Ampera/Volt - why not?

AdrianC

DrEskimo said:

I would go on SpeakEV to ask some very knowledgable owners on there. It seems to be adored by it's owners and has one of the best ranges of any of the plug in hybrids.

It's not really a "hybrid", though, is it? Not in the Pious-etc sense.

It's more like an i3 REx, isn't it? The ICE never drives the car - it only drives a generator.

DrEskimo

AdrianC said:

DrEskimo said:

I would go on SpeakEV to ask some very knowledgable owners on there. It seems to be adored by it's owners and has one of the best ranges of any of the plug in hybrids.

It's not really a "hybrid", though, is it? Not in the Pious-etc sense.

It's more like an i3 REx, isn't it? The ICE never drives the car - it only drives a generator.

Oh yes you're right. Yea an i3 REx seems like a good comparison.
Apologies I saw MPG figures quoted on the threads and never looked into it with much detail!

jimbo6977

AdrianC said:

forgotmyname said:

Only 4 seats would be a pain, mostly it would be fine but I know one day I will need that 5th seat.

And the silly gap they left between the seats, seems like a huge afterthought.

There's a very simple reason they made the back seat two-person, not three.

Payload.

Kerbweight = ~1750kg (inc 75kg for the driver)
GVW = 2000kg

250kg is a very, VERY low payload - not even enough for three larger adults, let alone four passengers plus luggage.

Wow that payload is very low for the size of car, but I think I could cope with that.
Doubt I'll ever have Driver + 3 ads + luggage to transport. 
Usually no more than Driver + 1ad + 1ch (+ luggage sometimes)  = max 150kg approx

VFR

DrEskimo said:

I would go on SpeakEV to ask some very knowledgable owners on there. It seems to be adored by it's owners and has one of the best ranges of any of the plug in hybrids.

They aren't cheap though. They seem to have held their value very well.

Looks like a potential owner would need to make sure the car has a tidy piece to go on the GM warranty still in playhttps://www.speakev.com/threads/ampera-motor-bearing-failure.129834/#post-2414248

jimbo6977

VFR said:

DrEskimo said:

I would go on SpeakEV to ask some very knowledgable owners on there. It seems to be adored by it's owners and has one of the best ranges of any of the plug in hybrids.

They aren't cheap though. They seem to have held their value very well.

Looks like a potential owner would need to make sure the car has a tidy piece go the GM warranty still in playhttps://www.speakev.com/threads/ampera-motor-bearing-failure.129834/#post-2414248

As one of the posters on that thread says, it seems a crazy failure point to leave on an otherwise over engineered car. If you need a new bearing every 30k mi or so it could get pretty annoying. 

BOWFER

These things were way ahead of their time and sell VERY quickly when they come up.
Honestly, you join speakEV (biggest and best forum) and see the furore these things cause when they come up for sale.
A mate of mine used to work for a 'green' taxi company that used them 24 hours a day, they literally only stopped for maintenance.
They were reliable and the drivers loved them.

forgotmyname

AdrianC said:

There's a very simple reason they made the back seat two-person, not three.

Payload.

Kerbweight = ~1750kg (inc 75kg for the driver)
GVW = 2000kg

250kg is a very, VERY low payload - not even enough for three larger adults, let alone four passengers plus luggage.

Thanks for that info, didn't know that. Assumed it was something to do with the battery location etc.

Going to be plenty of those on the road that are overloaded then, most buyers wont think of the passengers
and luggage weight. 

Is that 1750kg with a full tank of fuel?  Some manufacturers use less than a full tank for kerbweight figures.

AdrianC

forgotmyname said:

AdrianC said:

There's a very simple reason they made the back seat two-person, not three.

Payload.

Kerbweight = ~1750kg (inc 75kg for the driver)
GVW = 2000kg

250kg is a very, VERY low payload - not even enough for three larger adults, let alone four passengers plus luggage.

Thanks for that info, didn't know that. Assumed it was something to do with the battery location etc.

Going to be plenty of those on the road that are overloaded then, most buyers wont think of the passengers
and luggage weight. 

Is that 1750kg with a full tank of fuel?  Some manufacturers use less than a full tank for kerbweight figures.

There's various standards, but the baseline standard used for emissions testing etc is 90% full tank plus 75kg driver. The Ampera's tank is only 35l, so with petrol weighing ~750g/l, that's 26.2kg full or 23.6kg at 90%.