Quote:
Originally Posted by syr74
What DG3 said. Whether you love or hate GM they said that the engine was used to recharge the batteries and that as such the Volt is an EV. The car they are now describing is in fact, under certain circumstances, driven directly by the engine itself and that means that this is not an electric vehicle.
Call a spade a spade. This is a really, really stupid way to get a lot of bad press.
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Actually GM never said the engine recharges the battery either. The ICE turns a generator which maintains the battery stete of charge at it's minimum level. Using the engine to charge the battery is possible, it's just not how it is currently set up to operate.
The Volt is really difficult to classify. Is it a Hybrid? an EV? Not sure I care. I know GM would prefer it be called an EV to differentiate it from the Prius. But with the Leaf out and others to follow, perhaps something else is more appropriate. I don't care.
What is important is what the Volt does. No one is asking what does a leaf do at 70 mph on the worst grade in North America? Can it maintain 70 mph like the Volt can? I don't know but am now interested to find out. As I understand it, the Volt has Mountain Mode which is what enables the Volt to maintain 70 mph on these severe grades. But if you don't select it, you just get degraded performance. So it's an EV unless you select "don't be an EV just now" mode.
To say GM "lied" to me really shows the negativity around the company right now. If Toyota did this it would spun as a product enhancement.
Is it bad to have eliminate not only Range Anxiety, but performance anxiety as well? For those living in Colorado this could be very important to that customer.
But I'm backing out of this as you guys already know where I come from and where I work. I actually got to work on the Volt several years ago when it was being bubbled up. This car is an invention and was being invented the entire way. The final solution wasn't known at the start of the program, of that I can assure you. So did it end up different than when they started? Yes. Does it do things better than when they started? Absolutely. So because they figured out how to make the car work better and be more efficient along the way does that make it a lie? You tell me, but I vote no. I've worked with all the players, sat in meetings with them. None of them are liars and I don't think this is any grand deception. It's just to maximize performance for more customers, the car makes use of inherint possibilities in the design.
No Hybrid can do what the Volt can do. Period. No EV can do what the Volt can do. Period. Marvel at the technology and don't get sucked into this GM bashing.