Chevrolet Volt/Cadillac ELR Thread: 2016 EPA Ratings

  • Thread starter Thread starter YSSMAN
  • 717 comments
  • 86,856 views
First teaser shot for the new Volt!

volt-aero-image-450.jpg


It's not quite what we have been seeing before now. I like how this iteration looks. It seems very modern, but photoshop filters and fancy angles can do a lot for a car.
 
I really hope this car does well, we need a good fuel efficient, semi-electric car. I think electric cars have gotten a bad rap since the EV-1 was an epic failure.
 
Joey D
I really hope this car does well, we need a good fuel efficient, semi-electric car. I think electric cars have gotten a bad rap since the EV-1 was an epic failure.
Click to expand...

I really like the concept of the system. It might not be the best for a city car but we will see what happens. It might be interesting to punch the gas and not have the engine revs change much at all....

The place where I see the most potential for this setup is in a pickup truck. A kid I work with had the idea of making a diesel-electric truck similar to what a freight train uses, with the diesel engine powering the battery. That type of vehicle could probably make much better use of the electric motor's flat torque curve.
 
Well the good thing about the Volt is that most Americans do not drive in the city, we commute throughout the suburbs. I think this is a great answer to the long drives many Americans take.

I can also see this system working quite well in a pick-up. Who knows we might be seeing a Colorado version of this in the near future.
 
Joey D
Well the good thing about the Volt is that most Americans do not drive in the city, we commute throughout the suburbs. I think this is a great answer to the long drives many Americans take.
Click to expand...

This is true. And the long highway drives where the car needs little energy to keep going. Except for the ever worsening traffic.

I can also see this system working quite well in a pick-up. Who knows we might be seeing a Colorado version of this in the near future.
Click to expand...

I would recommend a Silverado. But it in something that will actually use the system's potential from time to time.
 
Joey D
I really hope this car does well, we need a good fuel efficient, semi-electric car. I think electric cars have gotten a bad rap since the EV-1 was an epic failure.
Click to expand...


How? GM just ended up crushing most of them. I see no fail.
 
Tophaticent
How? GM just ended up crushing most of them. I see no fail.
Click to expand...

Oh god, please don't tell me you believed that movie..

Back OT:

Philly, I like that pic! is it official?
 
High-Test
Oh god, please don't tell me you believed that movie..

Back OT:

Philly, I like that pic! is it official?
Click to expand...

I actually never saw the movie. But I thought that GM wanted them off the road by 04....


The pic is official.
 
Tophaticent
How? GM just ended up crushing most of them. I see no fail.
Click to expand...

They tried to sell an electric car when gas wasn't even $1.00 a gallon, no one bought them and there was low demand for the vehicle.
 
Joey D
They tried to sell an electric car when gas wasn't even $1.00 a gallon, no one bought them and there was low demand for the vehicle.
Click to expand...

Man gas was already 1.25-1.50 a gallon here by then.
 
Who killed the Electric car?
There is OVERWHELMING demand for electric vehicles! We have a list of four thousand signatures in two cities!
Click to expand...

Because four thousand out of several million is overwhelming. And every one of their arguments on why hydrogen cars aren't a viable solution applies to the electric car. the US has a big enough problem trying to figure out what to do with one battery per car, let alone several. Arthur Hailey wrote Overload in the mid seventies. The book was about how screwed up the US power grid is. Not much has improved, given how overtaxed the grid is in many parts of the country. Plugging in millions of vehicles makes PERFECT sense, doesn't it?

Zero emissions my ass. And they bashed GM the entire time for taking back the EV1. Ford and Toyota reclaimed all of their Rangers and E-RAV4s. But there was NO vilifying of either Ford or Toyota for doing so. Duh, they crushed them. If one is going to keep a small number of EV1s to do research and further develop, one doesn't need seven hundred. Taking them back made sense. GM doesn't want a couple to fall in the hands of Toyota. Plus, a bunch of Crushed EV1s take up less space on a semi than regular ones. If they're going to be recycled, why send them to the recycling plant in a form that takes up more volume?
 
1996 was a long time ago though.
 
philly cheese
First teaser shot for the new Volt!

volt-aero-image-450.jpg
Click to expand...

...Back on topic...

I really like it! Its modern, clean, and certainly far-more distinctive than the Prius (which has always looked too space-age for me). If they can get the pricing right, I don't think Detroit will be able to build enough of them to keep folks happy.
 
YSSMAN
...Back on topic...

I really like it! Its modern, clean, and certainly far-more distinctive than the Prius (which has always looked too space-age for me). If they can get the pricing right, I don't think Detroit will be able to build enough of them to keep folks happy.
Click to expand...

