GM looks at electric-only Volt

Jim_Higgins · 2010-09-21T00:11:54+00:00

GM looks at electric-only Volt YORK ( -- General Motors is building an experimental fleet of electrically powered Chevrolet Cruze compact cars that will have a driving range of up to 100 miles without using any gasoline.Unlike the Chevrolet Volt, which GM plans to sell in the United States beginning in November, these cars will be purely electric with no gasoline engine for long-range driving. The Cruze and the Volt are closely related vehicles."This Cruze EV demonstration project reinforces GM's commitment to being a leader in the development of electric vehicles and green technologies, building on our portfolio of hybrids and the Chevrolet Volt," Karl Stracke, GM's vice president for global vehicle engineering, said in a statement.The initial demonstration cars are being built by GM Daewoo, GM's South Korean arm, in cooperation with LG Chem, the company that supplies battery packs for the Chevrolet Volt.The first cars will be tested in South Korea beginning in late October, GM said in a statement. Similar vehicles will built and tested with other partners in other parts of the world later this year.Range-extended vs. gasoline-freeOnce charged, the Chevrolet Volt, a version of the Cruze that GM calls a "range-extended electric vehicle," can drive up to 40 miles on electric power before a gasoline engine turns on to generate electricity for over 300 miles of driving driving.Other automakers, including Nissan and Ford, will compete against the Volt with electric cars that can drive as much 100 miles before recharging but which have no gasoline engines. Those cars must be plugged in and recharged before they can drive farther. GM's experimental electric Cruzes will be functionally similar to these cars.VIDEOGM has touted the Volt's "range-extended" system as superior because it offers enough gasoline-free electric driving range to cover most Americans' daily needs -- the vast majority drive less than 40 miles on a typical day -- while providing the long range of a...

Sep 21, 2010 23 Replies

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Mike 15 years ago

You are probably correct, for a change, in twenty or thirty years. One sees very few Japanese collector cars at old car shows today. I see lots of American and European cars at car shows around the county, but rarely ever a Jap car. ;)

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Mike 15 years ago

The larger Volt is only a relative few dollars more then the smaller Pruis and the Pruis old outdated technology.

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bob u 15 years ago

Your relative is out of wack volt 2010 MSRP $41000 Prius 2010 MSRP 22k-28K

so the volt could be $15k more than a Prius.

bob

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Mike 15 years ago

You obviously have not priced the smaller Pruis with its outdated technology at you local Toyota dealership, if that is what you choose to believe.

If one really wants to compare cars in the same SIZE, one would need to compare a Lexus hybrid with the Volt.

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