Chevrolet Volt News

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt drive test, March 2011

    We're going to have a lot of 2011 Chevrolet Volt coverage this week, as we round up our impressions on the five days and hundreds of miles we've racked up on GM's first extended-range electric vehicle. We'll do a full drive report later on, but first, a few quick hits about the things we like in the Volt (here), the things that puzzle us, and the things we weren't so fond of. (1) The lit blue power button Blue is the new orange for gauges and instruments this year, it seems, but the Volt's power button stands out all by itself. With the computer power symbol on it, and a lovely pulsing blue...

  • 2011 Toyota Prius
    Barrier To Buying Green: Electric Cars And Hybrids Confusing

    Think car buyers understand what a hybrid is, or a plug-in electric car? Think again. A new survey conducted by research firm Synovate finds that many of almost 1,900 new-car "buyers and intenders" don't understand how hybrid vehicles work. Worse, most of them don't seem to understand how...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt outside Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant
    Chevy Volt Production May Rise; It's Not As Simple As You Think

    It all started when General Motors CEO Dan Akerson said the company wanted to "double" production of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, its range-extended electric car. Various media outlets reported the news with varying degrees of accuracy. So far, GM has not officially said it will make more Volts...

  • Moduléo adaptable electric car, 2011 Geneva Motor Show
    Silly Little Electric Cars Doing Damage To The Industry?

    Tucked away in a little corner just off Hall 6 at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, something weird and frightening lurked. Hiding behind the shiny stands of Kia and Smart and sitting in what looked like a poorly-carpeted entrance foyer, a collection of electric motoring misfits vied for the attention of...

  • Opel Ampera
    Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera: What Are The Differences?

    Chevrolet's Volt has only been on sale for a short while but sales are respectable and Chevrolet have pulled out all the stops to build a quality product and bridge the technology gap between the vehicles that everyone is used to and the new generation of electric cars. In Europe, General Motors'...

  • First 2011 Chevrolet Volt delivered to retail buyer Jeffrey Kaffee, in Denville, NJ, December 2010
    Electric-Car Wars: Chevy Volt Still Outselling Nissan Leaf

    Battle of the Titans it ain't. But for the third month in a row, Chevrolet sold more Volt range-extended electric cars than Nissan delivered Leaf plug-ins. During February, Nissan delivered 67 Leaf battery electric hatchbacks, bringing its two-month total to 154. Adding in the 19 delivered in...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt

    If Consumer Reports didn't exist, someone would have to invent it. It may be the most trusted brand in evaluating cars, and it offered reliability ratings well before J.D. Power became a household name. A bad rating can send auto execs crawling to its doors to learn what they need to change to get a better assessment. The magazine is remorselessly, relentlessly rational about assessing vehicles. Which is how GM's range-extended electric car, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, ended up with the short end of the Consumer Reports review stick. Costly, short range, MPGs so-so CR criticized the Volt's...

  • Toyota iQ EV prototype
    Toyota to Launch Home Electric Car Charger, Jumping into a Crowded Market

    Toyota, maker of the hybrid Prius and the upcoming plug-in version of the Prius, will launch its own home electric car charger, jumping into what is shaping up to be a crowded market. Major companies and startups alike have surged into the electric car charging segment. GE launched the WattStation...

  • The Plug-In Prius
    Google’s Investment in Transphorm Could be Good News for Electric Cars

    Google said today it had invested in a startup called Transphorm, whose power-conversion efficiency technology could some day help create more efficient electric cars. The company’s technology can reduce by up to 90 percent the power lost when one form of energy is converted to the other...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt
    Video Break: 2011 Chevrolet Volt Attracts More Than Just Young Buyers

    General Motors is quite proud of their 2011 Chevrolet Volt and they have a perfect right to be. The Volt is changing the way consumers view electric vehicles and it helping to change the adoption rate even if the Volt isn’t quite completely powered by electricity. A case in point is a recent...

  • What Makes the 2011 Chevrolet Volt a Better Electric Vehicle? (video screen capture)
    2011 Chevrolet Volt: Long-Term Tests Show Winter Capabilities

    If you haven’t been following it, Motor Trend has a 2011 Chevrolet Volt in their fleet for long term testing. These long-term tests tend to reveal what the real day-to-day experience with a vehicle can be. It doesn’t mean that it is the ideal or even the exact experience every consumer...

  • Alison Brie with 2011 Chevy Volt at Global Green Pre-Oscar Party, Feb 2011
    2011 Chevrolet Volt Takes Center Stage at Global Green USA Pre-Oscar® Party

    Last Thursday, found celebrities, environmental activists and the 2011 Chevrolet Volt at the 8th Annual Global Green USA Pre-Oscar Party. The Volt has been named North American Car of the Year and Green Car Journal’s Green Car of the Year, so it seems fitting that it would take center stage...

