sep 9, 2007 at 1:39 pm
$30,000 is still a lot of money (I guess we can always “charge-it” though
)
Ted
Sep 9, 2007 at 12:48 am
Hopefully, Volvo will actually break the EV market’s surface tension. I have not been a fan of Volvo. I thought their cars have been boxy and boring. Basically for the geeky or milquetoast who have a safety fetish.
BUT if Volvo has made the effort and markets this in earnst, and it has the level of efficiency I expect from other similar concept designs’ estimates… I’ll put Volvo at the top of my list of auto makers who actually give a crap about the environment.
This car could potentially usher in a new era, but I gotta find more info on its efficiency. I would expect the gas motor to be smaller if it’s just generating electricity. The 4-wheel motor configuration is probably the most efficient design currently known.
Regulus Black
Sep 8, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Fabulous! I hope they can sell it for less than $30,000!
Daniel H
Sep 8, 2007 at 12:15 am
always into electricity…