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Q & A with Bob Reuter Chief Engineer, Plug-in Saturn VUE

February 5th, 2008 | Posted in: Original GM-Volt Interviews, PHEV

GM has announced its intention to produce a plug-in Saturn VUE with a large lithium ion battery married to a 2-mode hybrid drivetrain. This car quite possibly could be the first-ever plug-in hybrid that gets brought to the U.S. market. I had the chance to ask the vehicle’s chief engineer a few questions.

When will the plug-in VUE come to market?

We haven’t announced a production date yet.

Do you have a time frame?

For the plug-in, it will go into production as early as 2010. If you look at the development path for the Volt and you look at the development path of the plug-in VUE, they are similar.

Can you tell us what the plug-in VUE’s battery size will be?

We’re not going to go into that level of detail right now. Its definitely going to be lithium-ion.

Is a 10-mile EV range what is expected?

That’s a very reasonable expectation. When you do a plug-in what you want to do is you want to maximize the amount of range you can get from a charge-depletion mode. So when you run only on the battery, situations when you run totally on the battery, totally on electric mode, but in reality were going to have a blend of gas and electric depending on cold start up or emission or things like that. But by and large when you are running on the overall charge depleting mode, thats when you are going to generate that very high fuel economy .

Is the design for the first 10 miles will the car be capable of handling any driving requirement electric only?

Yes, but the thing you’ve got to remember is that it may not always be the most efficient to run only on battery under all conditions. So technically it will be capable of it, but will it in all cases? Probably not. One of the thing s we pride ourselves on is how you best integrate the vehicle. How you balance all the different environmental aspects, the emission aspects, the cost of ownership. Sometimes its not the most economical to run on battery. So we make those decisions. That why you’ve got all the high power controls that are in the vehicle.

So it might use gasoline even in the early miles?

Exactly. The thing we look at is charge depletion. How much fuel economy can you get during the state of the battery when you’re actually using it.

So when you reach the charge depletion point and go into hybrid mode, the battery can still participate in driving the car past the EV range?

Absolutely, just like a hybrid does.

Will the battery be recharged all the way or will it operate at a lower level?

Theres a lot that we need to figure out, but the basic operation is you can charge it to the point where it can run off charge depletion again.

So it has a list of three driving operations that it can do at anytime; charge depleting, charge-sustaining, and gasoline combustion?

That’s the benefit of having a larger battery. Thats why you want a lithium ion battery. You can put the energy into the battery when you have the opportunities to do so and then take advantage of them later.

Do you currently have any working prototype vehicles?

We have some very early vehicles. Mules is exactly the word that we use.

Do they have functioning packs and drivetrains?

Yes, absolutely.

Can you say which battery vendor is making the pack?

No.

Are there several different contributor companies?

We have not yet made a selection. A lot of companies are in the mix. There will only be one when we go into production.

Are there any technological hurdles that you’ve yet to achieve?

Of course. If you look at the difference between and two-mode VUE and a plug-in VUE whats the difference fundamentally its’ the battery. Its widely understood in the industry that lithium-ion batteries represent a challenge.

So you’re using nickel-metal hydride in the 2-mode?

Yes

What do expect the fuel economy to be in the 2-mode (non plug-in)?

We don’t have our numbers yet. There have been a lot of reports where people reported erroneous information. What we’ve said is that we are projecting at least 50% improvement in combined fuel economy. The equation is 55% city, 45% highway. Right now we are confident in our ability to achieve greater than 50% combined, we’re not stating the label at this point. We have to get a lot closer to our launch date before we do that.

Is it front wheel or all-wheel drive?

Front. The comparison is relative to the VUE XR front wheel drive, which is 16/23 city/hwy. The 2-mode system gives us some real opportunity because of the way we designed the system to a peak efficiency point to generate some very significant highway fuel economy.

So this car will help you align to the future CAFE standards?

Its certainly part of our strategy. All of the auto manufacturers have know change is coming we haven’t known exactly what they were except that they would be significantly increased from where they are today. The hybrid alone won’t get us there. Its the hybrid plus many other strategies that will allow us to meet those standards.

Posted by: Lyle

39 Responses to “Q & A with Bob Reuter Chief Engineer, Plug-in Saturn VUE”

Neil Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 12:22 am

It might be useful if you could tell the car how far you plan on going so that the car can make the correct use of the battery. The other obvious possibility is to have a switch for EV mode only if you know you’re only going a short distance.

