Blog

As Chevrolet joins the rising electric motor vehicles industry, it announced plans to create the 2016 Chevrolet Volt.

Showing its reputation of bringing excellent products, the Chevrolet Volt runs at 50 miles, the longest running range among hybrid cars that are currently out in the market.

Although BMW’s i3 has the longest record, running at 72 miles, such car belongs to another category, that is, electric cars. The Chevrolet Volt belongs to the category of hybrid cars.

Let’s talk about the initial unveiling of General Motors plan to focus on plug-in electric cars and mild hybrid cars. Based on what product chief, Mary Barra said about plug-in technology playing an increasing role in the coming years, she was trying to create a path for the coming 2016 Volt with what they were then ‘unveiling’, the Chevrolet Bolt.

Now, as GM’s CEO, Barra, is setting the expectation of consumers and people who are awaiting GM’s hybrid synergy drive, as they launched their own electric motor. Although all these speculation is purely that, speculation, these are all based from what GM and Barra are announcing to the public. Truly, GM wants to be known as the leading sellers of cars that offer plug in, whether this is a plug in hybrid or a plug in electric motor vehicle.

The big question being asked here is: What is GM’s offer that would be included in the range of hybrid cars…that does not use plug in?

Now with the Chevrolet Volt, we think this is the answer to the raised question. The predecessor of the Volt, Chevrolet’s Bolt, came out with the 111 kilowatt motor. It also had a separate 55kw generator powered motor, which is thought to be additional torque. As always, these are speculations to the raised question, as Barra had never made this announcement, nor was there an exact statement from GM. The new Volt still has 2 motor systems, but are of the same size. Total drive power is still at 111kw, and additional torque is 294 pound motor.

In addition, GM shares that the new Volt is lighter than the Bolt, 100lbs lighter to be exact. It has more power and is said to be more efficient than the Bolt by 12 percent. Voltec’s power comes from the 18.4kw hour lithium ion battery pack that has been liquid cooled.

This is why speculation and assumptions are made as to what General Motors will be coming up with as their hybrid answer to the line of hybrid cars, simply because looking at the engine set up of the Volt looks exactly like the Toyota’s Prius if you remove the plug in gear. The hybrid synergy drive is exactly what you get.  The big difference is that the Volt’s electric output of 111kw is definitely bigger than the Toyota Prius.

With several consumers who are using an electric car these days, based on their feedback, an electric car that comes without the engine noise and vibration is a definite seller. The only question that GM would probably have to face is if the hybrid system of the Volt be able to run more on electric compared to Toyota’s hybrid line up.