GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

Earlier this week I and 14 other members from around the country had to turn in our Chevy Volt consumer advisory board test cars, having completed our 90 – day assignments

I possessed and exclusively drove that car from November 11, 2010 until February 9, 2011.

In those 90 days I put on 5100 miles of primarily intensive high speed highway driving through some particularly harsh Northeast winter conditions including several snowstorms, icy roads and uniformly sub freezing temperatures.

As many new owners can attest, the car handled like a champ.  It was a rock-solid dependable vehicle that was a pleasure to drive.

For the 5100 miles I achieved a lifetime average of 110 miles per gallon.  This reflected driving 60 miles per day round trip with a typical EV range of between 25 and 30 miles.  I burned 46 gallons of gas.

My gas usage was higher and EV range lower than most drivers due to the nature of my long daily commute of 60 miles, high speed 90% highway driving, and robust use of the cabin temperature controls, keeping the car set to 74 degrees of comfort mode at all times.

I used the iPhone app only sparingly often not remembering to pre-heat the cabin, which if I had done so would have increased my EV range by about 5%.

I never experienced any mechanical or electrical problems with the car at all.  It behaved flawlessly.  I always found it comfortable an inviting.

Acceleration was sufficiently energetic and the car always outperformed the basic sedans of the road passing  and entering highways with ease.  I used sport mode about half of the time, and drove in the L position nearly all of the time.

The center stack remained a little bit tricky for me.  I enjoyed its high tech qualities and modern implications but always tended to hunt for my key of choice a bit much and didn’t always find hitting it that easy.  It did not work with a gloved hand.  I truly enjoyed the center stack touch screen, though wished the music wouldn’t come on every time the screen turned on.  A separate radio on/off switch is needed.  More scientific energy usage data, and a more refined eco-coach ball would also be helpful.

Plugging in and charging using the 240-v Voltec charger was simple and satisfying, and the iPhone app helped remind me to a couple of times when I forgot.  I opportunity-charged at my office during the day for a few hours here and there using the 120-v portable charger which also worked flawlessly.

Overall I spent roughly 70% of my time driving in EV mode.  During the 3 months I covered over 100 miles in  day (the max range of a pure EV) at least 6 to 8 times.

It has been my dream for many years to be able to drive without gasoline and to see our country wean itself from oil addiction.  From 2009 to 2010 I drove a MINI E 100 mile electric car.  That vehicle allowed me to achieve about 90 percent of my daily driving but in cold weather came close to or at zero after covering 60 miles.  I did have range anxiety and required increased trip planning forethought.

The Volt allowed me to enjoy the pleasure of electric driving for the vast majority of the time and yet I never had to give a thought to range.

This was the goal of the concept from 2007 and GM has achieved it perfectly.

I have been driving my own purchased Volt for the past 2 days and I am struck by a much more refined level of driving and detail quality. Clearly there are subtle improvements over the capture test fleet car.

I fully expect in the years ahead the Volt to become a highly popular car and finally the roads of this country will growingly be populated with cars that can drive without gas.  The dream is now a reality.  We are starting to wean off of oil.

I have had the honor and distinct privilege of living with the 2011 Chevrolet Volt for the past 19 days.  I have driven the car day in and day out as my only vehicle.  I was granted this opportunity through GM as part of the Volt consumer advisory board along with 16 other individuals across the nation who have been given a captured test fleet car for use and feedback over a 90 day period.

In these past 19 days I have driven the car nearly 1300 miles, and thus the following review is based on the longest duration experience ever published.

Exterior Design
The Volt is a beautiful and striking vehicle, yet can assimilate within traffic.  It looks compact sitting around in parking spots and in traffic but exudes a high tech aura.  People familiar with the car immediately recognize it.  People new to the car are regularly struck with its aggressive yet refined and sporty styling.  The seams are razor sharp and exact in tolerance, and every component appears high quality and luxuriant.  I have been driving the Viridian Joule color model and the black highlights on the belt line, rear and roof are pleasing to look at and don’t have any gaudy quality.  I have found slight issues with the low front end air dam which scrapes on steep angles, but am told by GM officials this wont injure it as it was made to bend.  They also claim a higher front end optional dam design will be made available.

The charging door is optimally placed and easy to open either with the key fob or a button on the driver’s door.  The charging coupler readily eases in and the car signals the commencement of charging with a short beep. The charging door doesn’t close in an extremely satisfying way however.  I made GM aware of this and they acknowledge they are fixing it slightly.  It must be pressed from the center, not edge.  Once it opened spontaneously on the highway.

