Chevrolet’s groundbreaking extended-range electric vehicle—the Chevy Volt—extended its list of honors recently after winning an Auto Excellence Award as one of Popular Mechanics’ Top 10 Cars of 2011. Unsurprisingly, the high-tech, high-efficiency Volt took home top prize in the Technical Innovation category.
That makes perfect sense, of course, when you consider that the Volt is driven by GM’s innovative Voltec propulsion system. This advanced powertrain can deliver up to 50 miles of all-electric, no-emissions driving thanks to a cutting-edge lithium-ion battery pack mated to a 111-kW (149-hp) electric drive unit. Significantly, GM engineers have worked overtime to design the Volt’s batteries for real-world performance, racking up more than a million miles and four million hours of testing. As a result, Chevrolet has so much confidence in the durability and performance of that battery pack that it covers the unit with a standard eight-year/100,000-mile warranty.
Then, if the Volt’s batteries are depleted during driving, there’s no need for anxiety: The car’s 1.4-liter I4 engine simply and seamlessly kicks in to deliver up to an additional 310 miles of world-class driving. And you can consider it yet another innovation that Chevrolet designed the Volt to offer both incredible efficiency and a dynamic driving experience. Its MacPherson strut-type suspension, combined with premium features like a rack-mounted electric power-steering system with a ZF steering gear, deliver smooth yet responsive ride and handling.
The car also makes extensive use of high-strength steels and a comprehensive suite of the latest vehicle safety technologies to go with a wide range of configurable displays, mobile apps and connectivity systems.
If you’re looking for used cars, Anoka is a good place to buy, but it will be a while before the Chevy Volt will appear on the used market. The lowdown from the Popular Mechanics editorial team: “After more than 300 miles behind the wheel of GM’s technical marvel, we remain impressed. … It represents a dramatic re-engineering of the automobile that will change the way people think about electric cars.”
Comments on this entry are closed.