The Chevy Volt is an extended-range electric car being developed by General Motors. It currently exists in prototype form only but GM reports they are fully committed to bring the car to production. In June 2008, GM’s board of directors voted to fund production of the vehicle, and in September 2008 the production version was unveiled. Mule vehicles have been running since 2008 and the first pre-production cars will arrive in June 2009.

The car is a plug-in range-extended electric vehicle with an on-board gasoline generator. It will have a large battery that stores power from your home electric outlet and which is connected to an electric motor. The electric motor directly propels the car. The battery can last for the first 40 miles. After that, should one continue to need to drive, the on-board gasoline/E85 generator will power up to keep the battery from running out.

Today’s hybrids are called parallel hybrids. They use a small electric motor for low speed driving, but switch to a regular gas engine for acceleration and faster speed driving, hence both engines work side by side or in parallel. The Volt is a series vehicle meaning only the electric motor power the car at all times, the gas engine is just a generator, making electric to keep the batteries in a steady state of charge.

The Volt, which runs purely on electricity for the first 40 miles of driving, carries a small internal combustion engine on board to generate electricity after the battery has drained. The EPA is currently developing a special methodology to calculate fuel efficiency for vehicles that work in this fashion which averages the results of test cycles run separately in electric and internal combustion modes.

The Volt’s highway and combined fuel economy ratings have not been calculated yet, but during the press conference, GM’s C.E.O. Fritz Henderson said that that the combined figure would be in the triple digits, meaning at least 100 mpg.

The EPA model is being developed for cars used in different climates and a mix of electric and gas driving conditions, GM executives said. City mileage will be better for the Volt because the extended-range electric power train runs for 40 miles on battery alone and then uses an internal combustion engine to recharge batteries.

The cost of fueling a Volt will be significantly less than gassing up at the pump, Henderson said. In Detroit, where off-peak electricity rates are 5 cents a kilowatt hours, it will cost about 40 cents to recharge batteries over night.

On the cost of the car itself, Henderson said that GM has not priced the Volt but that it will be expensive because it is a first-generation product. Unconfirmed estimates are said to be around $40,000.

The car will qualify for a $7,500 federal tax credit and GM is working on bringing down the cost of future generations of the Volt, particularly the battery system, he said.

Chevy Volt gets 230 mpg, sounds unreal ! is a post from: Universal Ramblings

“Microsoft Hohm is a free online beta application that helps you save energy and money. With Microsoft Hohm you can better understand your home energy usage, get recommendations to conserve energy and start saving. As with any recommendation engine, Hohm will provide increasingly more accurate and relevant suggestions for energy conservation as its users contribute home energy input and feedback. One of the objectives during our beta period is to refine our tool and further increase the value our product can offer to you.”

Hohm works by tracking one’s energy consumption and providing some optimization advices, based on the information that is provided by the user, or by sensors. Hohm will provide an estimation of the savings induced by a proposed change (use different light bulb, choose a different time to plug your electric car ) and will track the actual results after you follow the advice. Hohm will constantly refine its data to provide ever more pertinent advices.

The good thing about Hohm is that there is a path that is completely data-entry free. Microsoft has built APIs that let utility companies upload your energy consumption data (with your permission), just like Quicken gets your banking information directly. This could be automated to the point that you don’t have to take care of it. That’s great. However, right now, only a handful of companies will support the direct communication with Hohm.

Microsoft and other home energy monitoring companies plan to work with device manufacturers to get energy information from thermostats and “smart plugs.” That would allow a person to attach a smart plug to a refrigerator or dishwasher to get usage information in real time to a home network or Web application. Over time, those appliances could be controlled to dial down usage during peak times.

Hohm is Microsoft’s response to Google’s PowerMeter and similar services. Hohm is dedicated to giving consumer’s information about potential energy savings, while at the same time connecting those consumers whose energy providers already use smart meter technology with real-time information about their own energy consumption at home.

It’s also noteworthy that Hohm was developed on top of Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform.

For more details, you can visit http://microsoft-hohm.com and learn more about the product. We think that the ease of tracking one’s power consumption and the option of having cheap smart plugs all over the house is a winning combination, but remember, the smart plugs are not required. If it works as advertised, and if users enroll in mass, Hohm’s greatest impact in the short term will be to raise awareness. We think that “if it can be measured, it will be improved”, and Hohm seems to be a great tool for that.

Hohm: Microsoft’s Venture in Energy business is a post from: Universal Ramblings