The Chevrolet Volt concept car,
set to be unveiled on Sunday at the Detroit Motor Show, will run solely
on electricity, with GM hoping that the idea will go some way towards
helping the company’s “green” image, which in the past
has been called into question.
There will also be a small three-cylinder gasoline engine on board, but
this is only used to provide a recharge for the batteries, and will not
be used directly to power the wheels as is the case in other hybrid vehicles
such as Toyota’s Prius.
The batteries can be charged via mains outlet, taking around 6.5 hours
for a full charge, which GM says could power the Volt at low speeds for
around 60 km without the need to use any petrol.
| GM's Chevrolet Volt could go some way to repairing
the slightly damaged "green" reputation of the company. |
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GM vice chairman Robert Lutz said: ““If you lived within
50 km from work (100 km round trip) and charged your vehicle every night
when you came home or during the day at work, you would get fuel consumption
of 1.6 litres per 100 km. More than half of all Americans live within
around 30 km of where they work (60 km round trip). In that case, you
might never burn a drop of gas during the life of the car.”
The electric motor in the Volt is capable of developing 121 kW (161 hp),
and 320 Nm (236 lb/ft) of torque.
GM also claims that the Volt would achieve 4.7 l/100 km purely by using
the engine to convert petrol into electricity, increasing its range up
to as much as 1030 km. The Volt is also designed to run on the E85 petrol/ethanol
fuel blend.
The Volt is the first vehicle designed around GM's E-flex System, which
will mean in the future that a common chassis can be used for a variety
of different propulsion systems, which in the future could include bio-diesel,
E100 and fuel cells.
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