Monday, December 13, 2010

Colourful and decorative fishing boats of Pantai Sabak

Colourful and decorative fishing boats of Pantai Sabak




Colourful and decorative fishing boats of Pantai Sabak
Pantai Sabak (Sabak Beach in English) in Kelantan is an invaluable historical site. It was the beach on which the Japanese Army first landed before they occupied Malaysia (it was known then as Malaya) during World War II. Pantai Sabak will forever be remembered for this historical event and it is part of the Malaysian World War II history. Pantai Sabak is a fishing village whose people are made up of mostly fishermen.

However besides its historical site there is at least another attraction to Pantai Sabak. It is where you can find the famous colourful and heavily decorative fishing boats which have become subjects of numerous photographers, local and foreign ones. It is only here that you can find the colourful and decorative fishing boats in a large number.

I had an opportunity to shoot this picturesque fishing pier when I went to Pantai Sabak last week for other purpose actually. It was a classic case of killing two birds with one stone.

The colourful boats were moored at the mouth of the river and there were quite a number of them at the time I was there as it was on a Friday. Friday for Kelantan state is the rest day. Most of the fishermen were taking this opportunity to do some repair work to their boats or to mend their fishing nets or to just hang out with friends.

Luckily the weather was superb on that day and the beautiful late evening sunlight further motivated me to do the shooting. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

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Monday, November 29, 2010

Optoma PK-301 Pico Projector Review

Optoma PK-301
Pico Projector Review

Allan Abbott , August 4, 2010

Let's say you have some video clips on your iPhone, a portable DVD player with photos, a brief PowerPoint presentation on your laptop, and you need to see five different clients in their homes and offices today. The last thing you want to do is haul a briefcase-size projector with you, so what do you do? You slip the Optoma PK-301, the company's newest pico projector, into your coat pocket, and off you go.

As long as ambient light can be controlled, the PK-301 is bright enough for intimate settings. It offers a digital input via an optional adapter cable, and if you store your images in the projector's internal memory, you won't need any external sources at all. Battery operation is good for 45 to 90 minutes depending on content, and there's an AC adapter for longer presentations. At a list price of $399, the 854 x 480 native-mode PK-301 is attractively priced, and its small size and 0.5 lb. weight is a real advantage for mobile presenters.

Overview

Brightness and Uniformity: Unlike many projectors, the PK-301 more than delivers on its brightness specification of 50 ANSI lumens. It put up 53 lumens in both Bright and Movie modes, 26 lumens in Standard mode, and 13 lumens in Eco mode. Note that Bright and Movie mode brightness levels are not available in battery operation . . . you must use the AC adapter to achieve the brightest picture.

Our sample unit's brightness uniformity of 72% was a little lower than expected for LED illumination where light is more collimated than with high-pressure lamps, and the left side of the image was slightly brighter than the right.

Connections: To save space, Optoma uses micro connectors on the rear of the PK-301, so adapter cables are required. The included cables are a Universal I/O which terminates in a female DB-15 for computer connection, an AV cable with RCA connectors for composite video, and a Micro USB that presents a full-size USB male connector. These micro connectors also accommodate several optional adapter cables. There is also a mini-jack audio output for an external amplifier and a micro SD slot on the side of the PK-301.

Image Size and Position: To project a 72" diagonal image in native 16:9 aspect ratio, the PK-301 needs to be about 9.5 feet from the screen for the focus adjustment to be effective. Image offset is +18.5% of image height, so a 72" diagonal image has its lower edge about 6.5" above the centerline of the lens. This is a good offset for tabletop placement as the center of the image is at about eye level for an audience that is sitting close to the screen.

User Settings: It is common for pico projectors to limit the ability to change image settings, and in the case of the PK-301, brightness, contrast, and two color temperature settings are the only choices. As it turns out, this is not a serious limitation since colors are well balanced in all modes.

Aspect Ratio vs. Brightness: The PK-301's 16:9 aspect ratio is well-suited to video presentations and movies since all of the light falling on the 854 x 480 chip is sent to the screen. However, if you present computer data regularly, you might prefer a 4:3 aspect ratio projector. The PK-301 handles 4:3 presentations with no problem, but part of the DLP chip is not illuminated for content in this aspect ratio, and image brightness and resolution will be reduced. The pixel matrix of a 4:3 image is standard VGA 640x480, rather than 800x600.

