2013 Chevy Volt Gets 38-Mile Electric Range, Higher 98-MPGe Rating
Tesla Repays $465-Million DoE Loan, Chrysler Bites Back At Claim
Ah, politics. Yesterday, Tesla paid off the balance of its U.S. government loan, using proceeds... Read More
- #3LEADERBOARD RANK
- 2902ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED
- 1950COMMENTS POSTED
Add to circle
Also See
-
Short On Chevy Volt Knowledge? QR Code Sticker...
-
Should Range-Extended Cars Have a "Battery...
-
2011 Chevrolet Volt's Extra 'Free' Electric...
See more video »
It may be hard to imagine, but the Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car is about to enter its third model year.
The new 2013 Chevrolet Volt will offer a slightly higher all-electric range, up from 35 to 38 miles. Its base price of $39,995 will not change.
Next year's Volt will also receive a higher EPA efficiency rating, from 94 to 98 MPGe, or Miles Per Gallon Equivalent--a measure of how far the vehicle can travel on electricity with the energy content of 1 gallon of gasoline.
The 2013 Volt will be fitted with a battery pack that holds slightly more energy--up from 16 to 16.5 kilowatt-hours--and the car can draw on 10.8 kWh of that total, rather than the 10.3 kWh available in 2011 and 2012 models.
The changes come courtesy of a slightly altered chemistry in the lithium-ion cells provided by LG Chem.
The revised cells have a slightly different composition of materials in their manganese-spinel chemistry, though neither company provided specific details of the changes. GM compared the changes to adjusting the proportions of sugar and vanilla for better flavor while baking a cake.
With more energy capable of being drawn from the battery, recharging time for a fully depleted 2013 Volt pack will rise slightly.
Chevrolet says it will take 4 hours and 15 minutes using a 240-Volt Level 2 charging system, or 10.5 hours using 110-Volt household current.
The revised cell chemistry, Chevy says, has been tested through the equivalent of 150,000 vehicle miles. Results showed that the battery degrades more slowly and can operate at temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit).
Other changes to the 2013 Chevrolet Volt include a "Hold Drive" button that allows owners to conserve battery-pack energy for use at a particular time or when it will make the car most efficient. This is essentially the "charge-sustaining button" in the Opel/Vauxhall Ampera sold in Europe.
Chevy will also fit the low-emission package standard on later 2012 Volts sold in California to those 2013 Volts sold in New York state as well, making them eligible for High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane access with only a single occupant.
Visually, the liftgate and roof are now body-colored rather than black. A new interior color--Pebble Beige--is available in both cloth upholstery and leather seats with suede inserts.
And a removable rear-seat center armrest is included in the Premium trim package.
Other changes to the audio system, the Comfort package, and a pair of available Safety packages for the 2013 Volt had been known since mid-April.
But the revisions to the battery pack had not been disclosed before today.
As a range-extended electric car, the Volt travels 25 to 45 miles on grid energy used to recharge its battery pack by plugging in the car. GM notes that roughly three-quarters of all U.S. vehicles travel less than 40 miles a day.
After the battery pack is depleted, the Volt's 1.4-liter gasoline range extender switches on--not to power the wheels but to turn a generator that provides electricity to the 111-kW (149-hp) electric motor that actually turns the drive wheels.
The 2013 Chevrolet Volt will have a total range on grid power plus gasoline of 380 miles.
Production of the 2013 Chevy Volt will start early next month at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, and 2013 Volts will arrive at Chevrolet dealers starting in August.
Thus far, GM says, owners of existing 2011 and 2012 Chevrolet Volt models have traveled more than 65 million miles in their cars--roughly two-thirds of those miles on electricity drawn from the power grid.
+++++++++++
Follow GreenCarReports on Facebook and Twitter.
Related Articles
-
How Are Electric-Car Batteries Made? Photos From Nissan's New Plant
-
Toyota Accelerates Switch To Lithium-Ion Batteries, Still Lags Others
-
Wyoming Lithium To Make U.S. Self-Sufficient In Electric-Car Batteries?
-
Will Future Tesla Electric Cars Use Metal-Air Batteries?
-
U.S.-Built Electric Cars To Get U.S.-Made Battery Cells Too
-
Follow Us
On Facebook
Most Popular This Week
More »
Can Tesla Raise More Than $1 Billion On Soaring Stock Price? 
Audi Startled By Tesla Sales Success? Deleted Press Release... 