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Brian M Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 1:13 am

I think it’s logical that if you are going to be driving in the city – relatively low speed – it will be pure EV for as long as it can. If you get on the freeway within the first 10 miles the ICE will probably kick in to maximize economy.

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David L Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 1:33 am

Thanks for the great article, Lyle!

According to this article at AutoBlogGreen, the 2009 Saturn Vue GreenLine will still have a 3.6L V-6 VVT gasoline engine with direct injection. I hope that GM scales down the engine significantly for 2010 for the “plug-in” Vue, because with an engine that big, gas consumption and carbon emissions will still be awfully high!

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NZDavid Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 2:29 am

Great Q & A Lyle
It would seem to me GM is really on track with their 2 mode system.
10 mile range in rush hour traffic would be useful to me. Still think I will hang out for the volt though.

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David L G Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 7:32 am

50% improvement in fuel consumption is a big number even if they do go with the 3.6 litre V-6. I wonder what the towing specs on it would be.

I think it’s good that GM is improving efficiency even in big vehicles like the Tahoe because some of us still do need vehicles with capability beyond moving a person to an office every day…

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TOM M Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 8:39 am

It would be nice to know what the top speed is in all electric mode.
If this is going to be another golf cart for the neighborhood it doesn’t make sence to spend that kind of money. I don’t know why they want to peice meal these electrics. Please GM give us an electric that we can drive for our daily use. To and from work ! We are GM customers, please help us out here.

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Rashiid Amul Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 8:58 am

Too bad it is not a 4 wheel drive.

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Eco Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 9:11 am

Athough this APPEARS to have nothing to do with the Volt, it does show that GM’s knowledge base is broad. Getting experience from a Vue mule is not worthless, 90 days before you get a Volt mule running.

The engineers can correct me, but a two-mode plug in makes sense to me for some people. A typical commute in the US is 25 minutes, a portion of which is at freeway speed, and a portion is and stop and go. If you can operate 5 miles in electric to get to the freeway, accelerate to freeway speed on ICE, then go back to electric at freeway, you’ve used each mode in it’s most effective way.

Some people want 40 miles electric, and I’m one of them. But if the scenario is a Volt for 35K, and a Vue 2-mode for 25K that saves me 60 to 70 percent of the fuel that a Volt will save me, that’s a choice.

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Eco Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 9:12 am

It’s really a Vue 3-mode, I should have said

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nasaman Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 9:12 am

5 David L G:

“50% improvement in fuel consumption is a big number even if they do go with the 3.6 litre V-6. I wonder what the towing specs on it would be.” [Note: GM says the Plug-in Vue will tow 3,500lbs.]

“I think it’s good that GM is improving efficiency even in big vehicles like the Tahoe because some of us still do need vehicles with capability beyond moving a person to an office every day…”

You’re absolutely right! In fact the latest Motor Trend (Mar) makes a big point that GM deliberately tackled their largest vehicles (Tahoe, Yukon) first because the savings in gas consumption would be significant this way. The March issue has a very favorable article on the 2 Mode Tahoe, in which comparably-equipped Tahoe’s (a 2 mode hybrid & a gasoline only), both weighing over 5,600 lbs, are compared. The 2-mode hybrid has an EPA rating of 21mpg city vs 14mpg for the non-hybrid. That’s a 50% improvement ….or expressed another way, a single trip of 150 miles of local driving at 21mpg would use 7.14gals, while the standard Tahoe would use 10.71gals …..a savings of 3.57gals.

For comparison, a Volt on a single trip of 150 miles would use only 110mi/50mpg = 2.2gals, a savings of 4.94gals vs the 2 mode Tahoe. But then the Volt won’t haul 7 people in comfort or tow my 2,400lb boat, so I may need BOTH a 2 mode SUV AND a Volt!

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nasaman Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 9:33 am

In fact, the Vue plug-in might be the perfect choice for my needs! I therefore recently contacted Bob Lutz & Larry Burns by blog, and wrote to Saturn’s General Manager in Detroit (Jill Lajdziak) about a discovery I’ve made relating to the plug-in Vue….

I said, “From re-reading the Caddy Provoq description, I find that it’s virtually identical in size (180.3″L x 67″H x 72.8″W) to the 2009/10 Saturn VUEs. And studying a cutaway of the Provoq (at http://www.autobloggreen.com/photos/detroit-2008-cadillac-provoq-fuel-cell-concept/560979/*) reminded me it has two HUGE hydrogen tanks under/behind the rear seats that the plug-in VUE won’t have. The Provoq uses a 9KWh Lithium Ion battery pack under the center tunnel that’s said to give it a battery-only range of 20 Miles. This tells me there should be space for GM to up-size the VUE battery to AT LEAST the VOLT’s 16KWh pack by adding a “T” section under the rear seats as with the VOLT, which should give the VUE ~35 miles/charge (not 10)!

