Video: Taxpayer takes Chevy Volt's powertrain for a ride
By Thomas Ricker 
posted April 29th 2009 7:11AM
posted April 29th 2009 7:11AM
See that? This dowdy looking sedan is the very symbol of hope for GM and perhaps the US auto industry as a whole. Although this Volt prototype is technically a mule -- an engineering hybrid that crosses the body of a Chevy Cruze with the Volt's Voltec powertrain -- it still gives "an 80-plus percent representation" of what the Volt's electric driving experience will be like. Or so says GM exec, Tony Posawatz. Our greasy sisters over at Autoblog took the Volt-mule for a spin. Their take?
Overall, the electric drive system in the mules performed as advertised and GM appears to be well on its way to meeting a November 2010 Job 1 date.Too bad hope doesn't pay the bills. Hit the read link for the full story including a novice's guide to prototyping automobiles. Video overview after the break
Test mule or not, I think the series hybrid will be the way to go if hybrids ever turn out to be the real solution. I have my doubts given the expense, weight, and complexity of the battery systems -- to me, hybrids are just a stopgap measure. But a series hybrid like the Volt is ultimately going to be more efficient than a parallel hybrid like the Prius.
Agreed, the Volt has the potential to be a fully electric car in future iterations, but you can't say the same of the Prius.
There are hydrogen conversions for the Prius, which improves their efficiency. Interesting thing: they were created by Quantum Tech, the same company that helped GM develop the Voltec platform and the hydrogen Hy-wire concept - and also the same company that owns Fisker.
http://www.schatzlab.org/docs/EurekaReporter_Prius_6.25.08.pdf
http://www.qtww.com/showcase/
I'm pretty good at being wrong, but I believe Chevy stated they changed their minds on building this as a series hybrid, and in fact it will be a parallel system. They said this after they raised the price and reduced the volume of the gas tank.
@ FFairlane
Sorry, you've heard wrong. The Chevy Volt will definitely be a series hybrid. The ICE is only there to charge the battery; propulsion is provided entirely by the electric motors.
Taxpayer gets taken for a ride, what's new about that?
All the unfounded hate is interesting. This car is only about seven-thousand-times better looking than a Prius or Insight - and is *fully* electric, not a Hybrid, so it's even better for you Eco-Nazis.
You wanted something all-electric, that a consumer can afford (not a Tesla Roadster), and here it is, and you've got nothing but ridicule.
Direct your hatred toward the UAW, which has had a stranglehold on US auto production for many, many decades. Then direct your hatred toward the Obama Administration for giving bailout loans to companies who can't stand up to the forces of capitalism.
If we'd simply let GM fail, without loans, they could finally get loose of the Unions, regroup, and become a lean, productive company again, but instead we've chosen to keep this braindead zombie on life support indefinitely, further circumventing market forces. Stupid.
jeez why is nobody considering this especially in cali. buy your volt or another ev car, throw some solar panels up on your roof, with all the tax incentives it's like paying $20k car and all the electricity you can ever use and never pay for it. no blackouts or nothing.
The 3rd Gen Prius (optional) and the Fisker Karma (standard) will both have PV panels to support "passive charging." Mostly, the panels will power cooling systems to protect the batteries from excessive heat.
The oil industry will never allow it. They control the world and everything in it.
LOL, how to sell cars 101. DON'T tell people that you are working on better technology before the first round even comes out.
Chevy Cruze?
Holy shite, what a lame name.
Marketing is as much to blame for GM's downfall, and this ain't a step up.
Then again, the High School Musical fans of today might be buying these tardmobiles by the time they actually hit the 34 GM U.S. car lots that will be left around in a year.