The 60 MPG Honda Civic... Not Sold In The U.S. 
Wyoming Lithium To Make U.S. Self-Sufficient In Electric-Car... 
How Are Electric-Car Batteries Made? Photos From Nissan's New... Find Green Cars
Photo Galleries
More from High Gear Media
- Follow Us
Have an opinion?
8.5% increase in range,
in about two years.
Seems to fit in roughly with the Voelcker rule of 6-8% improvement per year.
It would be even more interesting to know what the pricing looks like on the battery packs. I'll bet there is some improvement in that as well.
My Volt currently gets about 165MPG (55-60 mile roundtrip commute. My range is about 41Miles in this mild weather.
In the coldest days of the Winter, my MPG was "only" about 75 when my range was cut to just 25 miles.
My blended average is 93MPG. This is likely to go up as I got the car in September... so I will get 3 additional months of milder weather (presumably with 35+ mile range).
NOTE: all of these numbers are MPG (not MPGe). I pay $42.40/month for unlimited charging through DTE energy. That is $1.41/day... but I can charge more than once per day for that price, so that calculation can vary.
voltowner.blogspot.com
That's a good change!! ;-)
A smaller displacement ICE (800cc-1L) that *only* charges the battery would work much better: it only has to meet the *average* power required by using the battery as a buffer, it can be tuned to run at peak efficiency driving a fixed load (the current engine varies it's RPM to provide just enough power for the electric motor -- it does *not* charge the battery at all!).
The other huge advantage is the engine only runs part of the time! It only needs a smaller fuel tank and smaller cooling system. The front grill can be closed when the ICE isn't running, to have lower drag. A true serial hybrid...
Neil
And why would GM need another OEM to make the ICE when the Cruze gets almost exactly the same mileage as its rivals? What three OEMs have "much more efficient" ICEs right now in the same class? And how many OEMs buy engines from other OEMs? Very few, I believe.
I certainly respect your suggestions and knowledge, but that's just not what I want, unless I'm missing something, whcih is quite possible...
And the current Volt *does* use the ICE to directly power the wheels in some conditions.
And it varies the RPM's of the ICE to power the electric motor directly, and does not charge the battery -- giving up several of the main advantages a serial hybrid could have. (See my earlier post.)
Neil
Just trying to really understand this time... Thanks!
To be clear, the Volt is not truly a serial hybrid, as it can move the car mechanically with the ICE -- it is a multi-mode hybrid; not unlike the Prius, actually.
So, doing what I am suggesting would require a major redesign; at which time I hope they address the too small rear seat, and make significant aero drag improvements. GM can build a car with 1/3 less drag -- see the Impact/EV1.
Neil
Which GM did not do, for the times that it is more efficient.
You obviously don't know how it really works.
We agree entirely: Yes, in a Volt, the engine *alone* can never power the wheels. Even when it contributes torque through the planetary gear set, it is combined with the MG2 torque.
WOT
MrEnergyCzar
To gain more drivetrain efficiency, the Volt needs to use less gasoline & use electricity as much as possible. To do this, they should put a bigger battery in and/or make the ICE better...
Neil
Put in a 800-1000cc aluminum engine that has a finely tuned peak efficiency at a specific RPM (which is much easier to do than an ICE with a broad power band). It should be able to get 38%+ driving a constant load of a generator.
The electric motor can be ~94% efficient, which is ~3X better than the current 1.4L ICE.
Since you can begin charging the battery before it is too flat, you just need to meet the *average power needed. The ICE only needs to run 30-50% of the time.
The Volt should be a true serial hybrid.
Neil
A small .8 or 1.0L diesel would likley improve the fossil fuel efficiency by at least 30%. And lower the drag to at least .25 and weight much closer to 3K lbs instead of the heavy 3,700. I know the batteries are a big part of that weight but there are many other areas where the heavy metals can be replaced with much lighter composites.
I'm looking forward to a Volt in 2015 or 2016 that gets at least 80 EV miles w/ at least a 120mpge. And a little bit more room for front seat passengers.
WopOnTour
PS and f you thnk the Volt's transaxle is in any waymore complex than even a simple 3 speed automoatic trans, you obviously don't have a clue. Buy a vowel maybe...
...and it actually adds a few miles of range to the configuration using the 1.4, all things considered. Can perfect be the enemy of the possible?
Have an opinion?Join the conversation!