…So I’m wondering whether GM is deliberately down-playing the plug-in VUE’s battery-only range for some reason, or they’re actually planning to keep the VUE’s cost down by using a smaller battery. I’m sure there are many others like me that would prefer a CUV like the plug-in VUE to the much smaller VOLT sedan …IF IT GOT MORE LIKE 35 MILES/CHARGE!

*Compare the Provoq cutaway link above to a cutaway of the Vue at: http://www.saturnfans.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/42139/size/big/cat/ (The 2WD plug-in Vue will NOT have the drive shaft shown to the rear wheels, which should allow it at least as much space for a 16KWh Li Ion battery as the Volt.)

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Joshua Hazelton Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 11:13 am

The vue is really appealing to me since I have a young daughter and by the time the vue comes out another child. I don’t think my family is going to fit in the volt. It would be awesome if the vue had similar range to the volt. 30 to 40 miles a charge would be great in a vehicle that was a little bigger with more room.

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Dave B Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 11:22 am

Josh and Nasaman @11 and 12,

I think I may be repeating your thoughts that we’d like to see the Plug-in Vue get a range greater than 10 miles on pure EV mode… but I get nervous when people start thinking this way. I’ve heard others talk about buying a Malibu and other GM vehicles to tide them over till the Volt his production. Lutz suggested this as well.

BUT, This runs counterproductive to our demands that the Volt (and frankly other BEVs) be produced and I do not mean years from now. I absolutely refuse to buy another vehicle, GM or otherwise, unless it has a pure EV range that is significant–and the Volt BARELY meets this standard. I’m glad that GM is tinkering with the idea of plug-in crossovers, but come on people, do not bite!

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Rashiid Amul Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 12:24 pm

Dave B #13, I agree. But I will carry it a step further. I will not buy another American car until the Volt comes out. My last one was in 1986. American cars may or may not have gotten better, but when I spend my money on a car, it will either be a foreign one or the Volt. Of course, I would much rather have the latter.

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SilverBlade Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 12:58 pm

10 miles? *yawn*

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john1701a Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 12:59 pm

>> …This runs counterproductive to our demands that the Volt (and
>> frankly other BEVs) be produced and I do not mean years from now.

Idealize all you want. It still won’t change the reality that FULL hybrids will be a major force behind the mass-production of automotive battery-packs. That will most definitely be productive.

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Rashiid Amul Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

John1701a, #16.

How can you be so sure? For example: Exxon can buy a significant amount of shares in GM, thus killing the Hybrid project. The other oil companies can do the same with the other EV makers. I will admit, this doesn’t seem likely at this point, but stranger things have happened. Right now, Google is trying to help Yahoo fight off Microsoft.
I would say that when the Volt is out in quantity to the public, then it might be too late. But you and I are both speculating on the future of Hybrids. Time will tell, but I sincerely hope that you are right.

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Mike Z. Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 1:31 pm

Who cares if it does not have an EV only mode? After all its net MPG that really matter at the end of it all.

So I drive the Vue in charge depleting mode with assistance of the gas engine and average >80-100mpg. Who cares it the car got to that in EV and then Range Extender mode or Parallel Hybrid PHEV mode?

You accomplished massive fuel economy either way compared to the status quo.

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TOM M Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 1:53 pm

#17 Rashiid
I agree with you again. You have to wonder why these oil companies are buying back huge amounts of their stock ?? The oil companies and auto industry will only let this technology dribble out to insure their health for a long time, or untill they can tie up another form of energy. I just wish I wasn’t so old so I could see some of this great technology on the highway.

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Wise Golden Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 1:57 pm

Neil (#1),

It would be useful if GM would take advise from people such as yourself, but it’s not going to happen. The engineers feel that they have nothing to learn from you or anyone else. It’s impossible to reach them through any means.

I have a Saturn Aura Hybrid that I have driven for 13,300 miles and I have an average milage of 38.1 MPG as of today. This is much higher than GM engineers think that the car should be capable of. I have learned how to place inputs into the computer using the gas and break peds to tell the cars automation what I want it to do based on driving conditions. I’ve wanted to tell GM about this because they could dramatically improve their hybrid milage if they would make a very simple logig change to their programming. I can’t reach them and it doesn’t matter who I tell at the switch board — I’m not going to get to talk to an engineer.