Interior
I am 5’8″, 145 pounds.  The car is very roomy for me.  There is significant amount of headroom and hip room and egress and ingress is no problem.  I have watched many people over 6 feet get in and out and drive with no problems as well.  The black leather seats are sturdy and firm and comfortable.  The steering wheel tilts and telescopes easily and the seat is manually controlled to move up and down, back and forth, and to recline.  Finding the perfect driving configuration is a breeze.  I don’t particularly care about the lack of electronic seat controls GM left out to reduce mass.  The rear seating is equally roomy in the lateral dimension for two passengers, though with a front seat pushed far back, knee room is limited.

There is ample storage bins in the doors, the center console, and above the dash.  The cupholders are well placed for my needs and I use them every morning for my cup of coffee.  The cargo space in the hatch is copious.  I used it to bring home a week’s worth of groceries for my family of 5, about 12 plastic bags full without any problem.

Dash/Displays/Tech
The bright crisp high resolution driver’s dash display is a joy for me.  Everything is easy to find and recognize and there are many different unique messages the car can tell you when the time is right, such as cruise control is on, fuel door can be opened, press twice to turn off (if you hit the off button while driving).  The bright green happy battery indicator is just right as is the green eco-ball indicating how aggressively you are driving.  There are less detailed configurations available at the push of a button to the left.  I prefer more information.

The center stack of this car is the white version.  It looks very sturdy and refined in person and with use, its quite attractive.  After a short learning curve the myriad capacitive buttons are simple and satisfying to operate and find when you need them.  The center display has a terrific touch sensitive surface that seems to be calibrated just right.  It is a joy to behold the technology and connectedness you always feel.  This is mostly supplied by OnStar which I have found easy to use and friendly, and ensures you are never alone.  The stereo is perfect and iPhone integration both for songs and phone calls is a breeze.

After each trip a screen indicates how much energy you used both in terms of gas and electricity and overall MPG efficiency is displayed.  There is also a real-time efficiency screen that shows you your driving style from 0% (aggressive) to 100% (highly efficient).  Use of the cabin HVAC is also rated in similar terms of efficiency.

I have found the OnStar iPhone app very useful.  I have enjoyed looking at my battery state of charge from afar, and even more importantly have warmed up the cabin on a couple of occasions using grid energy 15 minutes prior to my departure.

Driving
The car is truly a pleasure to drive.  It is quick and responsive and feels powerful from off the line to over 80 mph on the highway.  It feels heavy and solid and very well-planted on the ground.  This allows for quick aggressive turns with no lateral skidding.  It hugs the road well.  In fact this bottom heavy weightedness is a blessing separating the Volt from most compact cars that are much lighter, and gives it the feel of a luxury car.  It reminds me of the Mercedes E350 I used to drive.  My wife felt the same way.  Yet the calibration of the steering and accelerator make it seem much more nimble that its weight would have you expect.

With the shifter in the D position the car coasts in the same way any conventional car would.  The L position adds significant regenerative drag when the accelerator is released.  I find myself mostly driving in D to allow for coasting, but use the L position to simulate downshifting and to obtain motor braking

The brakes are powerful.  I had to slam them a few times and the car stopped very aggressively.  At first at low speeds they seem a little unusual but over time I readily got used to them.

Efficiency
This car is all about minimizing the use of gas while at the same time giving the driver limitless driving freedom.  To this mission the Volt hits the mark.  What’s so interesting about the car is how it will work differently for everyone.  Anyone who drives less than 40 miles per day will enjoy gas-free driving at almost all times.  The longer the length of the average daily driving cycle the lower the effective mpg.  My daily drive is roughly 60 miles.  I can arrive from home to work purely on electricity usually with anywhere from 3 to 8 miles of EV range remaining.  The EPA has found the car gets 35 miles of EV range, and that is roughly what I have been averaging.  My commute, however, is nearly all highway at around 65 to 70 miles per hour, and I do drive a little towards the aggressive side.  I primarily use the sport mode which has a more aggressive pedal map, but is noted by GM not to reduce efficiency over the normal mode.  I usually get anywhere from 32 to 38 miles of EV range.

I have the luxury of being able to charge at work in my office parking garage assigned spot, for free.  I am there for four hours three days per week and eight hours two day per week.  At 120-v this gets gets me 14 miles of range in four hours and 36 miles in eight hours.  The EPA has found the car uses 12.9 kwh of electricity from the grid to provide the full electric range.

