Remember the article about the GM’s Chevrolet Volt? Not much time has passed and now Opel is talking about their hybrid car, Opel Ampera, created on the same technology as Volt.
The new car will be released at 2009’s Geneva Motor Show in March and will be the first car in Europe to be driven hundreds of kilometers without using the internal combustion engine.
The technology, Voltec (formerly E-Flex) is able to drive the car aproximately 60 km (40 miles) on purely electric motor, using the lithium-ion battery. One can charge the battery on the standard 240V outlet. For longer rides, the combustion engine will produce the electricity for the electrical engine.
You could say 60 km is too little. I can tell that 80% of the Germans (and Europeans, as well) travel less than 50 km daily. This was also the case for the beloved and much-sobbed GM EV1, whose tragedy inspired people to look forward towards going electric.
