Chevrolet Volt, test drive (Engine, performance, handling and consumption)

The idea is very good, but nowadays it is difficult to make the most of its full potential. That is how we would sum up what it currently means to own, or at least use for a few days, an extended-range electric car such as the Chevrolet Volt. The theoretical concept is almost a panacea: electric driving for the city and its surroundings, and a combustion engine to extend range and allow you to travel without problems. Reality is a bit more complicated, unless you have a power outlet at home or at work to recharge the battery that powers the electric motor. It is more complicated because the public charging network that exists today limits the use of electric cars to certain cities, always provided you find one that works, which is not always easy.

The Volt combines the best of pure electric cars, the ability to drive more than 60 kilometres without burning a drop of fuel and without polluting, with the best of hybrids, the option of always having a combustion engine available so you are not left stranded if the battery supplying the electric motor runs out. If you have a charging point at home or at work, you simply need to weigh up whether you can afford to invest the more than 45,000 euros that Chevrolet asks for the Volt, state subsidies for electric cars aside. If you don’t have easy access to a charging station, there is little point in buying this model, since for that price or much less there is a long list of similar saloons with low consumption.

Using a Volt, or any other electric car, for everyday driving differs little from using a conventional car with a combustion engine and automatic gearbox, apart from the fact that they need recharging every so often, normally after covering between 50 and 200 km, depending on the model. In the case of the Volt, with the battery fully charged and driving normally, at the same speed as the rest of the traffic, combining some ring road and some urban routes, we managed to cover 73.5 kilometres in electric mode. According to Chevrolet, the maximum range, in the best conditions, is about 80 kilometres, with a minimum of about 40 kilometres.

The main advantage of the Volt over a hybrid, such as a Prius for example, is that it can run in electric mode for many more kilometres. Compared with a pure electric car, the Volt offers the advantage that its range is much greater thanks to the petrol engine. The Volt driver only has to worry about filling the fuel tank, since the car switches automatically between driving modes, from electric to petrol, without any action needed. What is more, the person at the wheel won’t even notice unless they look at the instrument cluster. Then they will see that the graphic showing the battery charge has been replaced by a similar one with a petrol pump. In both cases the range is shown for each mode, as well as the total range. With the battery fully charged and the petrol tank full, our test unit covered 589 km before the fuel reserve light came on.

Engine and performance

The Volt’s electric motor has a maximum output of 151 CV, while the petrol engine is a 1.4 with 86 CV. The latter has the function of driving a generator so that it produces energy and thus recharges the battery that powers the electric motor. The generator produces 73 CV.

Normally, the Volt has 151 CV. But sometimes, after driving for a long time with heavy demands on the whole propulsion system, for example climbing a mountain pass while accelerating hard, a message appears on the instrument panel reading ‘Power reduced to protect drive’, which means there is slightly less power available.

It responds with great force from the very first moment the accelerator is pressed. This is a feature of electric cars: all the torque is available from the start. In the Volt, maximum torque is 370 Nm. The performance figures homologated by Chevrolet are a top speed of 161 km/h and an acceleration of 0 to 100 km/h in 9.0 seconds. They are not spectacular figures, but the Volt gains speed very quickly. More than top speed, what matters is that all the engine’s power is available from the moment you set off, which makes the Volt very agile in urban traffic.

The 151 CV maximum output is more than enough to move the Volt well in almost any circumstance, despite it being a heavy model (1,732 kg). You might only miss a little more power in specific cases, such as when you need to overtake on a very steep uphill gradient with few metres available to do it.

The Volt stands out for its quiet running. With the electric motor running on energy stored in the batteries, the absence of noise prevails on every journey. Only wind and road noise can be perceived, and never in a bothersome way. When the battery runs out and the petrol engine starts up, the Volt does not become a noisy car, but naturally some sound does reach the cabin. On long journeys, the noise of the combustion engine is not bothersome.

To avoid possible pedestrian accidents in the city, given the almost total absence of noise when driving at low speed, there is a pedestrian warning device, an additional horn that emits a different sound, slightly quieter than the normal horn.

It offers four driving modes: ‘normal’, ‘sport’, ‘mountain’ and ‘hold’. They are selected with a button on the centre console. The first is selected by default every time the car is started. It is the most suitable for almost every situation. The second increases the engine’s response when the accelerator is pressed, making it much livelier than in the ‘normal’ programme. It does not change the maximum power, which is the same in both cases.

The ‘mountain’ mode should be selected shortly before tackling steep climbs, as it allows some electric energy to be reserved so that long gradients can be faced with greater confidence. The ‘hold’ programme automatically changes how the car works, bringing the petrol engine into operation and reserving battery charge, provided it has not been used up beforehand. The aim is to save some electric range, for example if you plan to drive later through traffic-restricted areas where only hybrid or electric vehicles may enter — this is not common in Spain, but in certain European countries there are urban areas that combustion-engine cars cannot enter but electric or hybrid cars can.

The Volt has an automatic gearbox with four positions: P, R, D and L. The first three positions are the typical ones on automatic cars: P is selected when parking the car, R is reverse, and D is for driving forward. The last one is the unusual one. It increases engine braking to boost battery charging. Just lifting off the accelerator makes the Volt slow down very quickly. This is the mode to select when descending a mountain pass, to make use of the descent and charge the battery. This also happens thanks to regenerative braking. It is stronger when braking is gentle; when braking is harder, the whole braking system comes into play at full capacity and the kinetic energy is not recovered but lost.

