I bought a Chevrolet Volt recently.

My first brand new car in my entire life, so far.

No pictures because it looks like every other Silver Topaz Metallic Volt with a black leather interior and polished wheels.

I found out this evening that the top speed is limited to 101 mph and that full throttle acceleration up to and including 101 mph runs the charge down quickly. The drain on the battery was 109 Kw indicated which would be 146 HP which is about what the electric motor is rated.

Awesome.

I figured I'd start a thread about it to see if some other Volt owners had anything to add. I'm curious about driving efficiently. Is it more efficient to use the gas engine for highway trips and the battery for in town and stop and go if the distance is going to exceed the normal electric range?

I like the way it drives. It has a more precise feel than a Prius. I used to have a Corvette and Corvette drivers always wave at each other. I'm not sure if Volt drivers should.

Should I give the finger to Leaf drivers because the Leaf is so impotent looking. It has an air cooled battery, you know. Not liquid cooled like real cars.

Also, I was thinking about an accessory light that comes on to show people that you're in electric mode to make them envious.

Where did you find one? I read somewhere that dealers can’t keep them in stock.

Did you get the "eco" package that allows it to be carpool lane friendly?

A dealer near me had about 15 of them for some reason. A ZL-1 Camaro, too.

Yes, I can't imagine that any in CA would be ordered without it since there is no extra cost.

According to the California Air Resource Board website, part of eligibility for the green sticker is that the car must "Have a 10 yr/150K warranty on the zero emission energy storage system." I read that to mean the battery.

When you are driving a Volt down the highway, does the gas engine ever directly drive the wheels? Or is it all power to the wheels through the electric motor?

Yes. The original story was that it was always an electrical connection. Then there was the shocking expose!!!111 Above 70 mph the engine directly drives the wheels as well as electrically. Some people made a big fuss about this because it wasn't a true series hybrid blah blah blah blah.

I drive it differently than gasoline cars. Much more conservatively, an excellent term in this context. I'm trying not to be a traffic impediment. Tailgating Priuseses is kind of fun.

I think this will explain everything.

Yes, that's the alternator and starter sprag clutch in a KTM 950. What does that have to do with your car?

It's a picture of gears and electricity. Look at the power, the Sun and his planets. America writ large through fire and hob. The phases of Westinghouse and Tesla.

Alright, just who the hell are you and what have you done with Anorak!

It is definitely the kind of car that Anorak would buy...just not new...not now.

Anorak is supposed to buy it from an old lady, in fifteen years, after the technology has moved on to something else. He would buy it, take it apart just to see how it all worked, post pictures of it's innards here for all of us to see, then sell it once he got bored with all the theoretical HP, kWH and range calculations.

The real Anorak would locate a rogue EV1 that GM didn't crush, then defiantly parade it around town with some newfangled battery design.

The REAL Anorak would never buy a new car, much less an American one...with a WARRANTY. The end must be near.

I did put it on a lift and look at the stuff on the bottom which doesn't look like much. I haven't taken off any of the plastic covers over the engine and inverter thing with the big orange wires. I am curious if anyone has done any hacking of the electronics. There is a section in the "infotainment" menu that allows someone to update the "infotainment" software through the USB port. I would expect that customized menus and functions are possible.

I've had the same reaction from people I know as when I bought the V70XC Volvo. They are confused, it's not what they thought I would be interested in.

And, of the 15 or so cars the real Anorak has owned, three have been foreign and until the Volt only one didn't have a V-8. None have been Fords because a flathead Mercury isn't a Ford nor is a suicide door Lincoln Continental which are aside from the three foreign cars the only non GM cars Anorak has owned. Okay, I just remembered a Ford Fairmont six banger with no rear floor I had that was a demolition derby car and a Dodge Dart that I owned for a day before I traded it for a built TH400 for my 442.

Personally, I think you should wear a green bandanna and start a gang of Volt Pirates. You can shake your fist as you pass other hybrids. You can hang out at Starbucks and talk about resistance. Which we know is futile.

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o>FYI, the Chevrolet Volt’s engine DOES NOT directly drive the wheels.<o></o>
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An 111kW electric drive unit powers Volt’s wheels at all times. Positioned under the hood next to the generator, it packages a pair of electric motors and a multi-mode transaxle with continuously variable capability. Unlike a conventional powertrain, there are no step gears within the unit, and no direct mechanical linkage from the engine through the drive unit to the wheels. <o></o>
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Inside the drive unit, one or both of the motors drives the vehicle based on performance and speed to optimise efficiency. One of the motors serves a dual function, either to help drive the wheels, or to operate as a generator to keep the battery pack at its minimum state of charge. <o></o>
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At higher loads and speeds, the second motor will activate as needed for efficiency. The Voltec propulsion system optimiser evaluates the best efficiency point hundreds of times per second. <o></o>
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It seamlessly switches from one-motor to two-motor operation to use as little energy as possible while still meeting the driver’s needs. <o></o>
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Volt’s extended driving range comes courtesy of a highly refined, 1.4 litre, 63 kW petrol generator that provides power to the electric motors. <o></o>
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Not to get in a pedantic argument, but I suppose it would depend on your definition of directly. The volt uses what is known as a power-split transmission, meaning that power can be sent in any number of directions from the engine, to and from multiple motors and ultimately to the wheels. While there is no "direct" physical connections to the wheels, at certain operational points the output of the engine can be directly coupled to the wheel output through a series of gears and clutches.

The Volt's gas engine spins an alternator, as needed, that generates electricity in parallel with the battery pack to power the electric motors which propel the car.

That's why they have much more range and practicality than a pure electric like the Leaf and it's limited range.

You can be stuck on the side of the road in the Leaf with a discharged battery,

The Volt will get you to your destination by starting the gas engine and gererating electrical power to power the electric motors when the battery pack gets low or you reach a specific demand level as high speed requires.

Well said. At higher speeds in charge sustaining mode i.e. running on gasoline, the engine is mechanically coupled to the wheels at speeds over 70 mph but it is also spinning the generator.

How would the Volt perform in northern winter climates? Everyone up north knows how little cranking power a battery has on cold winter mornings. Does the cold affect the power available in a Volt battery? How about heat for the defroster and cabin area? Electric resistance coils draw a lot of power. Maybe the Volt is strictly a southern car.

Yes it does in certain situations, You said so yourself. It seamlessly switches from one-motor to two-motor operation to use as little energy as possible while still meeting the driver’s needs. <o></o>