Chevy Volt pics and car versus bus: Ramping up, Sept. 9

Chevy Volt pics: Photos of the production version of the much ballyhooed car leaked yesterday, showing a far different vehicle than the prototype above at a car show in January in Detroit (no word yet if babes are going to be an option). The pics, predictably, showed a far less sexy car -- a basic, if somewhat futuristic, sedan. Then again, who cares. After hedging its bets on gas guzzlers for the past decade, Chevy is hoping to bring the Volt to market as soon as 2010. The car could run on electricity alone for 40 miles, then switches to a small internal combustion engine that will recharge the batteries. It seems a good thing for air quality if a lot of them ever take the road, although it should be noted that much of the electricity consumed by Southlanders comes from burning fossil fuels.

Dodgers Trolley: I had a post last week quoting a press release from the Dodgers, who are saying that 1,500 people on average are taking the new DASH bus to games. Eric Richardson at blogdowntown.com does the math and says it's more like 750 people per game and that the team was counting people traveling in both directions.

Man versus bus: I also posted recently about a copy editor at The Times who couldn't get Metro (the MTA) to give him an accident report (the agency says those reports aren't public documents) after he and a bus collided, resulting in the loss of a sideview mirror on his car. So the editor filed a claim against Metro in small claims court and the agency -- ta-da! -- agreed to settle for $400 after saying their own video shows it was the bus driver's fault. The lesson? "When you get in an accident in the MTA, you need to get all the witnesses and names," said Brad Hanson, the editor. "Otherwise they hold all the cards."

--Steve Hymon

Photo: Carlos Osario / Associated Press
 

Comments

[mike d.]

Although fossil fuels generate a large portion of SoCal electricity, electric engines are far more efficient than IC engines and thus would be a lot cheaper per mile to operate and would also generate far fewer emissions. I don't remember the exact figure, but they would use like 1/3 to 1/4 of the energy equivalent than an ICE would use.

[HBC]

I rode the Dodger trolley into the stadium on Friday and it was standing room only. I got a ride out in a car with a friend while my other friends got in line and took the trolley back to Union Station and we got back at the exact same time.

[Damon]

Actually, SCE (Souther California Edison) has one of the highest, if not the highest, % of renewable energy portfolios of any utility in the U.S. If I remember correctly, SCE gets about 17% from renewable sources, whereas nationwide, renewables only account for 2%.

Factor in that San Onofre provides another big chunk of our power carbon-free and that makes for some pretty green driving.

[Justin Weber]

I like the Volt production vehicle better than the concept. Also, the fact that showing a production model illustrates that this car is indeed going to become reality is quite exciting.

[Tony Fernandez]

Every time I see the Dodger Trolley it's completely full of people - and stuck in traffic. If they charged a few dollars for the trolley and provided a lane so it could skip all the traffic ridership would be way up and traffic at the stadium would go way down. McCourt could then develop the land around the stadium and that might entice a rail line to the stadium if the development is dense enough and provides ample shopping and business development. It would let McCourt make more money than he does now and turn some of that parking lot into parkland.

[ArthurGlen]

The concept car was too far out - it had a chopped top
and was too angular. But what doomed it was its poor aerodynamics. The Volt is far form the only E-Flex ready to go - there are two more already desinged and ready if you don't care for the Volt design. The feedback group gave extremely positive reviews of the production car.