Drew Dowdell

The Volt: Still not a hybrid... no lie! This morning the automotive press’ inter-tubes went all a flutter over the revelation that the just released Chevrolet Volt has a clutch that can engage the gasoline engine to the generator which could itself be connected to the wheels when the vehicle is running over 70mph and the battery is depleted. This prompted cries of “GM LIED!” and “IT’S JUST A HYBRID!” due to the fact that since near the beginning, GM has been marketing the Volt as an electric vehicle with an onboard range extender and it had no physical connection from engine to wheels. That got me thinking: What exactly is the definition of a hybrid? Read More: The Volt: Still not a hybrid... no lie!

The Volt: Still not a hybrid... no lie! October 11, 2010 - Drew Dowdell This morning the automotive press' inter-tubes went all a flutter over the revelation that the just released Chevrolet Volt has a clutch that can engage the gasoline engine to the generator which could itself be connected to the wheels when the vehicle is running over 70mph and the battery is depleted. This prompted cries of "GM LIED!" and "IT'S JUST A HYBRID!" due to the fact that since near the beginning, GM has been marketing the Volt as an electric vehicle with an onboard range extender and it had no physical connection from engine to wheels. That got me thinking: What exactly is the definition of a hybrid? Is there a certain percentage of drive time or torque distribution that causes a vehicle to cross the hybrid/non-hybrid threshold? Nearly all automobiles have been a combination of internal combustion and electric motors since Cadillac installed the first electric start in 1912. Before the days of the clutch interlock, if your car wouldn't start, you could turn the key with the transmission in first and move the vehicle a few feet. It was a good way to burn out your starter, but it could be done in a pinch. So when my dad did that in his '82 F-250 to move it out of traffic's way in a bad situation, did his old Ford magically turn into a hybrid for those few brief seconds? I think not. In 2008, GM introduce the Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid and Saturn Aura Hybrid. These vehicles were powered by something GM called Belt-Alternator-Starter or BAS. Any explanation you need is right there in the name. It's was basically a heavy duty belt that allowed a heavy duty alternator to supplement the power of the vehicle's 4 cylinder engine. It also allowed start/stop engine operation in city driving, though a traditional engine starter was retained for cold starts. The BAS system added a grand total of 5 horsepower and could only propel the car up to 3mph. Would you call this a hybrid? Despite GM's marketing department, which called it a "mild" hybrid, I don't buy it. Neither did anyone else and the Malibu was reduced to "Fleet Only" status for 2009. What about the vehicle that is the very definition of the term hybrid? The Toyota Prius is the best selling hybrid on the market... ever. In the Prius' system, power input is split between the electric motors and the gasoline engine depending on throttle input. Under full throttle, you get power from both sources. Power is combined in a device that Toyota calls the Hybrid Synergy Drive, basically a multi directional transmission that can take rotational energy from 3 different inputs (gas engine, electric motor, or wheels) and send it to two other locations (the electric motor for battery regeneration or the wheels for motion) as circumstances demand. The Prius is able to operate in electric only mode, gasoline only mode, and nearly every blend of in between. Would you call this a hybrid? Multiple power sources going in multiple directions... it most certainly is. So back to the Volt. I spoke with Pam Fletcher, Chief Engineer of Volt Powertrain Development and asked her what her response is to the people who say "The Volt is just a plug in hybrid". She said, "A hybrid can't do what the Volt can do. If you put the Volt's battery in a hybrid it won't change the nature of the way that vehicle drives." If you drive a Prius and press the throttle all the way, you will get a combination of full power from the electric motor and full power from the gasoline motor for maximum acceleration. However, in the Volt with a full charge, you can get the vehicle up to 100 miles an hour and never use a drop of gasoline. As the battery's charge level depletes below a certain level, the gasoline engine will kick in to "follow behind" and replenish the battery. The main physical motivation for the Volt comes from a 142hp traction motor. An additional 73 hp can be added on from a second motor if the driver applies more than 80% throttle. If the driver applies 100% throttle with a full battery.... the gasoline engine is still sitting on the sidelines doing nothing. At normal driving speeds, the traction motor is more than enough to hustle the Volt around. One of the benefits of electric motors is awesome low end torque. A well designed electric motor will have it's maximum amount of torque at zero rpm. Thus as an electric motor increases in RPM, it gradually loses it's torque output. At 70 mph, the Volt's traction motor is turning over 6,000 rpm. Volt's engineering team discovered that this wasn't a very energy efficient rpm to operate at. So at speeds above 70 mph, they couple the smaller, second motor, and reduce the rpm of the primary traction motor. This gains the Volt about 1 to 2 miles of electric only range at 70+ mph. So where does the controversy lie? It's in the arrangement of the electric motors. That smaller motor mentioned above is usually the generator when the Volt is in regeneration mode. Since you're going nowhere if the battery is drained, the gas engine kicks in to recharge the battery, only if you're going over 70mph, the generator is already in use propelling the car. So the gasoline engine assists the secondary motor which is assisting the primary motor. It's this physical connection to what essentially a dual use component that is sending the likes of Edmunds and Jalopnik into a froth, but in reality gives the Volt a 15% increase in efficiency. Does this dual use component make the Volt a hybrid and not an EV? Well we have to go back to the original question of, "What make a car a hybrid?" The Volt can be operated at any speed and at any level of acceleration without the gasoline so much as twitching. The Prius, even the coming plug in model, can't do this. The Prius can move on any combination of motive power. The Volt's only motive power is electrical. The Prius can be driven without any electrical assist at all. In Volt, if your batteries ain't glowin, you ain't goin. So is the Volt a hybrid? No, not really. Even after all this fluff it's still an electric vehicle with an onboard generator. Cries of "GM LIED!" and "IT'S JUST A PLUG IN HYBRID!" are just sensationalist automotive tabloid journalism designed to drive traffic to websites.That the gasoline engine can assist the smaller electric motor under certain conditions, doesn't make it any more a hybrid than the burned out starter on my dad's F-250 was. To GM, I suggest a new term: EV with ICE assist.

