LOL... the G.M. test labs look second rate and dated compared to the high-tech Glass and natural light UeberLabs found in Eurolandia. I've seen Junior Colleges with fancier equipment. The scale model kinda looks like.... any other car on the road. The pre-production model seems to have a top speed of..... 3 mph.

Meh....

GM style and presentation - - - - Score 3 out of 10

The pre-production car - - - - Score 4 out of 10

The scale model as shown - - - - Score 3 out of 10

Overall impression of GM and their volt car - - - - Score 2 out of 10

I LOVE whining.....

Its still being tested and modified, don't judge it yet.
I think its a great idea, and finally something which is fuel efficient and looks decent, unlike the Prius, Yaris, Fit, old xB, etc etc...

I'm sorry but American car companies have missed the boat. 2010? Are you kidding, where have they been? While Toyota and Honda have been actually working on fuel efficient technologies Chevy Tahoe and Ford Excretion keep getting bigger and bigger and getting worse and worse mileage.

Too little to late, guys. There will be a day (very soon one hopes) that the American car companies will regret kissing the oil companies arses for all those years.

I'd buy Toyota's plug-in Prius over the Volt any day. The ability to run on electricity for daily commutes and gas for extended trips...smart. And it probably won't explode on you either.

" Scott:

I'm sorry but American car companies have missed the boat. 2010? Are you kidding, where have they been? While Toyota and Honda have been actually working on fuel efficient technologies Chevy Tahoe and Ford Excretion keep getting bigger and bigger and getting worse and worse mileage.

Too little to late, guys. There will be a day (very soon one hopes) that the American car companies will regret kissing the oil companies arses for all those years.
"

Totally agree with you there. I think the worst mistake GM has ever made was canceling the EV-1 project so they could...wait for it....devote more resources and time to build the Hummer H2( a,k,a the male penis extension). The big 3 have fallen so far behind when it comes to alternative energy propulsion that the Japaneses (Honda and Toyota) and Germans (Volkswagen, Merc-Benz, BMW) are working on, that I think they will never be able to catch up.

And it is so obvious how advanced the foreign automakers are to the big 3, if you just compare Japaneses hybrids to American ones. Honda already has out a natural gas powered civic that gives off little to no emissions, I can go on and on.

I hope this comes back and bites the big 3 in ass for sleeping with the oil companies for so long.

I really don't understand why GM can't bring back the EV-1 program, you would think it would be easier than designing a whole new car (Volt).

JROC and Scott,
You are both very wrong. The technology that BMW and Mercedes is going to use was jointly developed by GM. The Volt is a nice step, but it is also not something I want on the road (without fully being tested).

2010 is not that far away either. The 2009 model year has begun so by 2009 we "should" start to see the Volt in action.

CAFE standards have pushed all manufactures, not just Domestic, into producing better fuel efficient cars. There is a huge reason why we (in the States) do not have half the cars that Europe has (in terms of diesel).

The volt only has a range of 40 miles!!!

The EV-1 had a range of 55 to 95 miles on ancient old lead acid batteries and they are using new Lithium Ion in the volt, what a joke!

If anyone watched the documentary "Who killed the electric car - awesome docu by the way check it out!) right before Gm canceled the program they were ready to put in newer stronger batteries to increase the range up to 200 miles. The volt can only get up to 150 mile range by burning fuel.

Just buy a Prius plug in, it is so much better than the volt

BRING BACK TO THE EV-1!!!

I would like to know what everyone is going to do when the world's lithium supply dries up. Before you get on the lithium battery band wagon, there isn't enough in the world to replace all the cars, let alone trucks and buses, on the road right now. So your ancient battery technology is the way to go if you want to use batteries to power your cars in the future. There is only about 5 million tons of nickel produced a year, so that is out. Zinc is also running out. Copper is the back bone of the world, so forget that. And then the best way to get these resources is open pit mining, which is extremely damaging to the environment.

