Wait a minute...you would NOT store your Volt for a month without being plugged in?!?? Then why in the heck to you keep saying the Volt is just like any other car? If you can’t park it and walk away, its a toy, not a car.
Now you didn’t do your homework assignment, so let me do it for you.
The electric motor has 149 hp. The engine is 84 hp. Do you really think the Volt acts just like a ‘normal car’ with an 84 hp motor? When the car weighs 3,800 lb? That’s a ratio of 45 lb per hp, btw.
A 1976 Chevette had 60 hp for 1,850 lbs...31 lb per hp, or in other words the Volt on its engine has a power/weight ration 50% WORSE than a 1976 oil crisis car of yesteryear.
See. Its a toy. In fact, that tiny gas engine really can’t push a heavy car like the Volt through the mountains. Don’t believe me? Then explain why GM has ‘mountain mode’ on the Volt.
Now toys are fine. I don’t care. Unless I pay for it. So I have to insist, every time you post about the glorious achievements of the Volt, you add a preamble, which explains why the Volt’s perceived advantages are worth my taxpayer dollars.
One other little homework assignment. Why subsidize it? If its so great, wouldn’t it take off like a new I-Phone? GM is not an ‘upstart’ company...so don’t even think about claiming its a ‘new industry’. The electric car industry is older than the gas car industry btw. Seriously...why on earth do you think it has to be subsidized? Why have sales been so terrible? Do you trust the market? It quite frankly has spoken.
Once again, you seem to relish twisting words. I said I would not leave it unplugged for a month out in the sun. In your airport example I would just park in the parking garage. Although a car cover might work as well.
Further, I already explained to you back in September regarding all your rambling about mountain mode. I'll just copy and paste it here for everyone’s benefit:
“What does this mean? If your Volt is out of battery juice, and you hit the hills, you will not be able to keep up with the normal flow of traffic. Instead you will be in the right lane, possibly even in the emergency lane, puttering up the hill.”
Well that is some nice wild speculation you have there, truly befitting of an internet post. How about real-world evidence, shall we?
First of all, GM did a lot of testing on Pike's Peak before releasing the Volt. But forget what GM says, what actual owners have experienced is nothing like what you describe. You see, when the Volt is normally “out-of-juice” and switches to gasoline mode, it actually has a large buffer of charge that is unused. If you forgot to use Mountain Mode and end up having to go up a mountain in theses situations, it uses some of that buffer to maintain normal speeds. (All Mountain Mode does is increase the size of that buffer.)
One owner posted an extensive report of his testing of this feature and found that he was unable to deplete this buffer in his 6 mile test up a 5% grade at 65 mph. Another owner on a much longer test was able to deplete the buffer. At that point his Volt gave him a “Propulsion Power is Reduced” warning and his speed was reduced to 57 mph until he cleared the hill.
“It doesn’t really have a gas mode - it has a limp home mode.”
I think 57 mph is more than adequate for steep inclines. I don't think anyone would honestly call it a “limp home mode.”