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Chevrolet Volt: Range-Extended Electric Car Ultimate Guide

 
8,213 views Apr 3, 2013
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2013 Chevrolet Volt - Driven, December 2012

2013 Chevrolet Volt - Driven, December 2012

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The Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car has been on sale for over two years now.

At the moment, the Chevy Volt is fairly unique in the plug-in car market, in that it's neither a traditional hybrid vehicle, nor a full battery-electric car. Instead, it uses a 1.4-liter gasoline engine as a generator, keeping the batteries topped-up--while most of the time, drive is handled exclusively by the electric motor.

Read our full review of the 2013 Chevrolet Volt


Over the next few pages you'll find links to all sorts of information about the Volt. This page deals with the basics and buying a Volt. Page 2 has information on owning a Volt, and the technology behind the car. On page 3, you'll find information on the Volt's social media and marketing, as well as a full run-down on the Volt's recent battery fire issues.

The basics

The Volt is a range-extended electric vehicle, with an official 38 miles of electric range, according to EPA figures. Total range, with the gas engine acting as a generator, is 380 miles. It'll do 98 MPG-equivalent in EV mode, and 37 mpg combined on the engine--though many owners are getting a much higher figure, making the most of electric running instead.

You'd best start with the basics, before reading our first drive of the 2012 Volt. We've also got first production photos, first drive impressions and an editors discussion - just how will the Volt fare? For further information, you'll find more links below.

 

Buying a Volt

 

So you've learned about the Volt, then what? You might be interested in pricing, and then in the 8-year, 100K mile battery warranty. You can also compare the Ford Focus Electric and Chevy Volt, and read why one reader chose a Prius Plug-In over the Volt. Want even more? Check out some of the links below.






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Comments (6)

  1. fb_1559222512 avatar Xiaolong Li Posted: 4/3/2013 2:02pm PDT

    That is a pretty impressive guide. As a Volt owner or Volt fan, I am curious to see if there is a "list of improvement neede/complains" that cover the Volt. As any GCR readers know that I am a strong supporter of the Volt, but I still have a list of issues that I wish GM would address.


    1. Volt can use a better EVSE. I am jealous of Nissan's EVSE b/c it can be upgraded to an "universal" one through evseupgrade.com

    2. 6.6KW option would be nice since Volt owners would like to use a little gas as possible.

    3. Allow customer to set the temperature when the engine to come on to "save" the battery. Right now, it is either "cold" or "very cold". That is about 36 deg F or ~ 20 deg F.

    4. Power/memory driver seat.
     
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  2. fb_1559222512 avatar Xiaolong Li Posted: 4/3/2013 2:06pm PDT

    5. To have an EV "boost" setting where you can use slightly more of the battery. The last thing you want is to use 0.02 gallon of gas b/c you missed your home/destination by 0.5 mile.

    6. Move the trunk light to either tailgate or a better location so your luggage doesn't block the lighting at night.

    7. Display how much "juice" left in the battery in terms of KWh.

    8. Keep track of lifetime gas miles, gasoline usage, EV miles and KWh usage (good for maintainence record and keeping track of engine "mileage").

    9. Allowing preset partial charge. (So you can choose to only fill up xxx amount of KWh)

    10. Display power consumption rate instantly
     
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  3. fb_1359000861 avatar Gad Amit Posted: 4/5/2013 2:52pm PDT

    Post 1 of 2
    Generator with small battery is a great concept, much better then the successful Toyota Prius which make the car complicated for NO reason two type of transmissions are the main fault of the Prius.


    There are few issues that GM must address:
    1. A car with such a small battery (for 40 miles) should have 5 passengers not less.
    2. Volt should be simple and simple means range extender motor is just for charging so there must be no special connection between the engine and the wheels only electric drive, plus electric motor is very reliable almost nothing moves.
    Gad Amit
     
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  4. fb_1559222512 avatar Xiaolong Li Posted: 4/5/2013 5:19pm PDT

    I do agree that Volt might need the 5th seat to appeal to more population. But if you look at the car, it traded the 5th seat for the most EV range among all that that has a full power range extender. Ford C-Max Energi has the 5th seat but it has about half of the EV range and its cargo space is barely the same size of the Volt.

    Fusion Energi and Accord Plugin both have 5th seat and both has about 1/2 of the EV range and even smaller cargo area/trunk...

    I think the key is to design an EREV/PHEV from scratch like what Toyota did with Prius for hybrid so it can be optimized for exactly that purpose.
     
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  5. fb_1359000861 avatar Gad Amit Posted: 4/5/2013 3:03pm PDT

    4.Smaller engine and maybe a diesel engine will improve fuel conception, but maybe the BIGGEST wrong concept is the size of the engine, it is far too large.
    5.How can we reduce engine size dramatically? First thing is to understand the main factor behind the size of the engine. ICE cars need large engine size 100 HP and more NOT to travel at FTS (freeway traveling speed) but to accelerate fast We need responsiveness, and it is truly essential. To keep a normal 1-ton car travel and FTS we need only 40 HP engine that produce about 20KW. Same with EV with range extender the engine must give the ability to travel at freeway speed to prevent draining the battery, which means that we will travel 10 percent less in only electric mode.
    Gad Amit
     
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  6. fb_1559222512 avatar Xiaolong Li Posted: 4/5/2013 5:14pm PDT

    I think Volt is designed with a 78HP engine so you can feel free to climb any mountain in the North America in a fully loaded Volt in the extended range mode.

    It is NOT designed to be a limited use case. It is designed so you really don't have to worry about ANYTHING at all.
     
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