GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

I had the chance to ride in the Chevrolet Volt prototype that GM staff drove from Austin Texas to New York City on July 4th.

This particular prototype, called “a golden IVer” due to its proximity to a final production car, had been built in December 2009, and had nearly 10,000 engineering miles on it. The software controls were more than 99% complete according to Will Handzel, the GM controls engineer who actually drove the car. Interior surfacing was still a bit rudimentary and there was a bit of wear and tear inside.

This was my first chance to ride in the Volt (I had the passenger seat) in real-world highway driving situations, though I have driven it for about an hour, sub-50 mph around around a test track.  We took the car about 15 miles from Liberty Park in NJ to midtown Manhattan.

I found the car very cheerful, pleasant and bright. It was spacious and airy inside. Even though the day was bright and sunny, the LCD displays were very bright, crisp and vivid. I saw the OnStar navigation system in action and it worked perfectly, as did the handsfree phone and the capacitive controls, though Will felt they took a bit of getting used to.

When we started off in the car it had about 4 miles of EV range, and once again I missed the switchover to generator mode, never noticing it. The car was smooth and solid all the way. The only sound I could notice was from the fan from the air conditioning which worked terrifically, in comfort mode, on a day it was more than 95 degrees outside.

I specifically asked Will to demonstrate accelerating from 55 to 80 MPH, while we were on the highway. When I asked him, he said throughout his 1776 mile drive, and indeed all his Volt driving, passing on the highway was never a problem.  ”We never had an issue,” he said.  Acceleration from low speed and stop certainly wasn’t a problem, the car springs onto the highway with gusto.

Acceleration from 55 to 80 was strong and linear. There was no customary downshift effect people may be accustomed to in traditional vehicles, but, that really didn’t matter. The car swiftly made it to high passing speed in a constant and confident fashion.

Yes, this is different than a standard gas car, but in my opinion represented no trade off or loss of function. It worked wonderfully well.

It was also very quiet while driving.  After getting out and standing aside it, while it was idling in the heat, the engine could be heard running.

Still no final word on final fuel efficiency numbers, as GM still says they are being negotiated with the EPA, but obviously will be finalized and made public soon. Expectations are that fuel economy will be somewhat above that of the best-in-class standard gas compact car.

In conclusion, there are no surprises here, the car handles capably in the highway setting.

You can check out my experience in the video below:

I hope you enjoyed your July 4th celebrations, I know I did. Along with several GM-Volt readers we joined the Volt and members of it’s marketing team for a BBQ and scenic view of the NYC Macy’s fireworks show over the Hudson River. Thank you GM!

As the picture above attests to, the Volt made it there, all the way from Austin Texas, 1776 miles. Seeing the Volt on the rooftop of Pier 92 with the fireworks going off behind it was an awesome display indeed.

The Volt set off from Austin Texas on July 1st around 3PM Eastern time and arrived in New York City at Noon on July 4th, a little under 3 days. The car was driven almost exclusively by a Volt controls engineer named Will Handzel, who said the car performed flawlessly, as expected. He called the trip something like “a party on wheels” with numerous stops along the way for staged photo ops and meet and greets, and some test drives, like the one in Gaithersburg MD.

Will was amazed at how many people recognized the car, and described a few times along late night drives in places like Arkansas, when cars would follow along for miles and with occupants waving in support.

I rode along with Will for the last 45 minutes from NJ to NY, I’ll have more on that drive shortly.

While we where driving GM has posted the car’s handsfree mobile number on Facebook, and every minute or so fans from around the country, though mostly California, checked in to say hi. Just about everyone asked for the car’s fuel economy, but Will declined to say. He still claimed figures are being finalized with the EPA, so can’t be released, and wouldn’t commit to the 9 gallon gas tank number. It was clear from the dash display, however, that a full tank would produce about 340 miles of range. GM has publicly stated that fuel economy in charge-sustaining mode would offer the best fuel economy of any vehicle in its size class, which for 2010 compact cars is about 26 city / 35 highway for a Toyota Corolla, for example.

Also, the team did charge the car two of three nights spent at hotels. In one case they couldn’t find a plug in the parking garage, in the other two cases they ran an extension cord out of their motel room window to the parking lot.

GM staged this Freedom Drive to illustrate how the Volt, although an electric car, is not tethered to a specific electric range as pure battery EVs are. This offers drivers freedom to do what they want when they need to, while at the same time for core daily commuting, using no gas just as a pure electric would.

GMs Volt marketing director Tony DiSalle has said “the best advertising for the Volt is the Volt itself,” illustrating GM’s advertising tactic, that this Freedom Drive embodied; grassroots test drives and word-of-mouth. This approach GM feels is a better fit for the Volt, getting people to see touch and talk about the car, rather than creating fancy media advertisements.

In contrast, here for example, is Nissan’s first ad for the LEAF:

Certainly the Volt will have its own traditional ad campaign, as will the LEAF go on a cross country meet, greet, and drive tour. Only the LEAF would have a much harder time doing the freedom drive, and could never have done it in three days.