It’s frustrating because using my methodolgy, I can routinely achieve 50 mpg for miles and miles at a time at 45-55 mph. The cars computer could easily do what I’m doing manually.

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Jim D Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 2:14 pm

Question about the desirability of a Vue compared to a Volt…..

Will the back seats in a Volt fold down?

thx Jim

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Jean-Charles Jacquemin Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

Rashiid #17

Well Rashiid, good point but don’t forget that the oil companies should have a harder day that Google with Yahoo since we have learned that BMW thinks to abandon H2 for electric driven cars, VW is ambiguous but I think that it is not a random fact that here their advertise a future of VW electric cars, Peugeot has announced today that its 308 diesel-hybdrid will be in the showrooms a year before the announced lauch date (next year instead of 2010), Volvo continues the develop the Recharge concept, Chrysler seems to progress towards e-drives, and BYD in China, …

Thats a lot of money if they want to take control of all the developments.

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cybereye Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 4:07 pm

TOM M #19
“You have to wonder why these oil companies are buying back huge amounts of their stock ??”

I believe some major oil companies rather invest for thier shareholder then reinvest the costly and harder to find oil. Many see as spend $10,000 to get $1000 return at the end of the year. As times go by, the cost will get higher and the return on the investment will get smaller. Years from now, We may see oil companies start to buy, take over, or merge other oil companies.

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nasaman Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 4:36 pm

20 Jim D:

You ask, “Will the back seats in a Volt fold down?” ….Any 5-door (hatchback) design like the Volt’s loses much of its appeal if its back seats don’t fold down. So I’m certain Volt’s rear seats will fold, but I’m equally sure the Vue’s higher profile & rear overhang will give it considerably more volume in back than the Volt’s with the rear seats of both either up or down.

BTW, two recent developments have heightened my interest in the Plug-in Vue….

1) GM’s use of the Vue’s body for the Provoq concept with its 9KWh Li Ion battery & 20 mile battery range

2) GM’s discovery that aerodynamics are much more important than weight in determining battery-only range

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nasaman Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 4:48 pm

….Incidentally, I don’t see a Plug-in Vue with a 35-mile battery range as a threat to the Volt’s success even if it used the same 16KWh Li Ion battery! Like the new CTS-V Caddy & the ZR1 ‘Vette (which use essentially the same engine), the two vehicles are in completely different market segments!

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Mike756 Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 5:43 pm

#20

I doubt it is the engineers you need to be worried about. The engineers don’t make the production decisions; all they wan’t to do is make the best product.

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charley497 Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 5:50 pm

#20 wise golden,
Would you be willing to share what it is your doing to increase your mpg to 38.1 average in your Saturn Aura? CW

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noel park Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 6:50 pm

13Dave B, 14Rashiid Amul, 15SilverBlade:

Right.

Too big, too heavy, no thanks.

50% improvement over 16 city/23 highway? Doesn’t do it for me.

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MetrologyFirst Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 8:02 pm

Wise Goldens experience is the same as mine, I drive a regular Grand AM GT 6cyl. My fuel mileage is way over the expected results, just by keeping the RPM’s at the right place and watching acceleration, speed and braking. Nothing revolutionary or illegal. My summer mpg should be around 35-36mpg this year, since winter driving is now 31-32mpg. I’m looking forward to the warm weather!

The point is that these driving techniques are a huge variable in fuel mileage, hybrid or not. There is no reason that todays car computers can’t be used to keep the cars within a set of driver chosen performance ‘bands.’ I would think this would also allow a car to perform well for CAFE purposes, but still be able to perform less economically if the driver wants to. Just like today, minus the computer.

GM gets kudos from me for their hybrid and E-flex approaches. The people who enjoy beating them up over the years must be very frustrated now. The momentum is clearly building.

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Rashiid Amul Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 8:17 pm

Tom M, # 19, “I just wish I wasn’t so old so I could see some of this great technology on the highway.”

My friend, none of us know when we are checking out.
I’m 44, drive on one of the most insane highways in my state,
and have a wife and two kids. I could check out tomorrow.
Stay healthy. Someday we’ll meet.

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Swimdad623 Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 9:00 pm

To me, one of the most attractive features of this is the ability to minimize idling in the “black car” market. I work in lower Manhattan, and in front of every building are the “black cars” (either Lincolns or Chevy Suburbans) idling in front of the building. These cars are limo services waiting to pick up a passenger, and they have the engine running so that the driver can leave the air conditioning and radio on.

