Volt 2.0: Ruess "It will leap-frog... the competition"

GM has quietly updated the 2016 Volt specs:
Chevrolet News - United States - Volt


Old: 41 mpg combined, 102 MPGe EV
New: 43 mpg combined, 106 MPGe EV

EV MPGe:
117 BMW i3 REX
106 Chevy Volt
95 Prius PHEV
93 Hyundai Sonata PHEV
88 Ford Energi

The Prius PHEV is 95 due to the gas usage but would be near the i3 or better if the gas were kept off.

PHEV EV Range:
72 BMW i3 REX
50 Chevy Volt
24 Hyundai Sonata
20 Ford Energi (19 AER)
11 Prius PHEV (6 AER)

PHEV Hybrid MPG:
50 Prius PHEV
43 Chevy Volt
40 Hyundai Sonata
39 BMW i3 REX
38 Ford Energi

Among all 2015-2016 plugin and non-plugin hybrid MPG:
50 Prius
50 Prius PHEV
50 Prius C
47 Honda Accord
47 Chevy Malibu
45 Honda Civic
45 VW Jetta
43 Chevy Volt
-------
42 Prius V
42 Lexus Ct 200h
42 Hyundai Sonata non-plugin
42 Ford Fusion non-plugin
41 Toyota Camry

 

Yup. My guess is it was a premature leak of what was planned to be announced in mid-July. I suspect someone was editing the media information pages for that July announcement using some version control content publishing system and didn't realize they were publishing the modified version online.

2016 Chevrolet Volt Fuel Efficiency And Range Estimates Creep Higher

At least three specification details were updated versus previous preliminary specs released weeks ago:

41 became 43 mpg
102 became 106 MPGe
420 combined range became 430 miles

At some point after the new specs were discovered and discussed on GM-volt.com and media inquiries may have started the 43 was rolled back to 41 and then they stopped changing the spec page.

Notice that the total range, defined in the spec page itself as EV range plus gas tank capacity and mpg rating, was not reverted. The 430 implies 43 mpg because 430 - 50 miles EV results in 380 and 380 / 8.9 gallons gas is 42.7 mpg. This gives support to the idea that the 43 mpg was not just some accidental typo.

At this point, we will have to just wait until their planned July announcement or until another data leak occurs.

 

In the last day or so a story has been floating around that Elon Musk said during an Edison Electric Institute event in New Orleans that the Tesla Model 3 would have 250 miles of range. Now that the video of that event has been posted to YouTube it's clear that was a misquote and he really just referred to the usual figure of at least 200 miles.

The far more interesting quote from that event was from Tesla's chief engineer, J. B. Straubel, who said existing typical battery price reduction estimates are very conservative and that he would be disappointed if the cell-level price had not dropped to around $100 per kWh by the end of the decade (~2020) or just 5 years from now.

Just in time for a 3rd gen Volt!

That quote happens at around the 36 minute mark:

 

I don't really understand what you mean by this.

What daily blog? Link please....

The 2016 Volt is an obvious incremental sequel of the 2011 Volt. Everything is significantly better but it's still the same basic idea and overall EREV architecture. It drives all electric regardless of speed, acceleration, or road grade until the battery runs out and then drives like a full hybrid but with a ~100 kW high output hybrid battery and large motors that it can utilize even in hybrid mode with the gas engine blended in.

That hasn't changed in 2016 and it's unlikely to change for the 3rd generation Volt. In my opinion, it's much more likely that the plugin version of the ~2021 5th generation Prius will sprout a clutch or 3 and turn into an EREV. Seriously, the 3rd generation Prius and 2016 Volt transmission architectures are nearly identical except for the clutches.

Battery-only cars will become a lot cheaper and have greater range along with increasing access to high speed DC charging for regional or long-distant trips. However, there are pretty clearly going to be many customers in the 2020-2025 timeframe who will prefer to have a smaller pack with a range extender for various reasons. Except for Cadillac CT6-style large muscle cars, most vehicles like that will be EREVs because they will have the motors and battery packs that are big enough to support that mode of operation. I have no doubt that there will also be PHEVs with smaller 25 mile or less packs for packaging or cost reduction reasons as well.

More "Volts" and more variety in plugin architecture as the market continues to shake out what tradeoffs are most popular with customers with the cheaper and denser packs in that timeframe.

 

Others think the Volt is too much, too early.

I think it's fine because there are enough people for whom it is a better choice than their other existing alternatives today.