[Jackson]

For example:

LED headlights, to save stored electricity at night, or failing that, something else? (The first LED headlights, improbably expensive, have been rolled out by Audi, but high power LEDs are a hot topic of research, and costs may drop)

Flexible solar panel to run the vent fan in the summer, and put in a pittance of a charge the rest of the time: cost effective? (Solar arrays on the roof won't be serious contenders until multi-junction cells get a lot cheaper)

Multi-mode charger for using 220 or 110 volts?

Retractible wire on an internal reel to avoid carrying a trunkful of extension cords?

Any other suggestions? Anybody?

Surely the electric drive means rethinking of everything on the car.

 

[terryk]

Swamp cooler.

 

[nkawtg]

In Las Vegas, Air Conditioning is a must

However, GM has the opportunity to utililize the waste heat generated by either the engine or voltage regulator to operate an ammonia-water absorption cycle air conditioner. About the only power required would be to run the fan.

 

[Jackson]

**important Correction**

Under the circumstances, this thread should probably have been titled "NextGen" Volt Accessories, since GM must keep first things first and get the drive out the door, right now. Think of this as a place to discuss future enhancements.

A swamp cooler doesn't work where it's hot and humid (I live in the Deep South), but might be OK out West.

I hadn't thought of an absorbtion cycle cooler, good one.

 

[pennor1]

For me the ultimage accessory list would be just that, a list that I can choose to order from or NOT order from. In other words, make the accessory list optional. That way I could order a Volt with manual steering, crank windows, and no air conditioner. In other words let customers order them like they used to order Chevys back in the 60's and like we can order a whopper at Burger King today. Let me order it my way please.

 

[Jackson]

... and the Internet would make that so much easier than it was in the '60s.

You know who started that "option package" mess, don't you? The Japanese. With their factories too remote from America for pick-and-choose options, they just built them anyway with scads of options in two or three grades: hope you can find what you want on the lots (and they would make money, lots). Once people got used to it, american car makers picked it up. Bad News (and obsolete these days, with the Internet).

 

[terryk]

Uh, I wasn't serious folks about the swamp cooler.

I was thinking they would install a heat pump of some sorts.

 

[Jackson]

It seems to me that any Volt or Volt variant (or really any vehicle which plugs in to recharge) needs some visible indication that it is successfully being charged.

Here's a scenario:

Your boss has allowed you to plug in at work, and there's a fat extension cord at your space. You plug in, and go inside. Unbeknownst to you, the maintenance department has plugged a floor polisher into the same circuit, and (POP) goes the breaker. "Hmmm," says Maintenance Man, "where does THIS cord go?" He unplugs your car, resets the breaker and continues to polish. You come out to come home, and NO ELECTRICITY.

Perhaps the emergency lights could slowly brighten and dim (kind of like the module that gradually brightens and dims the interior lights) in a pulsating, 1950's Flying Saucer fashion: dim BRIGHT, dim BRIGHT, dim BRIGHT ... (or maybe not so bright as all that, so you don't get annoying light pulses in your garage window, at night).

Or, maybe just a green LED on both sides of the car, at the roofline.

This might seem pretty minor, but easy enough to address at the beginning (and one of those 'little' things which could help distinguish a brand).

 

[terryk]

Damn good one!

And maybe you can blip the fob and it will flash the lights in a way that you can tell the charge (full or not) at a distance.

But yes, it would be good know it's done so someone else can use the outlet.

 

[RevDMV]

Integrated cell internet. Car calls or emails you to tell you that it's been unplugged. built in camera, takes picture of person doing it...

 

[Jackson]

Delay timer for charge function

I don't know about the rest of you, but unless I plug my Volt in as soon as I get home, I'm likely to forget.

Much of what has been said about our electrical infrastructure's ability to support a large fleet of EVs assumes recharging "off peak" at night; "off peak" defined as after 10:00 PM, local time (until, say, 6:00 AM the following morning. Is that right?).

I think that a lot of people may plug in as soon as they get home, or risk forgetting all about it. 5:30 - 7:30 PM is still power prime time.

Why not integrate a delay timer? I'm not talking about anything more complex than the single-button/LED indicator on my dishwasher. Press once, 1 hr delay (1 LED lights up), press twice, (a second LED comes on), etc.