Tag: installation

Chevy Volt home charger priced at $490 or nearly $2K with installation

Filed under: Hybrid, Sedan, Technology, Chevrolet, Electric

Voltec 240V home charging unitSure, the sticker price for the 240V Voltec home charging unit designed to quickly and efficiently recharge the Chevrolet Volt is a wallet-friendly $490, but this is a case where reading the fine print is important. That’s because the cost to install this charger in your garage is slightly more. General Motors estimates that installation of the Voltec unit will cost you around $1,475, so we’re talking about a near $2,000 premium to have your Volt suck down electrons faster than it would if just plugged into a wall.

The Volt can charge just fine from a standard outlet and comes with a 120V-to-J1772 charger. Using that method will take around ten hours to reach a full charge from empty, while using 240V charger Voltec charger will cut that down to around four hours. For people who have short commutes or plan to leave the Volt plugged in every night, a 240V system might be overkill since the Volt has a gasoline-powered generator on board to extend its range should the electrons dry up.

The Voltec system’s $2,000 overall cost, however, is in line with the Aerovironment 240V charge station for the all-electric Nissan Leaf. Nissan says that charger will cost $2,200 installed, though Leaf fans began complaining that Nissan was forcing owners to use just one installer and the automaker has since pointed out that there are cheaper alternatives available.

Of course, there are ways to get free chargers (i.e. luck out and live in place with local incentives or be one of the first Volt buyers), but most people looking to add a Volt to their garage will need to cough up an extra $2,000 to receive quick-charging functionality. For an in-depth look at Chevrolet’s Volt chargers, click here.

[Source: General Motors]

Continue reading Chevy Volt home charger priced at $490 or nearly $2K with installation

Chevy Volt home charger priced at $490 or nearly $2K with installation originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Oct 2010 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Audi loans eight robot arms for art installation

Filed under: Etc., Plants/Manufacturing, Videos, Audi, UK

Control Audi's Octopus

Audi’s Outrace Project – Click above to watch the video after the jump

Trafalgar Square is located in central London. It plays host to thousands of people on a daily basis. The square is filled with memorial fountains and allows direct passage to the National gallery, and starting September 16th, it will serve as the backdrop for the London Digital Festival.

Audi has determined this would make a good time to unleash its opening salvo in favor of the impending revolution by Skynet and the robots. The automaker’s mechanical beast consists of eight robotic arms and weighs over 10 metric tons. It’s known simply as The Octopus. Fine, it’s not an octo-armed assault system but rather a new art installation device.

Each arm features a LED headlight taken from the Audi R15 TDI racecar, mounted at the end of each arm. Messages up to 80 characters in length can be sent to octopus from a computer or smartphone via the Outrace.org website, and these bits of text will be chosen at random and written in real time in the form of “light paintings.” The images will be captured by SLR cameras and then transferred into a video. The images and video will be available via the Outrace site, as well as sent to the chosen contributors. To see the arms in action, you can view streaming video at both the Outrace site and Audi.com. The footage will be available 24 hours a day, for eight days.

It all sounds quite odd yet intriguing. The big robotic arms will be able to write out letters up to nearly 12 feet high, yet they are capable of precise movements down to 0.2 millimeters. Be sure to watch the trailer after the jump, and read Audi’s press release to understand what all the fuss is about. We haven’t throw out that Skynet idea just yet…

[Sources: Audi, YouTube]

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Video: Audi loans eight robot arms for art installation originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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