GM Defends Volt While Critics Say It's Not a Real Electric Car

----------------------------------------------------------------------
This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate.
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2010/10/11/bloomberg1376-LA55PI0UQVI901-4KQHLP2OASD285IFEA36UKL2FN.DTL
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, October 11, 2010 (SF Gate)
GM Defends Volt While Critics Say It's Not a Real Electric Car
Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co., the largest U.S. automaker, is
disputing accusations that its low-emission Chevrolet Volt is a hybrid and
not a true electric vehicle a month before the car goes on sale. Auto
critics Edmunds.com, Motor Trend and Popular Mechanics have said that
during heavy acceleration the Volt uses its gasoline engine to power an
electric generator which helps turn the wheels, similar to how hybrids
run. GM said on its website that the car is an extended-range electric
vehicle, not a hybrid like Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius. The Volt debate
illustrates the marketing challenge for automakers selling new technology
in cars that don't fit standard classifications and whose performance is
difficult to measure. GM and Nissan Motor Co. have both made claims about
their new models' fuel economy and driving range that not all consumers
may attain because electric performance varies greatly by driving habits.
"You have a PR problem with any one of these vehicles," said Jim Hall,
principal of 2953 Analytics Inc., an auto consulting firm in Birmingham,
Michigan. "GM had this sort of schizophrenic thing about doing its best to
manage perception and at the same time going off into traditional
old-style GM hype." GM has promoted the $41,000 Volt as an electric
vehicle to give it an image boost over hybrid-electric cars such as the
Prius. The Detroit-based automaker has said for three years that the Volt
would always run on electric power and more recently said it would average
230 miles per gallon. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hasn't
rated that number, and GM said many consumers may get lower fuel economy.
'GM Lied' GM said today that the engine does assist in driving the car
through an electric generator. Critics at Popular Mechanics and Edmunds
both wrote than they consider the Volt a plug-in hybrid and not the
electric vehicle that GM has touted for years. The Edmunds review of the
car had the headline: "GM Lied: Chevy Volt is not a true EV." Nick
Richards, a GM spokesman, said the Volt always runs on electricity and has
no mechanical link from the gasoline engine to the wheels. The car's
four-cylinder gasoline engine powers a secondary electric motor, which
turns the wheels, Tony Posawatz, the Volt's vehicle line director, said in
an interview. The car's gas engine doesn't directly power the wheels, he
said. GM never disclosed that fact because the engineers saw it as a
benefit that boosted the car's fuel economy, he said. 'Very Different' "I
keep telling people that this is a smart solution," Posawatz said. "It
drives very different from a hybrid." Hall, of 2953 Analytics, said there
are some similarities between the Volt and the Prius. "In a Prius, there
is no mechanical linkage between the engine and the wheels -- it goes
through a motor," he said. "They use the engine to drive a direct-drive
generator to drive the motor. The Volt does the same thing, it's just that
the Volt can run with electric power without an engine longer than pretty
much any hybrid right now can." GM said previously that the Volt would go
40 miles on a fully charged battery before the gasoline engine starts to
recharge the battery, giving the vehicle a total range of 340 miles. The
company said today it will go 25 to 50 miles in electric drive and 310
miles on one charge and a tank of fuel. Nissan and GM both will have
marketing challenges when consumers get lower range or fuel economy, Hall
said. With hybrids and electric cars, they can drive farther in
stop-and-go city driving than on the highway because braking recharges the
battery. Company Claims That means many Volt owners won't get 230 miles
per gallon in the Volt and Leaf drivers won't get the 100 miles on a
single charge that the companies have claimed, Hall said. Consumers
probably won't care whether the Volt is a hybrid or electric car, said
Eric Noble, president of The CarLab, an auto consulting firm in Orange,
California. Potential buyers will be more concerned with the car's price,
the fuel savings and how far they can drive before needing to plug in or
refuel. "Consumers don't care what we call it," Noble said. "In our
research, most of the questions from consumers are about battery life and
recharging." The Volt's emissions are more important than what people call
it, said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, an
environmental lobbying group in Washington. "I don't think purity is the
issue," Becker said. "What comes out of the tailpipe is the issue. If it's
a little, it's green. If it's a lot, it's not."--Editors: Kevin Orland,
Jamie Butters. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2010 SF Gate