File Conversion: Optoma uses ArcSoft's Media Converter software to convert video files, PowerPoint presentations, etc. so that they can be stored in and played back from the PK-301's internal memory. Be aware that this converter is not Mac compatible, so Mac files must be displayed directly from your computer.

Warranty: Optoma offers a one-year parts and labor warranty for the PK-301 with a 90-day warranty on the battery.

Advantages

Image Quality: For such a small projector, the PK-301 does very well in putting up saturated and evenly balanced color. Data images have adequate contrast, and photos are lifelike. Flesh tones in video images are excellent, but shadow detail is somewhat limited. The PK-301 uses LED illumination, and rainbow effects are minimal.

Digital Input: Few pico projectors offer a digital connection, but you will find a mini-HDMI on the PK-301. To connect to it, you will need an optional cable that adapts the mini-HDMI to a full-size HDMI, but it is worth the expense if you have a digital source such as a DVD player.

Battery Life: Though the standard battery life is specified as "up to one hour" in Eco mode, our test unit delivered a simple PowerPoint presentation for nearly 90 minutes. It also lasted for 45 minutes in composite video mode. If you need extended display time in battery mode, you can purchase a larger battery for about $100.

Aspect Ratio: With its native 854 x 480 resolution, the PK-301 maps widescreen 480i video one-for-one . . . a rarity among pico projectors. Most competitors offer an 800 x 600 native mode which is great for standard 4:3 data presentations, but it means black bands above and below a 16:9 image.

Fan noise: You might think that a pico projector would not need a fan, but when you get into the 50-lumen range, there is just enough heat generated to warrant one. Fortunately, even in high brightness mode, the PK-301's fan is just a gentle whir, and in Eco mode, it is nearly inaudible.

Remote Control: Even though it is an extra cost item, the remote control is well worth it. It makes it unnecessary to remember what the menu buttons on the projector are for (no easy task), and it keeps the projector from wobbling while you make menu selections . . . a common problem for most pico projectors lacking a remote control.

Lamp Life: Like many pico projectors, the PK-301 relies on color LEDs for illumination of its DLP chip. That translates into an exceptional lamp life of 20,000 hours, so you will probably be tossing the projector before the LEDs fail. Just think . . . no lamp replacement hassle or cost for the life of the projector.

Maintenance: Very simple . . . if you clean the lens once in a while, you are done with maintenance for the life of the PK-301. No air filters to change, no lamps to replace, no nothing.

Limitations

Placement Flexibility: The PK-301 has a fixed 1.8:1 throw ratio. With no zoom lens, that means you will have to set up at a specific distance from the screen for each image diagonal you want. For example, for a 60" diagonal, the projector will be 6.5 feet from the screen. If this is inconvenient, then you will have to move the PK-301 and live with a larger or smaller image.

Image Focus: Optics for pico projectors lack the sophistication of their larger brethren, and the PK-301 is no exception. The best focus setting for our sample unit is a bit "soft" and is not consistent across the image. When the top of the image is focused, the bottom is slightly fuzzy. However, the optimum setting produces an acceptable compromise for data images, and some minimal focus softness is not all bad for video, particularly movies.

Audio Quality: As you might expect with a 0.5-watt speaker, the PK-301's audio is weak and tinny, but voices are clear if lacking bass. There is a mini-jack for earphones or an external amplifier, and you may have to use it if there is much ambient noise in the room.

On-Screen Menus: The on-screen menus for image adjustment have no labels, only icons, so you must memorize the function of each icon. It is not that hard for video since there are only five settings, but for data, there are eight settings to contend with (although several of them are used infrequently).

Projector Control Panel: While the remote control is very effective, the control panel on the projector itself is not very intuitive. Pushing buttons on the panel can jostle the projector.

Internal Memory: Only 28 MB of memory is available for internal image storage, but if you need more capacity, the PK-301's microSD slot will accommodate up to 16GB cards.