  • James Cameron, Suzy Amis with 2011 Chevy Volt at Global Green Pre-Oscar Party, Feb 2011

    It all started with Leonardo DiCaprio, who showed up at the foot of the red carpet in his very own Toyota Prius. Within a couple of years, alighting from a Prius hybrid--or any other hybrid, including the hulking Cadillac Escalade Hybrid luxury full-size sport-utility vehicle--was de rigeur for any celeb who hoped to burnish his or her green credentials. Now, there's a new kid in town. At the pre-Oscar Party held last night by Southern California nonprofit Global Green--which has strong ties to the Hollywood glitterati--many celebrities were photographed on the "green carpet" with the new...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt test drive, Michigan, October 2010
    Federal Incentives: Subsidizing 'Volt-Gouging' By Chevy Dealers?

    It's the sign of a successful car launch: Dealers add blatant markups to the sticker price, charging thousands of dollars extra because buyer demand exceeds supply, and dealers have the only supply. Now it's happening to the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, the range-extended electric car that went on sale in...

  • John Duncan takes delivery of one of the first 2011 Nissan LEAF EVs, near Portland OR, 12/15/2010
    Is One Million Electric Cars By 2015 Too Ambitious?

    In a renewed push for clean energy, President Obama called for one million electric cars to be on American roads by 2015 last month. But is that goal realistic? The government released a report this week saying that by its “conservative” estimates for 2015, the electric car supply in...

  • 101 Ways to Hide a 2011 Chevy Volt
    How Do You Hide a 2011 Chevrolet Volt? Let us Count the ways...

    Just how do you hide a 2011 Chevrolet Volt? In a Cave? Under a bridge? Switch badges with a Prius? Hide it in an oil refinery? How about the planet Dagobah? These are just some of the tongue-in cheek methods being suggested by Chevrolet Volt owners nationwide to help the 2011 Chevrolet Customer...

  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adminstrator Lisa Jackson and President Barack Obama
    Obama Budget Kills Clean-Diesel Retrofit, Fuel-Cell Funding

    The budget that will be submitted to Congress on Monday by President Barack Obama contains cuts for two clean-vehicle programs: retrofits that reduce diesel emissions from heavy trucks and other commercial vehicles, and research funds for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Whether those cuts will survive...

  • Gas pump
    Oil Exec Says Electric-Car Batteries 'Not Ready for Primetime'

    It's always good to hear the arguments against electric cars. Some are valid, some are idiotic, and some simply betray a lack of knowledge about how the auto industry really works. Into that last category may go some comments by one William M. Colton, ExxonMobil’s vice president for corporate...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt

    Anyone who's stored a car in a rural area has heard stories of the chaos wreaked by nesting squirrels. Engine compartments stuffed with leaves, twigs, nuts, and even entire furry families can cause overheating and sometimes fires. But now a new peril has come to light against which electric-car owners may have to guard: Rodents seeking warmth can be attracted to their high-voltage battery packs and other components when the car is plugged in to recharge. While gasoline vehicles go cold when they're switched off and parked, the batteries of electric cars stay warm as long as the vehicles stay...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt
    What You Need To Know About Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt Servicing

    A few months ago we asked the question, what exactly do you have to service on a 2011 Nissan LEAF? After all, the LEAF doesn't even contain many of the items that require regular attention on a regular car, such as oil changes, spark plugs, filters, transmission fluid and muffler parts. Brakes...

  • OnStar utility grid
    Video: OnStar Previews New Energy Management Tools For EV Owners

    As electric cars start to trickle into the market and public charging infrastructure grows, their drivers will need to know the best times to charge, the best places to charge on longer journeys, and the exact amount they will pay for the electricity they use. That will require automakers, utility...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt Z-Spec
    Enterprise Offers Another Way to Drive The 2011 Chevy Volt: Rental

    If you’re like us and find yourself flying too much you probably feel pretty guilty about that gas-guzzling rental car you have to use at your destination. But thanks to Enterprise Rent-a-Car, another option is now available to customers in Ontario, California: the 2011 Chevrolet Volt...

  • Toyota exec Frank Miller and Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith
    Testing A Plug-In Prius Or Volt Gets Easier For Civilians

    With cars like the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf already on sale, plus a handful of startups either selling or building battery-powered cars on U.S. soil, it’s safe to say that the electric car revolution is truly upon us. Sadly, the cost of entry to be a part of this revolution is still...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt 240V charging station
    Virginia Utility Tests Cheap Rates for Electric Car Owners

    Dominion Virginia Power announced yesterday that is waiting for Virginia State Corporation Commission approval to offer two electricity tariffs exclusively to electric vehicle owners in a bid to encourage customers to make the switch to electric cars. As we’ve discovered before, more and more...

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