I’ve been following the development of electric cars every since I read The Inconvenient Truth and watched Who Killed the Electric Car. The Inconvenient Truth inspired me to make changes in my life so I do less harm to the earth. Who Killed the Electric Car inspired me to support the creation of electric cars by manufacturers by pledging that my next car would run on electricity.
So my search for an electric car began. I’ve been debating between the Chevy Volt, the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Model S. So when I got a chance to drive a Chevy Volt here in Portland Oregon, I jumped at the chance. Here are my impressions of driving it. Note: for those of you who don’t read about electric cars all the time, the Chevy Volt runs on batteries for the first 40 miles or so, then a gas engine kicks in to charge the batteries while you are driving. The car works in this generator mode until you plug it in again and charge up the battery pack.
I got in the car and said hi to my passenger named Tim. Tim, an engineer at GM, said he was around when GM made the EV1 (the EV1 is the car that was killed in Who Killed the Electric Car). He still works on electric and fuel cell cars. I told him he must be so proud to see the Volt going into production. He said yes and told me that many people from the EV1 days have come back to see how the work is progressing at GM.
The drive began slowly in the parking lot. The extreme quitness is noticable right away. Then I got on the road and still it was quite. I asked if I could try the Volt with the generator running and Tim said it was going on and off along our drive. I was quite impressed how seamlessly the Volt turned the generator on and off. Tim siad the Volt electric starter spins the generator/engine up to high rpms, then the gas is injected. Pretty slick!
The acceleration was excellent, as we’ve learned with the high-tourque-from-the-get-go feeling of an electric powertrain. The car handled well. It has a low center-of-gravity because the batteries are mounted low. The car felt heavy (I heard it weighs 3800 lbs). The overall feel was like a heavy German car (Audi, Mercedes), not the American-car-squishy feel I was expecting (and worried about).
The interior was quite nice, with very comfortable seats. Tim said only the Cadillac Escalade has higher end seats. The back seats felt like quality front seats too. Instead of a typical 3 person bench seat in the back, there are 2 front-like seats. This leads me to one of the disadvantages I saw with the Volt — the battery pack takes up a lot of interior space. The car didn’t feel as big inside as it looks outside.
Overall I thought the Volt was great. I really like the generator that goes on after the battery is depleted. The car is classified as an Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) and I think it is easier to deal with than a battery-only electric car. However, it does mean you have to maintain a gas engine/generator. That means changing the oil, etc. But my car friends tell me the Volt engine is used so infrequently that it should last for a long time. It can run at just the right rpms to efficiently generate electricitiy.
My next move is to drive the Nissan Leaf on 11/5, so I’ll tell you about that soon. Stay tuned.
Here is some more, albeit detailed, information I learned from the Chevy reps:
- The gas engine helps drive the wheels at high freeway speeds (over 70 mph). They do this because it delivers better mpg in “generator mode.” Some are writing that means the car isn’t as purely electric as people want. To me it sounds like a smart engineering move.
- The batteries are kept as close to 70 degrees as possible. Coolant flows through battery pack and they can heat it or cool the coolant to keep the batteries at a happy temperature.
- They run down the battery to 20% full and only bring it up to 80% full. This helps ensure a long-life for the battery. I think the battery warranty is 8 yrs or 100,000 miles.
- Some people are getting as much as 57 miles on the battery alone. I’ve read that some are getting as low as 30 miles.
- If you never use the gas generator, it goes on at least once every three months to get oil and stuff flowing. If gas is one year old, the car burns it with the generator. They DO NOT recommend adding gas stabilizers. I hear all this helps ensure the engine will have a long life.
- The generator is an off-the-shelf, Opel-created engine. The Chevy Cruse has the same 1.4L engine with turbo charging.
- In Oregon we have to wait for the 2012 model. If you go to California you can buy the 2011 model soon, but it can only be serviced in California. 132 of 135 California dealers signed up to sell the volt. In Oregon we should get it about a year from now.
