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Chevy Volt Uses Combustion Engine to Drive Wheels… So What?

October 11, 2010 by 15 Comments
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The speed at which people latch on to a story via the Internet never ceases to amaze me. This week’s automotive outrage once again revolves around the Chevy Volt. Apparently the car community is all aflutter because GM “lied” about the Volt. Every blogger and auto journalist is shocked, shocked that a company like GM may have withheld pertinent information about how the Volt works up until the metaphorical last minute.

So what did GM lie about? Well apparently, the range-extending internal combustion engine on the Chevy Volt can, at speeds over 70 mph, “assist” in powering the front wheels of the Volt. OH NO THE END IS NIGH.

First off, that any massive corporation deliberately left out information about a product should come as no surprise to anyone. After all, GM is the same company that promised us “230 MPG.” Also, at no point could the Chevy Volt be considered in any way an electric vehicle, at least in this writer’s eyes. That doesn’t mean I don’t think it has potential… but it has a gas-powered engine that charges the battery pack. It also has a 25-50 mile range on electric power. Basically, this is a $40,000 scooter with four wheels if you removed the ICE engine. GM did a better job with the EV1… which it also barely marketed and basically lied about up until they day they confiscated and crushed almost all of them.

Yes, I know, GM has again and again said the the combustion engine on the won’t power the wheels, and that this was an electric vehicle—including comments like “all-electrically driven vehicle” and that there is “no mechanical connection linkage from the engine, through the drive unit to the wheels.” The gas engine apparently only kicks in at speeds upwards of 70 mph after the battery is depleted. Again, I ask, so what? Ultimately, consumers will decide whether or not the Volt succeeds in the marketplace. GM has shot themselves in the foot around every turn with this car, and yet it is still coming to market. At this point, if GM told me the combustion engine was actually powered by gerbils, I wouldn’t be surprised.

This late in the game, the Volt has a lot of shortcomings to overcome if it is going to succeed. A high-price, horrendous marketing (again, the 230 mpg claim comes to mind), and a tight-lipped GM who still won’t reveal MPG figures (though we’re getting reports somewhere in the 30′s… not very impressive) all mean that, just a month or so away from launch, we still don’t know everything there is to know about the Volt. It has so much to overcome, that this is small-potatoes compared with the rest of the issues with the Volt.

I just refuse to get upset that GM lied again. This is the company that lied itself into a financial hole and bankruptcy, that made parts designed to fall apart after a certain amount of miles… and a company that can still build great cars despite itself. Chevy has sold well over 100,000 Camaros to date despite a non-existent ad campaign. It is a great car. Can the Volt be a great car too?

The most important question of all though is will consumers buy it? At this point, the LEAF seems to make a lot more economical sense, and GM isn’t making a compelling argument to me to buy the Volt. And I tend to strongly side with American car makers. That should tell you something right there.

Source: Edmunds Inside Line

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About Christopher DeMorro

Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMIs. You can follow his slow descent into madness and non-nonsensical ramblings on Twitter @harshcougar.

  • http://Web Peter Landy

    You are right, it was a huge mistake to bail out GM and for this reason they have not learned because they got away with everything and continue to do so. But enlightened consumers hold the trump card: Boycott GM until they sink beyond salvage.

  • http://Web Chris O

    So did GM lie? Again? Is the Volt not a real EV? GM marketeers will downplay the role of it’s ICE despite the fact that it turns out the Volt has a full fledged ICE drivetrain alongside a full fledged electric drivetrain. And a generator. And all the stuff to make the two work together. So now everyone is confused. Time to focus on what matters. If you define a “real” EV as a vehicle that’s always powered only by an electric motor than it turns out the Volt isn’t. But does it really matter what drives the wheels? The point of new energy vehicles is…well…the energy. So why not categorize vehicles according to the primary energy source within the vehicle? If it’s gasoline, it’s a gasoline vehicle; if it’s diesel, it’s a diesel vehicle; if it’s hydrogen it’s a hydrogen vehicle; if it’s electrons from the grid it’s an electric vehicle. Now it’s easy to categorize the Volt: it’s a “real” EV for the first 25-50 miles (revised GM claims), after that it becomes a gasoline vehicle (and at 36 MPG not a particularly efficient one). I think categorizing cars according to the primary energy source in the vehicle rather than what eventually drives the wheels could focus the discussion on the real issue which is the energy problem rather than trivial debates about drivetrain details.

