Below are the two top highest voted entries from an initial field of over 100. The winner of the vote below will not only get to test drive the Chevy Volt in New York City at the end of the month, but will get their travel expenses paid up to $500. This generous prize is from GM-Volt.com sponsor NetLook.com. Please vote for your favorite in the forum below.
ENTRY 1
Volt Nation
I have been an active member of Volt Nation, following the Volt from the beginning, even donating my time to do graphic design work. I tell people everywhere I go about the benefits of the electrification of the automobile and why the Volt is going to be a winner. These are all similar reasons that anyone at GM-Volt.com can cite as justification, so what makes me different?
I have deployed several times in support of US operations around the globe and am very proud of the service I have done for my country. That pride is tempered by the knowledge that war, while at times necessary, is exceptionally wasteful. We are wasting lives, resources and time on propping up a system that is harmful to the environment and potentially devastating to a peaceful, verdant future.
Imagine if we as a nation had vehicles that demanded less or required no gasoline. Imagine how that would affect our foreign policy, putting fewer of our troops, my brothers and sisters, in harms way. Fewer dollars would be spent to use the military to protect oil assets in far away lands and more dollars would be spent on the renewable infrastructure and smart electrical grid that is so desperately needed here.
National defense can be secured in many ways. I believe that the electrification of the automobile is one of the most potent weapons we can develop. Promoting renewable energy use and the electrification of transportation with vehicles like the Volt will take value away from oil. The less that oil is worth, the less influence oil rich countries in the Middle East will have on our foreign policy. When that happens, perhaps we really can achieve the dream of peace in our time.
-Harrier1970
ENTRY 2
Why Wouldn’t I want a Volt?! ….I can’t think of even one reason NOT to!
As an astrophysicist who worked on NASA’s “moon shot” throughout the 1960’s, I’ve always thought of GM’s decision to design, develop and market an electric automobile as not unlike America’s decision to design, develop and launch a man-bearing rocket to the moon. It has the same kind of overwhelming risks, heart-pumping excitement and huge potential rewards. It demands developing break-through technologies and facing overwhelming challenges unlike any encountered before. It risks enormous financial losses ….as well as painful losses in global prestige…. in event of failure.
So I have followed the Volt’s development at GM-Volt.com with genuine fervor since 2007. A day seldom passes without my reading most of the topics and comments on this remarkable blog. I even flew from my home near the Kennedy Space Center to a truly milestone event sponsored by GM-Volt.com ….VoltNation in NYC two years ago this month…. where I was privileged to meet and speak with Lyle Dennis, Bob Lutz, Tony Pozawatz, Andrew Farah as well as others on GM‘s Volt development team. Upon returning home afterward, I was PUMPED!
One thought I shared with several GM and other attendees at VoltNation was that I believed we had relied on American ingenuity and hard work to beat the Russians to the moon ….and that GM could count on it to beat their competitors world-wide to a viable EV design ….a design that could be manufactured in large numbers and that would revolutionize automotive design (just as we revolutionized space travel).
And the GM team has not shirked from the task. The car is powerful, quiet, responsive, reliable, handles well and meets the daily driving requirements of most Americans without using a single drop of gasoline ….at a cost for electricity roughly one-fifth that for gasoline! In addition, because the Volt’s EREV architecture embodies two independent sources of power (or “fuel”), the likelihood of ever being stranded along a street or highway is vanishingly small by contrast to present-day cars. Also, an electric motor’s inherently much higher reliability will greatly reduce maintenance requirements (and costs). And “range anxiety”, an unfortunate aspect of ordinary EV designs, completely disappears with the Voltec EREV design.
So in short ….moon shot or not…. there’s simply not a single reason NOT to want a Chevy Volt!
This is the second round of 6 finalists. Please vote for your favorite from the 6 entries below, the top 5 will win test drives in NY:
1. Video
2. When I pull back the curtains in the morning, the first thing I see are the windmills. The sun plays gently between the blades, greeting a new day, as it has every day for the last two years. As I go through my normal morning routine I glance out the window and see the sun now bouncing off the hood of my car, picking out metallic flecks buried deep beneath the black surface. I notice on my energy monitor that the car has started warming itself up, it’s time for me to go.
