Why haven't cars been made with the Chevy Volt concept all along, like all those diesel-electric locomotives?

Jorge Gerrero: they were here they called then Diesel trains replaced the steam trainsalmost the same????/

Branden Round: Batteries. The older batteries could not support this approach. This resulted in the need to limit range, limit vehicle size. Cars were built in the 70's that were electric (like wedge shaped golf carts). The limited range made them useful to relatively few commuters. They were kind of cool though. Much research and development has gone into improving battery (energy storage) technology to make batteries lighter and able to store more energy per unit of volume and weight. This then helps improve the range of the car and allows the car to hold more people, opening up a much larger market. The price of batteries is also a factor, as it will influence the price of the vehicle. It is likely that further improvements in battery technology will lead to wider applications of the electric car....Show more

Sibyl Siwik: The power system in ! TopGear's 'Geoff' or 'Eagleray Hammerhead-i' was similar to an electric-diesel locomotive, as James May knows his trains.He stuck a small diesel generator in the car which made energy for the batteries to power the slightly rubbish electric motor.I think the problem with using the Volt's concept in cars of the past is simply due to the added cost of having to engineer brand-new state of the art (Almost experimental) parts to power a car which has no guarantee of even working......Show more

Vern Serratos: This method is much more expensive and it also increase the maintenanceand the weight. Also : The brush-less D.C. motor and superb electronic speedcontrol was not yet available. Etc.

Ty Kirton: anon a: I don't think you read the gist of my question. There would be no need for a "drive battery" just an onboard generator powering the electric motor vs. powering the wheels itself.

Randa Hessell: We have to assume you are talking about a configuration like die! sel electric locomotives where the engine produces all the ene! rgy for the electric motor and there are no batteries. This configuration has been looked at very favorably where torque becomes so large the the torque converter and transmission would simply get too expensive. Electric motors have full torque at 0 RPM so there is no need for a transmission. This is in addition to the other advantages you have already mentioned. http://www.pickuptrucks.com/html/stories/wrightspe...But in smaller vehicles we might speculate that original mechanics and engineers felt that it would be more logical to keep as much of the vehicle using mechanical energy transfer rather than to switch to electricity and back again to mechanical motion. Perhaps they felt that this involved too much design work or perhaps it was simply that they did not want to change disciplines. It does seem like a case where going around the mountain is easier than going through it. GM talked about how revolutionary the Volt design is for cars but until 2005 it was the ! electro-motive division of GM that made these diesel electric locomotives: http://blogs.dieselpowermag.com/1002012/whats-new/... You have to imagine that the idea was considered and perhaps even prototyped at least once in the 85 years that such locomotives have been being built....Show more

Randolph Lozoya: Expense and the limits of the technology of the batteries.Also, there was a push by industry and the government to develop a world economy that was dependent on cheap abundant oil.