In the mass craze to make the world less dependent on oil, the rest of the world's resources are drying up in the mad dash. I won't even get started on how batteries are made, along with all the harmful chemicals that goes into them and the waste they leave behind that rots the planets for years and years, long after the carbon foot print of a car fades. So instead of blaming this and that, how about trying to figure out a better way before things are made worse then they already are?

Yep...people think batteries grow like trees...

"Scott:
I'm sorry but American car companies have missed the boat. 2010? Are you kidding, where have they been? While Toyota and Honda have been actually working on fuel efficient technologies Chevy Tahoe and Ford Excretion keep getting bigger and bigger and getting worse and worse mileage.

Too little to late, guys. There will be a day (very soon one hopes) that the American car companies will regret kissing the oil companies arses for all those years."

FORD Escape Hybrid @ 34\30 mpg is still the best mileage for ANY SUV since 11/2004.

For all of you on the "American companies are so far behind" bandwagaon... Lets review the facts...

1. the Japanese Government payed nearly 100% for the development of the toyota hybrid system... While GM can hardly get research grants...

2. GM had a hybrid system years before toyota, it was a large scale version for city buses.

3. The EV1 was killed, just like the Toyota RAV-4 EV and the Ford Ranger-EV an the honda EV (can't remember the model) There wasn't enough demand at the actual unsubsidized prices to warrent further production.

"FORD Escape Hybrid @ 34\30 mpg is still the best mileage for ANY SUV since 11/2004."

There's no excuse for driving a SUV, period. Yeah sure, owners live on farms 50 miles from city and pull stumps out of the ground during the weekends...IDIOTS.

Batteries do not have a future in electric cars. Too much polution, very difficult to manufacture (Li-ion) and recycle and they don't charge quick enough.

The capacitor is the future. New capacitor technology is needed and there are rumors that there is progress on developing a capacitor that holds a deeper charge than Lithium or Lead Acid batteries and the capacitors fully charge within min not hours. A Canadian company is currently using capacitors in all their electric cars, though the cars are not impressive, the technology makes more sense. In addition, capacitors also discharge quicker which means more power!

Another thing; because the capacitor can charge and discharge quicker it is able to conserve energy more efficiently when converting vehicle momentum into a quick charge during braking like in the Prius. This helps extend milage.

Does the Volt include this technology? Did the EV-1 recharge during braking? It would be interesting to know if GM was smart enough to add that technology into these vehicles.

I have a question: Why does GM always display and drive around their vehicles 4-5 years before they go to production? The others don't do this. Seems like a bunch of Hype about nothing.

I hear there is a lot of Lithium in deep space nine.

The Ferengie sell it cheap.

"JROC:
The volt only has a range of 40 miles!!!"

Apparently you didn't listen very well, it has a range of 40 mile on battery only. With the gas generator in use it will get an estimated 50 mpg, but they also say they believe it will average 150 mpg. Listen to the whole thing before commenting.

As for all the nay-sayers here, GM has mostly been developing fuel cell cars, no gas at all. They have been working with several other car companies to get funding assistance. I bet most people don't know that GM already has a fuel cell 3/4-ton size pick-up in testing on an Army base. Its been there for more than a couple years now.

Regarding SUV's, the new Tahoes and Yukons get quite a bit better mileage now. Different people have different reasons for owning an SUV, but where I live, most people need the space of a minivan but the power, storage and (sometimes) the 4 wheel drive of a truck. An SUV fits this perfectly. Obviously I don't live in Hollywood where if its useless, there is lots of it. Hell even most of the people there are useless (i.e. Paris Hilton, Tom Cruise, etc...)

