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The Chevy Volt:Is the GM Volt Electric Car THE Car of the Future? The Chevy Volt is a new car due to go into production next year. From what I see it looks good.
It’s not all-electric but I’ll forgive that as it looks like a serious car and could be a great gateway for people into the all-electric way of mind!
What is it exactly? The Chevy Volt is a new car from Chevrolet which they call an extended-range electric vehicle. This means that it is basically like the plug in hybrids which are cars that run on batteries that you can charge with a plug and also have an internal combustion engine. The difference with this car is that only when the battery runs out does it switch to an internal combustion engine which recharges the battery. When it’s charged past a certain point the engine switches off again so it acts like a generator instead of actually moving the wheels itself. It can also run on E85 (85% ethanol, 15% petrol) or any mixture of those fuels (like most cars in Brazil and Sweden) which is available in the USA and, believe it or not, Ireland! Is it any good?  Chevrolet claims it can travel up to 60 km on its battery charge before the internal combustion engine kicks in to give you a full 500 km range.
In my opinion it’s definitely a step up from a normal hybrid.
It travels 60 km on pure electricity which is just as good as some smaller all electric powered cars ability and still covers most people’s daily commute.
This is great as it conquers most people’s fear of running out of electricity and being confined to only driving certain distances.
Many people will then end up using all electricity most days and then the internal combustion engine at the weekends maybe for longer trips.
It also has a claimed top speed of 160 km/h and acceleration of 0-100 km/h in 9 seconds which is doing alright for a family sized car.
When is it available and where? It should be available in 2011. It’s going to be available in the USA, Europe (as the Opel or Vauxhall Ampera) and Australia (as the Holden Volt). It should cost about $40,000. They are planning to first release 10,000 then more if it goes well.  If you’re not so sure about the all-electric cars and want to ease yourself in then this could be the car for you.
I wouldn’t be in a position to tell you to buy one of these yet though as none of the production cars are out at the moment but from what I’ve heard it sounds like it has the making of an impressive car.
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