I have kept a detailed driving log here, but for the total of 19 days, I have driven 1291 miles and burned 9.28 gallons of gas (one full tank) for an effective 139 MPG.  Of those miles 946 (73%) were on electricity and 346 (27%) were on gas.

My total combined average fuel economy in charge-sustaining mode is 37.3 MPG.

I have consumed an estimated 340.4 kwh at a cost of 20 cents per kwh.

Thus the total energy cost for me has thus been 9.28 x 3.34 = $31.00 for gas, and $68 for electricity.  This works out to 7.7 cents per mile.

Furthermore, my particular lifestyle and job also required me to surpass 100 miles three times over those 19 days, without time to charge in between.  This is typical for me, and makes exclusive use of a pure 100 mile EV impossible.  When I drove the MINI E for 1-year I had to use a backup gas car for those occasions.

Very importantly, the Volt allows me to complete all my driving requirements with absolutely no concerns or compromises or needs for any additional vehicles, all the while reducing my petroleum consumption by a stunning 75%.

Street Cred
I have found from my interactions that the Volt seems to be viewed by the general public as a hero of sorts.  There is tremendous interest and what appears to be American pride in the car.  The majority of passersby don’t seem to notice it, but each day several people ride up next to me check it out and give a thumbs up.  A few people actually blow the horn, wave, and show great excitement.

Many people have stopped me in parking lots to ask about the car.  Parking attendants seem extremely interested.   I went to one restaurant where there was valet parking.  When I came out the attendant had mounted the car up on the curb in front of the restaurant like a trophy while a dozen high end Benz’ and BMWs sat neatly in the rows with common cars in the back parking lot.  The attendant was filled with glee and said he wished he was allowed to drive the Volt out on the road, but took it around the parking lot as may times as he could.  The main questions people ask are “how do you like it?” and “how much does it cost?”

Conclusion
I am extremely impressed with what GM was able to achieve with the Volt.  I am awed and amazed thinking back to those early days in 2007 when I started GM-Volt.com.  I had no idea then how unbelievably successful GM would prove to be in developing this car.  The car is a masterpiece on every measure.  It truly deserves the awards and attention it is deserving, and every day I look forward to my drive.

Earlier this week Chevrolet wrapped up was was billed as the Volt unplugged tour.  This was a nationwide event in which Chevrolet Volts were brought out to 12 cities around the country to allow consumers the opportunity to test drive the vehicle.

The tour ran from October 9th to November 20, covered 4124 miles, and stopped in 12 cities along the way.  Stops included Los Angles, Houston, Miami, Washington DC and New York.

Turnout was robust.  Chevrolet claims a remarkable 6348 test drives were given.

This was a very smart marketing move as the Volt is really a car that sells itself, once a driver can get a chance behind the wheel.  As one GM marketing person told me selling the Volt is all about “getting butts in cars.”

We have been following the tour in a dedicated thread on the GM-Volt Forum, where several GM-Volt community members have relayed their experiences driving the car. Check it out.   Some interesting quotes from the forum are included below:

“It drives just like a car!”  On member wrote about his wife’s reaction.  ” Couldn’t help myself…I had to laugh at her and say ‘Yes, honey, that’s the whole point!”

“I think most folks will like this car,” wrote another.”It feels very high end.  It has a very quiet cabin that is nice looking and logical.”

“I am 6-4” and found plenty of height and legroom,” said one member.  ”(The drive was) too short, but there were a ton of people who wanted to drive too,” said another.

“I just drove the Volt in Houston today!!! By the time that we arrived to drive the car it was already operating in charge sustaining mode, with no battery power left,” wrote another member.” We drove around the block twice, at speeds under 35 mph and with one short burst on the pedal. The car drove well and handled just like a “regular car”.

“It was a great event and I’m so glad I attended,” wrote another member who drove 300 miles to get there. “I truly feel like I am one of the first to get a glimpse of the future.”

“Following the Volt from conception to production,” wrote another reader. “I finally had my chance to drive one of the wizards in Chicago, Illinois. When I arrived, there they were…. It felt like angels were singing behind my head.”

Judging by the long list of positive reactions, clearly the event was a major success getting the word out about the Volt, and continuing to build demand for the car.  Over six thousand happy test drivers surely went back and discussed the car with their sphere of influence and more  and more people now know about the car.

“The driver testimonials illustrate the diverse offerings of the Volt with comments on its unique extended-range capability, its styling, and its performance,” said John Hughes, Chevrolet Volt marketing manager. “We were excited to see the enthusiastic response to the Volt we received from everyone who drove it.”

Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg consider how limited the number of stops there were compared to the vastness of the country.  Furthermore with only 15,000 Volts to be built in 2011 and 45,000 in 2012 the cars will remain hard to come by for some time.

Source (GM)

For those who don’t know, hypermiling is the process of using extremely efficient driving techniques to maximize fuel economy in a vehicle.  This procedure works best of course in hybrids and EVs when with such cars much kinetic energy can be recaptured in the battery and re-used to motivate the car forward.

Key strategies include pulse an glide wherein a brief acceleration done in a very gradual fashion is followed by the longest period the terrain can accommodate of coasting.  One makes great effort to never apply the friction brakes if possible, to adapt to the terrain and to avoid any stops.

I had the chance in the last 10 miles of my 200 mile Chevrolet Volt test drive to trial some mild hypermiling techniques and see how much fuel economy I could get in the car in charge-sustaining mode.

I didst know ahead of time the area I was driving, but it turned out my 10 mile course was relatively flat with a  few mild inclines and declines.  There were several stopping points and mostly the stated speed limit was 45 MPH.

The Volt was already running in range-extended mode when I started the effort.  I had to use the air-conditioning because it was so warm outside, but set the interior temperature to 76 F using the auto ECO mode, and kept the windows closed to maximize aerodynamics.  I also had two passengers in the car, each well below 200 pounds.  I weigh 145 pounds.  There was a few pounds of luggage.

The Volt is well suited to hypermiling due to its extreme aerodynamics.  Downhill grades were great as you could feel the heavy car slice through the air picking up speed, and mpg, rapidly.  The brakes are very easy to feather and the accelerator is super-responsive allowing for tiny pulses of acceleration.  It turns out sport and normal mode use doesn’t not alter efficiency, it’s just that the pedal map has a sharper ascent in sports mode.  Maximum power is equal.  I did the drive in normal mode, and used the low speed for motor braking and shifted back into drive for coasting. The low speed just sets the regenerative braking drag to a higher force.

There were only two problems I encountered during my hypermiling effort.

First, the generator would occasionally go on seemingly at random.  Whenever the battery state of charge dipped below its threshold (20 to 25% SOC) the generator would  kick on.  As soon as it did, of course the mpg woudl rapidly decline. Fortunately this did not happen often but undoubtedly the fact that the air-conditioner was on contributed to it.

Also the efficiency ball  dash gauge did not give a very fine resolution to see if minor pedal movements affected instantaneous mpg. Also, instantaneous mpg is provided at all.  These are two feedback items I would like to have.

Overall I was able to arrive at my destination 10.1 miles later with a fuel efficiency of 51.9,as the photo above proves.  I did not recklessly or annoyingly and kept right at the speed limit most of the way, though my accelerations were slow.

My passenger observed my effort as follows:  My co-driver did a 10-mile stretch of aggressive hypermiling—windows up, no AC, slooooow acceleration, coasting whenever possible—and got above 51 mpg. Driving normally, I got 37.1 mpg over a 38-mile stretch that included some two-lane highway.

GM is officially stating the Volt gets fuel economy in the “mid to high 30s” and I think that will be true for most average drivers.  The actual number is still under determination by the EPA, who will hopefully issue it prior to launch.

The Chevrolet Volt is amenable to hypermiling techniques and I believe the average person should easily be able to achieve mid-50 mpg economy with effort and mild temperatures.  Expert hyperrmilers should be able to achieve numbers considerably higher than that.

Last week GM hosted groups of media for the Chevrolet Volt launch event in Rochester, Michigan. Each reporter, including myself, had the chance to drive the Volt about 200 miles throughout the region.

On the first day we drove the car will a fully charged battery from the Detroit airport to the Royal Park Hotel in Rochester MI where we stayed and launch activities were taking place. GM devised this leg of driving as a competition. Teams of one or two journalists took turns at the wheel, each completing half of the trip.  Single journalists got to drive the whole time.  The team that could arrive to the destination with the most electric range remaining would get to have a Volt to take home for one month.

As I previously reported, my team traveled the 45.9 miles with 3 miles remaining on the meter. I personally took it easy with accelerating and braking and managed to go 18.9 miles on 8 miles of registered range used, but my partner was a bit more stompy on the pedals.

GM has nearly completed the competition and has announced the results.

There were a total of 24 teams and 38 journalists. My team came in so far tied for tenth place.