As I pull out of the driveway, I wave to my neighbor Ted, who I see is on his way to work. He looks a lot healthier, since he started walking the two miles each way. His wife is leaving as well, she’s headed in the other direction. She thought she’d miss her SUV at first, but after finding just how versatile modern hatchbacks are, she rarely thinks of it. Ted finally sees me and he waves back, but I see the sadness in his eyes, where it has been since his son died in Helmand.
I’m half way to work, and I pass the gas station. I last went there a month ago, and I’m glad. It’s a depressing place to be. Every day I see parents watching every drop of gas they pump, knowing they are balancing in their mind the need to get to work, against the need to feed their family. Things are starting to get better now, prices have dropped back to $9 a gallon after Iran finally quit the war. They say the latest Alaskan wells will come online soon, so it might go back to $7. I am still thinking of the young mans’ face we all saw so many times on the news, they’re still not sure who opened fire on the protesters.
After a long day at work I’m glad to relax in the car on the way home. My wife calls me halfway, her hunch was right – I’m going to be a father. As I drive back under the windmills a tear rolls down my cheek, I wish I could have done more to bring my child into a better world. I hope I can teach the next generation something.
We all have to start somewhere.
I started with the Volt.
3. Death of Cynicism by Electric Shock
Over the past eight years, I have studied the integral role that General Motors played in shaping the landscape of our current American transportation system. It has been a sour lesson in the relationship of American politics with business, and I have since developed a highly critical outlook on the actions of General Motors. The cynical man inside my heart blames General Motors for a pervasive culture and philosophy in American motor cars that sacrificed blue collar values of dependability, shared sacrifice, and innovation, for profit. This cynical man blames General Motors for dismantling working rail system of public transportation in cities throughout the United stated, by purchasing them through subsidiaries, negatively restructuring them and systematically breaking transit lines in favor of “automized” bus systems. The sickly cynical man also blames General Motors for developing, patenting and building revolutionary battery technologies, only to see the patents sold to oil companies with competing interest, and those same technologies buried as soon as manufactures begin to use them. I truly hate that cynical man.
That man has spent these past eight years waging a quiet information campaign, spreading everything he has learned among friends, family and in conversations with strangers. However, that man is sick, weak and tired. In his place, a new man wants to be born, to be nurtured and to grow. The new man wants desperately to believe in the ability of an American Motor Company to confront, challenge, and break with its own cultural past in order to rebuild, not only its own future, but the domestic and cultural future of an entire nation. I want the new man to sit in the very driver’s seat of the new Chevy Volt, as it now sits poised on the precipice of just such a historic change. The electrified controls will come to life in the hands of that new creature, and fed by the hum of an electric motor, that new man will cast off the cynical one. An honorable thing will be done, as that old man breaths his last, and the new man looks towards a bright electrified future, with an old enemy, now his new friend, sitting in the passenger’s seat.
4. Volt Nation
I have been an active member of Volt Nation, following the Volt from the beginning, even donating my time to do graphic design work. I tell people everywhere I go about the benefits of the electrification of the automobile and why the Volt is going to be a winner. These are all similar reasons that anyone at GM-Volt.com can cite as justification, so what makes me different?
I have deployed several times in support of US operations around the globe and am very proud of the service I have done for my country. That pride is tempered by the knowledge that war, while at times necessary, is exceptionally wasteful. We are wasting lives, resources and time on propping up a system that is harmful to the environment and potentially devastating to a peaceful, verdant future.
Imagine if we as a nation had vehicles that demanded less or required no gasoline. Imagine how that would affect our foreign policy, putting fewer of our troops, my brothers and sisters, in harms way. Fewer dollars would be spent to use the military to protect oil assets in far away lands and more dollars would be spent on the renewable infrastructure and smart electrical grid that is so desperately needed here.
