Chevrolet Volt News

BMW revealed two new electric, hybrid, and range-extended models--the BMW i3 electric car and the BMW i8 plug-in hybrid

As Chevrolet very often point outs in marketing its 2011 Volt extended-range electric car, more than 70 percent of U.S. vehicles cover less than 40 miles a day. That means that if you recharge a Volt every night, and cover less than that distance daily, your car might never, ever need to switch on...

It came down to the wire, but in the end, California's program of purchase rebates for buyers of qualifying plug-in electric cars has survived the state's grim budget crisis. Last Thursday, we wrote about the decisions facing the California Air Resources Board: How much could it really afford to...

Earlier this week, Cnet published a story claiming that the European version of the Chevrolet Volt, the 2012 Vauxhall Ampera, was no more environmentally friendly than an ordinary gasoline car. Aiming to debunk Vauxhall's miles-per-charge and fuel economy claims, the article cited British blogger...

GM is working with ABB Group to develop new ways to use partially depleted Volt battery packs. One promising idea involves using arrays of battery packs to feed power to the grid in times of need.

After a one-month hiatus, Chevy has begun production of the 2012 Volt. Thanks to the retooling, the Hamtramck assembly plant now has three times the build capacity.

The 2011 Chevrolet Volt adds hidden fuel-free miles to the Volt’s total range

If you’re thinking of buying a 2011 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, then you’re probably already aware that its 16 kilowatt-hour battery pack is much smaller than the battery packs normally found in pure electric cars. As a consequence, it is even possible to charge the Volt’s...

By now, you may well have seen short video clips of crudely animated people talking in monotonous tones, with more than occasional mispronunciations and odd rhythms. They're Xtranormal animations, created by feeding your dialogue into a website that animates them based on the author's choices of...

Are you a Mac user or a PC user? There was a time when that question would spawn pages of flame wars on blogs and computer newsgroups, and perhaps even devoted fan pages on Geocities. Despite adverts from both Microsoft and Apple to suggest both platforms are still sworn enemies, Macs and PCs...

It's been known among electric-car advocates for years that so-called "range anxiety" is somewhat overblown. That's despite, we might add, advertisements by a large U.S. company that sells a range-extended plug-in car that highlight its ability to let you drive it across the country on the spur of...

Two early customer satisfaction issues on the 2011 Chevy Volt are being addressed by dealers: a front air dam that's too low, and intermittent blank displays on the instrument cluster.

Sales of plug-in electric cars continued their slow climb in June. The 2011 Nissan Leaf racked up its best U.S. sales number ever while the 2011 Chevrolet Volt sales held steady, as the company had warned they would. Following a May total of 1,142 sales--the first time more than 1,000 Leafs had...

The Leaf generates massively more and constant high frequency sound feedback

Portland was chosen as one of the first markets for both the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt—and at least for the Leaf, the density of charging stations and the presence of that CHAdeMO quick-charger probably had something to do with it.

After several months of using a 2011 Chevy Volt and a 2011 Nissan Leaf as our sole family transport, we have a better understanding of both cars than we did in March, when I first wrote about how they compared. First to arrive at our West Sacramento home was a beautiful crystal red 2011 Volt. We...

Despite media attempts to conjure a "sales battle" between the 2011 Chevy Volt and the 2011 Nissan Leaf, both companies are selling every car they can manage to get into the showrooms. Now Chevrolet has released its first look at who is actually buying its Volt range-extended electric cars. The...

For its second year of production, the 2012 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car will come down $1,000 in price and be offered with several new features and two new colors. The list price of the 2012 Volt, including an $850 destination fee, is $39,995. That compares to $41,000 for the 2011...

Want to buy a Chevrolet Volt but missed out on getting a 2011 model? Don’t worry. Next year’s car will offer more options and a lower sticker price, Chevrolet revealed today. Unlike Nissan, which was forced to raise the price of its 2011 Nissan Leaf in Europe shortly before it went on...

For the first time in 80 years or so, major automakers are building and selling plug-in electric cars in the U.S. How are they letting people know about their new cars? Advertising, of course. Our colleague Richard Read looked at four electric-car TV ads, analyzing what made them work and what...