On this day in 1776 our founding fathers declared the United States independent as a free and sovereign nation. Two-hundred thirty four years later and the world has become a far more complicated and dangerous place.

We have learned a great deal about science, technology, medicine, and the true meaning of freedom for the genders and races that were still enslaved at the time this country was founded. Now the Internet and its democratization of information is enabling people in all countries around the world to learn the realities of the human condition outside of their own community’s limits. These are all great things indeed.

However, what our founding fathers couldn’t have known back in 1776 was that one day we’d be trading this country’s dependence on another nation for governance to dependence on other nations’ natural resources, petroleum.

When the automobile and GM were in their infancy, oil flowed freely from the wells of this country, and in the early decades of the twentieth century, the US was responsible for the vast majority of the world’s oil production. In the early 1970s something changed. US oil production peaked, and since that time we have become more and more dependent on oil from foreign nations. Our consumption of oil continues to grow as our own ability to produce it continues to wane. The US now imports 2/3 of its oil, and consumes 1/4 of the oil the world produces.

Most of that oil is for the transportation sector, where it is converted into gasoline to drive our cars, over 200 million of them in fact.

In the three years since I started this blog, we have witnessed a tremendous change in the automotive industry and this country’s recognition of the critical need for energy independence. I believe GM led the way, perhaps in some small part amplified by this blog, toward citizens of this country and the world recognizing the value and need for electric cars and the building of demand for them.

A dozen or more car companies have now started electric car mass production programs. A special recognition should be given to Nissan. Though there is often gentle competition and derision between fans the Volt and the LEAF, there will be ample buyers for both, as people of our diverse nation finds each car suits their needs and desires for the best.

And on this July 4th, 2010, the Volt is less than four months from retail launch. Hard to believe.

In a couple of hours I will be riding a Volt into Manhattan from Liberty State Park in NJ where I will be meeting up with the Volt Freedom Drive as it completes its 1776 mile journey from Texas to New York City, the latest two launch markets for the Volt.  Myself and 70 other members of Volt Nation will celebrate the fireworks in NYC tonight along with the Volt and the Volt team.

Yes these cars will be produced in limited volumes at first and in limited locations, but 10,000 cars is infinitely better than none. And certainly in retrospect, 2010 will be viewed as the turning point year, the year we began our journey to Oil Independence.

If your are reading this blog today, I encourage you to leave a comment to this post telling us why you are here.

I’d also like to remind everyone GM-Volt has spawned many additional social media resources Id love for you to join. This includes: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the GM-Volt Forum. You can get your own Volt blog on Volt Nation, and you can even follow the LEAF, if you dare, on Statik’s blog Nissan-LEAF.net.

May you all have a joyous Independence Day, trolls included.

On July 1st a caravan including a near final black Chevrolet Volt left Austin Texas where GM CEO Ed Whitacre announced the inclusion of NY,NJ,TX, and CT as initial Volt rollout markets. The Volt is travelling from Texas to New York City on a 1776 mile freedom drive eventually arriving in NYC on July 4th for the Macy’s fireworks celebration. I will be jumping aboard the Volt when it reaches New Jersey early Sunday morning and will be celebrating the fireworks with the Volt team and 70 GM-Volt readers who registered to go on this site.

Freedom stands for both freedom from oil as well as freedom from range anxiety

You can see the route on the map above or in real time on this link. The Volt has so far passed through Texas and Arkansas and is now in Tennessee. Stops were made in Dallas, Waco, Little Rock, Knoxville and Memphis.  It has so far traveled more than 1300 miles and will be passing through Virginia today on its way to Maryland this afternoon.

If anyone happens to capture a photo of the car as it passes by, just upload it to the Chevy Volt Facebook page and win a free Volt T-shirt.  There’s also a GM-Volt Facebook page, for those who don’t know.

Also, for anyone who plans to be at Criswell Chevrolet in Gaithersburg Maryland today, GM has advised me there will only be room for 5 test drives from GM-Volt readers, so please plan accordingly.

In other news, the New York Times is reporting that (the new) GM plans to file for its IPO in August, with expectations of selling shares to the public by the end of the year. Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase will be the underwriters, and the company apparently seeks an additional $5 billion credit line as part of the offering.

Selling shares to the public will be the US government’s strategy to divest its 61% ownership in the company, acquired during bankruptcy restructuring. The IPO is believed only to allow divestment of 20 percent of the ownership stake, however.

GM executives have expressed strong optimism in the company’s performance, noting that 12% more vehicles have been sold under only four remaining brands in the first half of 2010, than eight total brands in the first half of 2009.  Internatioanl growth has been idenified as te srtongest future considerationf or the ompany.  In fact, for the first half of this year GM sales in China beat US sales with GM selling 1.2 million vehicles in China versus 1.08 million in the US.

“It’ss a fundamentally different company in terms of its break-even point,” said GM CFO Chris Liddell. “What’s new about the new G.M.? Really everything.”

Last week, the yet-to-be profitable electric-car making Tesla Motor Company (Nasdaq: TSLA) sold 15.3 million shares at $17 to the public, raising a total of $260 million and giving the company a valuation of $1.8 billion.  In the secondary market, shares had quickly peaked at over $30 per share, back down to $19.20 at last trade.