Optional Accessories: Several adapters are shipped with the PK-301 including adapters for composite video and VGA computer inputs. But there are also a few optional accessories that you might want, and they increase the cost of the projector system. They include a remote control (I recommend it highly), a mini HDMI-to-HDMI adapter (needed if you are attaching a digital source), a female USB adapter (for connecting USB flash drives), a component video adapter that fans out into five RCA females for video and audio, and an iPod/iPhone adapter. Prices range from $20-30 apiece.

Conclusion

The Optoma PK-301's combination of aspect ratio and brightness put it in a unique class by itself. With a list price of $399 and very fine video and data images, it is well suited for those who do widescreen presentations, or want to watch movies at home or on the road. A variety of sources can be accommodated although some require optional adapter cables. The cost of the highly desirable remote and whatever optional cables you might want will add to the price. As with all pico projectors, ambient light must be controlled to keep the image from washing out and image controls are minimal. But for intimate presentations to just a few people, or movies anywhere at anytime, the PK-301 is well worth a close look.


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Kuala Lumpur, 14 Mom makes $379/day Working From Home

Breaking News: Kuala Lumpur, 14 Mom makes $379/day Working From Home

Posted by Anthony D. Cataldo on November 17, 2010 and filed under Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or track-back to this entry from your site

Kuala Lumpur, 14 - Is working from home the next gold rush?

For Katie Matthews it sure is. Katie, a mother originally from Orlando, Florida is thriving, in the middle of an economic recession working in the comfort of her own home. She was able to pick up her things and start a new life in Kuala Lumpur, 14 without any hesitation.

"I earn on average about $25 for every link I post on Google and I make around $8,700 a month right now" says Matthews. Enough to live where I want, and enjoy the things I enjoy.

But Katie’s life wasn’t always so prosperous. Her recent employer, a well-known insurance agency, did some downsizing and let her go.

Her husband James now became their only source of income, which they both knew they couldn’t live on. That is why Katie took the job at the insurance agency to begin with. They needed extra money and they needed it fast.

Katie’s family had 2 choices. She could either look for another job in her industry (but in these tough economic times, she knew that was a long shot.) Or her husband could take night classes and try to get a promotion at work. But that too would take too much time. And where would they get the money for school?

Katie says, “I was in tears one Saturday night because things were getting tough and we couldn’t even afford to take the kids out to dinner like we do every Saturday night. The kids asked why we weren’t going out and we had to try and explain to them that times were tough. I don’t think they understood. That’s when I knew I had to take matters into my own hands and find a solution for my family.”

That’s when Katie found an advert for Home Wealth Package.

"I read the ad, and at first I was skeptical because they said you will get paid over $300 a day and that seemed like a lot of money to me. But I suspended my disbelief and got started."

She started making money right away and she got her first week’s paycheck of $2,100.

“This was more money than I used to make in a month,” Katie adds.

Home Wealth Package is a risk free course that can teach anyone, regardless of computer skill level to start making money online.

For those who have seen the “make money online scams” Katie warns that, while they do exist,Home Wealth Package is one of the only ones she found that is backed and uses a $billion dollar publicly traded company, like Google.

Katie shared her tips for how she got started. Following the simple steps below is all you need to do to get started:

Step 1: Go to Home Wealth Package, fill out the basic form to see if they have positions available in your area.

Step 2: Follow the directions on Home Wealth Package that shows you how to and set up a Google account. Then they will give you the website links to post. Start posting those website links. The system tracks everything.

"I really hope people take advantage of this, its good to finally see someone using a large company to make money online and help people like me" says Matthews

Associated Links:
Home Wealth Package official site

Sunday, November 28, 2010

First Drive: 2011 Chevrolet Volt

First Drive: 2011 Chevrolet Volt

"She Blinded Me With Science"


2011 Chevrolet Volt – Click above for high-res image gallery

The Chevy Volt has finally, successfully, made the leap from science fiction to fact. Quite a bit has changed in the nearly four-year journey from the 2007 Detroit Auto Show to last week, when General Motors let us drive a production-spec car. The Volt may not be the stuff of Blade Runner, but it's a technologically advanced showpiece for GM, and the first widely practical electric vehicle, ready and waiting for mainstream acceptance.

