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I drove one here in San Antonio during a special GM event. It is basically what I would call a 'Super hybrid.' It CAN run in EV mode, but continually goes back and forth. During the short drive I had, it averaged 45-49 MPG. Great, but no better than a Prius for double the price of a base Prius.
I suspect that Toyota will introduce a pure EV version of the Prius about the time the Volts start to trickle in. Toyota already has a pure EV version of the Prius available in Japan; don't know why it isn't sold here yet.
And, Volt production will be limited to only a few thousand cars for the entire year. Toyota could easily outproduce the GM production for the year in only one month.
Don't mean to dash anyone's expectations, but if you are expecting 160-200 MPG, you are REALLY going to have to do some tricky driving techniques to get any where near that mileage.
I drove a Volt for a week. 45 mile commute one way. I was able to plug in at work and home. I would use about .25 gallons in the morning commute, none on the way home each day. By the end of the week, my average mpg was well into the triple digits. It only goes into charge sustain mode AFTER you've used your 40 miles of EV. Down to about 40 deg F or so, getting 40 miles of EV is not that hard. Of course, you won't get that in the dead of winter if it's parked outside, but every car's mileag goes down in winter.
The Volt-bashers like to focus on the mpg AFTER the EV runs out (and I can get 40 mpg in charge sustain mode around town, about 37 on the highway at 70 mph), but you have to average 40 miles of no gas into your 37-40 mpg. If you drive highways a lot, sure, the effect of the 40 miles EV is lessened. So maybe the Volt isn't for you. But what it can do will fit a big swath of the population.
Few thousand cars? Okay, 10K in year 1 while they're spooling up, but they will be at 60K in year two and more after that.
Didn't really think I was being personal... just relating my experiences, like you. Some of your info about the Volt wasn't complete. I was just filling in the gaps.
I drove a Volt for a week. 45 mile commute one way. I was able to plug in at work and home. I would use about .25 gallons in the morning commute, none on the way home each day.
I'm curious how you managed to get to drive the Volt for a week. Where do I sign up.
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The Volt-bashers like to focus on the mpg AFTER the EV runs out (and I can get 40 mpg in charge sustain mode around town, about 37 on the highway at 70 mph), but you have to average 40 miles of no gas into your 37-40 mpg. If you drive highways a lot, sure, the effect of the 40 miles EV is lessened. So maybe the Volt isn't for you. But what it can do will fit a big swath of the population.
I wonder how many MPG's an experienced hybrid driver or hypermiler could squeeze out of the Volt in charge sustain mode. Unfortunately I log a lot of miles so the Volt doesn't fit my demographics. But if my circumstances were to change and I found myself with a 20-30 mile daily commute I could definitely see myself trading in my Insight for the Volt. At least until the austarians kill off the tax credits.
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Few thousand cars? Okay, 10K in year 1 while they're spooling up, but they will be at 60K in year two and more after that.
It looks like GE and others will help the Volt out of the gate, if they follow through on their press releases, but I'm afraid the price might scare a lot of people off in the deflationary economy we are entering.
GM just announced 1000 new engineering openings in their battery program. Get hired, and opportunities to drive a Volt (and their other PHEV/hybrids) will surely follow. Many of these folks will be working on optimization and taking cost out of battery packs, which are the single most expensive component in an EV. So go to GM online and submit a resume! Like anything else new, costs will drop dramatically. These cars will be near break-even cost-wise by 2nd gen, and stand-alone profitable by 3rd gen.
I'm sure hypermilers could get mid-40s in charge sustain mode in city/urban driving, and near 40 on the highway without too much trouble.
...a pure EV car will NEVER be able to do what a Volt can. Try to drive a 100% EV car from Colorado to California and see how far you get. the VOLT CAN do this as a hybrid a pure EV will not do this at least on current technology.
Try to drive a 100% EV car from Colorado to California and see how far you get. the VOLT CAN do this as a hybrid a pure EV will not do this at least on current technology.
Well, not to pick nits, but technically you actually could drive the Nissan Leaf from Colorado to California if you wanted to. You could even drive it coast to coast.
With the Volt you would be stopping every 300 miles or so for as long as it takes to gas up, with the Leaf of course you would be stopping every 75-100 miles to charge the batteries. It would take longer to fuel up of course, but like I said, technically it could be done.
Of course that would be silly.
Purely electric cars are meant for commuters and urban dwellers. They have their niche.
The 2011 Chevy Volt!
