volt

Introducing the Chevrolet Volt

The Volt is by no means the first car that will be produced under the Chevrolet banner, but it is arguably the one that has had the most media exposure in recent times.  The Volt, expected to come out in 2011, is the first fully electric car that will be manufactured by General Motors.  But that is a topic for a little later on.

 Chevrolet is not actually its own company.  It is best thought of as being a division of General Motors, although in most cases it can also be accurate to refer to Chevrolet as a brand name as well.  It is certainly a registered brand name under GM that has been given its own di vision in recent times.  Founded in 1911, Chevrolet has consistently been one of the world’s best selling brands.  Even in modern times when GM hardly has the best reputation around, Chevrolet vehicles are still selling at an impressive rate considering the bankruptcy issues surrounding the parent GM Company.

 General Motors was actually founded in 1908, so it is accurate to think of Chevrolet as having been around since the company has existed.  At the current moment in time, the Chevrolet brand is responsible for the creation of many basic automobiles, larger trucks and of course SUVs which have turned into the favourite vehicles within the United States. Electric Vehicles in General Motors

 Electric vehicles did not start with the Volt and in fact have actually been around for a very long time.  A lot of people love to criticize the American Big Three (Ford and Chrysler along with General Motors) for their lack of vision when it comes to the creation of hybrid and electric vehicles, but it is worthwhile noting that a lot of this omits certain facts from the equation.  For example, did you know that way before the Chevrolet Volt was even on the drawing board, General Motors had already developed, manufactured and sold electric vehicles?  If your answer is no, do not worry because chances are very good tha t you are not the only person that did not know about GM’s previous history with electric vehicles.

 The vehicle was known as the EV1 and it was actually introduced in 1990.  There were many leases available for people to buy throughout the 90s and the vehicle was a zero emission car in the same way that the 2011 Volt will also be.  However, lack of interest eventually killed the project and in 2003 General Motors ended up discontinuing the manufacture of such vehicles.  It is interesting to wonder what would have happened if they had thrown more marketing behind the EV1, but alas we will never know what its fate would have been under different circumstances.

 In regards to specific electric vehicles under the Chevrolet brand, the Volt is the only one that is currently in the works.  However, if the Chevrolet Volt turns out to be a successful enterprise, one can certainly expect more electric vehicles bearing the Chevy brand to come out onto the market over the 2011-2020 decade.

 The Chevrolet Volt

 The Chevrolet Volt represents a completely new direction on the part of General Motors, making it somewhat fitting that the Volt is going to be sold underneath the banner of Chevrolet.  Chevrolet has often been thought of as being the most reliable and consistent General Motors brand=2 0by a number of people that have studied the long history of this deep-pocketed organization.  Those of us interested in electric cars breathed a sigh of relief when GM announced that even in spite of the bankruptcy, they would be releasing the Volt on the same 2011 timeline that had been discussed before.

 Speaking in general terms, the Chevrolet Volt will have an electric engine that is powered primarily by lithium ion batteries.  These batteries as they will exist on the Chevrolet Volt will have the ability to be charged to 85% of their full capacity after the first discharge.  At that 85% capacity, they will be able to allow the car to drive up to 40 miles on a single charge.  There will also be a backup gasoline engine available for emergencies with a full-tank range of over 600 miles in case someone gets into difficulty.  Even though the Volt is basically a fully-electric car, there is the gasoline option there for anyone that would like to take a long trip and does not have the time to charge their engine in between.

 One of the more surprising aspects of the Volt is that its suggested retail price has not overrun its expected price at the start of the project.  Usually, one can expect new ideas to be expensive to bring to market.  However, the former VP of GM projected the cost of the car to be at $30,000 after tax credits before the project had started.  It turns out that the base price of the car will be $40,000 with a government tax credit bringing that down to around $33,000.  A 10% cost overrun is quite impressive for a new idea, making one hope that the Volt might genuinely be the game changer that everyone hopes it will be.

 In regards to the emissions, the Chevrolet Volt will be a genuine zero-emission vehicle.  At least, this will be the case for the first 40 miles of any fully-charged trip.  This will be the distance for which the actual battery-powered engine is working.  Beyond that particular distance however, the gasoline engine will kick in, making the Volt a normal emission car.  It does have decent efficiency even in its gasoline state however because the engine is small and only runs on four cylinders.

 All in all, the Volt is not terribly impressive in terms of its electrical credit, especially when compared with other vehicles like the Tesla Roadster.  However, it will be an electric car that is fully marketed and sold by General Motors, one of the largest car companies in the world.  The media exposure that will come from a successful product will definitely help move electric cars forward as an industry.  From that point of view, this is one of the most important electric vehicles out there.