ROCHESTER, Michigan - This could very well be the most important car for General Motors. The make-it-or-break-it car, the last hope, the savior. The car that will put America back on its feet.
They’ve been teasing us for over three years now, and it’s finally arrived.
The Volt will be built at GM’s Detroit/Hamtramck plant, which currently assembles the Cadillac DTS and Buick Lucerne; getting the Volt is a good thing for them indeed. Actually, about 500 pre-production Volts are being assembled as we speak. I assume Obama will be getting one of those.
We journalists had a chance to drive the Volt over more than 75 miles, and we witnessed how the car’s complex powertrain works. We’ll spare you the technical stuff here, but you can read about it elsewhere on Auto123.com (see 2011 Chevrolet Volt: how the powertrain works).
GM claims the Volt has an electric-power range of 25 to 50 miles (that’s 40 to 80 km), but the journalist I was paired up with and I actually exceeded that on our way from the airport to the hotel. I must say that we drove slowly—very slowly—to the dismay of Michigan motorists, and completed the trip without turning on the console-mounted LCD screen, the radio and the climate control system.
We also used the shift lever’s L mode (that means, uh, Low) profusely, in order to regain as much energy as possible while slowing down.
What’s particularly amazing during our extended drive in the Volt is how well all the different mechanical components work together. The electric traction motor, the electric generator motor, the 1.4-litre gas engine, the three clutches, the planetary gearset and the hamster running in its wheel all work seamlessly. There’s no hamster.
Once the battery pack drains down to its minimum state of charge, you do hear the gas engine fire up, while the driver’s LCD screen changes its display to show a gas tank level instead of a battery juice level. But there’s no unpleasant harshness, vibration and excess noise during the process. In addition, there’s no awful brake pedal feel during regenerative braking, like most hybrids are plagued with. Bravo to the Volt’s engineering team, you have done a good job.
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| The Volt definitely looks modern and drew a fair amount of attention, maybe because everyone knows about it by now. (Photo: Michel Deslauriers/Auto123.com) |
They’ve been teasing us for over three years now, and it’s finally arrived.
The Volt will be built at GM’s Detroit/Hamtramck plant, which currently assembles the Cadillac DTS and Buick Lucerne; getting the Volt is a good thing for them indeed. Actually, about 500 pre-production Volts are being assembled as we speak. I assume Obama will be getting one of those.
We journalists had a chance to drive the Volt over more than 75 miles, and we witnessed how the car’s complex powertrain works. We’ll spare you the technical stuff here, but you can read about it elsewhere on Auto123.com (see 2011 Chevrolet Volt: how the powertrain works).
GM claims the Volt has an electric-power range of 25 to 50 miles (that’s 40 to 80 km), but the journalist I was paired up with and I actually exceeded that on our way from the airport to the hotel. I must say that we drove slowly—very slowly—to the dismay of Michigan motorists, and completed the trip without turning on the console-mounted LCD screen, the radio and the climate control system.
We also used the shift lever’s L mode (that means, uh, Low) profusely, in order to regain as much energy as possible while slowing down.
What’s particularly amazing during our extended drive in the Volt is how well all the different mechanical components work together. The electric traction motor, the electric generator motor, the 1.4-litre gas engine, the three clutches, the planetary gearset and the hamster running in its wheel all work seamlessly. There’s no hamster.
Once the battery pack drains down to its minimum state of charge, you do hear the gas engine fire up, while the driver’s LCD screen changes its display to show a gas tank level instead of a battery juice level. But there’s no unpleasant harshness, vibration and excess noise during the process. In addition, there’s no awful brake pedal feel during regenerative braking, like most hybrids are plagued with. Bravo to the Volt’s engineering team, you have done a good job.
 |
| GM claims the Volt has an electric-power range of 25 to 50 miles (that’s 40 to 80 km), but the journalist I was paired up with and I actually exceeded that. (Photo: Michel Deslauriers/Auto123.com) |