Based on the thin evidence available, folks who buy or lease the Chevrolet Volt electric car — scheduled to go on sale in November 2010 — should be surprised and pleased.
If the so-called Volt mules that General Motors provided for a few miles of driving around the GM Tech Center campus here Tuesday were representative, Volt owners will be treated to remarkably punchy performance from the electric drivetrain and a level of quiet refinement that appears to lead the industry.
What's a mule? A chassis and powertrain from the target vehicle clothed with the body and interior of some other car about the same size.
GM won't begin making Volt bodies until late May, so it is using the body and some of the interior of the similar-size Chevy Cruze compact sedan atop the platform that GM says is close to what showroom-ready Volts will have. Two such mules were yanked from GM engineers' test fleet long enough for journalists to roll up a few miles. Once back in the big garage, the cars were abruptly snatched back to the engineering test fleet.
Why the urgency? Volt is as close as the modern auto industry has come to "making it up as we go along." The car's lithium-ion battery packs remain under intense development and testing. GM is betting it will know everything it needs to by the time the showroom-ready chassis, body and drivetrain come together next year.
There's sense to using a Cruze body in the interim because Volt will be, very loosely speaking, based on Cruze, GM says.
Based on a few miles in one of the mules, Volt should be:
•Powerful. Electric motors give instant torque, and the Volt motor has some serious guts. If the production version — which GM says will have even more power — is like the tester, you'll be able to embarrass muscle-car drivers when the light turns green.
•Quiet. None of the whine typical of electrics when they accelerate exists; nor the distant whine and howl on deceleration when the motor becomes a generator to recharge the battery pack in what's known as regenerative braking.
Gas-electric hybrids, even the best, don't completely scrub out all the whine.
Tony Posawatz, who is what GM calls vehicle line director for Volt, says the car will have some type of noisemaker to alert blind pedestrians crossing at intersections of Volt's presence.
•Familiar. GM seems to be successfully walking a thin line here. The first folks who buy Volts will be the early adopters — the super-green, super-geek people who want to be surrounded by evidence of the electric drivetrain and battery power, electronic gauges, display screens, lights and so on.
But to sell enough Volts to make money, the car has to appeal to mainstreamers, who — it is presumed — want a car a lot like the one they're driving now while using less gas. They'll consider it frosting on the cake if the car lets them hold their own when a zealot, or some drunk at a party, starts in on "carbon footprints."
Unlike the decal-festooned test mules, the real Volt will look normal outside and will let the driver choose how much gee-whiz to show on the display panels inside — a thankee on behalf of common-sensers who understand that less is more.
Robert Kruse, GM's executive director of global engineering for hybrids, electric cars and batteries, says owners will be able to tell Volt they want to leave the house for work at, say, 8 a.m. and the car will automatically get the battery pack and the car itself heated or cooled so it's right and ready.
Still unsettled:
•Price. GM says it's too early to pick a number but notes that buyers should be able to qualify for a $7,500 electric-car tax credit, effectively cutting the price that much. Based on comments by GM brass and analysts, expect a window sticker of $35,000 to $40,000.
GM says it's unclear whether most Volt customers would prefer to buy the car or lease it and whether the battery pack should be leased or sold separately.
The pack should be good for at least 100,000 miles, Kruse says.
•Tuning of the gasoline engine. It wasn't operable in the test cars, so there was no hint of how smooth and quiet it'll be when it comes on to charge the batteries, if needed.
Posawatz promises it'll avoid the shudders common on some hybrids.
But how fast to run it? Rev it up to match the driver's push on the throttle, even though that's unnecessary? Run it at a set speed that combines good fuel economy and efficient recharging, even though that would seem odd to drivers used to an engine's revs rising and falling?
The engine probably will come on and run briefly now and then to keep the lubricants and coolant circulated and avoid the problem of stagnant fuel collecting moisture or otherwise getting stale.
•Fuel economy ratings. If you drive only a few miles a day, you'll use no gasoline, so how do you assign a mileage number to the car?
GM and the government are discussing how to calculate a realistic fuel-economy number.
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