Give GM credit for building the Volt during the most miserable turn of events in the company's long and storied history.
But first some basics: The Volt is a four-passenger, compact hatchback. While there's considerable controversy over whether or not to call it a plug-in hybrid, that's how we'll be referring to it, following the lead of the Federal government. GM prefers "extended-range electric vehicle," which is somewhat misleading, since the Volt is only an electric vehicle for the first 25-50 miles. In EV mode, the Volt's electric drive system draws power exclusively from a 16 kilowatt-hour battery pack, at all speeds up to its 100-mph maximum. Once the battery gets drawn down to 35 percent of its capacity, the Volt's gasoline engine fires up, spinning a generator to produce more electricity.

Of all the changes GM's engineers have wrought since the first Volt concept, the most controversial has to be the design of the transmission, which GM kept a secret until last week. GM has been saying all along that the Volt was driven purely electrically, but as it turns out, this is not exactly the case. At highway speeds in extended range mode, the Volt's gasoline engine is actually clutched together with the electric drive system inside the vehicle's transaxle. There's no point in belaboring the controversy beyond saying that the design is 10-15 percent more efficient, according to GM. Since efficiency is pretty much the whole point of the vehicle, we're satisfied, even if we're not happy that we (along with the rest of the media) were misled. However, it's time to move on and focus on evaluating the Volt as a vehicle, and to that end, it's an amazing piece of machinery.

Continue reading...



Photos copyright ©2010 Chris Paukert / AOL


Before we get stuck into the tech and driving experience, let's take at least a glance at the aesthetics. The2007 Volt concept was aggressive and tough looking, but the final production car has clearly been through anger management therapy. The Volt is based on the Chevy Cruze, which is a good part of the reason why what you see here looks so little like the concept. The other reason would be aerodynamics, and while it's no longer news that GM had to ditch the low, wide stance of the show car in order to make the production Volt slippery through the air, we do now have a final coefficient of drag number: 0.287. (While GM says that makes it the most aerodynamic Chevy ever, this may be overstating it a bit, as the current Corvette was said to have a 0.28 Cd at its introduction in 2004.)

GM is describing the Volt as looking and feeling like a mid-size sport sedan, but the truth is that it's a bit smaller than the compact Cruze. The Volt measures 177.1 inches long, compared to 181 inches for its platform-mate. While that's BMW 3 Series sized, it is still a good 10 inches shy of a true mid-size car.

2011 Chevrolet Volt side view2011 Chevrolet Volt front view2011 Chevrolet Volt rear view

The look of the Volt is less round than the pill-shaped Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, but if you squint just right you'll see they all cut the same basic profile. This was dramatically displayed when GM gave us a tour of the Hamtramck, Michigan, plant in which the car is assembled (right next to Buick Lucernes and Cadillac DTSes) and we saw the Volt bodies without their distinctive black plastic trim that runs underneath the side windows.

GM stylists have done an admirable job of making the Volt seem more sedan-like, so as not to appear as yet another Prius imitator, like the Insight. This is accomplished by accentuating the length of the car, both with the black lower window trim and a character line that runs across the lower half of both doors. Headlights and taillights that wrap into thin side-marker lights help too. On the street, however, the car still doesn't stand out much from any number of nondescript compacts.

2011 Chevrolet Volt headlight2011 Chevrolet Volt side detail2011 Chevrolet Volt wheel2011 Chevrolet Volt taillight

GM didn't give us a number for interior volume, but the Volt is adequately sized for four adults, save for a lack of rear headroom. When you're sitting inside it, the Volt feels more cramped than a Prius, as it suffers from some common GM syndromes: a high belt line, wide pillars, thick doors and a relatively low roof. Numbers bear this out, as the Prius bests the Volt in both headroom and legroom. The Volt is by no means as claustrophobia-inducing as a sports car, but you'd never describe it as "roomy."

The Volt won't impress with the quality of its interior materials either, which are merely adequate if you judge against other compacts, and downright cheap looking if you put them up against what you'll find in other $40,000 cars. The backseat gets the worst of it, as the center console running between the two rear buckets is an edifice of monotone hard plastic, as are the rear door panels. That rear console isn't there just for cupholders, as it's hiding the T-shaped battery pack that's positioned exactly where the driveshaft tunnel in a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive car would be.