I’ve been following the development of electric cars every since I read The Inconvenient Truth and watched Who Killed the Electric Car. The Inconvenient Truth inspired me to make changes in my life so I do less harm to the earth. Who Killed the Electric Car inspired me to support the creation of electric cars by manufacturers by pledging that my next car would run on electricity.
So my search for an electric car began. I’ve been debating between the Chevy Volt, the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Model S. So when I got a chance to drive a Chevy Volt here in Portland Oregon, I jumped at the chance. Here are my impressions of driving it. Note: for those of you who don’t read about electric cars all the time, the Chevy Volt runs on batteries for the first 40 miles or so, then a gas engine kicks in to charge the batteries while you are driving. The car works in this generator mode until you plug it in again and charge up the battery pack.
I got in the car and said hi to my passenger named Tim. Tim, an engineer at GM, said he was around when GM made the EV1 (the EV1 is the car that was killed in Who Killed the Electric Car). He still works on electric and fuel cell cars. I told him he must be so proud to see the Volt going into production. He said yes and told me that many people from the EV1 days have come back to see how the work is progressing at GM.
The drive began slowly in the parking lot. The extreme quitness is noticable right away. Then I got on the road and still it was quite. I asked if I could try the Volt with the generator running and Tim said it was going on and off along our drive. I was quite impressed how seamlessly the Volt turned the generator on and off. Tim siad the Volt electric starter spins the generator/engine up to high rpms, then the gas is injected. Pretty slick!
The acceleration was excellent, as we’ve learned with the high-tourque-from-the-get-go feeling of an electric powertrain. The car handled well. It has a low center-of-gravity because the batteries are mounted low. The car felt heavy (I heard it weighs 3800 lbs). The overall feel was like a heavy German car (Audi, Mercedes), not the American-car-squishy feel I was expecting (and worried about).
The interior was quite nice, with very comfortable seats. Tim said only the Cadillac Escalade has higher end seats. The back seats felt like quality front seats too. Instead of a typical 3 person bench seat in the back, there are 2 front-like seats. This leads me to one of the disadvantages I saw with the Volt — the battery pack takes up a lot of interior space. The car didn’t feel as big inside as it looks outside.
Overall I thought the Volt was great. I really like the generator that goes on after the battery is depleted. The car is classified as an Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) and I think it is easier to deal with than a battery-only electric car. However, it does mean you have to maintain a gas engine/generator. That means changing the oil, etc. But my car friends tell me the Volt engine is used so infrequently that it should last for a long time. It can run at just the right rpms to efficiently generate electricitiy.
My next move is to drive the Nissan Leaf on 11/5, so I’ll tell you about that soon. Stay tuned.
Here is some more, albeit detailed, information I learned from the Chevy reps:
- The gas engine helps drive the wheels at high freeway speeds (over 70 mph). They do this because it delivers better mpg in “generator mode.” Some are writing that means the car isn’t as purely electric as people want. To me it sounds like a smart engineering move.
- The batteries are kept as close to 70 degrees as possible. Coolant flows through battery pack and they can heat it or cool the coolant to keep the batteries at a happy temperature.
- They run down the battery to 20% full and only bring it up to 80% full. This helps ensure a long-life for the battery. I think the battery warranty is 8 yrs or 100,000 miles.
- Some people are getting as much as 57 miles on the battery alone. I’ve read that some are getting as low as 30 miles.
- If you never use the gas generator, it goes on at least once every three months to get oil and stuff flowing. If gas is one year old, the car burns it with the generator. They DO NOT recommend adding gas stabilizers. I hear all this helps ensure the engine will have a long life.
- The generator is an off-the-shelf, Opel-created engine. The Chevy Cruse has the same 1.4L engine with turbo charging.
- In Oregon we have to wait for the 2012 model. If you go to California you can buy the 2011 model soon, but it can only be serviced in California. 132 of 135 California dealers signed up to sell the volt. In Oregon we should get it about a year from now.
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