Electric Motor: 120kW (peak)
Genset: 53kW (peak)
A full-charge at the end of the day would only happen if the electric motor (and other devices) ran at less than the power the genset supplies while running. And even then, it would probably take days.
A lot of engineering will be involved in optimizing the Volt. I would imagine GM plans to allow the genset to charge the battery beyond 30% to allow for a "buffer" so you can have short bursts of performance when needed, and then throttle the genset to keep the battery charge level consistent (at around 40%, allowing for a 10% buffer for performance-on-demand). But if the battery drops to 30% charge with the genset still running at peak power, throttle/cap the electric motor so it cannot demand more power than the genset can supply to the batteries.
But who knows, they may just run the genset non-stop at full power until it reaches 80% charge and skip all the complexities of trying to guess how the driver drives.
The genset can be underpowered, but it can also be overpowered. It all depends on your driving style and how GM plans to tune the genset usage. If you were to drive non-aggressively, and if the genset didn't throttle itself, I would imagine it could charge the batteries to full (80%) charge. But it would probably take days while driving.
Genset: 53kW (peak)
A full-charge at the end of the day would only happen if the electric motor (and other devices) ran at less than the power the genset supplies while running. And even then, it would probably take days.
A lot of engineering will be involved in optimizing the Volt. I would imagine GM plans to allow the genset to charge the battery beyond 30% to allow for a "buffer" so you can have short bursts of performance when needed, and then throttle the genset to keep the battery charge level consistent (at around 40%, allowing for a 10% buffer for performance-on-demand). But if the battery drops to 30% charge with the genset still running at peak power, throttle/cap the electric motor so it cannot demand more power than the genset can supply to the batteries.
But who knows, they may just run the genset non-stop at full power until it reaches 80% charge and skip all the complexities of trying to guess how the driver drives.
The genset can be underpowered, but it can also be overpowered. It all depends on your driving style and how GM plans to tune the genset usage. If you were to drive non-aggressively, and if the genset didn't throttle itself, I would imagine it could charge the batteries to full (80%) charge. But it would probably take days while driving.
