Sensation: Chevy Volt Achieved 9MPH!
Honestly: I do not have a Chevy Volt-sinking agenda. I truly want an American manufacturer to succeed in building a car that is capable of keeping up with the rest of the traffic in all-electric mode albeit for the first 40 miles only. It does, however, look like GM is so much further away from the goal than anyone involved cares to admit to …
Last week’s UAW strike against GM highlighted one of the major issues the manufacturer is faced with: it needs to produce cars that people would want to buy. Wow, I thought they learned this much in business schools they went to, but … Whatever. Anyways, an idea was tossed around in the media quite often during the strike coverage that GM’s future is hinged on the Volt as the car of the future. I would really hate to see dozens of thousands of people to pin their hopes on a car that goes at just about 9MPH.
About the video that’s embedded above: watch Chevy Volt zoom around an oddly empty upscale neighborhood at dizzying 9MPH and making funniest noises. Well, OK, the noises are edited onto the footage later simply because electrical cars make almost no noise at all, but it’s just funny how the creators of the video must have thought that if it’s a car, it’s got to sound like one. Enjoy.
For someone who doesn’t have a Chevy Volt-sinking agenda you sure do talk (type) a lot of useless negative chatter.
@Concerned Scientist:
So far there has been a lot of hype and not much done. Will chat positive when see positive.
Thanks for posting this. The fact that there is such an unearthly clatter when the thing is just cruising around the neighborhood kind of makes me concerned. Is that the Volt’s “range extender” engine kicking in to provide extra juice? Or is it what you claim, and it’s simulated engine noise?
My Prius is one of the quietest vehicles on the road, and on electric drive, you can barely hear the thing, save for the slight whine of the motors. I do this, and regularly cruise around my neighborhood at about 20 MPH.
This video was done in january of 2007. I didn’t think the batteries were ready for the Volt back then… (or even now).
This video alone has me thinking that not once have I seen a demonstration from GM showing the big must-haves for any kind of vehicle : neighborhood cruising at 25 to 40 mph, acceleration to highway speeds, highway cruising.
I agree with you. They need to stop the hype, and give us something tangible soon. People blame Toyota for hyping up the Prius, but the fact is, the Prius is a real vehicle you can buy today, with more than 1 million sold so far. There’s very little left to hype, and very much real technology today.
Here’s a positive about the Volt: It looks cool. That paint job on the concept was spectacular, and even without it, the car is an eye-catcher. I drove the Tahoe Hybrid at Milford and was very disappointed. I saw the Volt at Milford, and wished I could have driven it.
Hi Tim,
Thanks for stopping by.
Well, yes, I can understand that Volt looks cool to some people. Granted, we have to agree that what you saw was a movie prop, but if manufactured as spec’ed, it will sure turn some heads.
Its luxury-sports-car coolness though makes me wonder if GM not wasting time and is working on a simpler, cheaper and more down-to-earth version. I don’t think they can pull themselves out of the hole they’re in by manufacturing a single model of a sports car, no matter how revolutionary the design is.
With all Volt’s coolness, there absolutely has to be a plug-in hybrid car that looks and sells like, dare I say … a Camry or a Corolla, for this to be a viable model line.
I believe the sound is the actual sound but it is a styling concept car and the drive system is a very low power one purely for display purposes. you can see it here: http://www.gm-volt.com/2007/03/22/whats-under-the-volts-hood/
that it sounds loud is no doubt because the camera gains the audio level up to a certain level which makes it hard to say how loud it actually was. it’s curiously unproffesional audio (home video echo of the door etc.) the car also sounds like loose plastic panels which it no doubt is being a mock up.
I spoke to the somewhat obtuse Chris Preuss from GM communicatins (obtuse because they still deny the murder of the EV1) and he said this type of drive was normal for a display model irrespective of gas or not. it’s actually conceivable that they just pulled out a styling concept car and called it chevy volt as quick damage control after the documentary ‘who killed the electric car’. the total lack of serious electric drive components speaks volumes about the absense of any EV directed work prior to publication. Chris Preuss denied that the Volt was a direct response to the movie. I believe he was lying
Thanks for stopping by, Dan.
Well, on the matter of the weird sounds it makes: I understand that it’s not a professional video footage and people trying to push Volt through GM are probably out of budget for anything (the famous laundry detergent bucket under the hood as an enclosure for some parts?). Yet I would argue that the pitch is way too high for the speed to be anything real. It sounds like 10,000 RPM at 10MPH. I don’t believe a high power DC motor would even survive long at this RPM. The DC motor of my Prius hums at 10 times lower frequency making me believe its bearings won’t go THAT fast.
Looks like the poor GM insider Volt proponents added the sound to make it more believable but made it just ridiculous instead. I see no harm in this, just another reason to make fun of them.
What is this nonsense? Electic car such as old GM EV-1 can make about 100mph withou any problem, dont get what is this anti-advertisment.
As an owner of a 2007 Prius with 36k on it and an “average” of 45mpg, I have to laugh!
I though this was one of those grabber clips, where the screaming face pops out at the last moment, scaring the hell out of you.
What is with the noise?
I had backed up my Prius with a tow truck driver standing next to it and when I walked over to where he was standing, he said that it surprised him when there was NO NOISE! He mentioned how spooky it was.
I admit, I like the looks of the car, now put a Prius drive train in it.
I hate the exterior design of the production version of this vehicle and I believe it will be only moderately successful in comparison to the design concept built and tested as in the video!
The video, however, is unreliable – it’s already been stated (and verified) that the audio portion has been dubbed in to the clip. I suggest that the speed of the video clip has been altered as well!
Like I said, not a fan, but, I don’t like propaganda. Car & Driver has reported that this vehicle travels @ 100 MPH within the 40 mile electric range based on their tests… so enough already~
Hi Emilio, thanks for stopping by our site. There is no propaganda. The post is dated October 3rd, 2007. What was said back then applies to the prototypes they had at the time. Many things have changed since then, Volt is more developed now for sure.