  • http://Web Constantin

    Well the giny is out of the bottle.().Jus look for the movie ” Who killed the electric car” it si more thand about a car it is a about BIG OIL and ENERGY in the world.
    GM = BIG OIL

  • http://Web ziv

    Jesus wept. What a lame attack on a car. If you want to fault GM, do so on something substantive, like its predatory MSRP. They even put the delivery charges in to push it over $40k. Whether the ICE has a direct linkage to the wheels over 70 mph? A distinction without a difference. The Volt looks like it gets 40 miles AER if you don’t flog it, and most of the early tests of course flogged it. Wouldn’t you? And it looks like the CS mileage at 70 mph is around 42, so the US06 hwy test will come in around 45 or so. If you cruise at 65 mph on the hwy you will probably get nearly 50 mpg. Hybrids tend to get their best mileage in the city cycle, so the Volts combined CS mileage figure will also be close to or over 50 mpg.
    The Volt is going to sell like hotcakes and you posters are whinging about ‘GM didn’t tell us the truth’ when they hadn’t gotten their patent application accepted until a couple weeks ago. Get a life.

  • http://Web Danny

    So the fact that this company “lies” alot makes it OK? Was that the point?

    • http://Web Viperfreak2

      So, if you invented something that would make you billions, you would tell everyone? A major idea or innovation is not normally disclosed because the competition can TAKE your idea and sell it too. They just don’t have to spend all the time thinking of the idea. Ask the Chinese.

  • http://mogblogdotorgarchived The issue is political.

    The poor Volt. If it cured cancer, the common cold, and AIDS, it would still never escape ridicule. The issue is political hatred of GM.

    The Lexus LX 570, made by Toyota, also sucks gas. You buy a heavy, powerful vehicle, especially one with 4WD and you will use a lot of fuel.

    Given this huge DUH ! about fuel economy, how does the gas-hog Hummer enter into a discussion about the Volt? GM haters bring it up.

    GM has made a lot of mistakes. Letting DuPont run them into the leaded fuel industry [1920s]; trying to sell non-petroleum fuel [synthol, 1930s]; trying to sell small, economical cars [corvair, '61 Pontiac Tempest, Olds F-85, and Buick Special]; methanol-boosted turbos [same cars, 1960s]; the aluminum V-8 that failed for GM, but powered 30 years of Land Rovers; the EV-1.

    Maybe they are lying about the Volt because govt politicians [liars and lawyers] are involved, or the GM technical people are not talking to spin-doctors in marketing. Whatever.

    The Honda Insight came before the Prius, never had the same popularity. Was that GMs fault, too?

    If this were really about economy, where are the crowds swarming to buy the all-electric, all-American, 70mph Myers Motors NMG [2004-present] or the 2010 Duo?

    The design has been around since ’99, where were you? Oh yeah, you were buying a larger, less economical car made by a multinational giant.

    The Volt is all about politics. GM trying to make political friends, everyone hating GM for political reasons. Too bad.

    While all this orchestrated political GM/anti-GM BS goes on, people miss out on facts:

    foreign manufacturing costs US jobs;

    foreign made parts get to the US on tons of polluting bunker fuel;

    Ford makes some nice Hybrids, and didn’t take a bailout.

    Meanwhile, wait until the Volt gets to market, then judge it on its actual merits or lack thereof, not what you were told to think about GM.

