· Then there’s silence as the twin LCD screens power up with animated effects and the only sound you hear is the gentle whirring of the climate control fan.
· It’s the sound of the future as we drove the 2011 Chevrolet Volt around a downtown Southern city on a recent quiet Sunday morning, no one taking a second glance at this pretty normal-looking midsize four-door sedan that makes no noise on the road other than some tire whirring.
· This isn’t a hybrid like a Toyota Prius, nor an all-electric Nissan LEAF. There’s a 16-kWh lithium-ion battery pack and electric drive unit that gives you between 25 and 50 miles of quiet electric drive, and a 1.4-liter gas engine that kicks in to run a generator to expand that electric range an added 344 miles. It charges itself, or can be plugged in – fully charged in about four hours using a 240V outlet, or 10 to 12 hours in a 120V outlet – for a total range of up to 379 miles.
· “It is an electrically charged battery that drives the vehicle. There are very, very few conditions at which the gasoline backup generator engine will power the vehicle,” said General Motors spokeswoman Jennie Ecclestone. “If you have an average 40-mile commute, you may never have to use gas.”
· GM offered an electric car for lease between 1996 and 1999. Called the EV1, the sleek two-seater had a lead-acid battery pack and an estimated range of 70 to 100 miles, although the best I got was about 40 miles when I tested one. Alas, GM cancelled the program and most of the aerodynamic coupes are gone. But they were not forgotten.
· Volt vision - GM tried again in 2007 when it showed off a Volt concept, its four-seat design looking very futuristic. Chevrolet rushed the concept to reality, unveiling a production concept a year later, designed and developed in 29 months and built atop the same platform used now by the new Chevrolet Cruze. The result is more production oriented than the concept, but shares similarities like slit headlights, high beltline and side window design. It all sits on a long (105.7-inch) wheelbase with wide front and rear tracks (61.2 /62.1 inches). Then you notice the aero details. Whereas gas-powered cars have an open grill, the Volt’s is smooth, with alloy accent plates and slit headlights that wrap into the front fenders. The flush lower fog lights are part of the slick nose, then there’s the lower air inlet and dual front air dams to smooth air flow away from the underside. The lower one also scraped a driveway on our test drive. Goodyear FuelMax tires live on polished 17-inch lightweight aluminum wheels that weigh only 17.8 pounds each, compared to 24.2 pounds for a typical wheel, tucked flush with flat-edged flares. There’s a low door sill line done in gray, and fairly flat sides with streamlined side mirrors aft of a pseudo-fender vent with the Volt name. Gloss black accents along the lower window sill line make the side windows look deeper than they are, another echo of the concept car’s side glass design. The windshield has a steep rake for smoother airflow, flowing over a roof line that has a high near-fastback rear window before it ends in a short tail with spoiler, a vertical window under it like the old Honda CRX. There’s a slick rear lower undertray with a central back-up light, and no evidence of an exhaust pipe within its minimal overhang front or rear. For a tightly-designed shape that has a decent .28 co-efficient of drag, it looks a bit special, but not as wild as the EV1 did.
· Volt livability - Inside, a well-designed if slightly space-age cockpit. There’s padded chrome-accented panels atop the left and right dashtops, swooping down into the silver door panels. A lidded storage compartment top dash center holds a 12-volt outlet. A big color LCD high-resolution display is in front of the driver, and another touch screen tops the center stack for standard navigation, audio and trip computer. But for all that sci-fi design, the three-spoke steering wheel is standard GM, right down to the knurled thumbwheel controls for stereo/hands-free phone/voice command (right) and cruise control. The seven-inch-color LCD display framed by the tilt/telescope steering wheel gets a big digital speedometer in the center, with a green bar graph range display on the left and a green ball on the right that tells you how economically (or not) you are driving – bounce high, and you buried the throttle; stay middle and you are driving economically. Total range, gallons of gas used and average mpg are also on the screen. We started with 34 mile electric range and 34.6 mpg, and ended with 30 miles and 35.3 mpg respectively after a 30-minute downtown drive full of stop and go, for an indicated 250-plus mpg. The center stack touch screen handles the AM-FM-CD/DVD-USB/MP3 audio system with 60 GB hard drive (30GB for music storage) and voice command recognition, Bluetooth and pause-and-play XM Satellite Radio with XM NavTraffic/Weather. The energy-saving 6-speaker Bose audio system sounded good. The center screen also hosts standard navigation, climate controls and energy usage/power flow/charging options, the latter accessed via a button on the left with a leaf on it. More sci-fi here – every center dash button is touch-activated on the shiny silver fascia, with a click to confirm, and worked very well, if not as intuitive as a physical button or knob. Climate control buttons live above the CD slot for the most part, while audio controls are below. Under that, the shift lever parks flush in a lower cut-out flanked with the glowing blue power button on the left, and electronic parking brake on the right. There’s storage space behind the lower stack. Behind the gear shift, a storage compartment and twin cup holders. The padded center armrest hides the USB/iPod and MP3 audio inputs and another 12-volt outlet. The front seats were firm and very supportive. The back doors open on a fairly roomy set of rear bucket seats split by the rest of the center console, with cup holders. Since the battery pack sits low, there’s no wall separating passenger from wide cargo deck, although the latter is higher. Fold the rear seat backs down and there’s a flat load floor, something the Nissan LEAF doesn’t have.
