GM admits the Chevy Volt has evolved from the evocative concept shown at the 2007 Detroit auto show, but it says many cues have come over from the striking concept version. The Chevy Volt may be propelled by electricity. New auto technology always costs a lot when it first hits the market, and the Volt's lithium-ion battery pack all by itself likely costs half the price of a new 2011 Chevy Cruze subcompact.
The good: The weight of its battery gives the 2011 Chevrolet Volt a planted feel and its electric power train can greatly reduce gasoline usage. The hard-drive-based navigation system warns of traffic problems. A smart phone app lets you set charging times and offers other features, such as car location.
The bad: The Chevy Volt brakes unevenly, which can lead to panic stops. The cabin interface buttons are strewn around the center stack with no apparent logic, and the navigation system does not list electric car charging stations.
Introduced in early 2007 as a concept vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt has made it to production as a 2011 model. Chevrolet calls the Volt an extended-range electric vehicle, but technically it is still a hybrid, as it has both an electric motor and a gas engine to power the wheels. The rear of the car also separates itself from a typical sedan, because the Chevy Volt is actually a hatchback. Chevrolet chose to put two bucket seats in the rear, limiting the Volt to four passengers. Unconventional dashboard
the dashboard, unlike on current Chevrolet models, echoes the futuristic power train of the Chevy Volt. A voice command system also offers some basic control over the audio system, along with phone dialing and destination entry.
The Chevy Volt's navigation system makes use of the car's hard drive for map storage. The system warns of traffic jams ahead, bringing up a screen showing the incident and an Avoid button, which recalculates the route. The navigation system offers the usual points-of-interest database, but it doesn't offer much help in finding places to recharge the car's batteries. Strangely, the database shows not only gas stations, but locations for diesel, biodiesel, natural gas, and even hydrogen.
Chevrolet keeps 30GB of the Chevy Volt's hard drive reserved for music storage. The Volt also has a standard USB port, which works with an iPod cable to play music over the stereo. Along with the Volt's robust Bluetooth phone system, Chevrolet includes an OnStar application designed specifically for the Chevy Volt. The app can remotely unlock the doors, show the car's location, and initiate charging if the car is plugged in. Seat heaters, part of the Premium package, make it possible to drive the car without cranking the vent heat.
After a full charge from household electricity, the car travels roughly 40 miles on battery power alone before its 1.4-liter four-cylinder gas engine turns on to keep the car moving, in what Chevrolet calls range-extending mode. The Chevy Volt gets, on the low side, 35 mpg, but that starts after roughly 40 miles on battery power. If you drive the Chevy Volt 40 miles on electric and 1 mile on gas, that's pretty damn good mileage. If you drive 80 miles, with 40 of them on the battery, that's 70 mpg for the trip. The Chevy Volt wins on gas used. Quiet acceleration is a characteristic of electric cars that we've come to expect, and the Volt's cabin itself is exceptionally quiet. In all regards, the Chevy Volt has the Prius beat on cabin noise.
The Chevy Volt's acceleration was a pleasant surprise. Volt engineers call this a load-following strategy. To clarify what I mean by reserve battery power, here's what it really means when the battery is empty: The Chevy Volt uses only 65 percent of its battery pack's capacity, which is one of the strategies electric and hybrid car manufacturers use to extend the battery's life.
The Chevy Volt actually handles quite well, too. Due to the battery pack's central location, the Volt seats four. The Chevy Volt offers 10.6 cubic feet behind the backseat, where the Prius has 21.6. Overall, the Volt's cabin quality is good. Suffice it to say, the Chevy Volt shows how many miles remain in electric operation and in range-extending mode.
Compared with battery-electric cars that have longer ranges, the Volt's charging needs are pretty modest. To charge the battery fully in roughly four hours, you can opt for 240-volt, 30-amp charging using a wall-mounted Voltec charging station priced at a relatively affordable $490 for Volt buyers, excluding installation.
You don't want your car burning gas? Because engine use will vary widely from car to car, the Volt's oil-life monitor will keep tabs and alert the owner when it's time. The Chevy Volt's lithium-ion battery pack has eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty coverage along with three-year, 36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper coverage.
