C/D: 2016 Chevy Volt tested

[kevm14]

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/201 ... est-review

[kevm14]

While the car grows, its weight shrinks, our loaded Premier tester tallying 3396 pounds against 3766 for our last Volt test car. That triumph means the Volt effectively eliminates the mass gap with its arch rival, the Toyota Prius plug-in, and greatly narrows it against the regular Prius. Much of the Volt’s excess cottage cheese came off the electric drive unit (99 pounds) and battery pack (31 pounds), which is where the most-profound changes to Volt II are found.

Similar in weight to the base Camaro...which I pointed out for no good reason.

[kevm14]

For all the talk about the low RPM of the new engine, I believe the 1st gen Volt made its 84hp at like 4900 rpm.

[kevm14]

Consider: with what seems to be more ICE power, less motor power, a slightly higher capacity battery pack and lighter weight, the Volt manages better performance and greater EV range. I don't know what that means. You can't say the Volt is more of a conventional hybrid, since it's even better as an EV than the first one was.

[kevm14]

We did manage to get in a 120-mile run in this combined engine/electric mode with mixed traffic and road types, and it yielded a Prius-like 48 mpg.

Now this is more like it. An EV for the first 50 miles and a Prius after that, if necessary.

[kevm14]

So for all of the whining about why no diesel series (or even parallel) hybrid, here are some reasons:

1. Atkinson cycle is nearly as efficient as a diesel. (38% thermal efficiency vs. 40% for diesel)

2. diesels need to be at operating temperature to be efficient. They don't do well turning on and off all the time, especially in the cold.

3. diesel engines cost a couple thou more to manufacture.

I'll add the #4: weight penalty. Kind of self-defeating to add weight while trying to maximize EV-only range.