Pre-Production Chevy Volt Test Drive

This is a neat video of a pre-production Volt in action. You actually get a first-hand perspective of what it is like to ride in this range extended plug-in electric vehicle. The car is basically complete, with a working LCD screen in the dash. The passengers note that the car does have a good amount of pep; the 100% torque of the electric engine should provide competitive acceleration. The car is also whisper quiet of course. See and hear for yourself:

GM’s 230 MPG Volt Campaign

I watch YouTube more than I care to admit. Last week I noticed a mystifying advertisement before many of the videos: A green screen with a large number 230, with the 0 depicted as a winking standard electrical wall outlet, and a smaller date 8-11 underneath. Since I had no idea what the numbers meant, I Googled them to no avail. Eventually, I discovered that this was a GM marketing campaign for the Volt. But how did the number 230 come into play? Does is stand for 230 volt outlet required? The number of days before GM declares bankruptcy again?

Finally, GM revealed on August 11th, 2009, that 230 was the official MPG rating given by the EPA. The advertisements now link to Chevy’s Official Volt page. While I was disappointed in the general lack of content on the actual page, the bottom corner provided a real gem of a link: Chevy Volt’s Facebook page. Those who do not know much about Facebook should know that people, places, events, and even inanimate objects such as the Chevy Volt can have their own Facebook pages now. The Chevy Volt Facebook Wall actually has a death of information on the Volt. People are free to voice their concerns and a Chevy spokesman tries his darndest to answer them all. Here is the spokesperson’s explanation of where they got the number 230.

It’s based on draft EPA fuel economy methodology, which takes into account thousands of drive patterns over an extended period of time. For example, some people will never use a drop of gasoline as they will always stay within the 40 mile pure electric range, while others will use a combination of pure electricity and engine-generated electricity when driving, and still others may stay within the 40 miles and just drive innefficiently. The assumption is most Volt owners will plug-in daily, so there has to be some common ground to compare vehicles between nothing and infinity. To rationalize all these scenarios and situations, the EPA’s draft methodology calculates this via mpg and our estimates based on that methodology are at least 230 mpg in city driving. Just as important, we are expecting the Volt to get more than 100 mpg combined (city/hwy). Also, we have not announced the charge sustaining mode mpg yet because we’re still testing and validating that mode of operation. -Phil

Originally, I was very disappointed in this ad campaign. All this build up around an arbitrary number and it all leads to a very plain, uninspiring website with a bunch of arbitrary numbers being crunched to explain where 230 MPG comes from.

It is crucial to convey what exactly the car does, and how the car is capable of your daily commute without needing a single drop of gas. I’ve witnessed first hand that the general public does not fully understand how plug-in hybrids work. One of my colleagues at work, an educated twenty something year-old, said he wasn’t a fan of the Chevy Volt because he thought it just died after 40 miles of electric driving. This was disconcerting, especially because we worked for an environmental activism group. I would have expected him to know how a breakthrough hybrid vehicle such as the Volt switches on an electric generator, when the battery is low. But not everybody has researched this. Therefore, simplifying this plug-in hybrid system to an arbitrary number, 230 MPG, might actually be the best way to communicate to the masses how such an unfamiliar vehicle operates.

So my final summation on the campaign is that Chevy did a good job simplifying and minimizing the dangers of bringing something unfamiliar to the market. Next, I would suggest some good old fashioned car advertising. Show it driving up a hill or blasting past a Mazda.

Chevy’s slick video on how the Volt works

This video shows how the Chevy Volt’s system charges, operates, and how the range extender kicks in to sustain the battery’s life for a few hundred more miles

Production Chevy Volt Revealed

Pictures courtesy of Autobloggreen.com

Featuring snazzily dressed Chevy executives.  But I must say, they are right on the money with this design.  Chevy did away with the sharp corners and the awkward plastic moldings around the windows; and they are obviously targeting the Toyota Prius market as a gas saving, compact family sedan.  They could have gone the other way with this, as an edgy electric sports car, but it would have been a bit ego heavy, and not broadly appealing. Another major carmaker, Honda, is following this strategy as their upcoming 2010 hybrid is even more of a knockoff of the successful Prius. The Chevy Volt is tentatively scheduled to release in 2011

A Rav-4 EV owner raggin’ on the Volt

I found this video using the new Electric Car Locator Map feature.

This is a great video of a guy explaining a few tweaks he made to an old Toyota RAV-4 EV to allow it to charge from his rooftop solar system.  The RAV-4 EV was produced between 1997-2001 before Toyota terminated production, but unlike its 90’s counterpart, the GM EV1, RAV-4 EV’s were not all crushed and people like this fellow still happily own them today.   Near the end of the video he gives a nice lecture on the GM Volt concept being inferior to electric vehicles on the road in the 90’s. My sentiments exactly. RAV-4 EV range: 120 miles, Volt concept ev range: 40 miles. That’s not regular technological evolution. And to give you a concept of the demand for these old ev’s, records have shown these used electric SUV’s selling for around $70,000 (2001 model).

On the Vauxhall Flextreme

To be honest with you, I, and I’m sure a lot of other Americans, had never heard of Vauxhall (not Vauhxall or Vauxhaul, like many articles mistake) before they came out with the Flextreme (not Flexstream or Flexstreme…this car’s name is a disaster). But the GM owned Vauxhall could be a key player in the future of the electric car industry. GM is making the bold and longsighted claim that it will build 220,000 Flextremes a year in Great Britain by 2015. And our friends across the pond seem pretty excited. Production should begin around 2012 with around 20,000 built the first year.

The Flextreme is, simply put, a Chevy Volt with a different body. Much like the Volt, the Flextreme will travel around 40 miles on a charge, but the British car will use a small, turbo-diesel motor that will kick in to act as a generator much like the Volt’s gasoline generator. Not exactly cutting edge technology, but if GM actually pulls through for us, this car could be a great electric daily-driver for the majority of us who do not commute. The Flextreme will be released in the the American market at around $40,000, but this is all very early to be making too many predictions. Here is Vauxhall’s official Flextreme page for more info. Vauxhall also seems to be banking on the Segway People Mover finally becoming mainstream, as they have a special Segway unloader in the back of the concept. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that’s not making it to the production model, and they better change the name too.

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