Source (GM) and (New York Times)

After yesterday’s big announcement about the expansion of the Volt initial markets to New York, Texas, New Jersey, and Connecticut, Volt marketing director Tony DiSalle took some questions about the rollout plans.

He was specific and official about how many Volts GM intends to build. He said the company plans to build 10,000 cars in 2011, and 30,000 in 2012. He also said GM would be selling Volts in all 50 states by 2012, or between 12 and 18 months after launch. First year ramp up will be slow so that GM can learn how the cars behave in the field.

DiSalle explained that Chevroelt dealers would have to be specifically certified for Volt sales and service. Previously he told GM-Volt he expected the total number of Volt-certified dealers to exceed 75%. He noted that to be certified, dealers also have to agree to keep at least one Volt on the showroom floor for customers to see and have to install a high voltage charger.

Furthermore, DiSalle said customers would not have to be pre-qualified. To buy a LEAF, for example, owners have to have acces to a 240 V line in their homes to which a charger must be connected. Since the Volt is very usable at 120 V charging, no buyer vetting will take place, even if the buyer should live in an apartment with no access to a plug.

Though some media outlets are reporting DiSalle’s production volume announcement as indicating a larger than expected production forecast, from my view it appears surprisingly more modest.

Before retiring, Bob Lutz indicated GM would be building about 8000 to 1000 Volts in 2011, but would be able to produce 50,000 to 60,000 in 2012.

DiSalle also indicated GM wouldn’t be creating its own waiting list, but as he said before simply recommends people get on their favorite local Chevrolet dealer’s waiting list.

What makes this particular announcement about Volt production volume so important is because according to GM spokesperson Rob Peterson, “this is the first time we officially announced production numbers for the Chevrolet Volt.”

Lutz public comments in the past at the LA Auto Show according to Peterson, “are consistent with what we just announced.”

Source (WSJ) and (AutoBlogGreen) and (GM)

We thought California, Michigan, and Washington DC were going to be the only initial Chevrolet Volt launch markets, but apparently GM had other plans in mind.

Today in a speech in Austin Texas, GM CEO Ed Whitacre announced that New York and Texas will join the other three states as initial Chevy Volt launch markets.

He also announced that New Jersey and Connecticut would be included in the first launch wave in early 2011, bringing the total first Volt states to seven. For New York and Texas, Volts will only be available in New York City and the city of Austin in 2010, with the remainder of those states getting allocations in 2011.

GM said it was the intense interest they were seeing that prompted the inclusion of these additional markets, not to mention that Volt is designed and engineered to handle those more challenging climates.

“We can add markets as diverse as Texas and New York because the Chevrolet Volt can handle both urban commuting and longer trips, in Austin summers and Manhattan winters,” Whitacre said. “The Volt can be your primary vehicle, giving you the freedom to drive gas-free without the stress of planning every trip around the battery’s charge level.”

“Chevrolet is extending the Volt launch to additional states because of strong customer interest and our confidence in all aspects of the vehicle and battery,” added Tony DiSalle, Chevrolet Volt marketing director.

To celebrate this terrific announcement (I’m a New Yorker) GM will drive a Volt from Austin Texas straight to New York City, a 1776 mile trip that would be considerably more tricky in a pure electric car.

GM is calling this trip the Freedom Drive, representing both freedom from oil and freedom from range anxiety.

“This drive is a demonstration of the freedom the Volt will provide customers – freedom to drive where you want, when you want,” said DiSalle. “Whether you are driving 50 miles or 1,750 miles, the Volt is the only electric vehicle that can be a family’s primary car.”

The Volt will take the last leg of the journey from New Jersey to New York, stopping briefly along the New Jersey Turnpike to pick up none other than yours truly as I accompany Volt vehicle line director Tony Posawatz for the home stretch. I will also be able to asses and experience firsthand in a nearly complete car the true performance of the Volt in real-world world highway driving, hopefully putting recent rumors to rest..

We will arrive at Pier 92 in New York City for an exclusive July 4th celebration. The celebration will include the Volt and members of the Volt team. The highlight of the party will of course be the famous Macy’s fireworks celebration over the Manhattan skyline. This waterfont pier location will be a perfect front row seat to experience the show.

In appreciation for our longstanding support, GM if offering GM-Volt readers free exclusive invitations to the party which will begin at 5:30 PM. There will be food drinks, friends and family are welcome.

The first 70 GM-Volt readers and their guests who registered here got exclusive free invitations to the event:

[UPDATE: CAPACITY FILLED]

On its way from Austin to New York the Volt will also stop off in Little Rock, AR on July 1; Nashville, TN and Roanoke, VA on July 2; Washington, D.C. and Frederick, MD on July 3; Philadelphia, PA and finally, New York City on July 4.

If you can’t make it to New York, enthusiasts in the Washington DC area can meet up at Criswell Chevrolet in Gaithersburg, MD on July 3rd. The time will be from 2PM to 4PM. There will be food and drinks and opportunity to test drive a Volt (confirmed).

Independence from oil is about to begin.

See you there!