The Chevy Volt Will Get 50 MPG When the Battery is Drained, According to GM

hate is a strong word. let's call it a long history of disappointment. or perhaps, being let down by an old friend one too many times.i'm wanting them to build the car, i'm waiting for them to build the car, i'm wishing for them to build the car. i'm just not counting on it. that's all. this time, they are going to have to prove it to me. i don't see the changes at the top that are necessary to make this a successful company unless gas prices stabilize and they can make a profit on suv's again. peace.

 

I Am glad the volt is posting good numbers, more competition is good. I won't be buying one, but its great.

I am getting a little sick of the GM FUD everyone keeps spreading. These same posters have a good old fashion freak out if someone says one word about toyota. At this point many people could spread the same fud about the 'yota.

 

I have no doubt that the Volt will be built. They're being built now! It will be a fine car. Won't be much like what was initially promised, nor will it likely be at the price point that was initially promised... but it will be a fine car, and I'd be happy to own one.

I do wonder how they can suddenly make a car that gets Prius-like gas mileage all of a sudden. If GM can make a car this size that can get 50 mpg in CS mode (battery depleted)... why doesn't it have a car for sale that can get 50 mpg without all the expensive EV stuff to drag along? In CS mode, only a very small amout of the battery capacity is being used, so it would seem that a far cheaper 50 mpg car could be made here! And I'm somewhat confident that a cheaper $50 mpg gas car would sell in higher volumes than the Volt (for several reasons including cost).

I don't offer this as more GM hate. I just offer it like I'd offer it to any other company that was making similar claims and decisions.

 

I really do hope the Volt succeeds because it will make other manufacturers eager to compete and create their owns versions of fuel efficient vehicles (hybrid/electric or ????). I think that the biggest obstacle will be the price point. That will keep the numbers down for sure. As for GM? Well just last week I read something that claimed their Escalade was one of the worst vehicles on the road. As for me, I'd never buy a GM car. If I were to buy an American car I'd have no problem buying a Ford (Fusion hybrid).

 

I believe the Ford Fusion is manufactured in Mexico.

 

True, but the battery in an EV is the single largest cost. If this system works well in serial hybrid mode, you would expect to see it used in other non-EV cars. Perhaps they will.

Tom

 

Why ANY battery. Pull out all the costs of the EV 'stuff'. As I understand it, in CS mode the battery is not being used unless regenerative braking brings it above a certain level?
How much of the fuel efficiency in CS mode is due to the hybrid technology? We know there is actually some loss due to added weight, is the increase offered in CS mode by the hybrid technology enough to overcome the losses?

I know this is asking for a great level of detail, it is mainly a rhetorical question. But this is one of the reasons I am 'skeptical' until I see it in action.

 

The reason for the battery is to distract consumers from real electric cars. GM wants us to burn gasoline. They recognize that a lot of people want to drive electric. With other companies building real electric cars, they feel the solution is to offer a gasoline car that pretends to be electric.

The battery is there to make people think they are driving electric while keeping them on gasoline.

 

Reading this thread reveals so much distrust of GM ... and I think you have found part of the reason why. GM markets no other car that gets anywhere near 50 mpg .... Now they claim the Volt will, while lugging around a very heavy battery and the related gear mentioned. I can only assume the Volt will be a real inferior performer on the ICE. Under ideal conditions (temperature, level road,no traffic, driving slow and steady at 40 mph), I could get 40 mpg in my Acura RSX .... GM is claiming 10 more than that. I do not believe it.

 

Who sells all of these electric cars? I looked at the dealers around here. Your right Toyota and honda are the same they are going out of there way to make us burn gasoline....

You can drive the volt and not burn any gas if you want. Your hatered of GM doesn't add up. GM will beat toyota on building a car that doesn't have to burn gas. Why not bash Toyota?

Other companies building electric cars???? Where??????

I like the idea that i can drive more than 100 miles a day, so the way the volt works sounds like a winner to me.

 

Hi All,

The Power of the Volt battery is allot bigger than other parallel hybrids built to date. This allows for a high efficiency of reuse. We talked about how the Prius has 80+% efficiency of regeneration, but only about 40 % efficiency of reuse. This is because there are losses in the electric drive train and battery under the heavy loads of accelleration. The larger power of both the Volt motor and especially the battery could make the efficiency of reuse allot better.

 

i'll believe it when i see it. you can keep throwing words at me, but i havn't seen the car yet. you accuse us skeptics of being haters, but what are you gullible GM fanboys?

 

I can??? Not until I actually have one, I can't! I drive my Zap Xebra without ever burning any gasoline. I drive it nearly every day. (Some days I stay at home.) It has a 40-mile range. If I have to go farther, I drive the stinker and burn gas. My Zap Xebra actually exists. It's in my garage as I write this. I've been driving it for something like four years now! The Volt is still nothing but promises. And no independent lab or reviewer has ever driven it more than a couple of miles at very slow speed, so we have only GM's word as to its EV range or its FE in CS mode. And they're claiming 230 mpg!

The Volt is not a parallel hybrid. It's a series hybrid, and so does not benefit from any of the efficiencies of the HSD, sometimes refered to as "full hybrid" or "series-parallel hybrid," but which is actually a system all its own, remarkably simple, elegant, and efficient.

 

HSD is a split hybrid meaning it can be both parallel or series depending on which way the power is split.

 

They never said it couldn't be done - they said it would be expensive, and the Volt will be expensive.

Even if they cut the 16 kWh battery pack down to 2 kWh and used it purely in charge sustaining mode, it will still be expensive.

The only reason the Volt is viable is because it can be plugged in and there are hefty tax credits.

The idea is that by the time the tax credits expire, the Volt will be viable as it is - and by then, GM should also be able to produce an affordable 50mpg hybrid.

Right now the only other company that might be able to produce a real Prius competitor at 50mpg is Ford - but they seem to be content to be building the Fusion Hybrid for now.

 

Wonderful, I look forward to getting some real-world reports about the efficiency and EV range of the Volt once they start selling them.
I am skeptical, but am more than happy to see some advances in this direction.
I also look forward to GM ramping up production. However, I fear a Volt won't be available to me until a vastly superior (for me) Leaf is available. But we shall see