I like the Volt and think its a great idea and should beat the prius easily. It will get better mileage, looks better, and can run completely on battery. (The prius looks like a pregnant roller-skate) Because the Volt runs totally on battery without the generator assisting the electric motor at all, I'd think that the Volt will have a higher power motor than the prius or EV1. GM is trying to make an electric, main-stream car. That means that accelerattion needs to be equal to a standard gas powered car. I have seen several prius' on the freeways here and can tell ya, they do not perform well on a hill. (I will concede that I can't tell if its the freaks behind the wheel or the car, but I have never seen one doing over 35 on a grade)

I am so sick of all the people complaining about everything GM does. If this was a toyota or honda, you'd be patting them on the back. But since its a GM and its gonna hurt the japanese car sales, its bad.

"The scale model kinda looks like.... any other car on the road. "

Like that's a bad thing? A mistake I think a lot of alternative vehicle designers make is to produce prototypes that look TOO different. They forget that the basic car shape (box, with a smaller windowed green house box on top, 4 wheels, 4-6 seats, a bit of trunk.) exists for a reason. That's what's practical now, and thus is what buyers are looking for now.

If the final Volt looks like most other cars, I'd call that a good thing. I'm interested in the Apterra, for example, but my wife saw it and immediately objected. No trunk, no bumpers, no rear seat, might as well be a motorcycle.

Ever been in/around a Prius? It's pretty comfortable, and familiar, in there. EV makers should take note.

Who cares what the Volt looks or is going to look like... The key here is plug-in tech, and the GM should be applauded for it.
That said, car manufacturers should really think about their design approaches - what Ford/GM/Tesla/Toyota is using for battery tech today is already old, the nanotech Li systems have x2 capacities and charge cycles. The power system should be modular, that is not depend on a particular technology.
For example, could you imagine purchasing a digicam that would only take some old style lead AA batteries?

I really hope the car succeed's. GM has a terrible track record for anouncing stuff and then never producing them. Another track record for canceling the only interesting things they ever came up with.
Maybe if the give the CEO's bigger bonuses it would help.

To all those saying this car is behind Toyota and Honda technology, which of their cars can go 40 miles on just electricity? I'm pretty sure the answer is none.

I know Konda has their Hydrogen powered car out but you can't charge it anywhere except a couple spots in Cali and NY and it costs an arm and a leg. If Chevy can get this car out late next year for the 2010 model year it should sell well. My wife drives 37 miles round trip to work so this car would allow her to drive to work on and back on electricity alone. Recharge at night and you'll only see small increase in your Utilities bill.

So to all those bashing simply because it's a Chevy, get your facts straight first.

GM's EV1 was snuffed out by big oil in an atempt to keep us in our current dependancy levels. this is the way things get done in america (the golden rule) he who has the gold makes the rules...

I'll be first in line for a decent looking plug-in hybrid that costs under $30K.

Bill O., who says Toyota and Honda aren't working on cars that can go 40 miles just on electricity? Toyota already has plug-in hybrids on the road being tested; it isn't hard to extend the range of an electric car, you just need a bigger (more expensive) battery.

When GM finally produces Volts that ordinary consumers can buy (after long delays on a waiting-lists), then we'll know how much it costs, whether it is ugly, how big it is, how fast it is, what the real-world battery range is, what mileage the Volt gets when the battery runs out, and how many years the batteries will last. We will also know how much the new model Prius costs, whether it is ugly, and all those other factors. I hope a 2010 Volt will be better than the current Prius (which went on sale in 2003), otherwise GM is wasting its time and money. We'll have to wait to see whether the Volt makes better use of the latest hybrid technology than the next model Prius; but I'd bet on the company that has already sold hundreds of thousands of Hybrids.

@Jimsum

The Volt is not really comparable to the Prius in terms of drivetrain. The Prius is a mainly gas powered vehicle with electric to help it get off the line. The Volt is a full electric vehicle with a diesel GENERATOR not a diesel engine. The generator does not drive the wheels through axles/gear boxes, but will recharge the batteries and/or power the electric motors when the batteries run out. The weight savings of not having a full blown gasoline drivetrain will offset the weight of extra batteries IMO and _should_ put the Volt at a weight below the Prius. The Volt isn't really a hybrid, it's a full electric vehicle with an onboard generator... Throw some solar panels on the roof and you could probably get even better mileage off the batteries alone.