2011 Chevrolet Volt interior
2011 Chevrolet Volt steering wheel controls2011 Chevrolet Volt gas and plug buttons2011 Chevrolet Volt rear seats

Up front the interior quality improves a bit, as the doors are at least trimmed with inset panels. There are softer finishes on two sculpted pads that break up the large flat surface on top of the dashboard too. Even so, you can be certain that nobody is going to confuse the Volt with a luxury car.

Leather seats are one of the few Volt options (the others being a rear camera with parking assist, special paint and polished wheels), and picking this $1,395 trim package certainly makes the interior a bit easier on the eyes. We didn't mind driving a Volt with base cloth, as it does its job in providing an acceptable covering for the manually adjustable seats, which seemed comfortable and supportive. Our drive time was limited to 150 miles over two days, so any final analysis on seating comfort will have to be reserved for later. Perhaps the best reason to opt for leather is to remedy the horrid base trim steering wheel. GM keeps swearing it has learned not to spec this sort of unpleasant rubbery plastic for a high-touch part, but clearly that wasn't the case with the Volt.

2011 Chevrolet Volt front seats2011 Chevrolet Volt door panel

Rather, GM seems to have dropped most of its interior budget into Volt's two seven-inch LCD screens. The first resides in front of the steering wheel and encompasses all of the information the driver would typically see on the instrument panel, like speed and fuel level. This display is configurable via a knob and two buttons to the left of the wheel. A touch screen for the navigation, audio and climate control systems, which also acts as the interface for much of the electronic geekery associated with the car's drive system, sits conventionally atop the center stack. For the most part, the graphics and information displayed on these screens is first-rate, including a neat little animation of the electrical flow similar to what's found in the Prius.

While there are a few physical buttons on the metallic white center stack (including the electric parking brake, a door lock button and the "leaf" button that changes the car's drive mode from Normal to Sport) most of the controls for the stereo and such are touch sensitive. The white plastic of the center stack makes for a pretty cool look, and the quality of the smooth finish is excellent, better than on any other surface in the car.

The white color also extends to the gearshift lever, but this is another aspect of the Volt that's poorly executed. The lever is oversized and in Park sits in a cutout underneath the center stack. The problem is, there's not enough clearance around the shifter, so it's awkward to manipulate. Drivers with sausage fingers may find themselves scraping knuckles and we can imagine problems for people who wear rings, as well.

2011 Chevrolet Volt gauges2011 Chevrolet Volt touch screen


In most vehicles, the engine features prominently. Yet with the Volt, GM really wishes we'd forget about the 84-horsepower, 1.4-liter, iron block four-cylinder that's fitted under the hood. The General likes to call this premium fuel-burning unit lifted from the company's European parts bin a "generator," but the truth is that the gas engine is actually clutched to a 55-kw electric generator in the Volt's transaxle.

This is one of two such motors that reside there, the other being the 111-kw traction motor that provides the primary drive power for the Volt in EV mode. But the traction motor is not the only source of motive power, as the electric motor generator can be lashed together with the traction motor by way of the Volt transmission's planetary gearset, to allow both motors to turn the wheels of the car for better electrical efficiency. Of note is that the generator can provide electricity for both the battery pack and directly to the traction motor, depending on circumstances.

If you do forget about the gasoline engine in the Volt – because you're one of the 80 percent of Americans that GM says can have all of their daily driver needs met with the Volt's 40-ish-mile electric range – the sedan will actually remind you to run the gas engine and, if you don't, it will kick it on for you. It does this to combat the fuel growing stale, something that shows just how far GM has thought through all the "what-ifs" of the Volt.

2011 Chevrolet Volt engine

This is just one of many impressive design details that bear mention. Here are a few examples: Mountain Mode forces the gasoline engine to turn on and charge up the battery to a higher level in anticipation of heading up a steep grade. Additionally, GM has equipped the car with a pedestrian awareness alert to make up for how quiet it is in EV mode, and if you flash the brights at speeds under 40 mph, the car will gently honk the horn automatically.

GM has gone to great lengths to make the Volt mainstream.
As unique as some of the Volt's features are, it uses a pretty normal suspension adapted from the Cruze. Up front you'll find MacPherson struts and an anti-sway bar, while in the rear there's a torsion beam arrangement. The Volt has anti-lock brakes, traction control and stability control, as you'd expect of any modern car. Power steering is electric, which brings up another interesting point: The accessories in the Volt all run on a standard 12-volt automotive circuit.

