I'm tired of all this Volt trashing even before the car is out. The early reviews from
Car & Driver,
Motor Trend, and
Road & Track are excellent and the Volt is living up to what it was predicted to be.
Investors' Business Daily is doing a hack job on the Volt but I'll bet the person(s) who wrote this article have never changed a set of spark plugs.
There is an issue of how the car performs in the
change sustain mode under very specific conditions. When the car is in charge sustain mode AND at speed limits exceeding 70 miles per hour, the electric motors get a small mechanical boost from the ICE engine. This is complicated for everyone here except the Gear Heads. GM Engineers found out during testing that they could get a 15% efficiency boost in this configuration. It could have worked as all electric but it simply would not have given the same gas mileage. So what were they supposed to do? The bottom line is that the car is working great. The folks over at
Investors' Business Daily simple want to see the Volt fail and its success will just kill them.
Some reminders for the folks here. The Volt was conceived of and started in 2006
BEFORE Obama was elected and long before the bailout. If GM had not taken the bailout, many would be singing the praises of this remarkable vehicle. Again, don't let your dislike of Obama and the bailout cloud your judgement of the Volt. EREV is the future of automotive technology.
Volt Range
Drive System Explained
Motor Trend Article on Volt1. How would the volt manage a norther tier winter?
2. Will it pull my 5th Wheel trailer?
3. How does the price, including replacement cost of batteries, compare to similar fully gasoline engine automobiles in its class (not including the governments generous taxpayer subsidy)?