National defense can be secured in many ways. I believe that the electrification of the automobile is one of the most potent weapons we can develop. Promoting renewable energy use and the electrification of transportation with vehicles like the Volt will take value away from oil. The less that oil is worth, the less influence oil rich countries in the Middle East will have on our foreign policy. When that happens, perhaps we really can achieve the dream of peace in our time.
5. I am 60 years old. I have lived through flower power, the Vietnam War and the protest, the gas rationing, Watergate, rescissions, the Gulf Wars and a half century of change, discontent and turmoil. But I have been waiting. I have been waiting all this time for America to lead again. To make me feel proud again. I considered myself a hippie once – and for all the good reasons. Forty years ago I cried for the environment, for our precious and irreplaceable life as it was being destroyed by the toxins from automobiles. I watched and watched. Nothing changed. Not really. And the worst criminals were us, the United States.
I have never stopped being a hippie – a closet hippie maybe. Kids have come and gone – I am proud of their success. I am proud to have grandchildren to share my life with. I am very grateful and thankful for my own success. Life has changed so much, but day in and day out it was always the same. Cars pollute. But I have kept dreaming and kept the faith that America would make a difference and would someday produce a car that really mattered. A car that I could be proud to drive. A car that when I sat in the driver’s seat would make me smile. A car that made me proud to be American again. A car that would inspire. A car that brought back a dream – a dream of fresh, clean air. A car an old hippie could drive.
Thank you GM.
6. I love Nature, I love hiking in the woods and just being away from all the technology we use in our daily lives. I’m also a technologist, I work in IT and get to try out new techno-gadgets long before most people, I was emailing over my cell phone in the mid 90′s when it weighed as much as a brick. I love this country, but I fear for what we are doing with it, every day more and more land gets gobbled up for development, or is strip mined for limited resources, every day are lungs are filled with the toxic by products of our industrial society, while our capital is shipped over seas to countries that in many cases would rather export war against us. We cant keep going like this, something has to change, we need to become self sufficient, we need to protect the resources and the wilderness we have left, electric driving with energy generated from renewable resources is the answer and I want to help us get there.Over the last year I’ve been blogging about
my experiences driving the MINI E electric car at http://mini-e.blogspot.com Its been a wonderful experience but I’ve come to the realization that I’m not right for a pure electric car. During the weekdays I rarely drive over 60 miles, most days I only drive 40, for which the MINI E is a great commuting car. But on the Weekends I’m either driving to my Fiancee’s (80 miles away) or we are off to the mountains to go hiking on some back trail, or mountain biking somewhere new, we like to explore and get away from civilization, and technology. Unfortunately this means the MINI E usually spends the weekend sitting at one of our homes. I cant have one car for weekday commuting and another for weekend exploring, with the Chevy Volt I’ve got two cars in one, it will give me an almost all electric daily commute (All electric if I can convince my company to put chargers in at work), and it gives my fiancee and I the range and cargo room we need to explore the
great outdoors, what could be better?
We recently announced a special opportunity for 10 GM-Volt.com readers to test drive a pre production Chevy Volt in EV and range extended mode in New York City.
We received over 100 entries of essays and videos answering “Why I Want a Chevy Volt.”
In a very difficult task, myself and a team of judges reduce the field to 12 entries. To favor those who are frequent participators and commentators on the site, 6 were chosen from that group, and 6 from the remaining field.
Below are the first 6 entries. Please vote for your favorite one in the form at the bottom. The remaining 6 entries will appear in the next post. From each group the top 5 will win and then in a third post we will vote for the overall winner who will have their travel expenses to New York covered by site sponsor NetLook.com.
1.I want a Chevy Volt because I want to be an American hero!