While the Volt does have a conventional 12-volt battery, it's just there to operate the remote door locks and provide the initial power to boot the computer that will then switch on the main battery pack after it passes its self-test. Instead of using an alternator, the Volt steps down the high voltage current from its main battery pack to supply the 12-volt juice.

2011 Chevrolet Volt drive mode button2011 Chevrolet Volt power button

While it's easy to get lost in the hows and whys of the Volt's technology, what's truly impressive is that the car performs flawlessly. GM has gone to great – even excessive – lengths to make the Volt as mainstream as it can. There's a shallow learning curve to operation, which mostly surrounds finding the green-glowing start button on the center stack near the shifter and dropping the bulky, console-mounted unit into drive. After that, the experience has a lot in common with piloting a four-cylinder Chevy Malibu. In our test drive, we couldn't turn up anything that made us feel the Volt's development was incomplete.

While the 3,781-pound Volt will never feel like a sports car, there is some fun to be had.
But as much as driving the Volt is not so different from driving a regular gasoline-powered car, at the same time, it is. First there's the lack of noise, which is easy enough to get used to. To be expected, the Volt is as whisper-quiet as the most expensive luxury sedan when it's in EV mode. But even when driving in extended-range mode, most of the time you'll be hard-pressed to really notice the gasoline engine revving up. Then there's the lack of drama from the transmission, which we couldn't really feel doing much of anything in any mode, despite the knowledge that it had to be doing something. What it wasn't doing was producing that rubber-band acceleration effect of most hybrids, where you can really feel the electric assist kicking in. Power delivery in the Volt is consistent and predictably tied to what your right foot is doing.

You can really feel that GM tried to make acceleration at part-throttle mimic that of a car with a conventional automatic transmission, which is to say, the throttle response is a bit soft, which, no doubt, improves efficiency. Yet driving more aggressively can yield a pretty engaging experience, as GM says the car can do 0-60 miles per hour in less than nine seconds -- accomplished in Sport mode, which improves throttle response a bit. Eight seconds and change seems like an entirely reasonable estimate based on our time behind the wheel. At higher speeds, up to and over 80 miles per hour, the Volt feels confident and tracks well, and it never feels sluggish if you're willing to work the throttle. If there's any disappointment in the electric drive experience, it's that even in Sport mode the initial throttle response is not as immediate as we imagine it could be.

2011 Chevrolet Volt shifter

If you want to turn up the dial another notch beyond just putting the car into Sport, you can shift it into what we've dubbed "Tesla mode." Selecting "L" with the gearshift lever forces the car to use its maximum regenerative braking ability. While the normal regenerative braking is perfectly calibrated to feel like the engine braking of a vehicle with an internal combustion engine, and gives the brakes a great, solid feeling, the max-regen mode slows the car dramatically, immediately upon lifting your foot from the throttle. While the 3,781-pound Volt is never going to feel like a sports car, with the drive mode in Sport and the shifter in "L," there is some fun to be had.

Handling is better than expected, thanks in part to the Volt's low center of gravity. While this is a heavy car by any metric, the batteries are mounted low enough in the chassis that when the Volt leans in the corners it never feels unplanted and the weight shift is easy enough to control. Most of the feedback you'll get during such maneuvers will come through your seat, however, as the Volt's steering is numb at speed, which we suppose is better than the over-assisted feeling it has in parking lots. To keep the Volt feeling securely planted even when it's being pushed, GM has equipped the vehicle with 215/55R17 Goodyears. While these are low-rolling-resistance tires, what's notable here is that they're fairly wide. Not too long ago, sports sedans were routinely shod with similar sized tires.

One of the biggest unanswered questions about the Volt is its fuel economy, and if ever there has been a vehicle for which the "you mileage may vary" caveat applies, this is it. GM and the Environmental Protection Agency are still negotiating over how the Volt's fuel economy will be displayed on its window sticker when it goes on sale, but it's likely that the results of those discussions aren't going to be particularly informative to customers anyway. Trying to compare the efficiency of internal-combustion vehicles with plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles is an apples-to-oranges endeavor, as it depends so dramatically on each driver's particular use pattern.

