| | GREAT SELECTION OF 2012 CHEVY VOLTS!!!
** GREEN CAR OF THE YEAR**
2011 CHEVY VOLT
MOTOR TREND CAR OF THE YEAR!
Volt and Leaf Take Top Safety Ratings from IIHS
**JUST ANNOUNDED**
5-18-2011
General Motors just announced that it will reconfigure the factory that makes the Chevrolet Volt so it can produce up to 60,000 electric cars per year.
The Detroit News - April 26, 2011
Situation
Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf won highest safety ratings from Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
Important boost toward winning broad consumer acceptance of battery-powered vehicles
IIHS said tests were 1st conducted in US on plug-in electric vehicles
Both earned top ratings of "good" for front, side, rear, and rollover crash protection
IIHS said it demonstrates automakers are using same safety engineering in new electric cars as they do in gasoline-powered vehicles
**Both won "Top Safety Pick" honors from IIHS**
What powers the wheels is different, but level of safety for both is as high as any of its other top crash test performers, said Joe Nolan, chief administrative officer for IIHS
Neither Volt nor Leaf have been recalled to date, and GM and Nissan have been eager to demonstrate their safety .
Both vehicles have heavy battery packs that require more energy to move, but are actually benefit for safety .
IIHS said battery packs bring vehicles' curb weights closer to midsize and larger cars –Leaf weighs 3,370 lbs. and Volt 3,760 lbs.
Compares to 3,200 lbs. for Nissan's midsize car Altima, and 3,580 lbs. for Chevrolet's Impala, large family car
Larger, heavier vehicles generally do better job of protecting people in serious crashes than smaller, lighter ones because size and weight influence crashworthiness, IIHS said.
"Hands-Down the Most Significant Vehicle This Year,
and a Huge Step In the Hybrid/EV Car Wars"
-Road test Editor Scott Mortara
THE CHEVY VOLT AN ELECTRIC CAR THAT CAN CREATE ITS OWN ELECTRICITY. PLUG IT IN, LET IT CHARGE OVERNIGHT, AND IT'S READY TO RUN ON A PURE ELECTRIC CHARGE FOR UP TO 40 MILES....GAS AND EMISSIONS FREE.
SEATS 4 COMFORTABLY, LONG LIFE BATTERY, EQUIVALENT OF 150 HORSEPOWER, QUIET, FLEXIBILITY FOR CARGO AND MUCH MORE......
The Chevy Volt is a pure electric, a series hybrid, and a parallel hybrid all rolled into one. The heart of its many modes is an automatic transmission consisting of one planetary gearset and three electronically controlled, hydraulically activated multiplate clutches. This ingenious transmission efficiently blends engine and electric-motor torque to drive the wheels with utmost efficiency. All Volt powertrain components-two electric motor-generators, the gasoline engine, the aforementioned transmission, and a final-drive differential-are bolted together in a single unit to save soace and weight and to optimize NVH characteristics. To provide 25 to 50 miles of pure-electric operation and 300 or so miles of additional range with the gasoline engine running, the Volt has 5 distinct operating modes:
1- Battery Charging, Acceleration or Low Speed Cruising
2- Battery Charging, High speed Cruising
3- Battery Depleted, Acceleration or Low Speed Cruising
4-Battery depleted, High Speed Cruising
5-Braking
Recharging the lithium-ion battery takes about 10 hours with the standard 120-volt equipment that is stored below the truck floor.
An Electric Car that can create its own electricity. Plug it in, let it charge overnight, and it's ready to run on pure electric charge for up to 40 miles- gas and emmissions free. After that, it keeps going, even if you can't plug it in. Volt uses gas to generate its own electricity, enough energy to power up to 300 additional miles on a single tank of gas.
0-60 in about 9 seconds
Top speed of 100 MPH
273 lb-ft of Torque
4 Hours to charge (240 V Outlet)
10 Hours to charge (120 V Outlet)
Equivalent of 150 Horsepower
Seats 4 Adults Comfortably
Long Life Battery
Intuitive for the driver
According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, more than 75% of people commute 40 miles a day or less. If you plug in frequently, you'll experience the greatest gas savings and reduced emissions. Per mile, electricity is less expensive to use than gas, so if you can plug in before or shortly after the electric charge runs out, you'll get the maximum benefit out of Volt.
Some people who have had the opportunity to test drive the Volt have noticed how easy it is to use."Push the 'start' button and the Volt springs into life.....all in all, it's an intuitive area for the driver.....the car is quiet, smooth and fast off the line(electric motors have their torque at start-up, unlike gas engines which need time to build power.
Comfortably seating four adults, the hatchback design provides surprising flexibility for larger cargo.
***************** Putting Thought into Putting Gas in the Chevy Volt
 Brad Berman · If you own the Chevy Volt and drive less than 40 miles a day, then you will almost never have to visit a gas station. General Motors engineers took this into consideration when developing the gasoline storage system on the Volt. I recently had the chance to gas up the Volt, and learned just how much technology and computing power was applied to the refueling event. After all, when your car needs a gas fill-up only a few times a year, you have to make sure that storing gasoline for weeks or months won’t increase emissions.
To release the gas nozzle inlet, located on the rear passenger side, the driver pushes a small button on the driver’s door. The gas release button is a little hard to see at first, but it’s right above the electric charging inlet release button. (The charging inlet, where you juice up on electricity every day, is on the front driver-side of the car.)
When you hold and release the gas door button, you need to wait a moment. An indicator on the dash tells you to “wait to refuel.” That gives a vacuum pump enough time to evacuate the pressurized tank and pump the vapors into a carbon canister. The gas tank is otherwise completely sealed.
The Volt’s computer system is monitoring this activity—keeping track when the gas door opens and closes, how much time has passed, and how many EV miles you’ve driven since the gas engine was last called into action. If you open the gas door, but don’t put in any gas, the Volt knows. The car’s system is double-checking to make sure that new fuel has been added, because old stale gasoline is potentially bad for the system and bad for emissions. An outside temperature sensor is even keeping track of hot days to determine if the fuel might be cooking.
If you haven’t burned fuel for a while, the dashboard display will encourage you to burn some gas, by driving the vehicle beyond its 40 miles battery-supplied power. You can ignore the call to action, but after two warnings about the need to drive using some gasoline, the car will take matters into its own hands. The Volt will then start up the gas engine in order to burn off stale gasoline, circulate engine oil, and pressurize the engine system.
When the car completes this “engine and fuel maintenance mode,” it shuts down again, giving the reins solely back to the electric motor. At that point—for drivers who stay close to home—the gasoline is again left in reserve for days, weeks or months, until your next rare and infrequent trip to the pumps.
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