Today Chevrolet announced that their new electric car, the Volt, will not only produce zero emissions while driving, it may require zero emissions to make them as well thanks to a solar powered assembly plant being built near the Detroit-Hamtramck Chevy plant.
Clean solar power for Detroit
Not only does the assembly of the vehicles use a lot of power – so does charging the new electric cars’ batteries to drive them off the lot. But the new photovoltaic array is going to produce enough energy to charge 150 Chevy Volts every single day for a year – totalling 54,750 of the electric cars. The new PV solar array is a 516 kW project, and will span 264,000 ft2.
The deal which was reached between GM and DTE Energy will end up saving the assembly plant that makes the Volts $15,000 every year for 20 years – a pretty great accomplishment. The investment into the solar array project by DTE Energy is $3 million dollars.
Awesome Chevy Volt Video: Driving Efficiency
In what is certainly a way to clear some of the fog from the ideas surround the Volt and electric cars in general, Chevrolet has released this awesome video explaining how to get the most charge out of your vehicle. The video is called Volt Intuition: Driving Efficiency and explains how charging time and driving ranges can shift depending on driving habits and the weather – a great warning for anyone considering an electric car. Check the video out for yourself below:
Volts hitting the road across U.S.
This year marks the beginning of the Volt’s (hopefully long) lifespan, and soon enough we will be seeing more of the electric vehicles on the road. In certain areas of the U.S. they’re are already available, with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $41,000.
If you’re lucky in enough to live in Washington DC, California, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Connecticut, chances are you could be able to see them around and possibly order one. After that, they are expected to be released in Michigan, where you might see them driving past the solar field that helped power their production.
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