Posted on Sunday, June 22 2008 @ 0:15 CEST by Thomas De MaesschalckDevelopment of the vehicle is progressing nicely and GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz stated that he is confident that the Volt will show up on schedule. "I would say there's almost no reasonable doubt in our minds anymore that this is going to work," Lutz told Reuters.
GM is currently using a previous generation Chevrolet Malibu as a test platform for the Volt's innovative powertrain. The vehicle uses a powerful lithium-ion battery pack to power the vehicle for 40 miles. Once the battery pack exhausts its stored energy, a 1.0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine cranks up to recharge the battery pack and keeps the Volt moving along. The Volt can also be recharged from a standard household outlet for those that wish to recharge a nearly empty battery overnight.
Even though the launch of the Volt is still more than a year and a half away, Lutz says that battery testing is currently meeting expectations. "They've routinely had it to the high 30s, low 40s and they go up hills with it and everything."
One thing that Lutz said needs to be worked on before the Volt arrives on dealer lots, however, is the tiny internal combustion engine (ICE). In its current form, it's not quite refined enough for the public.
"It all works real well, it's just that the transition from battery power to the internal combustion," stated Lutz. "They said it's still noisy and it's a little rough. But heck, we've got a little more than a year and a half to work on that."
The car will be priced at $40,000 and GM says they won't make any profit on the first-generation:
To make us feel a little better about that extra $10k, he offered the fact that Chevrolet would be losing money on the first-generation Volt and Congress may offer up at $7,000 tax credit for plug-in hybrids anyway.