If the next gen Prius does this and beats the Volt to market, then yes Toyota is ahead in technology. But if the next prius is still mainly powered by a gasoline engine then the Volt will be much more economical.

Not bad looking car, but clearly dunt like the fact Ford & GM & government threated Toyota for Hybrid technology years back in order for Toyota continues to sell their auto in the US. All current domestic hybrids are from Toyota's older 1st or 2nd hybrid technology. How sad...

will... you are completely off. GM developed its own hybrid system. look at how their system is different than toyotas, they dont even work the same way. GM co-developed theirs with the germans... i believe benz and BMW

GMs system is designed to work with larger cars/trucks and toyotas was originally designed for a small car.

do the math... you save more gas by making a 10MPG car get 15-20MPG than you do by making a 30MPG car get 50 MPG.

read this: the Prius does MORE damage in 100,000 Miles than a Hummer does in 300,000 Miles...

this was published by Central Connecticut State University

http://clubs.ccsu.edu/Recorder/editorial/editorial_item.asp?NewsID=188

Though I can't watch the video here at work, I have read much about the Volt Concept in various magazines. Though here it is reported to be dressed up like any generic car, the concept behind the Volt has more to do with the drivetrain than the looks.

From what I know, GM has every intention of using this in a sporty looking vehicle. I really enjoy the looks of those they've shown at various auto shows.

As previously stated, the 40 mile range applies to battery power only, i.e. not using a drop of gasoline. Many many people drive less than that per day, I am one of them. Given, if you drive hard, use the AC/radio/defrosters, that range will most likely drop quickly, but the possibility is exciting.

The electric system can be paired with many different power generation systems, such as gasoline/diesel generator, fuel cells, hydrogen or natural gas...whatever.

I will be in the market for a new car in about 5 years, and I will seriously be thinking about something like this if the technology is there.

Don't be so quick to poo poo new ideas.

FYI The "Who killed the electric car" movie is really a joke.
Anyone out there actually leased the EV1? Anyone out there actually drove the EV1?
What really killed the EV1 was not big oil as some conspiracy nuts would want to believe.
The EV1 was heavy and had limited range - and not the 95 miles or more as someone mistakenly said. It had only 2 usable seats, using the A/C or headlights dropped the range down greatly.
And it cost more than the average person would be willing to drive.
Heck, a battery powered golf cart would've had a 100 times better cost to performance rating than the EV1.
The EV1 was a good concept. However, battery technology at the time was not advance enough to make it work.
The electronic components were so last century as to make the whole thing totally inefficient.
.
True, GM and Ford missed the boat on developing hybrid vehicles. Mainly due to Americans have been brainwashed into thinking they just got to have the big SUVs and pickups.
Plus, if one were to compare the 2008 Civics against the 1998 Civics, or even the first Civic I saw back in 1972 time frame, the todays Civic is way bigger and much heavier.
The last time I was in Japan (2004), the vast majority of cars the Japanese drive are smaller than the Civic!
.
Heck, my son drives a '93 Toyota Tercel that gets almost as good gas mileage as the Prius. Just doesn't look as good.
.
As for why is GM taking a lot of time developing the Volt. Well, it takes on average 3 to 4 years from design concept to production model for any new vehicle. That's why the car companies stick to the basic same model year after year with only slight improvements.
Plus the US Government regulations and testing adds months to any new car development.
.
In my humble opinion, the ONLY reason the Prius gets the fuel mileage it does is that it is a light vehicle and it has a small gas engine. Only by making it a plug in to recharge the batteries before driving it does that improve the fuel mileage above what the gas engine would deliver.
.
On another blog, someone stated the original Ford Model T only got 25 mpg and fuel efficiency hasn't much improved. Idiot. Vehicles have gotten bigger and heavier, engines have gotten bigger and more powerful, yet a lot of gas powered only cars get better fuel mileage.