Maybe in the future, but I would expect it to take a few years before people started buying them. Even in Hybrid-crazy Seattle, the only hybrids that you see all over are the Prius and the civic hybrid, with the Camry probably a distant third, although the LS has a high hybrid percentage. I see very few Escapes, RXs, Highlanders and others. I don't think I have ever seen a hybrid Silverado. All I am saying is that GM will probably have to build this car's reputation a bit before they start to sell very well. But I would expect to see decent sales at the beginning, just nothing staggering.
 
Why does that photoshopped Saab have a bow-tie on it?

Meh. It's a hybrid. The general consensus around here is that hybrids are evil, phony enviro-saviours. But if the General builds one, suddenly it's a good idea.
 
SlipZtrEm
Meh. It's a hybrid. The general consensus around here is that hybrids are evil, phony enviro-saviours. But if the General builds one, suddenly it's a good idea.
Click to expand...

I agree on the Hybrid thing, no matter who does it, I won't care much for it. The thing is with the Volt, it makes sense. Its more of an electric car than a hybrid, running on electric power for the first 40 miles before the gas/diesel/hydrogen engine kicks in to charge it up. It never uses the fuel engine to move the car, its always the electric one.

Call the engineering "clever" if you will, but it should work out well (I hope). Claiming 150 MPG and a $30K pricetag, I would be surprised to see folks jump on it. If I had the cash, despite my love for all things motoring, I'd even consider it. I could go months on a single tank of fuel.
 
SlipZtrEm
Why does that photoshopped Saab have a bow-tie on it?
Click to expand...

Funny. I thought the same, except I was wondering why the Chevy had saab lights on it.....

Meh. It's a hybrid. The general consensus around here is that hybrids are evil, phony enviro-saviours. But if the General builds one, suddenly it's a good idea.
Click to expand...

The reason that I, passionate hater of hybrids, am actually reasonably excited about it is that it is part of a huge operation the turn GM around and I am rooting for the brand to do it. I am also excited for the technology. I see huge potential for it in other applications like heavier machinery.

But you have a point. In the end, I will probably end up yelling at them, making as many gestures and the same driving maneuvers that I do with all current hybrids. That is, unless Gm puts some gut into the car and the drivers grow up and act like regular people.
 
philly cheese
That is, unless Gm puts some gut into the car and the drivers grow up and act like regular people.
Click to expand...

Nope.

It won't happen. They'll drive like nobody is behind them, and they'll still think they're better people than the next guy because they burn less gasoline.

I think the General can give the car guts. I honestly think they can. The electric motor in the infernal prius is torquetastic, as are all electric motors.
 
High-Test
Nope.

It won't happen. They'll drive like nobody is behind them, and they'll still think they're better people than the next guy because they burn less gasoline.

I think the General can give the car guts. I honestly think they can. The electric motor in the infernal prius is torquetastic, as are all electric motors.
Click to expand...

Yeah. This is true. The sad truth about hybrids......
 
I see I'm not the only one who thought this car looked like a Saab - I can see the general rebadging this as a Saab for us europeans and giving the Opel new sheetmetal.

They'll be fighting Volvo, who is working on their own C30 hybrid (shown in concept very recently) which works in the same manner.
 
I hope they fixed the problem of not having windows on the side of the car. Honestly, they took the horrendous 300 door to window ratio and turned up a notch--which is NOT a good thing,. The visibility would be horrid.

1chevroletvoltconceptcl7.jpg
 
I'm sure they fixed it, I can't see that car being overly safe like that.
 
Seriously. On a more positive note, I think it looks good otherwise. Throw in either the 260hp I4 turbo with more power or the 3.6L for the high end model and you'll have a winner.
 
I honestly can't wait to see the SS version of this (you know chevy will do it). It will be both fast and fuel efficient.
 
What really would be great to see is Lotus tuning the suspension.
 
It's still a hybrid car, I'm not too excited, no matter how technologically advanced it is.

looks mean, though. a lovely home for, say, a turbo Ecotec. >;3

((And, if you must ask, yes, I would throw a 3S-GTE into a Prius in a heartbeat. or a K20A into an Insight.))
 
You realise we can not be running around on petrol engines forever, at some point someone needs to try out new technology.
 
Am I just totally lost or what? From what I understand, the petrol engine will not power the wheels and will just be there to charge the battery to keep the electric motor running. Am I right with this or do I have to go and completely rethink the vehicle?

If this is the case, why are we talking about SS versions with a V-6? You realize that a bigger engine would do almost nothing in a system like this? The only thing that would make the car faster would be a more powerful electric motor and a higher performance battery that can discharge and charge faster.

But I guess Wikipedia is wrong from time to time.....

The only room I see for different engines in the vehicle would use a more conventional hybrid system.
 
Back