GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

The Chevy Volt comes equipped with two bright high resolution 7 inch LCD displays, one in the dash behind the steering wheel and the other atop the center stack. The screen on the center stack is touch sensitive.

Over the years we’ve seen bits and pieces of these informational screens which are also highly configurable. GM has gone out of their way to make these displays and their graphic themes both beautiful and compelling while at the same time useful and informative.

GM has just released a series of photographs illustrating exactly how these displays will look and convey data.

The main driver informational display reveals a large white MPH indicator in the center and an efficiency driving style feedback meter to the right.  Odometer and range are nicely displayed black on gray.  Whether the car is in EV or generator mode is indicated on the left where either a gas pump or battery icon will be shown along with that modality’s total remaining range.  It can also be configured to show both EV and CS range simultaneously as seen below.

When the car is plugged in and charging the dashboard screen can display that it is taking place, even when the car is shut down.  It also indicates how much battery range has accrued and at what time charging will be complete.

A delayed charging screen accessible on the touch sensitive center stack let’s drivers program in delayed charging, to take advantage of nightime utility rates, letting the car know what times it will be needed each day.

Owners can choose one of three different charge modes; immediately, delayed based upon departure time and delayed based on both rate and departure time.

The center stack is also capable of providing the driver information about his or her energy usage.  One display shows how the driver’s style and climate control choices affected energy use.  A link to efficiency tips is provided.

Another display shows the energy usage and miles per gallon used since the last charge.

Cabin climate control can be set from a special screen in the center stack.

This week I took the next step in what has been a remarkable four year journey. I ordered my very own Chevrolet Volt.

Fortunately I live in an early launch market in the metro New York City area and work only a block away from Englewood Auto Group, a dealership that has both Buick/GMC and Chevrolet stores side by side. I got in touch with the owner Steve DeScalsi and we ordered my Volt. It only took a few minutes over the phone and now I have an official order number. I chose the cyber gray metallic exterior and the jet black leather interior with white accents. I would have preferred the dark console but those won’t be available on the initial wave, not reaching the retail market I’m told until March.

DeScalsi has owned his GM franchise since 1999, and had another Chevy store in a different location from 1989 to 1999. He actually started as a salesman working his way up to becoming an owner.

Steve is very excited about the Volt. “How could I not be,” he said. “This car will bring in a ton of new showroom traffic.” He is committed to servicing the cars and currently has five Volts on allocation (four besides mine). He has no intentions of charging more than MSRP. “I will not price gouge,” he said.

I can honestly say I am extremely excited about taking possession of this car, the object of my intense fascination and continuous surveillance for the past four years. I look forward to being among the first in the nation to drive one and look forward to joining the nationwide community of Volt owners. Though I drove a MINI E for a year, the Volt offers so much more, and with far less stress and limitation.

I have been considering whether to lease or buy the car. The $350 per month lease is for three years at 12,000 miles per year. Since I travel about 22,000 miles per year, at 25 cents per extra mile I would expect to pay $558 per month to lease. After three years that would be a layout of about $20,000. I would then owe $22,500 on the car ($1500 for leather option) minus a $7500 tax credit, or $15,000. A five year loan at 3.9% APR would be $643 per month.

At five years though I will have traveled 110,000 miles, passing the battery warranty of 100,000 miles. At that point it is possible all-electric range could drop somewhat as battery capacity begins to fade. Also generation two or some other Voltec variant may be available by then.

Most prospective Volt owners have decided they will lease the car. In a poll on this site, twice as many said they would lease rather than buy the car. How do you see the decision?

For your viewing pleasure GM has released high resolution photos of all the available interior and exterior color options which you can see in the brand new gallery below.

An astute observer noticed none other than a pre-production Chevy Volt integration vehicle nonchalantly parked in a neighbor’s driveway.

A fleet of eight of these vehicles just returned from a 3-day 1200-mile extended test drive last week, and perhaps one of the lucky participants got to take one home for the weekend. It is known that 80 of these cars are in existence and nvolced in continuous and extensive testing

General Motors engineers are often given the opportunity to take home pre-production vehicles prior to launch.  In fact, some of the learning that goes into the refinement of these vehicles is derived from these take-home experiences.

However, these IVer Volts are unusually early in development for this type of endeavor.  Most pre-production cars are taken home just a few months prior to launch when they are usually at a high level of refinement. The fact that they are already allowed home appears to confirms the great confidence GM has with their robustness and the particularly advanced level of development they have already achieved in such a short time.

No, its not my house.

Apparently this is nothing new. According to GM spokesperson Rob Peterson, “several engineers have already taken these vehicles home over weekends.”

Source (Autoblog)

The Chevy Volt show car has always been demonstrated with a white glossy iPod-like center stack console.

Shortly after it was unveiled the GM design team noted the stack would also be available in black and green finishes as well.

I have personally seen the new black stack while touring the Volt IVer production facility, and thought it looked excellent.

In one of GM’s videos showing the Volt IVers being built, one can catch a glimpse of the black stack, captured in the image above.

Although it looks gray in the shot it is indeed black.

I cannot get an official high resolution photo but am told it will be coming next week.

Source (Auotbloggreen)

Currently the Chevrolet Aveo is GM’s smallest production car in the US.  Although low in price, sales aren’t terrific and the car is not popular.  However, it is clear that small cars are a thing of the future, and GM has repeatedly said it would build them, and for the first time as a new company, actually make money on them.

We heard when the government brokered GM’s bankruptcy reorganization that the automaker agreed to build a new small car in the US for the US market, but did not announce what the car would be.  Previously the Chevrolet Spark had been demonstrated and set for production, though with reorganization that has become more uncertain.

Today, new sketches have been released of a new subcompact or B-class GM car.  The car will be called the Chevy Agile in South America where it will be released in the forth quarter of 2009.

It seems like the car is slated to replace the Aveo in the US in 2011, just as the upcoming Cruze will replace the Cobalt. Some reports speculate it will be called the Chevy Viva in the US.

In South America the car will be powered either by a 1.4 L 105 hp engine or an optional 1.8 L 129 hp engine.

“The Agile goes beyond a traditional hatchback,” said Carlos Barba, General Director of GM Design Mercosur. “It’s a car full of youth and a design that will surprise.”

Source (Autoblog)

GALLERY:

It may be recalled the Washington Post recently published an extensive piece about Bob Lutz and the Volt in which the vice chairman of GM and originator of the Volt concept was described as being “ambivalent” about the Chevy Volt. The story’s painted Lutz as a lover of loud shiny powerful gas guzzlers and that the greening of the auto industry that the Volt represents gave him mixed feelings.

Lutz has taken that author to task in his latest FastLane post. “Let me say this clearly: There is no ambivalence on my part – or on the part of anyone at GM – toward the Chevy Volt. None. Zero,” writes Lutz.

Lutz confirms the Volt program is “the most exciting program I have worked on in my entire career.”

“The Volt can literally change the face of automotive transportation as we know it,” he writes “Who would be ambivalent about that?”

Lutz goes on to say the advent of the Volt and other smaller cars that GM has in the pipeline does not mean the end of performance car. He likens their arrival to a grocery store that first begins to offer organic vegetables, “doesn’t mean it shuts down the meat counter.”

Source (FastLane)

And for your viewing pleasure, the world’s first high resolution images of the Chevy Volt in black are below. Click to get to the high-res versions, and Enjoy!