The scarcity of the initial Volts, coupled with the accepted wisdom that it will have a huge impact on the electrification of transportation in the USA, will lead to “dramatic” situations. Consider, if you will the following scenario:
(fade from black) Heavily armed convoys guarding the carrier trucks, have delivered the first Volts to the Dealer lots- which are also heavily fortified – surrounded by tall, chain-link fences, topped with rolls of razor wire. Guard towers with spotlights at the corners scan the lot and the angry crowd surrounding the entire area. National Guardsmen help punch a hole in the crowd surrounding the lot, for the poor anemic young man, who has won the National lottery that allowed this single Volt purchase for his State. But then, HE’S ON HIS OWN! He’s gotten his cherished Volt, but the angry mob blocks his way off the lot! Failing to inch his way out, he GUNS it – the crowd quickly parts, as dozens of people leap aside – narrowly escaping injury from the Volt’s instant torque! He’s OUT, but NOW WHAT? he can’t possibly just park it at his house – surely it would be stolen immediately! He needs to make a RUN for it!…. (announcer’s voice cuts in) “Follow the adventures of our Noble Volt warrior, as he tries to protect his car, his life, and LIFE AS WE KNOW IT IN THE U.S. of A!! This trailer rated PG – Parental Guidance suggested. V,AL,BN. Opening Independence Day 2010
2.Why I want the game-changing Chevy Volt
It appears that humanity is headed for a new chapter in our development. For the last 100 years or so we have enjoyed not only the advances in automobile technology but an almost uninterrupted growth in global petroleum production.
Early in the 21st Century, there were signs that all was not well in the energy industry. A flattening of petroleum production growth around 2005 started to raise eyebrows. When July 2008 rolled around, it was obvious (to many who researched the details) that some changes were needed. We needed to find a way to get off of our petroleum addiction or suffer the consequences of not only price instability, but reduced national security and even climate change issues.
What were we going to do? Electric cars have been tried before. GM learned the hard way with the EV1 that the pure EV model would not work. The rest of the major automakers faired no better. Hydrogen cars have been 10 years away for more than 10 years and counting. How are we going to get transportation off of that black gold?
The answer was drawn on the back of a napkin. What if an electric vehicle could be made in high volume that not only eliminated range anxiety, but reduced the size and thus cost of the battery pack? That answer was the Chevy Volt.
An unassuming doctor named Lyle, busy with his practice, heard about this answer and a light went off in his head. Instead of sitting back to watch what happened, Lyle decided to take action and start the now famous GM-Volt website. He wanted to get out the idea to as many people as possible and provide a way for people to discuss this amazing new idea. Little did he know how popular his website would become. Little did he know how influential his website would become for GM.
I was also looking for people to talk to about our problems with energy when I stumbled on to Lyle’s website. Little did I know how long I would stay. Little did I know how much time I would spend debating every energy issue under the sun.
I want a Chevy Volt because it is still the best solution to one of the greatest problems to face humanity – petroleum addiction. I wish to support this great vision and convey to as many people as possible that we do have options. We will make it thought this crisis.
Sometimes it takes a great leap, not only in faith, but in action. That is why I want a Chevy Volt.
3. Video
4. Why I Want a Chevy Volt
My grandfather was an electrician. I was impressed by the technology at an early age. As a child, I read an article in his Popular Science magazine; quoting experts who said that electric cars were just ten years away. Even then, the prospect of a real electric car was exciting. I wondered if one would be out by the time I got my drivers’ license.
Those experts must have been really knowledgeable, because they were right for nearly forty years. Whenever fears of pollution, energy shortages or oil embargoes threatened, research efforts continued to make this claim. The only results I ever saw were consortium or university-project one-offs which vanished as rapidly as they appeared; leaving us with the problems of our future transportation needs unsolved. Of course, over most of that time an enclosed golf-cart type of electric “car,” with very little practical utility, was available: not exciting at all.
Though I had hoped as a young person to contribute to the electric vehicle renaissance, I never did become an engineer. I still kept up with developments, had ideas of my own, and continued to dream of the day that a practical electric car might come within reach. In more recent years, I began to wonder if it would come before I was too old to have a drivers’ license.
New battery technology eventually did allow “rich men’s toys” to be developed, but these cars were so removed from daily life as to seem impossible. An electric car that anyone could drive seemed as remote as ever. To replace the role of gasoline for long range travel required a prohibitively expensive battery (and where could one “fill up” on the road?).
Then, I heard about the Chevy Volt: an electric car plus. With a battery pack inexpensive enough to purchase, yet practical enough for daily driving: even offering a rapidly-refilled gasoline backup for long distance travel. A car which would never leave a motorist stranded on the side of the road with a depleted battery. A meaningful step towards meeting future transportation needs.