Since a plug-in hybrid has to have all-electrical systems (including air conditioner), the plug-in hybrid “black car” could plug-in and turn the engine off while waiting. That would be a big savings over the zero MPG they get while idling now.

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NZDavid Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 11:38 pm

I just read an amazing post on the Tesla Motors site about Grid frequency management and the important EV’s could/will make to it in the future.
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog4/?p=62

EV’s and windfarms could really help each other out!

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Wise Golden Says:
February 6th, 2008 at 3:37 pm

#20 wise golden,
Would you be willing to share what it is your doing to increase your mpg to 38.1 average in your Saturn Aura? CW

Wise Golden says:

Yes.

When I first got the Saturn Aura, I was disappointed by the mileage, but after about 2 weeks of driving (I drive 1000 miles each week – sometimes only 700.) I started to understand that the car’s computer was doing some things that only made sense on certain occasions. For instance, the car wanted to immediately go into charge mode as soon as my foot was released from the accelerator. This would cause a form of regenerative breaking and would cause the car to loose momentum. I speculate that GM engineers have decided that this is the only way to ensure that the battery captures it’s maximum charge, but it began to occur to me that the car was significantly wrong on most occasions (based on my driving route and my habits.)

I used the instantaneous fuel gauge to try to study the car mileage characteristics under various conditions. As would be expected, the car gets very poor mileage from 0-20 mph (all cars do,) very good mileage at the sweet spot of 40-55 MPH, and unbelievable mileage during coasting and stopping. In fact under coast and stop, the car gets beyond 100 MPG and I can only attempt to calculate the mileage because the gauge stops at 99. On one occasion, I was so shocked by the improvement in my total trip average from one journey of 80 miles, that I manually calculated the journey fuel economy and found that it was in the 70’s MPG. That finding leads me to believe that under coast situations, that the car may be experiencing in excess of 200 MPG, or even more because I believe that the fuel cuts off completely. On highway speeds, the mileage drops significantly from a high of about 50-MPG at 40-55 MPH to around 34 MPG at 70-80 MPH – this clearly illustrates the aerodynamics that GM is discussing on the Volt.

All of this said, the strategy of the computer should be (but is not) to allow the car to maximize its Ultra, ultra high efficiency coasting (I really believe it’s above 200 MPG in that circumstance,) even if that is to the detriment of the battery charge. I can say that under my driving conditions, the car will begin to charge at the very moment that the foot is removed from the accelerator and in a normal breaking distance, the car will reach a full charge that will cause the computer to stop charging before the end of the breaking cycle. This has told me that the entire breaking cycle is not needed to charge.

To compensate for the computer’s lack of vision and decision making ability, I believe that GM programmed the most conservative scenario. I have developed a better scenario and have learned to trick the computer into following my commands by using the accelerator and break as computer inputs. Roughly 9 out 10 times that I take my foot of the accelerator; it is not my intention to break, rather, I wish to coast a bit (getting too close to the car in front.) The car wants to break and charge. I trick by tapping a very tiny tap at the accelerator to turn off the regen breaking. I do it again, and I do it a third time as long as I want to coast. On the third occasion, GM has programmed the computer to stop trying to do regenerative breaking – don’t know why. At this point, the car will be allowed to coast, achieving phenomenal mileage. Roughly 1 of 10 occasions, I want to slow down and I allow the car to go into regenerative breaking as it does naturally.

If GM would simply reprogram the car to coast upon the action of a foot being removed from the peddle (with fuel off,) and program the car to wait for an input from the break before it begins regenerative breaking, the mileage of the car would fall in line with mine. As of today, 38.3 MPG over 13,418 miles, an increase of .2 MPG on 13,418 miles in a journey of 68 miles (I said 13,300 in my previous post, but I was rounding – didn’t think it was going to become thesis material. It was about 13,350 miles.) Correct me if I’m wrong, but that means I got 53.9 MPG today on my 68-mile journey. Now granted, I have an ideal journey where I am able to keep the car in the sweet spot for many miles at a time, but I promise that I stopped no less than 20 times at lights. By using my strategy, I was getting maybe 200 MPG as I coasted for several tenths of a mile into a stoplight. Using GM’s strategy, I would have been forced to maintain a slight acceleration into the final 150 feet of the approach into the stop light, because otherwise, the car will go into regen breaking. This super mileage pays for the penalty of accelerating and brings the overall mileage to that of the sweet spot, which is evidently about 53.9 MPG.

