June 17, 2009. Copyright 2009, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Chevy Volt will offer battery power, free from “range anxiety”
By Neil Winton

LONDON, June 17, Graphic News:  The Chevrolet Volt, to be sold as the Opel-Vauxhall Ampera in Europe, will be able to provide clean, emission-free electric-powered motoring, without the nagging fear that the battery will expire and strand you miles away from home.

The Volt will be the first “plug-in hybrid”. This means that you can recharge the battery by connecting it to your electricity supply at home. Current hybrids use batteries to help out petrol engines, but can’t recharge the battery, independently, from outside the car. The Volt also has an onboard petrol engine which just supplies power to the battery.

General Motors, the giant but now bankrupt U.S car manufacturer which owns Chevrolet, and controls 35 percent of Opel and Vauxhall, says this gives the Volt unique qualities. It can provide up to 40 miles/60km of battery-only power, and up to 360 miles/560km of overall range.

GM says Volt drivers may rarely need to turn on the petrol engine, because 80 percent of round-trips in Europe are less than 30 miles a day. That also spells a massive cut in costs if you just run on electric power.

“The Ampera will cost roughly one-fifth of the current cost per mile of an equivalent petrol-engined car,” GM says.

Unlike current battery-only concept cars like the Electric Mini or the Smart, the Volt has plenty of reserve range when the battery runs down. The 1.4 litre, 4-cylinder petrol engine will step in and power the battery and extend the range to that comparable to a modern petrol- or diesel-powered car. Projects like “Better Place” plan to make battery-only cars more viable by offering to swap dead batteries for newly-charged ones.

The Volt has the electric motor and the petrol engine at the front, and the lithium ion batteries in a T shape under the seats, with the top of the T just ahead of the rear wheels. The driver can switch to battery power only, so it will be allowed into emission-free zones. The petrol engine will automatically start to return power back to the batteries when it falls to 50 percent of capacity.

GM says the electric motor provides the type of performance you would expect from a 2.5 litre V6 petrol engine, with 0-60mph in 9 seconds and top speed of 100mph. The battery will have a life of about 150,000 miles or 10 years. In 220-volt Europe, the batteries will take 3 hours to refill; in 110-volt America this will take 8 hours, but U.S. buyers can upgrade their supply to 220 volts to speed things up.

GM is making 80 prototypes this summer, and will have to prove that the range and power claims can be met. If it can live up to the hype, it will revolutionise motoring. Unfortunately this won’t come cheap. Reports in the U.S. suggest the Volt will cost about $40,000 (€28,750) before tax, and will need hefty government tax breaks to spur sales.

The Chevy Volt is expected to go on sale in the U.S. in November 2010. The Opel Ampera will appear in Europe in 2011, and the Vauxhall Ampera will go on sale in Britain one year later.
/ENDS

Chevrolet Volt-Opel/Vauxhall Ampera factfile

Electric motor: 111 kW
Petrol engine: 1.4 litre, 4-cylinder
Battery: 16 kWh with 220 lithium ion cells-
Torque: 273 lb-ft/370 Nm
Power: 150 bhp equivalent
Drive: front wheels
Gearbox: none
Acceleration: 0-60mph/100km/h -- 9 seconds
Top speed: 100mph/162km/h
Fuel cost: 1/5th of current cost per mile of equivalent petrol
C02: 0g/km in electric only mode
Suspension: McPherson/compound crank twist axle
Length: 177in/4,404mm
Width – 70.8in/1,798mm
Height – 56.3in/1,430mm
Wheel-base: 105.7in/2,685mm
Boot capacity: 10.6 cubic feet/301 litres
Price $40,000-€28,750 before tax