In a Chrysler... probably the LeBarron Convertible. In a Dodge... probably their last K-Car convertible. The Cutlass Supreme had a white leather interior in convertibles up until 1995.

That deserves a couple of +1s

Today! You can't get past "today". The whole point of the Volt is that it removes gasoline as the lynch pin to mobility. Electricity is renewable and we know many many many different ways to make it. Having the electric drive train opens up a host of possibilities on how to generate that electricity. A sterling engine or propane turbine engine would NEVER be viable as the primary motive power in a vehicle.... but both of them can be used to generate electricity. It's like you are griping about Ford upgrading the brakes in the Model-T to something other than wood because cars will never go above 30mph anyway. Did you really just make a super idiotic analogy? The analogy I'd make is this one. You have two students. One majored in Basket Weaving and got a C-. The Basket it made were interesting, but not particularly useful. The other student did a duel major in chemistry and physics, with a minor in eco-sciences.... and got solid B's throughout for being capable of doing the work. Which student do you think is going further in life? The Volt is the far more advanced power train here. You're heaping all this praise on Nissan for doing something Detroit Electric did in 1907. Their vehicles had an 80 mile range on nickle iron batteries. So... yay Nissan... 103 years later, they beat Detroit Electric by 20 miles. 1. Not at a set speed, but at a fairly constant speed. I do understand that it's not on/off. 2. Because of the dynamics of torque. The Pruis's electric motor smooths out differences between torque needs and torque supply. A standard gas engine with a CVT is all over the RPM band all the time. 3. It's more efficient to run an engine, any engine, at a constant rpm. Any time you have to change the RPM, you're losing energy.

We have a fairly strong Google and Bing presence for a site our size. That's something I've worked on since I took the site over.

What is the issue?

Well it's getting a new powertrain, suspension tuning... the works. This is not your neighbor's Enterprise Rental.

Much nicer than the current one. The interior was the biggest thing that held me back from ANY of the LX cars. I like the 300c from the outside and when looking under the hood.... but the badness of the current interior, I just couldn't get over.

I mean current Taurus, not the renamed 500.

How long is your commute?

And that is the beauty of the Volt architecture. The generator really doesn't care what is spinning it does it? Someone comes out with a very low maintenance Wankel engine that runs on seaweed? Throw it in there. Someone else comes up with a diesel that runs on sugarcane? Throw it in there. GM decides that stubborn "mericans aren't going to give up gasoline until it's pried from their cold dead hands, make an HCCI version. Europe wants a biodiesel Volt? Throw it in there! As long as whatever is spinning the generator can run at a constant speed, efficiently, on command.... throw it in there. You could even make a combo Photovoltaic solar and Sterling solar model and go completely fossil fuel free.... For the Leaf... what's the next step? Where does it go from here? Bigger batteries? Better batteries?....... that's about it. The Prius is limited in it's ICE by still requiring the engine dynamics of a typical car... it has to operate efficiently at nearly all RPM with a constantly changing engine speed, where as the Volt's engine can just hang out at 3,000 rpm all day happily recharging the batteries.* * I don't know the exact RPM the Volt operates at, but hopefully you get my point.

There aren't any hills near you and I that the Volt would even worry about. It was down to Semi-Trailer speeds at the top of Loveland Pass which is 12,000 feet in elevation. That's a about 3 times the highest points in PA, MD, and WV. In fact, the only time you get an elevation over 5,000 ft east of Colorado, is Mt. Washington in Maine at 5,299. Ideally, the Volt should suggest mountain mode if it detects through your map guidance that you should be engaging it. The Prius has no mountain mode to allow you to prepare ahead of time, and the Leaf obviously doesn't since it can't regenerate on the fly.

If the interior upgrades are anything like what we've seen in the Grand Cherokee, 2011 Durango, and hinted at in the Charger, I think with the powertrain upgrades, we could be looking at a radically transformed car.....even better than the transition from Ford 500 -> current Taurus.

Dodge releases Charger interior teaser From the teaser shot, we know for sure the Charger will have the same steering wheel as the recently revealed interior of the 2011 Durango and Dodge is promising better materials and excellent fit 'n finish for everyone's favorite rebel American sedan (not that that's a extremely difficult thing to do in the first place). More here: Just a Peek: 2011 Dodge Charger Interior

Yeah, you got downrated 3 times for this, but I agree with you. My ex's Passat was a constant nightmare, from electronics that would stop working, to buttons that would fall off, to cupholders that would break..... The rain sense windshield wipers would be working... and then just quit "sensing" mid rainstorm. All in all, it was as flaky as he was.....

Ok... refixed. Chat is back and the board is working properly now.

No need to hide that last bit. If you can get down here when I have a vehicle or we can meet half way, I'd be happy to include you. You can keep your member group as long as you want... I can add as many member groups as secondary if need be.