I wish to also say that I am a normal driver – I do not inconvenience the people on the road around me. I always travel at the same speed as the car in front of me, and I don’t start coasting a half a mile away from a light. People are not routinely passing me. I don’t get honked at. I’m blending in.

Some people might have other conditions that would be less advantageous than the scenario that I have outlined, but the fact is that I think it would be a real step forward for GM to have the car learn the drivers habits and adapt.

Additionally, I am aware that GM is able to monitor my engine via On-Star if they want to. They have my permission, and I will be happy to discuss this with them. Lyle, you may give them my e-mail address if they request it.

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Jeff Says:
February 6th, 2008 at 4:02 pm

I am surprised that AFS Trinity Power Corporations Xtreme Hybrid vehicle was not even mentioned to this point, particularly since the base vehicle is a Saturn Vue. If anyone (not already aware) is interested, here is the link: http://www.afstrinity.com/ .
I am a big fan of GM’s E-Flex program but If Trinity’s vehicle is legit, it would suggest that GM’s goals for this generation Vue are far from ambitious.

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nasaman Says:
February 6th, 2008 at 5:31 pm

33Jeff:

After I saw a short piece with AFS Trinity CEO Edward Furia & a CNN reporter driving a test vehicle last month, I emailed them. They called me back and after further study I’m convinced they’re legit.*

GM’s goals for the new Plug-in VUE, with a claimed EV range of only 10 miles, are not at all ambitious –to the contrary, they’re too short-sighted– and I’m trying to convince them to offer a much longer EV range (35mi+) as at least an extra-cost option for the Plug-in VUE!

* But don’t send AFS Trinity any money you can’t afford to lose

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Jeff Says:
February 6th, 2008 at 9:25 pm

Thanks for the feedback Nasaman. I’m not an engineer just an enthusiast. However, after pouring over AFS’s site it does leave me scratching my head a little as to why GM can’t, at the very least, match Trinity’s specs. They claim everything they’ve used in the conversion is all “off the shelf” technology. Perhaps GM is just holding their cards close.

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Brian M Says:
February 6th, 2008 at 10:45 pm

Wise Golden, #33:

It sounds like you are onto something. There may be a more complicated and justified reason for the software to be the way it is; I’m not sure.

But to make your numbers more legit, you need to keep track of a long-time average instead of relying on the instantaneous mileage. The fuel economy gauge in cars is notorious for not being very accurate anyway.

I would suggest you start keeping track of how much gas you buy and how many miles you drive (using the odometer). After you have gone through 5 tanks of gas, divide the miles driven by the gallons of gas bought (of course, fill up the tank before you start and when you finish, so that the tank is at the same level when you start as it is when you finish). An average like this is much more error-free than instant readings.

I suspect your numbers are close to accurate, but others may be more willing to accept them if you follow that procedure.

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Larry Parylla Says:
February 12th, 2008 at 12:42 am

I agree with you for the following reason. The A/C and the power steering both are powered by the hybrid battery. If the battery did not charge while the car is coasting the ICE would have to kick in to keep the A/C and P/S working. So rather than letting the battery run down to the point where the ICE will need to kick in the keep the battery powered A/C they designed it to keep the battery charghed every time you coast. The No charge coasting colud work if you don’t need the A/C

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GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Concept Site » Blog Archive » Error in Motor Trend Magazine’s Plug-in VUE Advertisement Section Says:
March 16th, 2008 at 4:07 am

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Zero Motorcycles Announces Consumer Financing: _Link_ (http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/1037942_zero-motorcycles-announces-consumer-financing) […]
Jason M. Hendler
LeRoy1974 November 6, 2009
Does the Volt have a trunk in which we can put groceries or a couple of golf bags? All the photos and drawings of the Volt look like it was in an... […]
LeRoy1974
Embrace technology to turn nuclear energy into environmental solution November 6, 2009
From the Seattle Times: "STEWART Brand, author of "The Whole Earth Catalog," visited Seattle last week, promoting his latest environmental manifesto... […]
misslexi
Lutz to Head Opel November 6, 2009
Der Spiegel reports that Lutz is going to head up Opel: Spiegel Online(link)... […]
dagwood55

Q & A with Bob Reuter Chief Engineer, Plug-in Saturn VUE

39 Responses to “Q & A with Bob Reuter Chief Engineer, Plug-in Saturn VUE”

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