Will the Chevrolet Volt be a failure or a success?

200 wh/mi from the battery is 48 miles, which is easily done. From the wall, it's 65 or so, which is high but has been done.

Wayne at CleanMPG had better numbers in the Volt than the PHV he demo'd.

 

I'm using Blink to measure (all L2). See my old blog post about it.

C-Max Energi: Economy & Efficiency of Nissan Leaf : My experience after 3 months

 

If I were using Volt, I could get fantastic EV range. Infact anyone who lives on a hill can get very good mileage - as long as you don't use EV mode to climb back up

 

The full battery is 10.6 kwh if i remember correctly, so 53 miles to not turn GM into liars.

As if a wayne gerdes drive or a hypermile jaunt somehow excuses the GM hype. You know that the current record for Prius MPG is over 130 mpg, right ? Do you suggest that Toyota use that record to imply that the Prius will consume fuel at that rate for the casual reader of its website ?

Of course not, so we are left with GM being full of shit, and its fans too clueless for years to realize they were fed baseless hype.

 

Link ?

 

You remember almost correctly. The maximum utilization of the battery is actually 10.4kWh BUT the ICE comes on at about 9.6kWh used (it may be 9.45, I used the higher number).

You're confusing Wayne's outlier results with "200Wh/mile." 200 is perfectly attainable.

You sure do get worked up over this. You know it's just a car, right?

Wayne Gerdes seems pretty good at extracting maximum range out of anything he drives. He did better EV (pure EV) in the Volt than the PHV. That's the data. He was surprised too. Spin it as you see fit.

Thread Here. Wayne finds plenty of things to complain about, which should please everyone.

 

Best I could find was a few references to 250/mi. And SageBrush's post above (Google sure is efficient).

 

We have always been told the Volt would use 8 kwh to drive 40 miles...​

You should remember the thread (less than a year old) because you commented on it. As the official EPA figures came out, 8 kWh became 12.9 kWh (at the wall) and 40 miles became 35 miles EV range.

Chevrolet Volt Uses More than 8 kwh of Stored Battery Energy to Achieve EV Range

 

EVNow, Dennis' link was awesome. So much for your attempts to rewrite history lol.

I quote post #47 for posterity:

In case you missed the posts, energy consumption approaches 500 wh/mile in cold winter months. 250% more than the adverts GM had going for years on their website.

 

Got a 2011 Chevy Volt? Check Your 110V Charge Cable!

Got a 2011 Chevy Volt? Check Your 110V Charge Cable

 

So they quietly replaced the cable with an automotive grade one two months after the garage with Volt got burnt down.

 

150% is what you mean.

The math says 400 wh/mi in cold weather which is 100% though.

Did you really post that? "voltards?" Is it ok that I imagine you red faced and banging the desk when I read your posts? . You sure take it seriously.

 

"Voltards" sounds like something from Harry Potter... Or something from a magician's act.

If you are one of the few that a Volt works for (mostly EV, rarely gas) then awesome. But if you get less combined mileage after converting EV efficiency pre-station to wall to wheels in addition to gas pump to wheels than a Prius, then I would agree with "voltard".

 

Ahh, the joys of translating percentages into english.
5 *is* 2.5x the number 2.

lol. No doubt about it, I find GM offensive.
As for the Volt, I just do not care much about a horribly overpriced poor Prius imitation. On the other hand, there is a nation of worse cars wondering around. Ymmv, as may your opinion.

 

It sure is fun reading back their comments. They were so sure GM would deliver what they believed in.

 

I think it's ok for those who lease the Volt but I would not buy one. I would be afraid that if GM keep losing money on it, they may kill it and I would end up with an orphan vehicle, like a Saturn.

 

If they fail, I think the Volt may become a collectors vehicle in which case buying makes more sense. It has a lot of the right qualities of a collector vehicle including the quirkiness and flat out stupidity. I for one enjoy "horrible" vehicles as collector vehicles because they are unique and fun. When someone asks "why on earth would they do _______", you can chuckle and tell them "well, that's why they only made X thousand of them".

 

Are you being misleading?

Wasn't the Volt in that incident using a charging station, and thus the problem charger would have been stored in the trunk.

 

Nice. That's the first time I've read that the car will expand pack usage to compensate for battery degradation. Has anyone read that elsewhere?

I know I'm stunned to hear that numbers they came up with in simulation/with prototype drivetrains didn't make it to production although it is possible to go 40 miles on 8kWh. My average day that doesn't require HVAC is just short of that 200Wh/mi number.

 

I'll remember this particular quote when Toyota finally releases production specs on the PHV.