Review of Chevy Volt in action.

[Statistical]

How well will General Motors' Chevrolet Volt drive once it gets past its 40 mile all-electric driving range and starts to rely on power generated by its gasoline engine? That's been a question for both critics and fans of the Volt, and with just 11 months to go before this car hits the market, I got the answer.

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What happened was both imperceptible and impressive. Forced to start generating its own electricity on the fly, the Volt's performance changed not a bit. Criticism that the Volt, while running on gasoline power, would perform like a cinderblock looks to be wrong. While not all questions about this car have been answered -- some will have to wait until there are thousands of them on the road --we now know how the Volt will drive using gasoline power.

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Finally after a couple of laps around the Warren Tech Center watching the battery-level indicator drop, I slammed the accelerator to the floor one more time. The battery indicator's diminishing green bar briefly changed to a something the shape of a gas pump as the car continued its rush up to speed. If the the changing icon hadn't caught my eye, I wouldn't have known it finally needed to burn some gasoline. Just as in the best hybrid cars today, there was little noise and no jolt or bump in the transition from battery power to gasoline.

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http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/autos/1001/gallery.chevrolet_volt_review/index.html?cnn=yes

Anyways a great read despite the authors complete lack of knowledge on the subject.

Of course if the author had any knowledge he wouldn't be "surmised" the volt drives just as well in "gasoline only".

The single electrical motor provides 100% of the power to the wheels and does it 100% of the time (when running on battery power or when using gasoline for recharging). Of course there will be no performance change when in "gasoline mode" because the electric motor is only thing moving the vehicle. The gasoline "engine" is really just a gasoline generator is simply recharging the batteries if/when needed.

The best way to think of the Volt is as an electric vehicle one with 40 mile range and a gasoline generator in the trunk that allows you to recharge on the fly.

[whyverne]

1. I was on a cruise and was fascinated when the Captain informed us that

the ship was powered by electricity. I didn't know that. Diesel locomotives work the same way. The engines power the generators. The electric motor does the work. This idea is not new.

[Statistical]

2. Agreed it is not a new tech.

Diesel electric has been around quite a while. Not just locomotives and ship propulsion but also high torque enviroments like giant mining dump trucks and other industrial equipment.

However the Volt is a rather unique application of existing technology.