  • http://Web Gale Whitaker

    The info in this blurb is totally wrong. The engine never recharges the battery, it drives a generator that powers the electric motor. The gas engine is not connected to the wheels. That would require a transmission and there is none.

    • http://Web ziv

      Gale, that is not quite true, though GM has been kind of obfuscatory on this issue. The planetary gearset does have a direct connection from the ICE to the wheels, kind of, and furthermore, the Genset does send power directly, occasionally, to the wheels but it also charges the battery pack up from 25% of capacity to approx 35% of capacity, then shuts off until the pack is drawn down to 25% whereupon it kicks in again.

  • http://Web Tim Cleland

    Okay, with all the GM bashing, I’ll just point out something for all the “progressives” on this board that hate GM for taking away the EV1, for building SUVs/trucks, for not offering “real” hybrids, small cars, etc.

    The reason GM (and Ford and Chrysler) can’t do all those things is because of it’s union labor/legacy costs. GM has to produce big cars that have higher profit margins to support the union’s high wages and uber-benefits.

    So, you can’t have it both ways. If you want small cars, hybrid cars, true EVs, etc., then you can’t be for unions. Go buy from non-union Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, etc. (which most of you do already). Then you can get back to bashing Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club for being anti-union.

    • http://Web Johnny_balls

      Hey Tim, we know the union did it, the evil unions. That last remaining and dying institution that separates us from becoming a banana republic.
      By the way isn’t europes auto manufactures heavily unionized??

  • http://Web Chris B

    So, why not just buy a Prius and get a much better and cheaper hybrid if that’s what someone wants. If a plug-in hybrid is what is wanted, wait until 2012 for the plug-in Prius. It looks to me like the Volt is doomed – too expensive and low mpg. What is the compelling reason to buy one?

  • Pingback: Chevy Volt’s Drivetrain: A Big Lie From GM, Or A Last-Second Desperate Measure? | Car industry

  • http://Web Tod

    First of all, if I had a billion dollar development program going, I would not have said anything about a game changing technology until I had a PATENT. The fact that you can go for weeks driving under 40 miles and use a negligible amount of fuel is great(the Volt will turn on the engine occasionally to lubricate parts). The only thing I think GM did wrong this time was to give out TOO much information to the consumer before the car was finished. From the get go GM called this car an EREV (Extended Range Electric Vehicle). If adding a direct drive at high speeds adds to fuel economy and better range then it is a GREAT idea. I would much rather drive a vehicle without having range anxiety. This can be a primary car, unlike the Nissan Leaf or the Tesla, in other words I can drive from North Carolina to Florida and not have to do it over several days due to range limitations.

    Financially I am not going to buy any new cars due to the fact that I have a Volkswagen that is paid off, and gets 34 mpg. It makes the best common sense. However, in about 6-8 years I will be ready to look for a new car, and the Chevy Volt will make a LOT of sense then, if you people give it a chance to get a foothold. I see even better tach in their future.

  • Doug

    you know a lot of negative things about a car you have never owned.. so I will call you “stupid”..hello Stupid, I knew that the engine helped to drive the car before I purchased it. it’s printed in the specs. if you can read..Honestly everything is true in the commercials. In fact its even more impressive than that. I love this car. nothing can come close to a comparison. Hey Stupid you still there? Let’s talk price.. Before my Chevy Volt my wife and I were spending $420.00 a month on gas.. We put $20,000 down on a $43,000 car that left $23,000 left to finance, at 3% ..My payment is $414.00 my gas expence is now paying for the car.. and as a Bonus I was able to get $7,500 back in tax credits..$20,000 down subtract $7,500 my $43,000 car cost me $12,500 out of pocket..Beat that. also let me tell you that it cost $.80 a day to charge it ( I run the batteries pretty low almost daily ) that’s almost equal to the cost of oil changes so that’s a wash. Lets be real wrench turners will never like electric cars. and oh ya it’s fast 280 ft. lbs. of torque just short of a 1/2 ton pickup but 2000 lbs liter..