· Volt viability - Under the hood, there’s a 111-kW (149-hp) electric drive unit that runs the front wheels with no transmission, and a 1.4-liter, 84-hp EcoTec gas engine to handle the power generation. The 5.5-foot, 435-pound T-shaped battery pack is set low on the spine of the platform, covered by an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty. Need to drive the Volt over its battery range, and a gas engine kicks in to run a generator that powers the electric motor. It also charges the batteries as it drives, but only when the battery gets below 30 percent charge. The result is a fairly spirited run to 60-mph in 9.1 seconds with two adults on board and the climate control working, quick enough off the line as well. Foot to the floor, its still quiet with no electric motor sound. The car tackled hills with two on board with ease. The Volt zaps to a 100-mph top speed, with normal, sport and mountain drive mode button above the Start button. “There are two batteries on the Chevrolet Volt. The first one powers the vehicle to drive itself. The other one is connected to the backup gasoline generator,” Ecclestone said. “When the generator kicks on, it starts charging that other battery, which powers the main frame of the vehicle to drive.” Ecclestone said she’s driven a Volt from Miami to Raleigh, N.C., and did not notice when the gas engine kicked in to charge the battery. Unlike other electric cars, a Volt owner who has a sudden desire for an anchovy pizza at 2 a.m. can unplug and go. “If you run out of your own juice in the battery, the gas engine is actually triggering the battery to charge itself,” she said. “Even if you don’t have a charge, the Volt’s a go. You can still fill it up with gas and it will run like a normal car.” The charging port is on the driver’s side, under the Volt name. As we were unplugging, a man walked by and joked that “If you need batteries, I have AAAs in here” – ha, ha. If you try to drive a Volt if it’s still plugged into a charger, it won’t start or go in gear, plus the main display says you are still in charge mode. Owners can manage and monitor the Volt remotely via computer on MyVolt.com; or a smart phone application, powered by OnStar MyLink. The Volt rides on a McPherson strut-type front/compound crank rear axle, the result a firm but comfortable ride. Over a Belgian block road, nothing rattled or creaked on our early production model, and potholes were handled well. We didn’t get a chance to play hard with the Volt in our short drive, but the low-mounted batteries give it a nice center of gravity, and it was fairly flat and precise in turns. The electric power steering system was precise, a bit overboosted at slow speeds, but weights up nicely as speed increases. The regenerative brake system captures energy for transfer back to the battery. But you don’t really feel it even when you back off and let it slow down by itself. For serious slowing down, big disc brakes with ABS that had a progressive feel and nice stopping power, at least in normal commuting. The car has standard stability control. Other safety items include LED daytime running lamps and front/side-impact/front knee airbags, plus roof-rail side-impact for all outboard seating positions. Despite the split rear window, rear visibility is OK. And yes, because the car is so quiet in parking lot speeds, the driver can activate a noise feature to alert pedestrians.
· Chevrolet cash – The base Volt starts at $41,000, but a $7,500 federal income tax credit can cut that. Other standards include air conditioning, a Bose sound system with navigation and XM features, power door locks, remote keyless entry and start, LED interior lights, OnStar, three 12-volt outlets, remote starter, universal remote, LED running and taillights, alloy wheels and charging cable with programmable charging system. We had a $695 parking assist package with sonar and back-up camera, and a $1,395 option package with heated leather seats, for a final price of $43,090 without shipping.
· Bottom line – A Nissan Leaf is cheaper and a bit more fun to drive than a Volt, and has an estimated double the electric running time. But when it runs out of juice, it’s out. A Honda CR-Z hybrid is less and looks sportier and drives that way too, but can’t hold four. The Volt is a real car with good fit and finish and build quality. It drives just fine with great mileage even when the gas engine runs, and it didn’t spin a lick on our drive. Top off the charge at night for a buck or so, and you might never use gasoline again except for a weekend road trip. That said, a Mazda2 or Ford Fiesta are fun to drive, net 34-mpg, and have just as much range as a Volt with no plug-in needed, as does a 118-hp MINI Cooper or cheeky Fiat 500. And they all carry four, and are all less in cost.
2011 Chevrolet Volt
Vehicle type – compact front-wheel-drive five-door extended-range electric car
Base price $41,000 ($21,165 as tested)
Engine type DOHC in-line four
Displacement – 1.4 liter
Horsepower (net) – 84 @ 4,800 rpm
Motor type - 111-kW Voltec electric motor with T-shaped 288-cell battery case
Electric power – 149 hp/ 368 lb. ft. of torque
Wheelbase – 105.7 inches
Overall length – 177.1 inches
Overall width – 70.4 inches
Height – 56.3 inches
Front headroom – 37.8 inches
Front legroom – 42 inches
Rear headroom – 36 inches
Rear legroom – 34.1 inches
Cargo capacity – 10.6 cu. ft.
Curb weight – 3,781 lbs.
Fuel capacity – 9.3 gallons
Mileage rating – 35 to 50 miles on electric/up to 379 miles on full fuel and battery charge
Last word – A real world car for four that goes electric different ways at a reasonable cost
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