[GreenMonster]

Hi friends. I have an idea that might help us charge our Volts faster and cheaper.
I have found a couple of used treadmills on Craig's list. They work but are stuck on high speed, but that's perfect for what I might need.
Since I don't have a high speed charger , I was thinking that I could use these treadmills and prop my cars tires up on them to mimic coasting. Let The treadmill run and spend the tires . If I could get it fast enough I could probably charge the battery way faster than my 110 Plug. I also measured the Energy usage with my kill a watt and I think it will be cheaper then leaving the plug-in for 10 hours. Maybe I could even have the plug-in at the same time as the treadmills are running and really charge it fast! Has anyone heading to experience starting their Volt this way? It seems like it could be really effective.
Green Monster.

 

[sparks]

You are baiting us, right? ;-)

Okay, just in case you're serious: No No NO! Better to plug the Volt's charger in directly, than to plug the treadmills in and have them convert the power-grid energy to mechanical energy, then have their mechanical energy converted to electrical through the Volt's on-board motor/generator. So many losses there it's obscene.

Not to mention, you would need to have the Volt turned ON to harvest the energy from the wheels turning, and that imposes a big load right away (idle current is what, 500 watts, 1 kW??).

Hey, where are you finding treadmills with such a high load limit anyway?

That does it, you got me. It worked -- I was punked. Arrgh.

 

[thelogenator]

The Green Monster strikes again.

 

[viking79]

The treadmill is still plugged into a 120 V outlet, so you are limited to the same power the Volt can draw over that. Count friction losses you would come out far behind on that method.

Everything in the end takes energy. Your idea, in theory would work, however, it introduces safety issues and the fact you have the extra conversion of energy that will make it less efficient then just using the electrical power from the wall.

A safer and more efficient method than the treadmill method is to not charge your volt at all and use mountain mode to charge it up to 40%. This is still less efficient than charging it using the wall plug, but at least you get fast charging rates (40% in 15 minutes or so). I have done this if I am nearing a city where I want to drive in electric mode in the downtown area.

 

[Geohec]

The Green Monster strikes again.

Yep. Must be a slow Friday...

 

[rob]

This will work, but you need to replace the motors in the treadmills with motors having at least 25kW shaft power each.

You might be surprised how much a motor like that costs.

 

[sparks]

This will work, but you need to replace the motors in the treadmills with motors having at least 25kW shaft power each.

You might be surprised how much a motor like that costs.

Yeah, and you would need to replace your household 15-amp circuit breaker with a 220-amp breaker. Then we will see some REAL plug (and wiring) fires!

 

[Geohec]

The treadmill is still plugged into a 120 V outlet, so you are limited to the same power the Volt can draw over that. Count friction losses you would come out far behind on that method.

This is not necessarily true if the green monster is interested in running the treadmill.

 

[Norton]

Greenie,

Have you heard about the Prius Prime? It is a lame Volt imitator.
Plus the original Prius. It is ripe for your ripe ideas !!

They would love all your innovative ideas on that forum.
And you'd have a much larger, more bored audience !!!

You'll thank me later, you're welcome.

 

[Joe67]

For a second I thought I was on the Volt facebook group lol

 

[srmarti]

The Green Monster strikes again.

Just when you think you've already seen the stupidest idea, Greenmonster tops it. Got to be just trolling. Can someone really be that dumb, but still manage to access the internet?

 

[llninja]

The Green Monster strikes again.

First car roof mounted solar panels, next wind generators, now treadmills. No what we really need is the flux capacitor. 0 to warp 10 in less than 1 second. Green Monster appears to be a troll... or not very bright.

 

[thelogenator]

Just when you think you've already seen the stupidest idea, Greenmonster tops it. Got to be just trolling. Can someone really be that dumb, but still manage to access the internet?

I heard that The Green Monster lives in a geodesic dome somewhere in the woods and that he only comes out at night to forage for berries and LED light bulbs.

 

[KenC]

Hahaha, the perpetual motion machine strikes again.

 

[Bacardi]

Better yet, what about an ice maker fueled by lava? No wait, better yet, a cigarette lighter powered by ice?

 

[llninja]

This will work, but you need to replace the motors in the treadmills with motors having at least 25kW shaft power each.

You might be surprised how much a motor like that costs.

Plus, in a few weeks, the treadmill belt will be worn and OP would have to spring for replacements. Also the front tires will have some wear on them too. I wonder what is going to happen when one of the treadmill belts snaps. It will go flying about and might scrape up the body panels as it flops around, but will the momentum of the spinning front wheel pull the treadmill under the car and wedge it under the rear wheel? In the interest of science, please do this and film it. Just make sure you are standing in front of the car and not anywhere to the side or behind it or else you may be the unanimous winner of next year's Darwin Award. On the other hand, if the treadmill goes under the car, then the spinning front wheel hits the ground, the Volt might go barreling forward. No, the safest place to be is in the car. Oh wait, when the car hits the front of the car garage, the airbag will go off and propel the video camera you are holding into your face. Again no way to escape winning that Darwin Award.

 

[Qinsp]

You get a pair of long rollers. Put an ICE on one side, then an EV on the other. The ICE spins the rollers to regen the car.

 

[llninja]

Better yet, what about an ice maker fueled by lava? No wait, better yet, a cigarette lighter powered by ice?

You know they do have refrigerators that run on propane, mainly for camping and the Amish.

 

[llninja]

You get a pair of long rollers. Put an ICE on one side, then an EV on the other. The ICE spins the rollers to regen the car.

Too many losses, a more direct route would be to just drive the ICE while towing the volt.

 

[rmay635703]

Buy a used dyno,

Charge your volt upwards of 40kw