Basic Stats
Rating: 5 stars
Availability: 2012
Type: E-REV
Range: 50mls EV
Power: 150hp + 86hp
Top Speed: 99mph
0-60mph: 9 secs
Weight: 1,600kg
Seats: Four
Price: £28,545
By Will Dron October 17, 2011 12:00 PM
The world's first 'extended range' electric vehicle (E-REV) hits Europe in March 2012, the same time as its sister car, the Vauxhall Ampera. But what sets the Volt apart, and should you buy one?
OVERVIEW
Chevrolet is unashamedly taking aim at the pure electric car with the Volt. Parent company General Motors is certain that the limited range of a pure EV (around 100 miles currently) will put people off, making them fearful that they’ll run out of juice while out on the road. Chevy’s solution? Back-up petrol power.
The Volt’s electric motors (two, in fact, but we'll get to that) can power it for 25-50 miles on mains-charged battery power alone, but there’s also the reassuring presence of a 1.4-litre petrol engine on board that works as a generator when the battery gets low. The result is a car that, simply put, can drive 300 miles between stops. Top up the battery or fuel tank and you can just keep on rolling.
Emissions from combined driving are exceptionally low – less than 40g/km CO2 – and fuel economy is outstanding at 175mpg (based on preliminary data). It’s also a fairly handsome chap, has decent power and high torque from the electric motor, space for four adults and 300 litres of luggage space – so far it looks like the holy grail of low carbon motoring.
The major downside, as you may have noticed, is the comparatively high purchase cost, so the key question with the Volt is whether you get value for your hard-earned cash. Well, here’s our comprehensive guide.
DESIGN
The Chevrolet Volt and its sister car, the Vauxhall Ampera both use GM’s Delta II chassis platform and drivetrain so they’re essentially the same car, although there are differences between the two in body style and trim levels. Chevy and Vauxhall both say they have optimised the car’s shape to smooth airflow and reduce drag, which has the dual effect of reducing wind noise and improving fuel economy. Chevrolet told us the drag coefficient of the Volt is 0.28, which in real-world terms means it’s as slippery as the Corvette sportscar – that’s mightily impressive.
Essentially, the differences between the Volt and Ampera are cosmetic – drag coefficients will be so similar as to make no difference to overall economy. In terms of style, the Volt is perhaps the slightly more conservative at the rear (no horizontal chrome strip across the hatch back, a continuous body-colour bumper rather than the plasticky lip of the Ampera’s number plate surround).
Round the front, the Volt is wedge-shaped and aggressive-looking (if you look long enough), without the Ampera’s boomerang headlight shape. We think the Vauxhall’s nose is the best looking, although that’s clearly a matter for individual taste.
The Volt is low and wide with what Chevy calls a “grounded stance”. And while it’s not actually as wide as something like a BMW 5 Series, the Volt is hardly a narrow car – it looks and feels substantial on the road.
One thing we did notice was the regular scraping of the front bumper skirt as we drove over bumps in the road – it really does hang quite low and requires care when parking up to curbs and going over speed bumps.
INTERIOR & COMFORT
The Volt is a five-door hatchback but it doesn’t have five seats – the T-shaped battery runs front to rear all the way along the centre of the car, dividing the two rear seats. But they’re comfortable with the two rear occupants getting proper, contoured seats with a central armrest and cupholders. Leg- and headroom is decent even for the tall, so the back of the car is not a bad place to spend time.
For the front occupants there’s a good deal of room and the tall will have no trouble here, either – long journeys can be achieve in relaxed comfort. Outward visibility is not bad, although slightly compromised by the thick airbag-equipped A-pillars – a common feature on modern cars.
The boot capacity is 300 litres with the rear seats up, 1005 litres with them down, which is good going considering the space-invading technology packed into the car. The interior is, though, slightly let down by the Velcro-fastened cloth spanning the gap between the rear seats – it covers the ski hatch opening to the boot. It looks like an afterthought, and inevitably the carpeting on the inner edges of the rear of the seats will become frayed over time with use of the flap.
