Acceleration incredibly fast off the line...

[MrEnergyCzar]

I can beat most any car from a stop when I punch it in electric mode. Huge unexpected surprise. Will doing this regularly damage the battery? Also, does anyone know the 0-40 time and is it just my imagination that this car flies off the line?

Thanks
Peter

[leeG]

Not you imagination. Unlike gas engines, electric motors produce maximum torque at 0 rpm. They are very quick off the line.

[stuart]

My wife and I were heading south on the Bronx River Parkway this morning. (For those unfamiliar with that road, it is a two lane highway that actually has traffic lights on it.) So, we were stopped at a light in the left lane, with a fire engine red Ferrari in the right lane. We looked at each other and knew we had to race. I put it into sport mode and low, and when the light turned green, I nailed the accelerator. Long story short...

...He cleaned my clock and left me in his dust.

Not that I didn't know that was going to happen. The funny part was that until the light turned green, he didn't.
Stuart #B2209

[Rusty]

does anyone know the 0-40 time and is it just my imagination that this car flies off the line?

Motor trend has the Volt's 0-40 time as 4.5 or 4.6 seconds (CD vs CS). For comparison, it's Chevy brother the Camaro turns in a time of 3.2 seconds.

Yeah, a Camaro (or most any high power car) can blow the Volt away but...

They make one h*ll of a lot of noise, racket, and bother doing it. And most drivers won't think to try. So by the time they realize the silent sleeper next to them is way down the street, it's too late. The advantage the Volt has off the line is that it's so completely effortless. Sure, bunches of cars are faster than a Volt. But it's designed to be sporty and fun to drive, not to be a true sport car.

If you want a really fast EV buy one of the last Tesla Roadsters (at least I think they have a few left). Or you can wait for a Model S or (if you insist on an EREV) go for the Karma. They all should take off the line just as effortlessly as the Volt, with a *whole* lot more take off going on.

As to what it does to the battery? Dunno for sure, but as long as you don't rabbit off the line for each and every chance you get it's probably not too much of a worry.

For me? The Volt is adequately fast and affordable for my purposes. It's ridiculously fun to drive, and it's just so cool not bothering with gas stations.

[tboult]

Just seems fast. Its peppy but not a sportscar. My honda was about the same.
But its less of an issue to run wide open.

the High "C" draw, which is what is needed for the fast acceleration, can impact batteries. (Does on RCs).
Hopefully its well within the Volt's expected usage.

For the stats:
From http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...t/viewall.html




Acceleration to
mph (EV only; EV&gas)
0-30 3.0; 3.2 sec
0-40 4.5; 4.6
0-50 6.4; 6.4
0-60 8.8; 8.7
0-70 11.9; 11.3
0-80 16.0; 14.5
0-90 21.3; 18.3
0-100 29.8; 23.0
Passing,
45-65 mph 4.9; 4.5
Quarter mile 16.9 sec @ 81.9 mph; 16.7 sec @ 86.0 mph
Braking, 60-0 mph 119 ft
Lateral acceleration 0.78 g (avg)
MT figure eight 28.4 sec @ 0.59 g (avg)

More comparison data at
http://motortrend.automotive.com/162...son/specs.html

[TexRiguez]

Yea, I did something similar the other day, I was moving thru traffic using the Jump-drive when 2 very loud rice burners got in the way.I zipped by them with no sound at all, and using the regen in "L" slowed to move between cars, came out the other side, and punched it..I could hear them rev up, man they were loud, but too late!! I did not have to change gears....I was gone, silently...felt like I had my own private Disneyland monorail...Scary cool!!

[DonC]

Yeah, a Camaro (or most any high power car) can blow the Volt away but...

They make one h*ll of a lot of noise, racket, and bother doing it. And most drivers won't think to try. So by the time they realize the silent sleeper next to them is way down the street, it's too late. The advantage the Volt has off the line is that it's so completely effortless. Sure, bunches of cars are faster than a Volt. But it's designed to be sporty and fun to drive, not to be a true sport car.

I definitely agree with your last pont. As to the first, my last two cars theoretically were faster by a few seconds 0-60 but they didn't feel that way. Especially off the line when turning, first gear is hard to control with an ICE vehicle while it's very easy to accelerate with a Volt.

Will it degrade the battery? Maybe if you did it all the time for a prolonged period but now and again for a short sprint it's not going to be a big deal.

[voltage692]

It feels like the Volt definitely doesn't let you unleash the full torque right off the line. I am sure the computer is feathering in the power to be nice to the whole drivetrain, but it would be nice to know more about how it's programmed.

[Steverino]

Yes, I have been fighting my tendency to punch the Volt from a stoplight. Today a SUV pulled up and the guy looked like he wanted to race. I resisted the urge. The light changed, he flew down the road and a cop pulled him over. I glided silently past the pulled over SUV and was happy I resisted my need for speed.

[Kup]

A couple of issues:

It seems that the Volt accelerates exteremely well up to about 30 MPG and then kinda plateaus. Tboult lists a time of 3.0 secs to 30 MPH. How does this compare to say similarly priced Acuras, BMW 3 series, or Lexus?

In addition, is it just my Volt or do other Volt owners experience a range of acceleration rates? Some days when I put it in SPORT and punch it there is a serious feeling of being pushed back in the seat. Other days it seems like the acceleration is good but not nearly as good. I could understand if there were other electrical draws (AC or heater, perhaps lights on) but usually when I put it in SPORT mode I'm looking for some fast accelaration and I don't have the AC on. It seems that the variables are essentially all the same and yet the acceleration just isn't as good as it is on other days. Anybody else experience this?