I've always consider this a concept car with buyers as the Beta testers. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

I hope that GM takes the learnings from this and can create a more practical version that will serve a wider audience.

So some 30+ years later Chevy builds a car that can now almost compete with what was on the market in the late 70's and early 80's era in regards to the range and speed capacity of full electric vehicles that where once based on nothing more than commercial electric forklift drive system transplants!?? ?

Google Ford Electrica with a Jet industries electric drive conversion if you are curious. It was basically a Ford Escort with 16 golf cart batteries and a commercial electric forklift traction motor and speed control system.

I had one and it could do 70+ MPH and had a practical driving range of 25 - 60 miles in normal use as well.

I suspect that given today's lithium based battery technology's and more efficient motors and control systems that the same vehicle could now run 200 - 300 miles at highway speeds before needing recharging.

Way to go once a gain Chevy! You went out and bought a 30+ year old Ford based conversion kit and then copied it.

The Tesla kind of proved that didn't it?

Expensive batteries though.

...maybe GM should've just "UN-crushed" all the EV-1's that they (stupidly) destroyed?

I am sure that there is a lot more to the Volt that is beyond the EV1. Let alone that the EV1 would not pass current passenger car safety standards.

Range is not the only metric.

There is NO way to store enough energy to make ANY electric auto practical unless you use flywheel at over 100K rpm and that's not going to happen in a car, almost as dangerous as running a car on water ashes, or hydrogen.

The Volt is at least a step in the right direction for a means of powering car with electricity, keeping the transmission and sticking an electric motor beside an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) was almost useless. The Volt uses an ICE true but it can be run at constant speed and made much more efficient than our car ICE's that power the wheels through a transmission. We learned almost 75 years ago that the most efficient way to get tons of stuff down the tracks was an ICE running a generator and traction motors on the wheels, it's about time we went that way with a car and added a battery so we can use a smaller ICE.

The article states the internal combustion engine also drives the rear wheels in the Volt. So, it's more like a hybrid, in my mind, then a real electric car.

I don't think that's true, from what little I've seen it's not got a transmission but I'm hoping someone who does know will step in here, also can't find any information on the motor and it's coupling to the wheels. Anyone know?

I dug up some specs.

http://gm-volt.com/full-specifications/

Wow!.....It needs premium gasoline. That's something I hadn't seen before.

2 motors, that's good and must (maybe) mean there is no transmission. thinking must be AC and inverter system

Info on transmission here:

http://www.automobilemag.com/green/news/1010_chevy_volt_surprise/battery_electric_propulsion.html

"In addition, the engine supplies torque to the planetary ring gear through the smaller electric machine. (This is the engine driving-the-wheels scenario heretofore denied by GM.) Operating in this regime, the Volt is both a series hybrid and a parallel hybrid"

HOW SAD, oh well should have known, thanks for the link

I am pretty sure the article was wrong: the engine powers a generator, which in turn drives the same motor that uses the battery when in pure electric mode. This does simplify the drive train as compared to other hybrids on the market, since they mechanically switch to the engine for direct propulsion to the wheels.

I am pretty sure the article was wrong: the engine powers a generator, which in turn drives the same motor that uses the battery when in pure electric mode.

That was the original description. However that is not the way the Volt actually works. Like the Prius, it has a power-splitting planetary gear set. More complexity, but better efficiency under cruise conditions.

Umm - what about the Tesla?

Tesla is a true series system with no changing gears so I'm thinking the inverter is closed loop to get the torque range necessary from the AC motor but they aren't talking about it's "magic rocks" or the efficiency except the range is FUBAR'ed since they don't have a ICE onboard

It sure does look like a hybrid.

My prediction: With conventional gasoline cars coming out that cost around half the price, don't need charging, burn regular unleaded, and get around 30 mpg.....

This horse isn't even gonna make it out of the gate.

Can't wait to see how gov't run healthcare is going to fare.

What the hell, the series system has been proven for 4 decades, are the parts that expensive?

We're not talking about motors with nickel (as in the old coin) silver windings,

all the Tesla was missing was the little ICE on a generator to keep the battery charged, done in scale by GM it could cost a lot less.

I'm really depressed by this, that's why I didn't research the Volt, knew I'd find something like this,

thanks for nothing kramarat, and I was in such a good mood seeing the rescues last night, so much better than the DWH and what's happened to the GOM and drilling here.

Glad I could help ruin your day.

So...what exactly is supplying the power to the volt? US energy production as of 2006. Hope they're not saying it's carbon neutral.

That slide of yours represents a good ecological question. Another area of interest is the reduction of dependency to an imported ressource.

On the technical side, this looks to me like a really nice piece of engineering. I do question the post that want to classify this car into a single definitive category : The link above establishes that it operates in various modes that are really well defined and very distinct : a single one of those modes does not define the car, the multiple modes do. In addition, switching between the various modes appears to be rather elegant and possibly clever (are there losses stemming from the disengaged clutches ?). "Backlash" could be generated from poor performances, reliability or maybe lack of advantages associated to the various available mode should that be the case. As of now, I do not see any reason to entertain the idea that "backlash" should be present. Is this discussion propaganda ?

I could not find the reference to the rear wheels being driven in any way (it is described as a front wheel drive)

"I could not find the reference to the rear wheels being driven in any way (it is described as a front wheel drive)"

That's only when you are backing up.

As of now, I do not see any reason to entertain the idea that "backlash" should be present. Is this discussion propaganda ?

Likewise, I see no reason for backlash, other than that resulting from people who misunderstood the intent of the vehicle. The Volt has never been described as a pure electric car. It strength, not its weakness, is that it is a hybrid. As such, it can go long distances, but can operate as an electric around town and for 90% of all round trip commutes.

The clarification that the engine can drive the wheels directly (rather than through the lossy path of generator through controller through motors) is an improvement on the design as originally described.

GM doesn't have to worry about marketing. I just read about this in Popular Science, and couldn't freaking believe it.

Now GM is getting awarded taxpayer funded projects in robotics.......because they worked on the mars rover!!!!!!!! No reason to worry about selling cars, we'll just team up with NASA and work together as two government entities. I give up.

I have to wonder if this project was put up for bid. I doubt it.

Kind of looks like another union pay off...........Don't worry guys, we'll keep you working, even if it isn't making cars that no one wants.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yadj3asTyc0

You shouldn't be driving over 70 miles an hour anyway! Especially if you purport to be "green" at all. Why buy an electric vehicle, or hybrid, and then drive at a wasteful speed?

Because it is a blast.

I cruse with traffic on I-95 and that is about 78 to 79 mph in a 70 mph zone. I never get stopped when I pass a cop at that speed. There are people that go faster, but they make good ticket fodder.

I also enjoy accelerating to that speed on the on-ramps, winding it out in second gear. That's not economical, but I never have bought any car to be economical.

You would be surprised how people that have not bought a car to be economical.

In fact, I know a lot of people that even take their road licensed cars to race tracks and really drive very uneconomically.

Porsche just announced their 918 super car, which is a cross between hybrid and electric. Ridiculously expensive, but expect to see that technology in their regular line up in the not too distant future.

First to the finish Line: means Last Home...