2011 Chevrolet Volt Test Drive by Edmunds

[msirach]

Informative, But Far Too Short

John O'Dell - EDMUNDS - November 29, 2009

I am glad to see that the Chevy Volt is being put into the hands of subjective drivers. Will the Chevy Volt be offered to the general public in 2010? --Ed.

To wreak havoc with Mr. Dickens, it was the best of drives, it was the worst of drives.

Well, not really the worst, but conditions certainly could have been better and the time allotted a lot longer for out first encounter with the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. We got enough to whet our appetite, not enough to satisfy.

Green Car Advisor got 15 minutes behind the wheel of a prototype Volt at a media-only event held at Dodger Stadium, near downtown Los Angeles, this afternoon. We spent another 10 minutes or so in the back seat.

Beyond the obvious - it was a thrill to drive a vehicle loaded with potentially game-changing technology - we came away impressed with what General Motors has accomplished, remembering that there's still a year to go and a lot of tweaking to do before production begins.

The drive was about what we'd expected, a short spin on a roughly circular and fairly flat course marked off with orange safety cones. Not much opportunity to stand on it, and not enough time to really get a feel for things.

Andrew Farah, Volt's chief engineer, rode shotgun the entire time - as he did with all drivers - and answered our questions about the world's (soon to be) first mass produced extended-range, plug-in, series hybrid as frankly as he could, given there are some things GM just isn't ready to talk about yet.

As for the drive:

The Volt felt solid as a rock, well-grounded and nimble with its low-slung, 400-pound lithium-ion battery pack really gluing it to the road.

It is a competitive EV when driving in all-electric mode - as quiet and smooth as any we've driven - and it seems a competent vehicle when the engine-generator kicks in.... [Read More]

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

It's nice to be reading decent reviews for the car at last.

My personal commute calculation with the following assumptions:
45.2 mile round trip commute
40 miles electric
5.2 gas
Gas mileage 34mpg (that's reasonable for our Civic automatic, so I'm using that pessimistically for a Volt running on gas)
7 hours charging at 110V*13A (I saw a 7 hour figure somewhere)
Electricity 14.4c/kWh (Expensive in ME)

My calculated break-even for PHEV + amortized battery cost v pure gas is:

@base gas price $2.50 (excludes taxes because they'd eventually be shifted to income or road pricing)
Break-even for a $10,000 battery is 301,386.24 miles.
Break-even for 150,000 mile battery is $4,977.

@base gas price $3.50
Break even for a $10,000 battery is 168,895.75 miles.
Break even for a 150,000 mile battery is $8,881.22.

If they iron out the creases, success may depend significantly on whether there's a significant rise in gas prices before the launch. With positive reviews it could sell out of a combination of patriotism and environmental concern. Have a decent battery warranty or battery "rental" or reasonable separate financing for the battery and I think that you could persuade many people that PHEV wouldn't actually cost them much more and could even save them money.

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Interesting. Note the picture with a shot of the dash. If you look at the full sized image you'll see that the gas range is noted at 196mi with 11 of 12 bars remaining on the "pump" gauge. This works out to about 214mi on a full tank... so an entire range of just around 255mi? That's not horrible but I certainly expected more.

With some speculating here, if we take the tank size to be say... 6g in capacity... we end up with roughly 36mpg in charge sustaining mode.

[ArizonaChris]

Im still leary on this one, nearly all the reveiws Ive read says about 45K for base price and then you lease the battery on top. Is this changed now? How do they get you for the $$$$battery cost?

Chris

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Chris, the battery lease stuff you are probably thinking of is for the Nissan Leaf... not the GM Volt. Buyers of the Volt will have purchased the battery -- there is no waffling on that point.

As for base price, nothing definite has been released but Fritz Henderson has been quoted as saying that the price will be "under $40K." The context leads us to predict it won't be much under that price, but it shouldn't exceed it.

Small consolation as $40K is hardly affordable for the average consumer... but there you go.

[KrazyDawg]

Originally Posted by ItsNotAboutTheMoney

Gas mileage 34mpg (that's reasonable for our Civic automatic, so I'm using that pessimistically for a Volt running on gas)

You should be able to get more than 34 MPG out of a 2008 Civic that's rated for 29 MPG combined. My 1995 Civic is rated for 26 MPG based on the new EPA ratings and I average 33 MPG most of the time.

[MaxxMPG]

Originally Posted by Right Lane Cruiser

Interesting. Note the picture with a shot of the dash. If you look at the full sized image you'll see that the gas range is noted at 196mi with 11 of 12 bars remaining on the "pump" gauge. This works out to about 214mi on a full tank... so an entire range of just around 255mi? That's not horrible but I certainly expected more.

With some speculating here, if we take the tank size to be say... 6g in capacity... we end up with roughly 36mpg in charge sustaining mode.

I was looking at that too. But I figured that the images could have been displayed from mockup software or taken from development mules with non-standard fuel tanks or "refill at 1/4 tank" DTE calibration.
If the gage display is authentic, my guess would be that they were running on E85, in which case mid to high 30s for average mpg would be expected.

The reference to interior noise was interesting, since the lack of constant engine noise will make other noises more noticeable. Even the clicking of various relays or the thump of the blender door in the heater duct can be audible. Anyone who uses FAS will agree that it's easier to hear "everything else" when the engine isn't running.
The new Equinox 2.4L has new noise-cancel technology where the stereo speakers create out of phase noise to silence the interior of the car. I can't help but wonder if this was developed for (or alongside) the Volt, and they rolled it out this year on a high volume platform to work out the kinks before switching that option "on" in the Volt.

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Originally Posted by KrazyDawg

You should be able to get more than 34 MPG out of a 2008 Civic that's rated for 29 MPG combined. My 1995 Civic is rated for 26 MPG based on the new EPA ratings and I average 33 MPG most of the time.

Well, the current average is 36.813 but that is falling because

a) My wife drives it most of the time - I commute in the Sable. My wife doesn't consider mileage when driving. Fortunately she's not a lead-foot.
b) Winter's coming and the average has only been since spring.

Plus:
Gas is always E90.
I don't DWL in traffic: I drive at posted speed. Not good for mileage in slower zones.
I cruise at 65 on I95 (for the foreseeable future).
It's hilly.
I'm not very good at timing lights: while I manage to keep moving I tend to get down to too low a speed.
I don't turn the engine off at lights unless it's daytime and I know it's a long hold and I only started turning the engine off recently. There are two sets of lights with long holds that I hit consistently on my commute but now I'm driving in the half-light or dark.
I don't maintain high tire pressure. (Mental note: have pump, get a gauge)

I'll get better.

[WriConsult]

So far so good. Sounds like a decent car overall, at least from a driving pespective. Biggest concerns would be the price and the mpg in series-hybrid mode when the battery is depleted.

Also, I'm noticing in the photo that the center console (presumably containing much of the battery pack) extends all the way through the rear-seat area, (1) making this strictly a 4-seat car and (2) making for a VERY lumpy load floor when the rear hatch is opened. That's going to make the Volt a LOT less utilitarian than ... oh I don't know ... a Prius?!