-->
add or read comments (4)
I've never doubted the Chevy
Volt. Of course, maybe GM is only developing the
Chevy Volt to protect SUV sales (more),
but that's a whole different story.
Anyway, now that GM is testing the first Chevy Volt with a lithium-ion battery pack, should all critics finally stop calling the Volt 'vaporware'?
Granted, its not really a Volt. It's a Volt powertrain integrated with a real lithium-ion battery pack from one of GM's suppliers. The fact that this powertrain has been muled with an old Malibu is irrelevant - that data can be accounted for mathematically.
And, as I reported in Chevy Volt: The Synchronicity of Energy and Design, the design of the Volt body has not been fully baked.
Because aerodynamics are more important to the development of the Volt - more important than any other GM vehicle EVER - the final design of the Volt might not be finished for some time. But in today's algorithmic world, that data can easily be mathematically quantified and integrated with powertrain data.
In the end, if the Volt powertrain achieves its benchmarks, the design will be ready, and getting batteries into some Volts has been a critical benchmark - a benchmark that has now been achieved. And, by summer, there should be as many as a dozen such vehicles being put through their paces.
So, do you still think the Chevy Volt is vaporware?