The trim is best described as smart casual. Unlike the Ampera, the Volt gets leather seats as standard. The high-tech centre control stack is touch sensitive and while that means grubby finger prints, it’s very easy to clean.
ENGINEERING
The complexity under the bonnet of the Volt is mind-boggling. This car doesn’t have one electric motor, it has two – a primary 148hp unit and a secondary 72hp motor – powered by a 288-cell 16kWh lithium ion battery pack. The 1.4-litre petrol engine is connected to the electric motors. At speeds of less than 60mph the front wheels are driven by the primary motor only; above that and both electric motors engage seamlessly via a planetary gearbox. The petrol engine is used to generate electricity after the battery reaches a minimum level of charge (around 30%).
There is a scenario in which the petrol engine can also provide some drive torque – in range-extended mode, when driving at high speeds – but even then, Chevrolet says the car is still technically under electric power. Debatable, but at the end of the day largely irrelevant.
Despite all the mechanical wizardry, the need to service the car is reduced by 15-20% compared with a modern internal combustion car. That’s partly because the petrol engine is working much less hard.
TECH
The Chevrolet Volt comes with air conditioning, heated front seats, Bluetooth connectivity and an AM/FM stereo radio and CD player (with steering wheel controls and USB port) as standard but, in an odd move for such a high-priced car, satnav is an optional extra. DAB radio, park assist and rearview camera are among the additional options.
The traditional dashboard cluster has been replaced with a high-res screen displaying speed, battery level and electric driving miles to go, trip distance/odometer and warning lights. You also get a gauge with a green revolving ball that shows when you’re accelerating hard or braking hard – keep it in the middle and you’re driving efficiently.
A second 7-inch touchscreen display at the top of the centre control stack shows all the usual infotainment and climate control details, but also power flow around the car, energy usage info/tips and charging details. One very useful feature is the ability to set a charge timer, meaning the car will automatically take advantage of lower electricity rates at night. Another neat feature enables you to programme the car to be at your preferred cabin temperature when you get to it in the morning so that energy isn’t wasted on heating or cooling the interior once you’ve unplugged from the mains.
Another option is an upgraded seven-speaker Bose sound system with 30GB of music storage on an internal hard drive.
PERFORMANCE
Max power output from the Volt’s electric motors is 148bhp, with 273lb ft of torque on offer. One of its most relevant competitors, the BMW 320d EfficientDynamics saloon puts out 161bhp and 280lb ft of torque. That makes the considerably lighter BMW a fair bit faster – 0-62mph in 8.0secs vs 9.0secs for the Volt – but as the Chevy develops max torque from zero revs, the Volt feels genuinely quick, somewhere in the region of a powerful V6 saloon.
There are four driving modes in the Volt: ‘Normal’, the standard setting; ‘Sport’ mode automatically reconfigures the accelerator map to give sharper torque response; ‘Mountain’ increases the minimum level of charge in the battery from 30% to 45% before the petrol engine cuts in, so that the car never struggles with low power (needed for extreme mountainous inclines rather than gently rolling hills); ‘Hold’, which locks the battery level allowing for pure electric motoring at a later point in the journey – this could be useful for when you enter a zero emission zone (they’re coming).
HANDLING
Although the Volt and Ampera are basically the same car under the skin, chassis set-up and control software are individual, so handling is unique to each. Marginally.
The Volt’s Delta II chassis is quite robust and the car copes with the extra weight that comes with the electric drivetrain very well. That extra weight also helps the suspension smooth out larger bumps and ridges on the road – the set up is MacPherson struts at the front and semi-independent at the rear. The car also handles well through corners, with the T-shape battery arrangement keeping the weight low and central in the car.
The electric power steering has dual pinions offering variable turning effort depending on speed and it works very effectively – the Volt is a pleasure to steer.