@will:

Do you have a link that will back that up or did you just pull it out your ass. What would be the point they sell the car here and anyone could just take it apart and reverse engineer the thing

There is nothing hi-tech about hybrid technology or electric motors. Which based on your statement seems to imply that we don't have the technicle know how. We have known how to do this for years, locomotives have been using hybrid power for decades. The first hybrid car patent dates to early 1900's oh yeah it was an Americana's. The fact is that it hasn't been practical because fuel was cheap. To this day it's still not all that economical and more of a feel good solution.

@georgeW:
There is no excuse for anyone to assume he or she has the right to tell anyone what they should drive in America. You guys know what's best for everyone...

Plug in cars run on billions of tons of burnt coal.
Real enviro friendly.

JROC
One little correction. Nobody has a natural gas burning car which doesn't put out emissions. If something is being burnt, there are emissions. Honda's car may have low emissions, but I'm sure it puts out more than zero.

T

Zippy

Just so you know, power which is produced and not used is not saved. It's just wasted, grounded out. The power the plug in hybrids use would be made and wasted if it were not used.
So it's not really accurate to say that the energy being generated is for the hybrid plug-ins, it's more appropriate to say that they use the energy which would otherwise be wasted so they are that much better for the environment.

T

Teldar,

Yes, electricity that isn't used is just wasted. However, when thousands of car owners start plugging their vehicles into the electrical grid, the utilities will have to generate more power and in the process consume more fuel in order to meet this new demand and prevent blackouts.

What you're saying is that we should leave our lights on all day because we're just using electricity that would otherwise be wasted...a very dumb statement since the utilities would lower their output (and burn less fossil fuel) if everyone just used less electricity.

The very important part of this car is that it is an electric car that should cost under $30,000. Not only that it is a 4 door 4 seater. Most electric cars I have seen either where 2 seaters (EV-1) or really expensive (Tesla).

Electric cars suffer from horrible range, so the on board generator is a great idea. Most cars these days have a range of 400~500 miles but this car is hyping 640 on a much smaller gas tank.

The engine on it can be tuned to operate at peak efficiency all the time, and can be swapped out for a different fuel source as needed.

Yes, more of these cars plugged into the power grid will increase demand on the power grid but at the same time, alot of the stuff we plug into the grid is getting more efficient too. However, all it would take to reduce the impact of this car would be to build better power plants and flip the switch. Cars put out a significant amount of emissions that are causing us troubles and consuming considerable resources but the more we can centralize those burdens the easier, cheaper, and faster it will be to optimize and improve.

Are you kidding me your worried about what the shop looks like. Take a look at what your using to view this. It all started in a garage. Some of the best things came from "low tech" shops just because you have all the high tech equipment in the world doesn't mean you can make the best product.
But i do agree that car companies are not worried about fuel economy like they should be. Instead they are all trying to one-up each other with accessories and advanced features and energy using electronics that most people that buy them don't use. Sure we all like having heated seats and electric adjust seats, and our cars that can parallel park themselves, but isn't there a point when more is too much. Besides all they are doing is making design and production more expensive. If car companies would make a bare-bones care with nothing but the essentials power steering a radio and a/c they could sell them for prob around $6000 and still make the norm profit, also more people would prob buy them and ditch there old smog machines.

You know I always find it funny how someone in another country "Knows" whats best everywhere else. Most EU country's are smaller than a single state. Most the population lives in major cities that have had public transportation for the better part of 50 years or more. In the states on the other hand our government has spent the better part of 50 years pushing people out of the major cities into suburbs and whatnot. I live in one of these suburbs of West Cleveland. For the last 15 years my avg drive time to work has been between 30mins to 1hr at different places of employment. For Public transport we have a few Ford Van's errr Bus's that take people to the mall, library, and local downtown area thats about it. Sure New York and a few other uber city's have subways & trains and real busing but thats about it. Price diffrence between living where I do and Cleveland my avg rent about 500 for a 3bedroom, Cleveland avg rent for same 3bedroom 1500 (not counting parking) Working anywhere outside my county is an automatic wage increase of 20 to 30% things like this is why people blow an avg 2hrs of their day driving.

