![]() Working as a millwright at a GM plant that made the Chevrolet Cruze, a local GM factory closing down forced Erick to choose a vehicle that could handle the long commute to his new relocated work. Depending on how far you drive, theoretically you can never have to use the Volt’s gas engine as long as you charge up before depleting the 16-18 kWh lithium-ion battery. When battery capacity drops below a pre-established threshold from a full charge, the vehicle enters a charge-sustaining mode with the Volt’s 1.4L 149 HP engine kicking in providing both propulsion and charge. The Volt operates as a purely electric vehicle for the first 25-50 miles of travel in charge depleting mode. If you didn’t already know, the Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid made by General Motors. Throwback Thursday: Rolls Royce Silver Shadow.Is the 2015 Corsa VXR still the hottest hatchback?.What if Tesla produced logistical good vans?.Once again, the electric car proves more suitable for suburbia than life in the inner city. My biggest complaint is the lack of any fast charging option, although Volt engineers have told me that most of their customers are happy charging at night or at the workplace. And while the Volt has cruise control, it's not adaptive. The car's lane keep assist feels dated in comparison to its implementation in something like a Tesla Model S or Audi A4. And the lack of a spare tire (an optional extra) came to bite me after I misjudged the entry into a parking lot. Although Chevrolet redesigned the front air dam based on customer feedback, it still grounds easily on speed bumps and the like. (There's even wireless charging for phones that support the feature.)Īll of that is not to say it's perfect. The 8-inch touchscreen is one of the better ones out there, and there are plenty of USB ports. The interior design is the funkiest we've seen from GM in quite some time, and it's a genuine five seater, although the trunk space could do with being a bit bigger. I'd go as far as to say that if I still had a commute and somewhere to plug it in at night, I'd seriously consider one as my next vehicle. That meant I was also not able to quite match Chevrolet's claimed 53-mile (85km) electric range-although Tiffany Kelly did just that during our first drive of the car in 2015.Įven though I was never able to quite match the official economy figures, my combined time with the Volt has left me a fan. This took two full battery charges (about six hours) connected to a level 2 (240v) charger, but not once in July did I have to hear the engine rumble into life. Using the paddle to slow the car quickly becomes second nature, and again the car helps out, giving feedback of how many kW are being recovered.Īnd yet, try as I might, the best I could accomplish in almost 100 miles (160km) was a paltry 90.3MPGe. Heavy braking was also banished, thanks to the Regen paddle behind the steering wheel's left spoke. On city streets with 25mph (40km/h) speed limits, a short burst of acceleration goes a surprisingly long way. ![]() This allows the car to coast, which it did with remarkable gusto. With clearer roads ahead, D was my preferred choice. With the transmission selector in L, the MGU begins to harvest kinetic energy from the front wheels as soon as the accelerator pedal is lifted, perfect for inching through stop-and-go traffic. The normally green ring around the central driver's display turns yellow if you accelerate or brake too hard, giving an easy visual cue to help retrain one's driving brain. In stark contrast to February, even with the AC on blast the car was happy to run in fully electric mode (although I quickly switched from "Max" to "Eco" once that all-black cockpit was close to tolerable). And with pavement hot enough to fry eggs, there was no intrusion from the internal combustion engine to disturb that peace. When you're not racing to every red light, driving becomes a much more serene activity, particularly under electric power with nothing but a little wind noise and NPR for a soundtrack. (To do the latter in February would have ended in certain frostbite, the same in July a nice case of heat exhaustion.) The car was left in Normal mode after all there's no point selecting Sport if you're trying to stretch a charge. I modified my driving style with plenty of lifting and coasting, although without certain hypermiling tricks like over-inflating the tires or driving everywhere with the climate control turned off. Further Reading Test-driving the new Chevrolet Volt at CESAs with February's test, I made an effort.
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