The consumer electric car returns from its arguable exile on "Impractical Island," riding the tide of a highly anticipated vehicle launch. The Volt is boasting impressive capabilities in the folds of a technological wonder.

It won't be able to dethrone the hybrid kings, but can it create a strong stake for EVs? Can it go beyond the point of being an interesting and peculiar vehicle and join the ranks of alternate-fuel daily drivers such as the Prius? What is your opinion of its looks? What else have you heard about it, such as GM's plan to recycle the drive train batteries? Any criticisms? If it does everything Chevy promises, will you find yourself going electric in 2010-2011?


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Thanks!

 

Just like the Prius has kicked the butt of any GM hybrid, the Prius plug-in hybrid will kick the butt of the GM Volt PHEV.

 

The only butt the Prius will kick with be their own. With a 12 mile EV range via: http://green.autoblog.com/2009/04/20...iles-ev-range/ this will not work for a number of consumers looking to go EV for their daily drive. Will Toyota sell this vehicle in cold winter weather states where the EV range will be even less than 12 miles?

 

IMHO Toyota is down playing their range lower than what it will be in order to set expectations lower, unlike GM who is setting high expectations and will probably not be able to deliver.

 

More evidence that the PHEV Prius will be limited in electric range:

"When fully charged, the vehicle should be able to achieve a maximum electric-only range of approximately 13 miles (21 KM), "
source: http://www.dailytech.com/Toyota+Begi...ticle17012.htm

 

Yes, these "test" vehicles will get 13 miles in electric only and achieve 60 mph only. Like the article said these are test vehicles only. When the production vehicles hit the showroom floors, my guess would be that the electric only range will be much further and so will the mph.

 

To get a longer EV range, a larger lithium-ion battery pack would have to be configured to fit in the same existing location. There is no "spare" space for such configuration. A redesign of the Prius would be needed and this would cost big bucks and could not be done without stopping current production.

 

I've been following the Chevy Volt's progress on GM's official web site: chevrolet-voltage.com

They've been testing 90 vehicles for several months now with no major problems. The pre-production assembly will start in April. This will test the "real" assembly line in Hamtramick, MI.

I have several friends involved in the automotive "culture" in S.E. Detroit. All are very impressed with GM's committment to this project.

 

It's funny about the Volt. When the concept first came out, everyone said it was vaporware, the batteries would never be ready in time. So GM invited the journalists out to demonstrate mules with full Li Ion packs running just fine. Then the critics all said the car would be a dog once the engine came on, and it would be very noisy. Then once again GM produced mules and now integration vehicles that perform fine when the engine comes on, and key folks in the project have blogged about the engine-on testing over mountain passes and such. And along the way GM pulled the launch date ahead by a model year. Now those same folks who said the car would never be built are complaining that it's taking too long.