SAFETY
The Chevrolet Volt earned the highest possible rating of five stars in EuroNCAP crash testing, meaning it’s very safe in a collision. .
The passengers are housed within a rigid safety cell with impact-absorbing zones surrounding it. There are eight airbags: driver and front passenger get them in front, at the knees and around the head while there are curtain airbags above both seating rows for side impact/rollover protection and front seat mounted side airbags for thorax and pelvis protection. .
The centrally-mounted battery pack is also protected by ultra high-strength Martensite rails to prevent the high voltage innards from becoming exposed in an accident. Its casing is also watertight to protect against shocks in flooded conditions. Emergency services can also easily disconnect the battery pack.
RANGE & CHARGING
The Volt can do 25-50 miles of pure electric motoring, depending on conditions, before the range-extending petrol engine cuts in. That offers a further 310 miles before you need to fill up again. Obviously, this means the car effectively has unlimited range providing you can find a petrol station to top up the 35-litre fuel tank. However, research shows the need to stop at petrol stations is greatly reduced with the ability to plug in at home – a sample of early Volt customers taken in the U.S. in spring 2011 suggests that they drive 1,000 miles before filling up the petrol tank. Comedian Jay Leno told us he’s aiming to go a full year in his Volt before stopping for gas.
A 16amp charging unit will fill the Volt’s 16kWh battery (via a port always located in the left front wing, regardless of whether the car is left- or right-hand drive) in less than four hours, but you can also charge more slowly with a standard 13amp domestic socket.
The battery is liquid cooled and heated, meaning electric range is not negatively affected by cold weather, and the battery is included in an eight-year/ 100,000-mile warranty which covers the Voltec propulsion system.
RUNNING COSTS
The Volt’s list price – £28,545 after the £5,000 UK government grant – is very high when compared with similarly sized petrol and diesel saloons. However, running costs can be significantly lower. As an electric car, the Volt is road tax exempt in the UK and receives a 100% reduction in the London congestion charge, which could save £2,000 per year if you’re commuting into the capital. In some areas it will also be exempt from parking charges and company car drivers will be happy to learn that tax on the Volt is reduced to 5%.
Servicing costs will be 15-20% less than those of a mid-size petrol/diesel car as the engine is worked less hard, and charging costs are in the region of one or two pounds each time, depending on your electricity rates. Depending on your circumstances, the figures could begin to make sense.
VERDICT
The Volt’s a good looking machine and a cracking car to drive. It also represents a step-change in the way we think about motoring. The range extender engine will undoubtedly put some potential electric vehicle customers at ease over the issue of range, because it offers the flexibility of charging or filling up with petrol, without compromise.
Assuming a customer is sold on the idea of a plug-in hybrid car with an electric only range of more than 20 miles, they’re then going to look at both the Chevy Volt and the Vauxhall Ampera – even Chevy admits they expect customers to try out both for size. At that point, it’s mainly a brand and style choice, but the slightly higher spec (leather seats, for example) and the slightly lower price of the Volt may sway the decision in its favour.
CHEVROLET VOLT IN NUMBERS...
Performance
Trim level tested: Trim TBC
Range: 25-50 miles electric plus 310 miles extended
Acceleration: 0-60mph in 9 seconds
Top speed: 100mph
Max power: 148bhp
Torque: 370Nm (273lb ft.)
Kerb weight: 1,732kg
Battery
Type: Lithium ion
Capacity: 16kWh
Recharge time: Less than 4 hours at 13 amps/ 240 volts
Thermal control: Yes - liquid
Range extender engine
Type: 1.4 ECOTEC
Fuel: Petrol
Displacement: 1,398cc
Power: 84hp at 4,800rpm
Torque: 130Nm (96lb ft) at 4,250rpm
Dimensions
Length: 4,498mm
Width: 2,126mm
Height: 1,439mm