Chevy Volt Driven !

F Body · February 17, 2011, 07:46:58 AM

Well the Opel Ampera actually which is identical except for the badging

I've been trying to blag a drive of one for a while now

This one is an early test mule so the inside finish isn't err finished

A quick 2 hour charge did the trick

So what does it drive like

Well considering this test mule has completed over a million miles very well

No noise and it doesn't hang around when you put your foot down

Doesn't seem to give any great impression of being heavy and rides nicely over the bumps

I couldn't believe just how quiet the 1.4 litre petrol engine is when it kicks in, you honestly can't feel the transistion and I thought the slight wirr was the fan heater

Only I can only think of 30,000 reasons why I won't be buying one, the £30k estimated ( after Government Subsidies ) purchase price

Andy · February 17, 2011, 07:51:37 AM

Quoting: F Body

Only I can only think of 30,000 reasons why I won't be buying one.

I can think of 30,001 reasons. The last one being it looks like it fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch!

At least some cars have some appealing angles, from your photos, I can't see one!

Fieldy · February 17, 2011, 07:53:41 AM

Quite like the look TBH

F Body · February 17, 2011, 07:54:44 AM

Quoting: Andy

The last one being it looks like it fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch!

I like the front

I think the shape is determined by trying to get the best aerodynamics

Cunning Plan · February 17, 2011, 08:13:04 AM

Quoting: F Body

Well considering this test mule has completed over a million miles very well

Is that a

?

How?

Andy · February 17, 2011, 10:07:29 AM

I imagine they would've had that sucker running on a synonym since it was made, checking how things wear and tear and what not. New technology like that has got to be thoroughly gone over before it sees mass production.

I thinks you could almost say Chevrolets credability at making new and technology driven cars will be judged on the Volt, so they're gonna make sure it's alright past 1,000,000.

HardRockCamaro · February 17, 2011, 01:15:18 PM

I really like the look of it on the outside, not sure on the inside (I mean the pics of the actual US one).

Personally I'd love one as a daily driver if:

A) I had somewhere to plug it in
B) I had 30 grand to buy it.

Granted (B) is somewhat irrelevent as not many people hand over cash to buy their car, they finance or lease them. A 3 year lease price would be interesting. If it was well under £400 per month on a 3 year lease I'd have one, except I live in a flat...

Fieldy · February 17, 2011, 01:47:12 PM

In our local Best Buy they have a electric car recharging station are in the car park...

philoldsmobile · February 17, 2011, 03:52:16 PM

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

If it was well under £400 per month on a 3 year lease I'd have one, except I live in a flat..

and this is why any form of plug in electric vehicle is an instant failure as an alternative to petrol..

ok the volt is a hybrid, but its still fundamentally wrong, as is the Toyota Prius and Honda insight

for maximum efficiency all drive should be through electric motors, and a small gas turbine or I.C. engine should be there only to maintain charge on the batteries. The I.C. should run at one constant RPM (its peak efficiency RPM) thus it can be as small as possible to drive the generator, with the batteries acting as a 'buffer' taking up variations in load. This is exactly how diesel electric trains have worked for many many years, so it is possible, but auto manufacturers are lazy, and the buying public suspicious and stupid... (why should the auto makers bother to re invent drive trains as we know them when they can just bungee on an electric motor, and watch the public lap it up as the future of personal transport...)

the benefit of a gas turbine in this setup is that they can run on almost anything, meaning the car will run effectively when fossil fuels run out. they are also very efficient during constant RPM operation.

HardRockCamaro · February 18, 2011, 02:54:50 AM

As far as I'm aware that's exactly how the Volt works (unless plans changed), the engine does not recharge the batteries, it simply maintains the lowest charge level (20%?) an the electric motor runs off that. The reason it is plug-in is so that you charge the battery at home which is more environmentally friendly and cheaper than charging from the engine.

Incursus · February 18, 2011, 02:56:03 AM

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

I really like the look of it on the outside, not sure on the inside (I mean the pics of the actual US one).

Personally I'd love one as a daily driver if:

~~A) I had somewhere to plug it in~~ Titsy won't mind

B) I had 30 grand to buy it.

Rob · February 18, 2011, 03:44:44 AM

Quoting: philoldsmobile

This is exactly how diesel electric trains have worked for many many years

Urrrm, wrong...!

