New 2010 Chevrolet Volt

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GM Debuts 2010 Chevrolet Volt

General Motors turned 100 on September 16th of this year. Whether it makes it to 101 may depend on this car.  The Chevy Volt could revolutionize the auto industry, providing a domestic, high-mileage alternative for American buyers -- and it's produced with the backing of one of the world's largest and oldest automakers.

General Motors needs the Volt to succeed. On its 95th anniversary, GM stock traded at $41.88 per share, and the Detroit giant claimed the title of world's largest automaker. In its 100th year, the value of a share of that stock fell to under $10 -- its lowest point since Dwight Eisenhower sat in the White House and Chevrolet sold Bel Airs and Nomads.  Rumors of impending bankruptcy began to swirl in July. GM had concentrated its efforts on designing and building large SUVs and trucks; but with gas above $4 a gallon, consumers wanted smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. 

The automotive press considers the Volt a potentially revolutionary car, but uncertainty surrounds the project. In-depth magazine profiles have portrayed it as controversial within GM, and the press is as focused on how a major automaker operates -- both internal political battles and engineering challenges -- as it is on the car itself. Many of the engineers behind the famous, failed EV1 are working on the Volt.

If it succeeds, it will matter as a symbol as much as an actual product -- forcing millions to reconsider GM's image, and possibly lifting the perception of rest of the General's model lineup with it.

As the New York Times explains, "If the Volt succeeds, it could put the troubled company on a whole new path after 10 decades tethered to the internal-combustion engine. If it fails, it could drag G.M., and perhaps the entire struggling American auto industry, even further behind Asian competitors."

GM has begun to include the car in advertising, even though it is years from showrooms.

What the Auto Press is Saying:

• "Battered by a deepening slump in sales and concerns about whether it can ride out the downturn, GM is counting on the Volt to break its costly association with gas-guzzling vehicles at a time when truck sales are tumbling and gas prices are near record levels." -- Reuters
• "Because it will have both an electric and a gasoline motor on board, the Volt will be a hybrid. But it will be like no hybrid on the road today. Existing hybrids are gasoline-powered cars, with an electric assist to improve the gas mileage. The Volt will be an electric-powered car, with a gasoline assist to increase the battery's range."-- Atlantic Monthly
• "The Volt will be a compact five-door hatch, built on the new global small-car architecture that will also underpin future versions of the Saturn Astra and Chevy Cobalt. ... Executed properly, the Volt could be a real game changer." -- Motor Trend
• "The Volt will...be one of the first plug-in hybrids offered from a major manufacturer. But it won't be alone long; others including Toyota and Honda are working on plug-in hybrids, while Nissan is promising a pure electric in the same 2010-2011 time frame as the Volt launch." -- Road and Track
• "A large display screen will likely be standard and allow owners to custom-tailor certain driving and charging parameters. For example, [Volt chief engineer Frank Weber] says you could plug in your car at home and then program it to charge, say five hours later, when off-peak power is cheapest. Sustainable materials are all over the place, from a recycled carpet to soy-based foam seats. ---Popular Mechanics

What is it?

The Chevy Volt is midsize, series-hybrid car. GM prefers to refer to it as "an Extended-Range Electric Vehicle," or E-REV.  The distinction from traditional hybrids is important. All of the hybrids you can buy today -- like the Toyota Prius -- are parallel hybrids. They are essentially gasoline-powered cars with an electric motor to boost their gas mileage. The Volt is the opposite. It is a series hybrid -- an electric car with a small gasoline engine to boost its range.

GM says the gasoline engine will do less work in the Volt than in any previous hybrid. The electric motor, engineers claim, will be able to power the car all the way to 100 miles per hour, for up to 40 miles. The gasoline engine is just a generator that kicks in to recharge the batteries when they are near empty.

The Volt seats four and is sized somewhere between the small Chevy Cobalt and midsize Chevy Malibu.

The initial Volt concept appeared on the auto show circuit in 2007, and the automotive press has been busy tracking the project's ups and downs ever since. Estimates of the Volt's price, production date, and fuel economy have shifted many times

How Does It Work?

The Chevy Volt will use a new powertrain that GM is referring to as the "E-Flex" system.  It uses electricity to move the car at all times, and uses an engine as a generator to repenish its batteries.  To charge it, owners will plug it into a standard household electrical outlet. When they drive the car, it will use only its electric motor, no matter what speed it is driven, until its battery has less than 30 percent of a full charge remaining.