At 6'7" I simply do not fix into most these little cars. Which is a big reason why I choose to drive my old Jeep Cherokee which gets an avg 25mpg. (Gas tank / mileage=mpg) Add in my wife and three kids and lets look at the choices. (15mpg while towing my FC3S Rx-7, and not counting if the dog wants to ride too :)

Avg Minivan or full size van 15 to 25 mpg ok worse or the same gas mileage and lacking the four wheel drive which is often needed in winter.

Suburau forester about 28mpg Has the same or slightly better fuel economy, and four wheel drive, But I can not fit into one.

Ford Escape has 4wd and gets better econ, I fit into it yet the whole family does not.

Seriously all a SUV is in reality is a station wagon or truck thats been capped off. And part-time 4wd added.
My evil Cherokee is titled as a Station wagon because they had not came up with a SUV name yet. everyone seems to think that there is a Suburban or Excursion or Hummer H1 parked in every garage. The reality of it is its mostly Explorers, Escapes, Rav4, Jeeps, etc. Which get about the same millege as the Acura & Honda's cars at compact and midsize range. 20-30mpg

Yes you can get an extra 5, 10 maybe 15mpg out of a subcompact like a civic, fit, yaris etc which is great if you trips don't include more than 2 people.

When when the girls where little we could fit four into our Honda civic even if i was always banging my head on the ceiling or A-Piller of it. At the age of 8 & 6 though it was like packing sardines in a can. Add in a Third child and you get the idea.

We own 3 cars, a 96 Chrysler Town & Country, a 94 Jeep Cherokee, and a 88' Mazda Rx-7

and guess what that Evil SUV gets the best gas mileage of the 3

instead of big oil it will be big electric that will raise costs and become greedy.

Zippy, you're an idiot.

Power companies have multiple units at different cost points. They don't run each of them all the time, they just run the cheapest ones (coal and nuclear) all the time. The higher the cost of running the unit, the higher the cost of everyone's electricity bill.

Plug in cars are (at least, should be) the future. We need to build nukes to power them. If you cover the entire country with windmills and solar panels it still won't be enough to fuel everyone's electricity needs. While they may not use any fuel, renewables do require maintenance/replacement after a number of years and they are much much more expensive to construct in the first place. Especially in areas where there is little wind and/or sunshine.

Nuclear fuel is dirt cheap.

The United States has 350 years of proven coal reserves at projected consumption, so it's stupid to turn our back on coal. We need to use coal responsibly.

Natural Gas plants produce 2/3 of the greenhouse gases of coal, so it's not like they're that much cleaner anyways. Natural gas is really expensive to boot!

Nukes are the answer.

The Model T got 13-21 mpg according to Ford's website. 25mpg is enviromentalist agitprop.

my mostly worthless .02

1. The hummer 300k vs Prius 100k study has been repeatedly exposed as academic fraud. They use factory stats from 1968 to claim it generates pollution, ignores the fact that toyota recycles their batteries, they pretend the hummer will NEVER need a oil change, etc.

2. Lithium Ion is a transition technology for car batteries. I understand the new rage is some kind of bizarre carbon nanotech thing. (nanotech being the buzzword of the decade for new technologies it seems) Supposed to be MUCH safer than Lithium Ion, which has a bad habit of creating hydrogen gas under bad conditions. Also recycles better.

3. The Ford Escape hybrid is a great system in the wrong vehicle frame. 30/36 in a 140 combined hp SUV would serve ford much better in a little focus as a power/mileage combination than in an SUV. With the lighter frame and aerodynamics you'd have a car that both sips fuel and has enough power/weight to be considered a fun drive.

