-J-P-L-

No, the car will run an estimated 40 miles on battery power alone at which point the gas motor will have to kick in. So you'll have unlimited range as with any car.

toy4two

wow, I was going to put a deposit down based on the prototype, that looks nothing like the cool proto, I'll pass.

Jujharoo

nice can't wait, but I'm afraid wait is all there will be. GM is really good at making announcements. I hope they deliver.

RON430

I find this whole thing kind of bizarre. I guess it was never intended to be much of anything other than a city four door runabout.

Production photos of Chevy Volt show big changes from concept car

GM displayed the concept version of the plug-in, rechargeable electric-powered Chevrolet Volt at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2007.
By James R. Healey, USA TODAY

The production version of the Chevrolet Volt electric car is a small four-door sedan that bears no resemblance to the low, sleek, two-door sports coupe that Chevy exhibited on the 2007 auto-show circuit to drum up interest in the vehicle and boost General Motors' image as leaning green.
Official GM photos of the car were posted accidentally by Wieck Media, a clearinghouse for automakers' pictures, for just 12 minutes Monday. But that was long enough for them to be downloaded and published by thecarconnection.com and other online sites. The pictures were quickly "put back in the vault" as soon as GM noticed, according to Chevy spokesman Terry Rhadigan.

GM had been telegraphing that the real car's styling would be different because the show car, despite its sleek appearance, was an aerodynamic disaster that would have used too much power just plowing through the air. Despite the automaker's hints, the radical change — to a four-door sedan resembling an Asian economy car — is unexpected.

Though the production Volt looks nothing like the show car, it retains the concept version's lithium-ion battery pack, which is supposed to take it up to 40 miles on a charge.

The battery pack can take up to 10 hours to recharge plugged into an ordinary 115-volt home outlet, less time if it's plugged into a 230-volt outlet. That's the type electric clothes dryers use.

Volt carries a small internal-combustion engine to recharge the batteries if the driver isn't near an outlet for a plug-in recharge. But the gasoline engine is not set up to power the car directly, so Volt can't be considered a hybrid.

Latest guesses at its price have been around $35,000, and Rhadigan says, "It won't be below that, and it could be higher. But it's two years out, and we know we have to get it to a (reasonable) price point. It's still a Chevrolet."

Production is to begin November 2010 and the car should be in showrooms late in 2010 or early 2011.

GM hopes to sell 60,000 a year once production is running full steam.

Images of the production Volt were intended to be published by GM Sept. 16 as part of the automaker's 100th-anniversay celebration.

RON430

Just ever so slight a change from concept car to production.

dunnojack

the concept looks like it was designed for midgets.



also, i wouldn't buy this crap over a honda or toyo hybrid.


there is no gas motor to power the car.

40 miles on a charge.

you still need to fill it with gas to recharge the batteries.

question is, how much downtime is required to charge the battery with the gas component?


i can't even make a roundtrip from work on a charge. and if it doesn't charge itself while it's parked in a parking garage, then i will be stranded at work, or in the middle of the highway.

the concept sounds like a failure to me.

again, useless and pointless car for the price.

RON430

I didn't get the impression it was designed for midgets or that it would be the slightest bit sporty but I thought from the concept car that it would be smaller and maybe with a sporty look. That sure didn't make the transition from concept car to production.

-J-P-L-

You don't understand the concept. You will be able to drive this car like any conventional vehicle for any range (with fill ups). There is a small 3-cylinder gas motor that immediately kicks in to re-charge the car's battery after about 40 miles (no stop or downtime involved). The gas motor won't power the car by itself and is there solely to recharge the batteries. But as long as you have gas in the tank, you will keep on going. Therefore, this is a totally practical vehicle unlike the GM EV1 for example that needed to be charged at a plug in site.

Estimates:

@ 40 miles or less: not applicable – no fuel used

@ 60 miles: 150 mpg

@ 80 miles: 100 mpg

Are we clear about how this works?

Faymester

+1 ... i was excited when it looked all aggressive and cool & i thought *yea, $40k for an efficient & resonably cool looking car? sounds like a plan to me* ... but now we get this ... and whlie this isn't bad, it's certainly not as edgy as the concept/prototype

the people in front of the car are there to hide how much the car changed from the proto in an effort to fool consumers who may wish to purchase said volt

Koma

iTrader: (3)

Well it must kick in earlier than that. Unless the gas engine can charge the batteries that quickly.

-J-P-L-

More or less this range. It's estimated that the battery will take it up to 40 miles without any gas motor assistance. So I imagine the motor kicks in around that time but the battery is probably not totally depleted. Anyhow, these are all just initial estimates since GM is taking the better part of the 21 century developing this thing for release. Who knows what it will ultimately accomplish as it is 26 months away.

Koma

iTrader: (3)

Well I guess the question is if the engine can recharge the batteries (enough for usage not full battery obviously) fast enough before the battery depletes while driving. I would hate to be driving with a full tank of gas but while you're driving the car dies because your batteries are dead and even though the batteries were charging while you were driving.

RON430

It's a very peculiar situation but I doubt I would want to try one of these going up to Tahoe from the Bay Area. A long slug of uphill driving into the Sierras wouldn't make me feel very comfortable. Even the hybrids are pretty well known to not get much help under those circumstances but of course their petrol engines are more than adequate power. Coming back down would be trivial. But then coming back down you can have hamsters in a cage powering the steering and brakes. Even my GS blows through 30mpg coming back down.

ntran18

iTrader: (27)

From what I understand, the concept here isn't new. It is just like the diesel/electric trains. The diesel generator provides power directly to the electric motors in trains. In GM's Volt, the gas generator powers the electric motor when the battery is out. How's that for innovation.

ST430

the only innovation is in the application: everyday automobiles. as others have said, i am very disappointed in the production design as compared to the concept car. apparently, they couldn't get the aerodynamics with the concept car with its nice elongated hood, transparent and sporty silhouette, so now it just looks like your everyday sedan.