I have hoped that I might still have a role to play in bringing the electric car to every person, even if it only means leaving comments at gm-volt.com. If I can participate in the Volt’s beginnings by only sampling that technology, perhaps I will still have that chance.
5. Why I Want a Chevy Volt
The reasons come in 3 flavors.
Flavor 1 — More than anything else, I think it will be a fun car to start up, because you don’t have to, then it will be a fun car to drive, because it has a low center of gravity and smooth acceleration, and then it will be a fun car to ride around in, because it seems to have all sorts of nifty gadgets in the console, and all sorts of nifty displays on the front panel. Sure, all cars are at one level just transportation from A to B, but life is short, so why have a car that is boring when there is another car that will be fun?
Flavor 2 — To show other people, maybe to show off to other people a little bit, but really mainly to show people who are interested already. OK, if my neighbors at home admire it, that is fine. On a much more serious level I work in a university and people think of me as a car person. Having worked where I work for a long time I know a lot of people at all different levels and schools of a wide and wonderful institution. University people are tuned into the future. Some days we think we create the future, through generations of students who go out and do wonderful things. Here there has been a lot of discussion of electric cars and what they will be like, in class and out of class. I want to drive one and then to own one so that it is possible for me to start talking about what the ARE like, not just what they MIGHT BE like or SHOULD BE like. And, assuming that is good as I have every expectation that it will be, I want to be able to show the car to students, staff, administrators and faculty, for all will really want to know.
And flavor 3 — the Volt is a car that has acquired a community of fans and followers through gm-volt.com They are knowledgeable (really are), eccentric, irascible, and intense people. Driving a Volt and owning a Volt, whenever they should be for sale here, is what this community is going to do, and me too. If the driving opportunity becomes a way to meet some more of them in person, so much the better.
6.Why Wouldn’t I want a Volt?! ….I can’t think of even one reason NOT to!
As an astrophysicist who worked on NASA’s “moon shot” throughout the 1960’s, I’ve always thought of GM’s decision to design, develop and market an electric automobile as not unlike America’s decision to design, develop and launch a man-bearing rocket to the moon. It has the same kind of overwhelming risks, heart-pumping excitement and huge potential rewards. It demands developing break-through technologies and facing overwhelming challenges unlike any encountered before. It risks enormous financial losses ….as well as painful losses in global prestige…. in event of failure.
So I have followed the Volt’s development at GM-Volt.com with genuine fervor since 2007. A day seldom passes without my reading most of the topics and comments on this remarkable blog. I even flew from my home near the Kennedy Space Center to a truly milestone event sponsored by GM-Volt.com ….VoltNation in NYC two years ago this month…. where I was privileged to meet and speak with Lyle Dennis, Bob Lutz, Tony Pozawatz, Andrew Farah as well as others on GM‘s Volt development team. Upon returning home afterward, I was PUMPED!
One thought I shared with several GM and other attendees at VoltNation was that I believed we had relied on American ingenuity and hard work to beat the Russians to the moon ….and that GM could count on it to beat their competitors world-wide to a viable EV design ….a design that could be manufactured in large numbers and that would revolutionize automotive design (just as we revolutionized space travel).
And the GM team has not shirked from the task. The car is powerful, quiet, responsive, reliable, handles well and meets the daily driving requirements of most Americans without using a single drop of gasoline ….at a cost for electricity roughly one-fifth that for gasoline! In addition, because the Volt’s EREV architecture embodies two independent sources of power (or “fuel”), the likelihood of ever being stranded along a street or highway is vanishingly small by contrast to present-day cars. Also, an electric motor’s inherently much higher reliability will greatly reduce maintenance requirements (and costs). And “range anxiety”, an unfortunate aspect of ordinary EV designs, completely disappears with the Voltec EREV design.
So in short ….moon shot or not…. there’s simply not a single reason NOT to want a Chevy Volt!
