2011 Chevrolet Volt First Impressions
A beautiful morning was presenting itself on Sunday in Vancouver as I was led to the electric chair. Many onlookers gathered to bear witness while I strapped myself in. Rather than pity me for what I was about to experience, they displayed envy – and why not? I was about to drive the game-changing Chevy Volt.
With a price tag somewhere in the $30-40K range, the Volt is not unrealistically expensive by any measure.
Changing the game – how?
In case you’ve been absent of mind or media, the Chevy Volt is GM’s revolutionary, mass produced electric car that’s expected to greet the US market in November this year and the Canadian market in the summer of 2011. After that, the world is the target.
Unlike the plethora of hybrid vehicles that have permeated the mainstream, the Volt is a true electric car. However, to extend its range beyond the capability of its sophisticated battery pack, a 1.4-litre gas engine is found under the hood but it’s not there to drive the wheels.
The gas engine drives a generator that supplies electrical power to the drive motor and the battery pack when the charge level has dipped below a specific threshold. That threshold is somewhere in the range of 64km away from a full charge.
For 75% of commuters, the 64km range between charges is sufficient to get them to work and back solely on battery power, the cost of which is estimated at less than a dollar per day. Can you imagine the financial savings?
And if 64km isn’t sufficient, the Volt’s technology enables it to be driven indefinitely as long as there is fuel in the tank. That means goodbye to “limited-range anxiety,” which until now has haunted operators of electric vehicles. In the Volt, the pavement never ends but to take greatest advantage of the car, recharging is necessary.
The charging process is as simple as plugging in a hairdryer. With standard household 110-volt current, a full charge takes approximately eight hours. Use a 220-volt outlet and the time drops to three or so episodes of Real Housewives of Orange County.
With standard household 110-volt current, a full charge takes approximately eight hours.
Driveability and reliability
Important in the development of the Volt was the goal of keeping it comfortable and familiar in function and operation. It would’ve been a mistake to create a hi-tech vehicle that failed to follow the traditional formula of a typical passenger car.
Important in the development of the Volt was the goal of keeping it comfortable and familiar in function and operation.
I think Tony Posawatz, Vehicle Line Director for the Volt summed-up it up best, saying “the Volt had to be a full-function car that could be your everyday driver, and that’s not historically what an electric vehicle has been.”
By “full function,” Tony was referring to the car’s ability to perform flawlessly irrespective of weather or environmental challenges. These can often sideline a typical electric vehicle. GM has performed extensive testing of the Volt in the heat of Death Valley, California and in the frigid weather of the far north. They have also run the vehicle at full-tilt up Pikes Peak. In all cases, the Volt has withstood the challenges.
One technology making such divergent scenarios problem-free is the ability of the battery pack to be self heated or cooled, which ensures that it remains in its most efficient temperature range. I wondered though what would occur if the vehicle were to be parked with a depleted battery for days on end without being plugged in.
No problem chirped Tony. The engine will fire-up and produce the necessary electricity. It’s also worth mentioning that the battery is never allowed to deplete itself completely – in fact far from it. As mentioned, the gas engine will spin the generator once the battery pack is diminished but not dead.
And not being dead myself, I drove the Volt
Let me say first of all, that taking a seat in the Volt is all pretty conventional, but that’s where convention ends and fun begins. A push of the button brought the car silently to life. A quick toot of the pedestrian-friendly audible warning and we were off.
The gas engine will spin the generator once the battery pack is diminished but not dead.
There is something George Jetson’ish about leaning into the throttle and feeling the car effortlessly surge ahead in eerie silence, no vibration and no mechanized growls or groans. This vehicle is not short on power, which thanks to the instantaneous torque of an electric motor, arrives immediately. And best of all, no fuel burnt in the process: translation – free.
I circled Vancouver’s jewel, Stanley Park, twice on pure electric power. I felt as smug as the spandex-clad joggers who likely spent more on their running shoes than a Volt owner will spend on fuel for an entire year. And to further bolster my braggadocio, my ride was emitting zero exhaust emissions unlike the crossovers and SUVs that said runners probably drove to the park – even those of hybrid acclaim.
It is a production-ready car of perfect size that present dramatic styling and an upscale cabin.
And in case someone wants to blunt my smugness by throwing the coal-fired powerplant argument my way, the juice powering Vancouver’s grid is hydro-produced. Obviously that’s not the case everywhere but nonetheless, in North America the production of electricity is becoming a cleaner venture over time.
Is the Volt the future?
No one can say with certainty where the future will lead the automotive industry but I feel that I’ve just had a sneak preview into it. The Volt is a game-changer. Its mass production and availability to the public at a reasonable price may be pivotal in reshaping the automotive landscape in favour of Mother Nature.
With a price tag somewhere in the $30-40K range, the Volt is not unrealistically expensive by any measure. The vehicle I drove today wasn’t a doctored-up golf cart. Far from it actually.
It was a production-ready car of perfect size that exhibited dramatic styling and an upscale cabin replete with the accoutrements we have come to expect in modern automobiles. And who doesn’t want to take a seat in that electric chair?
Auto123.com
Filed Under: Cars
Answeone, I’m going to save money to buy it.
I am wondering what the horse power of the gas motor has to do with the electric motors horse power. the gas motor is a generator only, it doesn’t drive the car in any form. the only question that relevant to the gas motor is how long does it take to charge the batteries up, based on whether the car is in motion or not. and i am unclear as to how much it will cost to recharge it using house current, in my state (Texas) we have among the highest electirical costs, by 16 KW is a lot less than what you would pay for gas at a gas station, even here.
This sounds so close, but yet so far. I was hoping they had had the sense to use the motor to charge the batteries starting at a much lower discharge point so that there’s always a buffer in the batteries for acceleration and hill climbing, thus allowing the generator to operate only at peak efficiency rather than peak output. Oh well, maybe in 2.0 or in a hack.