Chevrolet Volt Test Drive: Video of Driving GM’s Electric Car
The Chevy Volt lacks two of the characteristics typical to currently available or prototype electric cars: massive amounts of torque and a jarring amount of deceleration from regenerative braking. I found the Volt to have plenty of pickup (that’s compared to the overpowered Subaru I’ve been driving for the last year) and very smooth acceleration. But even with the equivalent of 160 hp and 236 lb-ft of torque from 0 rpm, it’s not going to do burn-outs like a Tesla Roadster.
Pulling my foot off the ‘gas’ did exactly what you’d expect: smooth and slow deceleration. Some electric car protoypes will actually pitch you forward due to automatic, battery-regenerative braking. To manage this, the Volt has two driving modes: normal and what I’ll call ’super-regen.’ Normal feels like any other car, but the regenerative mode kicks the car into an aggressive braking mode that’s remineiscent of shifting into low-gear (funny, because electric cars have no gears).
Note: GM’s other electric car, the Chevy Equinox (which I got to drive earlier in the day), has a power gauge that actually runs backward during braking to show you how much charge you’re sending to the battery. The Equinox is powered by a hydrogen-fuel cell and clearly demonstrates that—amazingly—GM is still tinkering with its $1 billion hydrogen fuel-cell program. The company has now logged 750,000 miles of on-road testing and claims that much of the knowledge gained by the program is being passed on to the Volt (such as re-gen braking), since the fuel-cell Equinox is also an electric car.
As I’ve discussed previously, once the Volt’s batteries drop to 30% charge, the gas generator kicks in to keep the car going (but the electric motor still drives the car). This feature was disabled for all test-drives because GM said they ‘wanted us to focus on the electric driving experience.’ It also has to do with the engine-compartment soundproofing that will come with the final version.
No big deal, since without the gas-powered ‘range-extender’ the car still drives like a fully electric car with a limited 40-mile driving range.
We did about six or seven laps around GM’s test center campus which you can see part of in the video. I got the tires to squeal, slammed on the brakes, and otherwise tried to put the car through the ringer (as much as I could and feel comfortable with Frank Weber sitting next to me).
My final verdict? It’s a fun to car to drive and the final version holds a lot of promise.
Is “Unremarkable” Good?
I’ve found that most people are surprised to learn just how powerful electric cars can be. 0-60 in 2.6 seconds? Yep. They can also be incredibly attractive (even if you don’t love cars).
That’s all fine and good for performance and luxury automobiles, which cost upward of $80,000, but GM is shooting for a car with mass market appeal. The question is, will normal consumers want to pay a premium for a car that feels exactly like a gasoline-powerd version, and how long will it take them to understand why this car is important?
Just getting behind the wheel, the average driver wouldn’t know that the Volt is an electric car. That’s a substantial departure from something like the Tesla Roadster, which combines outrageous aesthetics and high-performance.
It’s no question that consumer perception of the Volt, both in terms of practical quality and brand, will be key for GM. As Toyota’s “ugly chic” sloped roof gave the Prius a distinctive enough profile to become synonymous with environmental trendsetting, so too will the Volt have to capture public fascination to revolutionize the new GM.
You can see what the final version of the Volt will look like in the gallery (last two pictures), and decide for yourself. If GM’s new electric car is popular enough to get to Version 2—at which point battery price and size drop in half—the game could change dramatically. It’s impossible to project just how big the market share for this car will be, but everything seems to be on track, and the Volt could be a major contendor when it’s made available sometime in 2011.
Editor’s Note: This is a 4-part series covering my trip to Michigan to test-drive the Chevy Volt. See also: 1. LiveBlogging from the opening of GM’s New Battery Lab, 2. Chevy Volt Test Drive: How GM’s Electric Car Works 3. Tour of GM’s New Battery Lab. Disclaimer: GM flew me out for this event.
Weird how they keep calling it an electric car. What kind of electric car burns gasoline to be an electric car? Oh yeah, a hybrid.
This is NOT an electric car by definition. An electric car’s purpose is to NOT produce emissions.
Great Review. Were you given the opportunity to see how many miles you could drive on pure battery. What was your top speed on battery power? Toyota reports only 13 miles on battery power in their plug in hybrid. I have driven 4 miles on battery before the gas engine kicked in on the 2010 Prius. We will have to see if its hype or reality.
Personally, I’m glad it “is NOT and electric car”. I have absolutely no interest in an all electric car, but a hybrid that I can drive daily as though it were an all electric car, but also allows me to take it on long trips…I’ll buy one of those.
Please forgive the typo in my quote above. It should be “an electric car” not “and electric car”.
Why post pictures of the exterior if it’s just a cover up?
Terrible review. No technical details. Just “drives like a regular car”. Whooopie. You really got the scoop there, boy!
Gas 2.0 is a joke. For kids under 6 who can read a little bit.
Hey Jay, it qualifies as an electric car because it doesn’t have to burn gasoline. I’ve said this before– technically it’s a series plug-in hybrid–but I think these distinctions are largely confusing to most people.
@Will They didn’t give us enough time to really test that out, although we must have driven it 20 miles or so. I got up to about 55-60mph on battery power.
Those conversions done by hymotion will kick the battery on whenever there’s a chance. Keep your eye out because we’ll have a story on some alternatives soon.
@Blogmeire: That’s why I included links to my previous posts. Wonderful how this interweb thing works.
This is an electric car.
The purpose of an electric car is to be propelled by an electric motor, to use electricity only.
This car does exactly that.
Electricity is not just there - it has to be generated.
There are many ways to do this.
Even if you use it from coal, the ev stays an ev.
This car has an electricity generating plant on-board, completely independent of the drivetrain.
It matters not to the battery nor to the electric motor where the power comes from, on-board or off.
This site would be a joke, unless you consider who it is meant for.
From what I can see, it is primarily, if not exclusively, for the masses.
Unfortunately the majority of them have the maturity level and attention span of a six-year-old.
To change anything, you need to reach these people.
You can’t do that if you make it too difficult for them.
Sites such as these are very important.