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Hybrid or Electric: Debate over Volt rages
by Jamie Anderson - October 12, 2010 - comments
Chevrolet insists that the Volt is not a hybrid car. It claims that the vehicle is electric that just happens to generate some of that electricity with an onboard gasoline-powered engine.
A month before it goes on sale, General Motors Co.’s low-emission Chevrolet Volt finds itself in the midst of a controversy.
The largest U.S. automaker has claimed that Volt is an extended-range electric vehicle.
All this while, GM has promoted the $41,000 Volt as an electric vehicle to position it above Toyota’s hybrid Prius.
False promises?
On the other hand, Auto critics Edmunds.com, Motor Trend, and Popular Mechanics aver that Volt, during heavy acceleration, uses the gasoline engine to power the electric generator. This puts the Volt in the category of hybrids.
"You have a PR problem with any one of these vehicles," said Jim Hall, principal of 2953 Analytics Inc., an auto consulting firm in Birmingham, Michigan.
"GM had this sort of schizophrenic thing about doing its best to manage perception and at the same time going off into traditional old-style GM hype," noted Hall.
“Consumers don’t care what we call it. In our research, most of the questions from consumers are about battery life and recharging.” -- Eric Noble, president of The CarLab, an auto consulting firm in Orange, California
The Detroit major has now proclaimed that the vehicle would average 230 miles per gallon.
Earlier GM had said that Volt would cover 40 miles on a fully charged battery. The vehicle would manage an overall range of 340 miles after the gasoline engine starts to recharge the battery.
Does not make a difference to consumers
Nick Richards, a GM spokesman, however, defended the car manufacturer’s earlier claim and said that Volt is completely electricity driven and has no mechanical link anywhere from the engine to the wheels.
“The car’s four-cylinder gasoline engine powers a secondary electric motor, which turns the wheels,” declared Tony Posawatz, the Volt’s vehicle line director.
“I keep telling people that this is a smart solution. It drives very different from a hybrid,” Posawatz added.
Eric Noble, president of The CarLab, an auto consulting firm in Orange, California opined that consumers will not bother about whether Volt is a hybrid or electric car.
“Consumers don’t care what we call it. In our research, most of the questions from consumers are about battery life and recharging,” Noble concluded.