At that point, a small four-cylinder engine will turn on. That engine will not directly send power to the wheels -- instead, it will act as a generator, recharging the batteries. 

According to GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, the Volt will use its GPS system to determine how long to run that engine.  "The car will know how far you are from home," Lutz told reporters in September, "and it will only run the gas engine long enough to give you enough charge to get you home where you can actually plug it into the wall outlet. So the car will be smart enough to know where its home base is." 

GM engineers estimate that the average driver will be able to travel 40 miles before the gasoline engine even ignites. But the range of the Volt under battery power alone will change based on how much weight it is carrying, how fast it is traveling, and other factors. The 40-mile figure is significant, however, because most Americans drive less than 40 miles per day. For many owners, the Volt would function as an electric car virtually all the time, using gasoline only when they took longer trips than they take on a typical day. 

How Many Miles Per Gallon Will the Volt Travel?

This is a controversial question. Possible answers range from hundreds of miles per gallon at the most, to nearly the same mileage as a 2008 Toyota Prius at the least.

If the Volt were forced to pass current EPA tests, engineers estimate that it would be rated for 48 mpg -- about the same as a current Toyota Prius. That is true because the EPA's test requires hybrids to finish certain "cycles" of driving, in the city and on the highway, with their batteries carrying nearly a full charge. The Volt can do that with Prius-like numbers, according to GM engineers. But it isn't designed to work that way.

The Volt is designed to finish most drives with its batteries holding as little as 30 percent of a full charge. If the Volt is allowed to run the EPA's circuits that way, designers say, it can complete the tests using its gasoline engine less than 15 percent of the time -- and receive an MPG rating in the hundreds. That's closer to what the Volt driving experience will be like for most owners.

GM is supposedly negotiating with the EPA, trying to re-write the testing rules to more accurately reflect the capabilities of series hybrid cars.

How Will Its Performance Compare to Other Cars?

Performance figures for the Volt have not been released. Conflicting claims have been published by different media outlets. No one really knows what to expect until we are actually given the chance to drive the vehicle. But it seems unlikely that GM would bring it to market if it couldn't compete with similarly-sized models in the Chevrolet lineup.

Chevy claims that the Volt's electric motor produces the equivalent of 150 horsepower. The U.K.'s AutoCar has claimed the Volt weighs about 3,500 lbs -- more than 500 lbs over the weight of a comparable Prius, with only about 7 more horsepower to carry that extra weight.

However, electric-drive cars can accelerate quickly -- the lack of a traditional transmission means less power is lost on the way to the wheels than is true of standard internal combustion engines.  That instant torque may help make up for the heavy weight.

Chevrolet claims the Volt has a top speed of 100 mph. 

Theoretically, the Volt could handle quite nimbly.  The primary challenge in balancing the handling of most cars is weight distribution -- near 50/50 weight distribution is the goal of every designer, but few reach it.  The Volt's heavy, T-shaped battery, however, runs lengthwise underneath the floor of the car -- allowing engineers to balance weight carefully simply by placing the battery in the right location.  GM Vehicle Line Director Tony Posawatz told CNN, "The center of gravity of the car, with the center battery pack, it's going to have real great ride and handling."

What Kind of Batteries Does It Use?

The Volt uses lithium-ion batteries. All current hybrids use Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries. Li-ion cells are more efficient than the older batteries. They charge more quickly and hold more power for their weight. Americans are quite familiar with them, and most of us own a few -- they power most cell phones and laptop computers.

However, automotive engineers have been trying for years to make them work for cars, without much success. When built large enough to power a car, Li-ion cells tend to overheat quickly. GM engineers, working with Massachusetts-based battery developer A123 systems, claim to have produced a Li-ion cell that doesn't overheat.   

Engineers from other companies have made similar claims. Nissan has built a Li-ion cell made of laminated sheets, while Mercedes-Benz claims to have developed one that is cooled by the car's climate control systems. But GM hasn't explained how it has solved the heat problem.

How Will It Charge?

Owners will plug the Volt into a standard household outlet to recharge its batteries.   It can be plugged into either a standard 120-volt wall outlet, or into a 240-volt outlet like those used to power large appliances.  Plugged into a standard 120-volt outlet, the Volt will recharge fully in about eight hours.  Plugging the Volt into a 240-volt outlet cuts charging time to less than three hours.