4. the fundamental failure in the big 3 is not understand how market/consumer perceptions are built. Quality and value (and customer loyalty) is not built with the high dollar, top of the line cars. You must invest engineering and leadership resources into the small, cheap, entry level vehicles. Until they understand that the cheapest cars must be the BEST quality vehicles in their lineup they will NEVER be able to take back the marketshare and reputation. By no coincidence, this is how the Korean car makers have made their strides in the US market.

That's my rant.

Followup links shooting holes in the whole Hummer is less environmentally damaging than prius thing.

http://russelldad.blogspot.com/2007/06/fact-checking-on-hummer-vs-prius.html

the real nitty gritty report:

http://www.pacinst.org/topics/integrity_of_science/case_studies/hummer_vs_prius.pdf

of course, I would not recommend either car purely on saving the environment. sticker price vs mileage vs gas prices these days makes a pretty good argument all on its own.

What is the complaining all about? GM got rid of the electric car a long time ago bcause they weren't profitable, remember? GM is a private company that may have a conscience, but still must maintain some profitability in order to stay afloat- and with the continuous advances from Japanese, European, and (recently) Korean car companies there was a need to stay competitive. They sold out, but to whom? Us. WE, Americans in the 90's said "hey, I really want a SUV". Sales prove that true. So GM, in order to stay profitable, decided to scrap the whole program. As the guy near the top noticed, their facilities were second rate. And with a failing dollar going against a strong Euro (BMW, VW) it will get only harder.

Correction to those of you who don't understand how a power grid works.

Electricity is NEVER WASTED. It cannot be produced unless there is a demand. It does NOT get "grounded out" as one poster put it. Instead, when there is little demand (at night for example) small plants that are more costly to run shut down. These plants are generally gas turbine generators or combine cycle units (same as a gas turbine but in addition to the turbine generator there is a heat recovery unit that converts the exhaust gas energy to steam and runs a second generator with that energy).

These turbine units can be quickly started and stopped, but are more expensive to run. They turn on when electricity is expensive such as 6 O'Clock in the evening when everybody is taking a shower. This allows these plants to make a profit, and then shut down untill the demand is high enough to make a profit again.

Larger coal and nuclear (much much less common) plants are extremely difficult and expensive to "shut down" when demand is low, but that does not mean that they operate at peak output all of the time either. They simply reduce the charge on the exciter in order to produce a lower voltage out of the generator, then they step that voltage back up to the 240KV (usually) that goes onto the power grid. By doing this they can produce the voltage necessary to keep supplying energy, but they produce less amperes of that energy, burn less coal, and thus consume less energy when you consume less energy.

The tradeoff of this system is that when a coal fired steam plant is not running at it's design point (peak output) it runs at a lower efficiency, and thus consumes more coal per watt of electricity that you consume. This decresed efficiency ends up raising the overall cost of electricity by a small margin.

On a side note:

A coal fired power plant produces power EXTREMELY efficiently. We are talking about 90% or higher vs. the ~25-40% efficiency of an internal combustion engine. Thus, if you take your power from the wall rather than from the gas station you are cutting your emissions by over 60% right from the start.

Additionally, if everybody had a plug in car, and they plugged it in before bed at night (when electricity is cheaper) then those coal fired power plants could run at peak efficiency all night long, and the price of electricity would actually go DOWN.

This is why you should be enthusiastic about battery powered cars. They will save us all money, and they will help the earth as well. Not to mention the side benefit of being able to use our own coal rather than use the saudi's oil. I think we can all see the advantage in that.

FYI: I design control systems for power plants, so I know a little about them ;-)

Power Plants:
Correction to those of you who don't understand how a power grid works.

Electricity is NEVER WASTED.
______________________________________________________

I fell asleep in front of the TV last night. So yes, electricity was wasted.....DUMBASS!

What a fool you are Bob. Read the whole article and put your mind in context. Some people should learn to listen more before they speak. I'm glad they don't though cause I get to be their boss. :) Cheers