In the event someone actually buys a Volt...
Answering Your Questions About the Chevy Volt
Last Friday, we solicited you for questions on the Chevrolet Volt, which is scheduled to be released late next year. We forwarded some of your questions to Lindsay Brooke, who recently drove a preproduction Volt and wrote about his impressions for the Automobiles section last Sunday.
Mr. Brooke is a journalist with three decades of experience and is the author of ?Triumph Motorcycles in America? (Motorbooks, 1993) and ?Ford Model T: The Car That Put the World on Wheels? (Motorbooks, 2008). He has written extensively on hybrid and electric cars for The Times and other publications. His answers to a selection of your Volt questions are below. Q.
How will the batteries react to really cold weather? When it is 20 degrees below zero my iPod only functions for about one-sixth of its normal time between charges. ? Patrick, Minneapolis A.
General Motors recently began an intensive cold-weather testing program for Volt at a dedicated site in northern Canada, so there are no definitive answers yet. Stay tuned for more information on this program in the Automobiles section. Q.
What Mr. Brooke did not include in his article were any comments on acceleration performance once the Volt switched over to using the generator. Was the vehicle more sluggish or was the generator able to provide sufficient power to the battery so that the driver could not tell the difference between a fully charged battery and a depleted battery? If the test had been on a long uphill climb, would the generator have been able to continuously provide enough power to maintain speed? What will the expected miles per gallon be if making a long trip in gas-only mode? Regards. ? Mark, Rochester A.
My test of the Volt prototype included numerous and varied elevation changes on the G.M. proving ground in Milford, Mich., including climbing a long 16 percent grade used for trailer-towing tests. The generator proved capable of propelling the car more than adequately in all driving situations. When in extended-range mode, the Volt?s acceleration felt similar to when the car was deriving its power exclusively from the battery. Fuel economy in the charge-maintaining mode is an unknown at this point.
Q.
How much time does the Volt need to be recharged fully using the gasoline engine? G.M. says the Volt needs about six hours to be charged fully using a wall plug. Can the gasoline engine recharge the battery much faster than a wall plug? ? Harvey A.
The onboard generator will not charge the Volt?s battery. Its function is to maintain the battery charge at a predetermined level so that the car can keep moving after the battery has run down at about 40 miles. This is a deliberate choice on G.M.?s part ? charging from a plug-in connection is far less expensive.
Although I did not test-charge a Volt using the plug-in method, the G.M. engineers did show me the compact standard 110-volt charging set that is packaged very neatly under the rear cargo compartment and accessed easily via a flip-up panel. There will also be an optional 240-volt kit with many of the same pieces in the 110-volt kit, and it will be configured for wall- or pole-mounting as the owner chooses.
The 240-volt kit is a faster charge, averaging less than three hours per charge. The 110-volt charge time from minimum state of charge is accomplished in approximately six hours in a moderate ambient temperature, to up to nine hours, depending on how much battery conditioning (warming) is done and needed. G.M. engineers said customers can expect an eight-hour charge during overnight off-peak hours. Both of the Volt charging sets will be capable of conditioning the battery while it charges. Q.
Why does it start recharging at 30 percent capacity? I was always under the impression that batteries should be completed before recharging to extend their life. Is it true that the engine is not fully optimized for running the generator? That a second generation engine will get even higher efficiency? Why is G.M. the only company building this kind hybrid car? What do other car companies think about it? It seems genius to me! ? Jens A.
G.M. decided on the 30 percent minimum state of charge to ensure battery durability and performance over a 10-year/150,000 minimum lifespan of the vehicle. G.M. is not the only car company pursuing series-type hybrid powertrains. Q.
About that 30 percent ? will the Volt have an ?emergency? switch to tap into the battery another, say, 10 percent just to get a few extra miles, perhaps with an alert to OnStar? ? Ian A.
Yes, the Volt?s propulsion system is set up with a bit of additional range built in. G.M. is planning some very interesting ways to use OnStar with the Volt ? that?s all I know. Q.
Is there a firm retail release date, and if so, what is the true price range? ? M Dickerson A.
No details yet on the exact start of production, only that it?s later next year. Nor is G.M. yet talking about pricing details. Q.
So, Lindsay, why don?t you answer your own question? Was it a slug after the generator kicked in? And the article left out answering the most obvious question: How many more miles after the first 40 did the generator allow you to go? ? Michael A.
Let?s tackle these questions one at a time. First of all, the words ?Volt? and ?slug? are incompatible, based on my drive of the prototype. The car proved to be quite sprightly around the Milford course (which would make a fine road-racing circuit). It was genuinely fun to drive in both battery-only and extended-range modes.
Secondly, my test drive covered 27 total miles on the proving ground, including eight miles depleting the battery before the generator kicked in (of course, the generator will continue to provide power to drive the car until the gas tank runs dry). The purpose of my time in the car was not to prove total range, but rather to evaluate the generator?s engagement and related performance and noise, vibration and harshness. Q.
What if you run on electricity most of the time, say for many months, and only rarely use the gasoline? Gasoline gets old, as you know if you have a snow blower and try to use the gas from a previous year. Is it possible that the gas could become so old that the engine could not recharge the Volt battery? ? LM Collins A.
The Volt?s control software will include a periodic starting regimen to address the very real issue of the generator engine never being called upon to engage because the 40-mile electric range covers the owner?s typical driving cycle. Q.
Do you envision the extended-range hybrid as a long-term product or merely a bridge to an all-electric future for passenger cars? ? Dave A.
I?ve been writing about automotive technology for major publications for nearly 30 years, and I?ve become a believer in the progress made by the auto industry in general regarding vehicle electrification. Yes, I think extended-range (also known as series-type) hybrids are an important, viable solution for the short- and midterm, until an extensive charging network from the grid is established.