[ad#post_ad]Famous comedian and car enthusiast Jay Leno had the chance to check out and test drive an advanced Chevy Volt prototype earlier this month in California. He was given a tour and test drive of the car by its chief engineer Andrew Farah.
The video has been posted over at Jay Leno’s Garage and can be viewed at the bottom of the post.
Jay seemed pleased and impressed with the car. He is a particular fan of electric cars, and owns a 1908 Baker electric that he gave Farah a ride in, and showed off a 1916 Owens Magnetic that is actually a gas-powered electric car. Leno also liked his EV-1 which he pointed out Farah was an engineer of.
Farah went through with Leno the basic premise of the Volt’s 40 mile electric range and unlimited gas driving ability after those electric miles were depleted. He explained how the car has both a D and L mode, with the latter producing more intense regenerative drag for one-pedalled driving, and a normal and sports mode with the latter giving an extra 30 horsepower.
Th effect of cold weather and accessory load was discussed. Farah agreed these would reduce range, and stated “everyone will get a different amount of range,” based on these variables.
Jay got into the car and looked over the interior, and noted the car was actually pretty big. Once driving he said “all you hear is the wind and maybe the tires.”
He said it was “eerily quiet yet strangely familiar”
When directly confronted by Leno, Farah admitted the Volt weighs 3900 pounds.
In the end Leno told Farah, “you’ve done a wonderful job on this car.”
“I really think this is the breakthrough car,” said Leno. “And its American technology and it was developed right here in Detroit.”
“Take one for a test drive,” he advised his audience. “I think you will like it…pretty cool.”
[ad#post_ad]As many here are aware I had the chance to test drive an advanced Chevy Volt integration vehicle last week. Read the full report here.
I took the car for a 50 minute spin around a parking lot course with a top speed of around 50 MPH. Though the testing environment was somewhat limited, and the car not fully refined, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and came away extremely pleased and impressed with the vehicle.
I can hardly wait until I have one to call my own, which I hope won’t be too long in the future.
Below is the edited video of my test drive. Hopefully it might let you feel a little like being a passenger in the back seat. You will hear some interesting banter among myself and the two other GM occupants, Chief Engineer Andrew Farah in the front seat and Vehicle Line Director Tony Posawatz in the rear. The filming was done by a fourth occupant, a GM social media staffer who I am grateful to for his help.
There are quiet periods which allow you to hear the generator.
Many other journalists and other people of influence got the chance to drive the car that day and others and all the reports have come back uniformly glowing.
[ad#post_ad]There are a few times in life when one’s hard work is rewarded, when one can get to see the fruits of one’s labor and the stuff of one’s dreams come true. Such was the day I drove the near-production Chevrolet Volt in both EV and charge-sustaining mode.
After nearly three full years of following each and every development, after discovering and discussing every detail imaginable, I drove for the first time the fully production-intent car that emerged from the back of Jon Lauckner’s and Bob Lutz’ proverbial napkin in 2006.
I may not have been the first to drive it nor the first to write about the experience, nor the least biased, but my voyage was the deepest of all.
The car was in its full production glory, with every gleaming detail full sculpted and bathed in its signature paint. It appeared far more aggressive and athletic than any show model I’d ever seen, gone the roughness notable in its integration vehicle brethren.
This car was also one of the 80 hand-built pre-production models assembled over the summer. It had reached a late stage of refinement though according to lead engineer Andrew Farah, some units were actually further refined than this one.
The refinements this car was still lacking had to do with acceleration, generator behavior, handling, and graphics and driver interface functions.
I found the egress and ingress very open and inviting. The driver’s seat was well situated and I had ample shoulder, leg and knee room; it was a very generous seating area. I drove the car with three other people in it and all had plenty of room and looked comfortably spaced. The interior was bright and cheerful and seemed very spacious including head room.
The driver’s seat position was manually controlled. Levers allowed forward and back movement, up and down positioning, as well as recline. Farah said a motorized system was left out to reduce mass.
