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2011 Chevy Volt Philadelphia PA

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2011 Chevy Volt Overview

General Motors has been working for nearly four years to bring the Volt electric sedan to market, and, based on what we've experienced, the final result is a shockingly good, technologically brilliant electrically powered sedan. The Volt seats four.

The Chevrolet Volt uses a enormous 420-pound, T-shaped lithium-ion battery, mounted right in the center of the car, under the center console and rear seat, to power the car through a large 149-horsepower, 368 foot-pound AC-current electric motor with a planetary transmission and transaxle driving the front wheels. Chevrolet says a fully charged battery will run the car on electricity alone for nearly 47 miles.

The battery, co-developed with Korea's LG Chemical, a leader in this technology, uses 288 slim cells divided into four 72-cell packs. The battery has its own separate heating and cooling systems to allow it to operate efficiently in extremes of temperature. The battery can be fully charged on normal house current in 10-12 hours, said Chevrolet, and with a 240-volt charging station, in about four hours. Since electric power rates vary wildly across the country, Chevrolet estimated than an overnight charge will cost $1.00 to $1.50 per day, far less than the several gallons of gasoline it would take most commuters to get to work and back. Chevrolet will charge $490 for the fast-charging station, plus whatever your local power utility will charge for installation, and some power companies are prepared to offer rebates on installations to promote the idea. The first 4,400 Chevrolet Volt buyers will get the charging station free.

When impending battery depletion is sensed by the electronic control system that links the battery, motor, clutches, transaxle, and starter/generator together, the 1.4-liter gasoline engine starts, and converts the starter into a 55-kilowatt generator, which then supplies electrical power to the battery and the motor so that the journey can continue.

2011 Chevy Volt Lineup

The Chevrolet Volt comes with fabric upholstery, air conditioning, navigation, OnStar, AM/FM/CD/DVD with XM satellite radio and radio recording capability, power windows, locks, and mirrors.

Options include the Premium package with perforated leather upholstery, heated front seats, leather-wrapped steering wheel, premium door trim; Rear Camera with Park Assist; polished alloy wheels , and special paint.

Safety features that come standard include dual-stage front airbags, side airbags, curtain airbags, safety belts with pre-tensioners, rear child locks, LATCH, StabiliTrak electronic stability control, anti-lock brakes (ABS), traction control, yaw control, roll control.

Interior of the 2011 Chevy Volt

The Volt is as modern and different on the inside as it is on the outside. On cloth-seat base models, the door panels and other trim are metallic, but if the premium package is ordered, those panels become wildly graphic, including the dashtop. Either way, the interior looks very modern, the materials and graining are very well done, and there is plenty of light coming into the car from the large windows.

Volt seats just four people. The layout is for two up front in bucket seats, two in the rear on the bench seat, and the buckets are modern looking and very comfortable.

There are two large display screens, one directly in front of the driver, and one at the top center of the instrument panel, and between the two screens, there is every kind of technical information about the operation of the car, plus navigation and entertainment on the center screen. The very large speedometer numbers dominate the driver's screen, with the normal gauges arrayed around the corners, a battery depletion gauge on the left, and a floating virtual Earth on the right-hand side, the idea being to keep the Earth centered at all times for best battery life and best energy usage, functionally similar to the growing-leaf display in the Ford Fusion hybrid.

Driving Impressions of the 2011 Chevy Volt

Like some of the existing hybrids, the Volt is always trying to help the driver achieve better battery performance, better overall efficiency and better fuel mileage, through the various instruments and displays on the instrument panel. It's very easy to stay on top of all that information by scrolling through the menus as you drive, trying to keep the battery stack icon as tall as possible.

But, eventually, the battery will deplete, after 48 miles in our case, and then the engine starts noiselessly and stays quietly in the background even at high throttle settings. Chevrolet said the Volt will run from 0 to 60 mph on battery power in less than 9 seconds, and reach a top speed of 100 mph.

The chassis underneath the unibody Volt is almost all composed of the same parts used on the Chevrolet Cruze sedan and some German Opel models, with the exception of the ABS brakes, which are connected to the car's electrical system and recharge the battery every time the car is braked or the accelerator pedal is released. Everything about the steering, braking and handling of the Volt reflects the Cruze, a highly competent compact. There is nothing weird about it. The steering is relatively quick and nicely weighted, the brakes work extremely well crawling through traffic or even hauling down from highway speeds, and the suspension absorbs big bumps and deep potholes with ease. The ride is taut and smooth, but well short of luxury-car plushness

Summary

The Volt proved to be a very nice surprise in terms of its smooth, quiet operation, its excellent acceleration, its competent dynamics, and its ongoing economy of operation. It got a great many looks of admiration and thumbs up for its overall style, and the interior decor and function are very appealing as well. By 2011, Chevrolet will have the capacity to build 30,000 Volts for the U.S. and Canada, and we don't think that's going to be enough cars to fill the demand.

Some information for this review was obtained from NewCarTestDrive.com