September 30th, 2008
The miles per gallon of the Volt will vary with how the car is used, Landy says. If you’re able to plug it every 30 or 40 miles, you’ll never need to buy gas.
The onboard engine eliminates the “range anxiety” – notion that a driver will be stranded along the road with a dead battery – that plagued the EV1, an electric car produced by GM in the late 1990s, Landy says.
GM is now working with the federal Environmental Protection Agency to develop a formula for determining the fuel economy estimates that will be printed in big, bold numerals on the window sticker slapped on each car.
Landy hedges when asked what that city/highway estimate might be, but says GM is confident the Volt will get “a three-digit label.”
Translation: EPA estimates of 100 mpg or more.
GM says charging the Volt will cost about 80 cents a day – about the same as running your refrigerator. Running on electricity alone will cost about 2 cents a mile, which sounds pretty good in the age of $4 a gallon gasoline.
While GM is bragging about per-mile operating costs, officials aren’t saying anything about the sticker price. Earlier press reports have put the cost at about $40,000 – a figure no one in Dallas last week dismissed.
So, what will the Volt be like to drive? You’ll have to take the word of GM officials. The production car currently touring the country – one of four in the world – isn’t a working model so a quick test drive isn’t part of the dog-and-pony show.
Landy says the electric motor will push passengers from 0-60 mph is about nine seconds. Not thrilling, but adequate to merge onto freeway traffic. The automobile review Web site Edmunds.com recently clocked the 2009 Toyota Prius getting from zero to 60 mph in 10.4 seconds.
“Driving the Volt should feel like you’re driving a 250-horsepower, V-6 midsize car,” Landy says.
The interior features liquid crystal instrument display and a 7-inch touch screen vehicle information display. The battery compartment runs down the middle of the back seats, which means there is room for just two. Rear legroom is decent.
The exterior has generated buzz among car buffs – and broken a few hearts. The concept car that hit the auto show circuit in 2007 was long and low, more muscle car than green transport. It inspired lust. At the Atlanta Auto Show this spring, an onlooker said aloud: “Why wait until 2010? Drop a V-8 into it and I’ll buy it now.”
The new look – more Malibu than muscle car – was driven by aerodynamics.
The concept Volt looked good, Landy says, “but when we got it into the wind tunnel, we found it had some major aerodynamic issues.”
The look had to be redesigned to hit the target of a 40-mile range using just the battery.
Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media
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- GM Struts Its Shades Of Green
- Chrysler Goes Electric
- Eight Green Concept Cars To Tickle Your Imagination
- Honda’s Low Volt-age Interest in Plug-In Hybrids
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