The Chevy Volt: What The Press Is Saying.

I’m lifting some quotes from Peter Valdes-Dapena’s article on CNNmoney.com today, detailing his drive experiences so far with the Chevy Volt [link]:

“How well will General Motors' Chevrolet Volt drive once it gets past its 40 mile all-electric driving range and starts to rely on power generated by its gasoline engine? … I wanted to drain the battery as fast as possible and see what happened next.

“What happened was both imperceptible and impressive. Forced to start generating its own electricity on the fly, the Volt's performance changed not a bit. Criticism that the Volt, while running on gasoline power, would perform like a cinderblock looks to be wrong.”

 

“Off-the-line acceleration was dialed back a bit, GM told me, to protect the test car from a jolting, tire-screeching start. Production cars could be a little quicker to jump out. The rush from 15 miles per hour to 60 was actually more striking, providing a respectable punch of power when the "gas" pedal hits the floor. Volt drivers aren't going to be challenging Camaros to drag races, but they'll have plenty of power.”

 

“There's no mechanical connection at all between the Volt's 1.4-liter engine and its wheels…The biggest difference between a gas-power versus an electric-power car is that there's no transmission. Electric motors don't need gears or gear shifts.”

In other words, all transfer of energy to the wheels goes through the electric motor. The Volt is an electric car that carries its own gas-powered generator. [hmmm… I hear Honda makes a good gas generator…<grin!>]

 

“Sports sedan handling isn't what most Volt customers will be after. The Volt feels more enjoyable to drive than a Toyota Prius…”

 

“…the Volt is designed to go 40 miles on a fully charged battery. That's plenty for most American's daily commutes and errands. And if you want to drive further or simply don't charge it, no worries. You can go about 300 miles before you need to recharge battery or refill the tank.”

Valdes-Dapena does point out that other non-hybrid electric cars are designing around huge banks of batteries to get 100+ miles of range, but that won’t get a driver to Seattle without a recharge. If he’s right on the 300 mile range, that’s comparable to a traditional gas-powered vehicle. I’ll bet the gas tank’s only between 5 and 10 gallons.

“The car is expected to be heavily subsidized, so car buyers could get one for about $32,000 after federal tax rebates.

Considering the fact that many drivers could go weeks without needing to refill their gas tanks, and given how good the Volt seems so far, that's probably not a bad deal.”