Handling

The dynamic response is very similar to that of a saloon of its size, between 4.50 and 4.70 metres, such as a Renault Fluence or a Volkswagen Jetta. The combination of steering and suspension is very satisfying, because the Volt responds well to steering inputs and absorbs road irregularities properly. The suspension is firm but comfortable.

It gives the feeling of being a big car, but it is not difficult to manoeuvre in tight spaces. So in town it is not awkward. It does not turn in a small space, but you get used to it quickly. On country roads and motorways, it is a car in which you can make long journeys because it is stable and comfortable and its interior is well insulated.

Its bodywork sits very close to the ground, to improve aerodynamics, which means it frequently scrapes at the front, whether on a garage ramp, a speed bump or some potholes. Chevrolet has anticipated this, so it has fitted a flexible spoiler that prevents it from breaking. It is this spoiler that touches the ground, located a few centimetres behind the end of the front bumper.

Visibility is good forward but less so to the rear because the tailgate is high, and this despite there being two glass panels, one sloping and one vertical. The latter is tinted, matching the black central section of the tailgate with the Chevrolet badge, to help prevent people outside from seeing what is in the boot. Because from the driver’s seat it is not clear where the Volt’s bodywork ends, the parking sensors and the rear view camera are very useful to avoid scraping the car when manoeuvring.

Consumption

One of the main advantages of the Volt’s petrol engine not being the one that directly drives the wheels is that it consumes less than it would if it did. When driving normally, it is not difficult to get below 6.0 l/100 km on the motorway, at a real average close to 120 km/h. In town the figure is similar, since electric cars, unlike combustion models, use less energy in urban driving. As the Volt’s petrol engine only has the job of supplying energy to the electric motor, and the electric motor does not need much to move the car, fuel consumption is low.

As we mentioned earlier, the Volt’s electric range varies between about 60 and 80 kilometres, depending on a number of circumstances, from driving style to outside temperature or how the climate control is used. We managed to cover 73.5 kilometres, driving normally, roughly half the time on ring roads at a speed of between 70 and 90 km/h and the other half in town at low speed.

To complete the first 100 kilometres of the test we needed the help of the petrol engine. Those 16.5 kilometres meant the average consumption was 1.7 l/100 km. That is a few tenths more than the homologated fuel consumption (1.2 l/100 km). Naturally, if the battery is not recharged, average consumption rises. We finished the first petrol tank almost completely after a long trip. We refuelled shortly after the reserve light came on, after having covered 504 kilometres on petrol and 85 kilometres in electric mode.

The second tank lasted clearly less, on the same long trip but this time on the return. At 440 kilometres, the reserve light came on. Average consumption was 6.8 l/100 km. It is true that on this second journey we had the feeling that the petrol engine spent more time at higher revs, at least that is what the sound coming into the cabin suggested.

In total, we covered 1,063 kilometres with the Volt, consuming 62.25 litres of petrol and using 12.0 kWh of electricity. For less than 10% of the time we were able to use electric mode. The total average consumption was 5.9 l/100 km. According to the on-board computer, the average fuel consumption over the 13,143 kilometres that our test unit had covered was 5.6 l/100 km. That seems a low figure for a model of its size, power and weight.

Even when the battery is completely flat, the Volt is able to get moving and cover the first few metres in electric mode thanks to a small reserve that is always left.

The battery charging of the Volt can be done from any standard 230V domestic socket, as long as it is earthed. The charger supplied with the Volt lets you choose between several currents — 16, 13, 10 and 6 A — which determine the charging time. The lower the current, the longer the charging time. That means reaching 100% charge takes three and a half or four hours at best, up to nearly nine hours. The charger supplied by Chevrolet can be stored under the boot floor, and there is no problem leaving it outdoors because it is rain-resistant.

You can choose between three charging modes: ‘Immediate on plug-in’, ‘Delayed by departure time’ and ‘Delayed by electricity tariffs and departure time’. In the first, charging starts as soon as the car is plugged in, while the second works according to the time set by the owner, so the charging system calculates how many hours it needs to fill the battery and starts charging at the right moment. The third programme makes use of the hours when the electricity tariff is lower. It also lets you set a departure time to make sure the car is at 100% charge before you set off.

To carry out the charging, you need to connect the charger supplied by Chevrolet to the socket behind a cover located on the front left wing. It can be opened either from a button on the driver’s door or from the remote control.

As we said at the start of this first part of the test, easy access to a charging point, whether at home or at work, is what will make the Volt make sense as an everyday car. If you rely on public charging points, at least for now you will need patience and some free time to find one that works and leave the car charging.

The battery and the electrical system components of the Volt come with an eight-year or 160,000-kilometre warranty. Chevrolet puts the useful life of all of these at more than 240,000 kilometres.

In the second part of the test of the Volt we will look at the futuristic exterior design, the interior look and the quality of the materials. We will also detail all the options related to the operating modes and battery charging that can be viewed and managed through the two screens in colour on the centre console and the instrument cluster.

Photos | Jaime Arruz and test team