Diesel electric trains only have batteries to operate auxilliary components on the train at 110v.

The actual engine revs to supply whatever the electric traction motor requires.

Jamieg285 · February 18, 2011, 03:47:22 AM

Quoting: Cunning Plan

Quoting: F Body
Well considering this test mule has completed over a million miles very well

Is that a

?

Possibly not. When I did some (proper) test driving at Millbrook, they had shifts running 24hours a day. The cars were probably on the road 20-22 hours a day, every day, just pounding round and round.

Shifty · February 18, 2011, 03:56:47 AM

Looks quite Jazzy, I like it based upon looks.

Not for me though...

Cunning Plan · February 18, 2011, 04:00:40 AM

Wow!

Cunning Plan · February 18, 2011, 04:01:05 AM

Quoting: Jamieg285

ossibly not. When I did some (proper) test driving at Millbrook, they had shifts running 24hours a day. The cars were probably on the road 20-22 hours a day, every day, just pounding round and round.

Wow!

Cunning Plan · February 18, 2011, 04:01:17 AM

Wow!

Cunning Plan · February 18, 2011, 04:01:37 AM

lol!!!!

Wow!

REPOST!

art b · February 18, 2011, 06:55:59 AM

wow

FUBAR · February 18, 2011, 09:06:26 AM

shouldn't World Of Warcraft discussions be ~~in the Computers & Games Section~~ on a different forum all together

philoldsmobile · February 18, 2011, 09:37:29 AM

Quoting: Rob

Urrrm, wrong...!

Diesel electric trains only have batteries to operate auxilliary components on the train at 110v.

The actual engine revs to supply whatever the electric traction motor requires.

ahh sorry, was aware of that - didn't make myself clear. Take batteries out of the equation, and the I.C. still only generates electricity, it provides no actual drive at all....

philoldsmobile · February 18, 2011, 12:26:04 PM

just read up a bit on the volt, perhaps they should try and distance it from hybrids, as it mentally clubs it in with the insight and prius, perhaps making the Extended Range Electric Vehicle tag more prominent would be a good move?

The big question is, why has no one bothered to do this before? the prius and insight were just a marketing exercise.

this is a decent step forward, now if we can just dump the piston engine and run with the (admittedly difficult to silence) gas turbine or perhaps a small rotary, and stick some photovoltaic solar panels on the roof, we are making real progress*

* if you forget the idea of using an engine to generate electricity to drive the wheels has been around for a very long time..

HardRockCamaro · February 18, 2011, 01:18:30 PM

Ignore photovoltaics.
They are an (expensive) option for the current Prius and their meagre power output is only used to power fans that try and keep the interior temperature down while parked so that when you get i the a/c doesn't have to work so hard.

As for showing their tech is better than the Prius, GM are insistent on the Extended Range EV tag for just that reason, although some idiots are trying to say it's just a Prius type hybrid as the IC engine can power the car which is not actually true, there is no mechanical connection between the engine and the wheels. It's actually rather complex to explain...
The engineer here (audio link, no transcript) does a better job than I can
http://www.plugincars.com/exclusive-chevrolet-volt-chief-engineer-explains-volt-drivetrain-says-volt-electric-vehicle-90758.ht\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.plugincars.com/exclusive-chevrolet-volt-chief-engineer-explains-volt-drivetrain-says-volt-electric-vehicle-90758.ht

As for replacing the IC engine with a rotary version, they are notoriously fuel inefficient... GM played with gas turbines but I think that's a jump too far for the pubic, getting them to realise that carrying around LPG is not like carrying a bomb (any more than petrol is) has proven difficult. And natural gas is still a fossil fuel (cleaner, as we know from lpg, but still)...

Incursus · February 19, 2011, 05:02:56 AM

Jag have also played with turbines (C-X75) not managed to get it to work yet though.

philoldsmobile · February 19, 2011, 07:05:54 AM

rotary's aren't inefficient, they are different.

The mazda 1300cc (in itself ridiculous as you cant really measure a rotary in cc's!) makes 230 bhp, but does 23 - 25 mpg - about the same as a honda VTEC 2.2 in the S2000.

the advantage of the rotary is its far smaller and lighter. the rotary in a petrol / electric would only need to be about 500cc, if not less. Rotaries are also less fussy about fuels, so could easily be run on distilled ethanol when there are no fossil fuels available.