The batteries can also be charged by the gasoline engine onboard the Volt, which will kick in when the battery charge is below 30 percent. As in other hybrids, regenerative braking will help to capture brake energy to recharge batteries as well.

How Much Will It Add to Your Electric Bill?

In a press release published alongside the Volt's official reveal on September 16, Chevrolet claimed, "The Volt will be less expensive to recharge than purchasing a cup of your favorite coffee.  Charging the Volt about once daily will consume less electric energy annually than the average home's refrigerator and freezer units."

Specifically, GM claims "a cost of about 80 cents per day (10 cents per kWh) for a full charge."

The press release continued, "GM estimates that the Volt will cost about two cents per mile to drive while under battery power compared to 12 cents per mile using gasoline priced at $3.60 per gallon. For an average driver who drives 40 miles per day (or 15,000 miles per year), this amounts to a cost savings of $1,500 annually. Using peak electric rates, GM estimates that an electrically driven mile in a Chevy Volt will be about one-sixth of the cost of a conventional gasoline-powered vehicle. The cost savings are even greater when charging during off-peak hours, when electric rates are cheaper."

No one outside of GM has the data to test those figures, so we can't verify any of them.

What Kind of Gasoline Engine Does It Use?

The Volt's gasoline engine is a 1.4-liter four-cylinder model. It can use gasoline or E85 as fuel.  This engine, however, doesn't power the wheels of the car. It acts as a generator to recharge the batteries while the car is in motion. 

That gasoline engine is connected to a fuel tank that holds only six gallons of gas -- but, working with the car's batteries, that should be sufficient to give it a 400 mile range between fill-ups.

Will Gas Spoil in the Tank if it Doesn't Get Used?

Anyone who's tried to start a lawn mower in the spring after a long winter knows that gas degrades over time when it sits unused.  GM says the Volt has a pressurized gas tank that prevents this -- so drivers who actually do go months without hearing the engine kick in should be able to rely on that engine starting when they need it.

What Kind of Transmission Does it Use?

The Volt doesn't have a traditional transmission -- electric drives don't use gears.  It will have a selector like those in automatic transmission cars, but with only three settings -- forward, reverse, and a low setting that uses power harvested through regenerative braking to provide a power boost for driving up steep inclines.

What Does It Look Like?

With a low-sloping roofline, a high beltline, unusual shaped windows and aggressive, winking headlights, the Chevy Volt concept revealed on the auto show circuit in 2006 was radically different than cars currently on the road. It had a fastback rear profile and a long hood. The production Volt clearly borrows some design cues from that concept, but is a much more conventional-looking car. 

The car's design is mostly the result of aerodynamic research.  In fact, Volt chief engineer Bob Boniface told media members in a live chat in August, "Much to my surprise we found that aero performance was critical even at city speeds. I would have expected mass to be more critical than aero at low speeds but it was not true." 

So the Volt's design is mostly a function of aerodynamic requirements, but it clearly derives some of its look from conventional Chevy cars.

What Do People Think of the Volt's Appearance?

A model of the production Volt was first spotted on the set of the movie Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, where the car may have a small role. Later, GM mistakenly released some images of that car to the web.

An early poll on the enthusiast site GM-Volt.com indicates that the design was well-received, but many automotive journalists and bloggers weren't fans. Surveying industry reaction, Edmunds Auto Observer comments: "The most common reactions range in a bandwidth from disappointment to derision. The Volt concept car was widely applauded, and although GM subsequently warned certain aggressive aspects of the Volt concept would be sacrificed on the altar of production-car realities, the overwhelming blandness oozing from the images of what is purported to be the production Volt is inescapable."

What Interior Features Will the Volt Offer?

The Volt's interior is dominated by a contrasting-color center stack that features a touch-screen display.  Climate control, navigation, and entertainment features are all controlled through that screen. What isn't controlled through the touch screen is controlled through buttons that are flush with the instrument panel, giving the Volt's controls a look many writers have likened to an iPod.  Those buttons are touch-sensitive -- according to GM engineers, they could be set to react to the heat of your fingertips so that you didn't actually have to touch them, just come within milimeters of them -- but the Volt won't be shipped with its buttons set to that sensitivity.  They do promise that drivers can operate the buttons with a gloved hand.

A second liquid crystal display sits directly in front of the driver, replacing the traditional cluster of guages.   A large shifter is present, but is recessed into the center stack when the car is parked -- and because of the Volt's unique powertrain, its only settings are forward, reverse, and low.