2011 Chevrolet Volt badge2011 Chevrolet Volt badge

In our first stint in the Volt, we were able to stretch the range of the battery pack to 47.5 miles – and the Volt's sophisticated battery-level meter still showed 10 miles of range remaining. (We accomplished this by driving in "L" all the time and accelerating about as slowly as possible without disrupting traffic.) GM tells us it spent huge amounts of time in development making sure this "fuel gauge" was absolutely accurate. When you first start the Volt it displays your range based on the past week of driving, and once underway, it performs its projected range calculations based on the last four miles of driving. The next day we drove over 100 miles – receiving a partial charge at a stop about halfway – and were in extended-range mode for about half of our time.

Volt owners can get whatever MPG they want by limiting the use of the car in extended-range mode.
While our drive wasn't long enough to gather any empirical data beyond the 36 mpg displayed on the Volt's trip computer when we finished, we can do some math. GM gave us official numbers that we can use to make two reasonable estimates. The Volt has a 9.3-gallon gas tank, and GM states that the range in extended-range mode is approximately 310 miles. That means the Volt should return around 33 miles per gallon, after its EV range of roughly 40 miles is exhausted. And if you get in your fully-charged Volt and drive it until the tank runs dry, you'll see about 38 miles per gallon overall. Given that GM had been bandying about a 50 mpg number – not-coincidentally matching the Prius – this is nothing short of disappointing.

That said, the Volt will still allow its owners to achieve whatever fuel economy they desire by limiting the use of the car in extended-range mode. This is the key to wrapping your mind around the Volt. Other hybrids are principally powered by their gasoline engines and use electric power in a strictly supplementary role. Even the forthcoming Prius plug-in will operate in this fashion, which is why its EV mode is limited in acceleration and top speed.

2011 Chevrolet Volt charging port2011 Chevrolet Volt charging station

The Volt, however, uses electric drive power nearly all of the time, so it's really designed to be driven for shorter distances and recharged, like a full battery-electric. GM says the Volt can be completely recharged in about four hours if you get an optional 240-volt charger installed, or 10-12 hours plugged into a standard wall jack. Charging the Volt is a simple process that's not all that different from plugging in a cell phone; the Volt even has a light on the dashboard that glows yellow when its charging and turns green when finished.

While your average disinterested driver can hop in the Volt and not feel intimidated by all the engineering wizardry – or find themselves stranded with a dead battery – at its core the Volt is a car for engineering geeks and technology nerds who will, no doubt, enjoy exploring every last capability of its unique drivetrain.

You've got to give GM credit for building this thing, especially during the most miserable turn of events in the company's long and storied history. With a donated body architecture, an engine designed for an entirely different application and a transmission built from parts left over from a canceled hybrid vehicle program, the final Volt still seems a bit of a science fair project. Albeit, one pieced together by talented engineers, at least one of them eager to vindicate the company's failed EV1 electric car program with a success.

2011 Chevrolet Volt rear 3/4 view

Yet the big question remains: Can the Volt go mainstream? GM has said it intends to build 45,000 Volts per year starting in 2012. That's not a small number of cars, not when they're priced at $40,280. Even if you deduct potential tax credits of at least $7,500 from the Federal government, or opt for the $350/month lease "deal," this is a costlier-than-average car. While former GM CEO Rick Wagoner liked to compare the Volt's development to NASA's Apollo program, there's a huge difference between developing an amazing piece of technology and commercializing it – and it's not like you can drive a Volt to the moon.

GM's pitch to consumers is that the Volt is "More Car Than Electric," the tagline of its forthcoming ad campaign. Its marketing will be focused on the fact that the Volt is a do-everything car that has none of the limitations of pure battery-electrics, thanks to its gas engine. But the fact remains that anyone buying a Volt is going to have to do the same self-analysis of their driving patterns and habits that they would if they were considering a Nissan Leaf electric or a plug-in Toyota Prius or even a regular hybrid.

GM would like to think it's thought of everything with the Volt, and covered every contingency, and from what we've seen, that's true. But there's one crucial thing they can't engineer in, and that's public acceptance.



Photos copyright ©2010 Chris Paukert / AOL