General Motors is finally letting us drive a Chevy Volt test mule on Monday, May 18 after weeks of emails. There is a lot that we would like to know about the electric sedan and it’s revolutionary power plant, but how about you? Leave some questions in the comments after the jump and we’ll do our best to get them answered.
by
Matt Burns
on
May 17, 2009
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Monday is the 18th.
I’m interested in what effect being in a cold climate will have on the batteries performance. I remember hearing that in cold weather the Volt wouldn’t be able to run on pure electric until the battery reached a certain temperature. How long would that take? I only have about a 7 mile commute.
Planned release date, MPC (Miles per charge), guesstimated introductory price, time it takes to fully charge, etc.
0-60 acceleration?
ask them why it is so ugly.
It’s beautiful from my eyes.
I’d also like an answer to the ugly question.
I’m not even talkin’ ’bout the wheels.
Jeez! Take billions outa’ the treasury and they can’t come up with a better grill. WTF?
What part of test mule didn’t you read? The final product is different, try google images.
Hand it over seas? Or give these USA guys a chance?
I know the money from is is Un excusable especially when you read things like Saturn not ever making money.
Has anyone else seen the MPG performance? I’ve read 48mpg and up to 70mpg. A good diesel car will do 70-80mpg, so what’s the big fuss here? Until battery technology is improved, this is a waste of time. Its GM clutching at straws, clinging onto its existence and in its last couple of years trying to appeal to greenies.
Does the Volt really run on all electricity in all circumstances (hard acceleration, going uphill, etc.) during its advertised range of 40 miles? (Compare it to the Prius and the Insight which are always turning on their gas engines for the extra oomph.)
How much of that 40 miles are you getting?
Anything else feel different about it compared to a typical car?
It has only an electric motor driving the wheels; the 1.4L four-cylinder gasoline engine only drives a generator to recharge the batteries in case you need to go beyound the expected 40 miles range from full charged batteries.
whats the life expectancy of the batterys and how much would they cost when they have to be replaced. because i’m sure its just like a cellphone or laptop battery they only last so long before they quit holding a charge
Nothing?
Withfries2, one important thing to remember about the Volt is that it does not have a gasoline motor attached to the wheels. It uses a gasoline generator to recharge the batteries after they become discharged. So yes, it does run on electricity all the time.
Dan, it isn’t a waste of time, it is just new. Everything is difficult when you’re doing something new. The different possibility here is for folks like me that drive about 20-30 miles total each day, I theoretically would not be using gasoline if I charged the car from my home each night. On a long distance trip it wouldn’t be a whole lot different than a standard car because the generator would be running to deliver electricity to the batteries (and in turn to the wheels), but the majority of most users for this car won’t be buying it because they want something to tour the country in.
Chris, GM is estimating the life expectancy of the batteries at 10 years of standard operation. They of course do not know for sure, since they haven’t had these working for 10 years, but from the research I’ve done they have developed a method of keeping an optimal amount of charge within the cells that helps the longevity.
Riles, I assume that if you live in a severely cold climate (I lived in Minnesota for a number of years), i.e. one cold enough to have an effect on the batteries perfomance, it would be recommended to install a plug in heating option, similar to the oil pan/engine block heaters we used in the winter time when it was like 50 below.
is there enough space in the back to put a system?
Technology inside? What did they do, steal “Intel Inside”?
I’d like to add to the line of questioning asking why it is so damned ugly.
Yes I know the one in this pic is for test drives, but the producation one is basically the same shape and still ugly.
It looks pretty much exactly like every other hybrid car out there.
This car is going to fizzle. Looks DO matter, even for treehuggers.
I didn’t like the revised version’s looks at all when it was first released, I liked the concept much better. But now I’ve really started liking the “production” version’s looks, and when I look back at the concept I can’t stand it.
A long way of saying I kinda like it. I’m not a tree hugger, but I am intrigued by this car and hope it does well. I don’t have the money right now or I’d try to buy one, just to play with it.
I’m at the age where although looks do matter, they matter a lot less than they used to.
This isn’t the production version. This looks like a Chevy Cruze with Volt drivetrain.
This is actually the first EV I’m interested in. Performance on grade is info I need.
Performance fully loaded.
Time to charge from flat. Distance at speed before electric generator kicks on.
Answer me these.
Jeff, Jordan,
Just out of curiousity, what examples can you provide of a ‘beautiful’ contemporary automobile?
What kind of maintenance can the average owner handle? Where are the batteries located in the car? Does the gasoline generator take up the entire engine bay?
Here here! I want to know the expected maintenance costs over the life of the vehicle.
Grand P.R Prop…
HEADROOM? Front and Rear, and decent rear legroom. I’m 6′4″, my son is 6′5″, my daughter is 6′, my wife is 5′8″ – Headroom is always the first thing I look at. Second is rear seat legroom. Can the front seats stay back and still have rear seat legroom?
A Nissan Versa has the right interior dimensions. A Toyota Prius does not.
Will Chevy design the Volt so that tall people can enjoy it?
I’m also curious as to what affect on the 40 mile per charge things like wipers, rear window defog, heater, headlights etc have on that over all distance. I realize that in general they assume some sort of re-gen by coasting down hills, but I live in Cleveland where it is dark, and cold for 6 months or more out of the year. All the above are running regularly during those months.