The dashboard displays were beautiful. The screens were bright, vivid, crisp and conservatively artistic and looked to be in high definition. There were several display menu configurations on the driver dash that could be scrolled through and chosen with a dash button to the left. The center display was touch sensitive. The ipod-like white center stack had interestingly unique capacitive finger-sensing buttons that gave audio feedback in the form of a slight subtle chirp when the touching finger was detected. There was no tactile feedback, nor was it needed. The buttons were a little unreliable, something Farah said still needed work. The green leaf eco display was also not yet operational. For my task I found that I could set the display to show MPG. I reset it at the start of my drive. It read >500 MPG while in EV mode.
To start, the keyfob simply has to sit anywhere in the car and then the start button is pushed while the brake pedal is depressed. The screen then comes to life letting you know the car is on.
The test track was a 0.4 mile winding pylon flanked path set up on an uneven parking lot surface, so some slight grades were included, but nothing steep.
And so with one small step for me and one large step for all of us I hit the accelerator.
The car accelerated precisely and assertively and felt very spirited. There were two modes of operation. Normal mode offers 90 kw peak power and felt to be in the 9 second 0 to 60 range. Sport mode delivered noticeably more intense acceleration below a 9 second 0 to 60. I was not permitted to time 0 to 30 or 0 to 60. It was not an outright sports car feel, but definitely sporty. Clearly it would outrun a Prius, Insight, or Fusion hybrid all of which I’ve driven. It’s top speed of 100 MPH would also easily top the Nissan LEAF’s 85 MPH.
I did bring a decibel meter as requested, but this too was not allowed by the team. Beyond any doubt however the car was extremely quiet in EV mode. Even the whine of the electric motor that can be heard in the MINI E or Tesla was very dim and muted by what seemed to be excellent sound insulation.
I spent about 50 minutes continuously driving, but did not have enough space to go beyond about 50 MPH.
I started out with about four miles of EV range and I watched intensely for the changeover to generator mode. The only change that coud be observed was the disappearance of the battery graphic on the driver’s screen which became replaced by a fuel tank symbol. With intense critical straining I could detect the slight muted whir of the gas engine but did not find it at all unpleasant. After all we must realize the car is burning gas, that’s its advantage over pure EVs, limitless range when needed. Combustion engines make noise. Period.
Once the car enters charge sustaining mode there’s no turning back to EV mode until the car is plugged in again. The car’s central processor continuously monitors battery state of charge and the rate at which it is being depleted. It will turn on the generator whenever the low point is reached. It may go on at one of several different RPMs depending on the car’s momentary requirements and depletion rate. The engine will turn off again when no longer needed, and when the car comes to a stop.
I found that when I drove reasonably and moderately I didn’t hear the generator go on at all. When I suddenly floored it, the generator revved for a couple of seconds. I did not find the need to use the words jarring, disconcerting, or off-putting as other journalists did. My word is appropriate. You floor a gas burning car, it makes noise.
The car felt very solid and well balanced. The uniquely low center of gravity due to the four hundred pound battery in the center gave a notably beneficial hugging of the ground. Yet the car felt light and spry, the power steering was perfectly tuned and the car handled wonderfully. Farah all but admitted the car weighed 400 pounds more than a Cruze, or about 3500 pounds. He wants it to be lighter and there are plans to make it so for the next generation.
When the car switched into generator mode, I reset the MPG meter.
After about a half hour of driving with the generator the reading was between 32 and 36 MPG, and would increase if I was gentle with the accelerator. Farah claimed this wasn’t a true number and that the display wasn’t accurate, so take it as you may. He instead explained to me about how when he used it for a weekend, driving a total of 200 miles and charging the car every time he came back home with it at 240V, he used a total of .2 gallons of gas for an overall efficiency of 1000 MPG. And in fact, this is the better way of looking at it. We should not be focusing on the generator mode MPG but the car’s overall fuel consumption over time, because that’s what practically matters as it determines how much gas you will burn.
In the end, I found myself delighted and excited about this highly refined, competent and wonderful car. I would take it home as it is right now if I could. But we’ll just have to wait those 11 months and let the engineers do their final tweaking.
There is really nothing to complain about here. GM has taken a great idea and made it into an even greater reality. And our dreams are starting to come true.