The current winning team, composed of EV advocate Chelsea Sexton and Tamara Warren of Gotryke.com managed to traverse the 45.8 miles with 12 miles still remaining, an effective range of at least 57.8 but likely more.

The lowest team had their generator go on on 36.9 miles.

The average distance traveled was 47.1 miles, with 3.3 miles of remaining range.  Thus the average groupo of driver with two or three people in the car were able to manage 50.2 miles of range when they made an effort to be conservative.  The trip included average speeds around 45 to 50 MPH which is said to be an efficiency sweet spot for the car.  There were no highways, but there were a significant number of stops either for traffic lights, stops signs, or traffic.

This experiment confirms the Volt can achieve well above it’s original goal of 40 miles of range set out in 2007 at the time of the Volt concept revealing.

According to sources, one engineer within GM was able to achieve 60 miles prior to the generator going on.

“Obviously these are just beginning data points, and in the context of an efficiency game,” said Chelsea Sexton. “But it reinforces the expectation that many people won’t be seeing a gas station up close very often.”

“Rob Peterson was especially surprised by our results; in addition to the fact that Tamara had never driven an EV before, he noted on my fb page that ‘Chelsea typically drives like she just robbed a bank’!” she added.

Source (GM)

I spent the better part of a warm October day driving a Chevrolet Volt throughout northeast Michigan. This was the culmination of years of discussion, research, writing and dreaming, finally coming true.  I alternated taking the wheel with another journalist and we were accompanied by a GM spokesperson who rode in the back seat.

We took the car through city streets, rural roads, and highways. We ran into stop signs, traffic lights, construction zones and highway entrances and exits. It was an extensive driving experience the likes of which I had never had before with the car which was a fully-refined salable build.

Our day began with a fully charged battery indicating 40 miles of available range. That number is determined based on the behavior of the previous drive, and nowhere was displayed the percent battery range remaining, just the estimated range which gradually moves towards zero as you go.

The first leg of our journey included some spirited freeway romps over 85 mph at times. We were able to travel 36.9 miles before the range extender went on. We continued for another 16.4 miles and arriving after 53.3 miles of driving our total fuel efficiency to that point was 98 mpg.

At our first destination, the DHAM assembly plant, we plugged our car into a cool solar panel charging station (shown above) and about two hours later returned to the car which by then had accrued 24 miles of EV range. After driving off again the range extender went back on that time after exactly 24 miles. We then covered another 30.9 miles to our second destination for a total of 54.9 miles. The fuel economy of that leg measured 66.6 mpg.

Our next to final leg back to the hotel was done only in extended-range mode, at 50 to 60 mph, over flat roads with mild hills. My co-pilot drove the car during that stretch with no particular attention or effort to achieving good fuel economy, and included spirited acceleration and hard stops. We covered 37.4 miles and returned a fuel economy of 37.1 mpg.

I took back the wheel for the last 10 miles and made a particular effort to hypermile the car. I managed to achieve 51.9 MPG over those 10.1 miles.

In the end we traveled 155.7 miles, 60.9 on electricity and used 2.55 gallons of gas. Total fuel economy for this trip thus was 61.1 mpg.

Overall the car was very solid yet seemed light and firmly hugged the road. It handled rough turns like it was painted to the road.  Inside it was bright, cheerful highly technical and spacious.

It was fast and could surge onto the highway and could briskly pass other cars without any discernible strain. I measured 60 to 80 mph time on the highway at 7.8 seconds.  It was a very compelling and confident vehicle.

One could never detect when the car switched from EV to charge sustaining mode. Stepping hard on the accelerator once in CS mode usually produced a noticeable engine noise which seemed faint and muted and followed the expected demand with a slight delay. There was the occasional unexpected rev here and there, but it never created any issues.

Of particular note, no change in sound or behavior could be detected when passing 70 mph in charge-sustaining mode, the controversial state where the ICE always participates in turning the driveshaft.  I repeated this trial numerous times to be sure.

The sound system boomed thr0ugh six speakers, and the HVAC, seat comfort and graphic interfaces were excellent.  Those vivid LCD screens are just awesome.

Overall it was a really outstanding experience that I will always remember. The car is an awesome unlimited daily driver that was highly potent and flexible. With care, more than 50 miles of range and 50 miles per gallon in CS mode could be obtained. With no particular effort or attention to driving efficiently, expect EV ranges and CS MPGs in the high 30s.

For another perspective, you can actually read the review of the reporter who accompanied me on this journey, Seth Fletcher of Popular Science: Never Mind the Naysayers: The Chevy Volt is Excellent