The only production Volt shown to the press so far had an interior done in several tones of grey, with a glossy white center stack.  GM says the Volt will be offered in a more extensive array of interior colors than existing GM cars. 

GM has said it is looking for opportunities to use recycled and sustainable materials in the Volt's interior as well.  Since GM outsources most interior parts rather than producing them internally, final interior details aren't yet settled.

Engineers have said the Volt will offer Bluetooth compatibility, USB audio ports, heated front seats and folding rear seats. Beyond that, details are scarce. 

Why Four Seats Instead of Five?

The battery's configuration makes a rear middle seat position impossible.

The Rear Seats Look Narrow -- Will Child Safety Seats Work in the Volt?

GM says it has tested the Volt with typical child safety seats and had no problems installing them.

When Will It Be Available?

Some in the automotive press are calling the Volt a 2010 vehicle. Others label it a 2011, while Chevrolet has said the Volt will go on sale late in 2010. General Motors showed what it called the final production model at its anniversary celebration on Sept. 16, 2008 -- but said at the time that the car was not ready for production. The company merely hoped to have 50 prototypes on the road for testing by the end of 2008.

GM has shown the Volt's body to the press, tested many parts of its drivetrain in a modified Chevy Malibu, designed the Volt's passenger cabin, and developed its chassis, which will also be used in many other 2011 and later small cars. However, the automaker has not put all of those components together into a prototype for the press to drive.

At a press event revealing the production Volt on September 16, 2008, GM said that the Volt would "be built at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck manufacturing facility, subject to GM successfully negotiating satisfactory government incentives" -- so the final manufacturing date may also depend somewhat on politics.

How Much Will the Volt Cost?

GM Officials have given many contradictory statements on the price of the Volt.  Predictions have ranged from under $30,000 to as high as $47,000. 

It's almost certain that GM will lose money on the first generation of Volts. The company has spent billions on research and development for the new car. The final price may come down to two questions -- how much are they willing to lose on each Volt? And can they convince the government to offer tax incentives to Volt buyers to help offset the cost?

Reports have said GM lobbyists are asking Congress to approve a $7,500 tax rebate for Volt buyers.  Early buyers of the Toyota Prius got only a $3,150 tax break.  It seems unlikely that Congress would approve such a large rebate, but with one of America's largest employers in serious financial trouble, it may be possible.

How Could the Volt Change the Automotive Landscape?

By the summer of 2008, all of Detroit's Big Three were in financial trouble. General Motors, once the world's most successful automaker, had fallen on such hard times that Toyota could have bought all of GM with less than one year's profits. GM had been primarily a manufacturer of gas-guzzling SUVs for years. Although it made a handful of well-regarded small and midsize cars that got competitive gas mileage (see the Chevy Malibu, near the top of our midsize car rankings), the company's image was still that of the Hummer H2, Cadillac Escalade and Chevy Silverado.

When consumers saw their budgets squeezed by $4 gas, they didn't turn to Chevy dealerships to help them find a more economical car.

The Volt, however, could turn GM's image around. GM has been steadily improving the gas mileage of all of its vehicles and retooling SUV plants to build fuel-efficient small cars. The Volt could give GM an image as an eco-conscious manufacturer of wallet-friendly cars -- even if many of those who come into a dealership to see the Volt ultimately buy a less-expensive 40-plus MPG 2010 Chevy Cruze.

Is GM Developing Any Other Volt-Like Cars?

A luxury Cadillac using the Volt's E-Flex powertrain may be in development. GM officials have also suggested that a Pontiac version of the Volt is under consideration.  The automaker's European division, Opel, has shown a concept car known as the Flextreme, designed to use an E-Flex powertrain. Many Opel models are sold in the U.S. under the Saturn brand, so we may see a Saturn variant of the E-Flex system as well.

What Could Keep the Volt From Succeeding?

It could fail to live up its promises. It could be delivered late. Or it could simply be out-competed in the marketplace. As revolutionary as the Volt's design sounds, GM is just one of many automakers working on something revolutionary:

The next Toyota Prius may get better than 90 mpg.

Nissan may offer a pure electric car in the U.S. in 2010.

BMW is testing electric MINI Coopers in California today.

What if the Volt reaches showrooms in 2010 as just one of many ultra fuel-efficient, reasonably priced cars?  If the bar in the automotive industry has moved and 'the car that could save Detroit' looks average when it arrives, that 101st anniversary could again be in doubt.  Stay tuned...