Robert Lutz's Chevy Volt Test Drive: "You'll Note There Is No Engine Sound"

Bob Lutz, a Vice-Chairman at GM, turns the key and there is no engine sound. There is no hyperbole in that statement. There is NO engine sound.
Lutz has just started the engine for a prototype of the new Chevy Volt, in a test drive the narrator calls the most important one of Lutz's career.
The video hints that the Volt may be on its way to the main stream.
The test drive was filmed for a documentary called Saving General Motors which will be airing on CNBC.
Watch a clip below:

Related: GM's Chevy Volt Will Take Bravery, Government Help And Luck

Comments

[stimpy]

And frankly, I'd buy anything in that classic Malibu package! It doesn't even have to run at all!

Which I think was their target market for that car originally.

[stimpy]

Only an out-of-touch GM exec (sort of redundent eh?) like Lutz would marvel at the fact an electric car doesn't have an engine noise.

[Smartone]

Sorry have to defend GM here

The Prius plug in hybrid that everyone is raving about on this board is an auto with an internal combustion engine that has battery to supplement the gas engine. the battery will give the Pruis a range of 7 miles before gas engine kicks in in addition to supplimenting stop and go drive and idleing like the prius hybrid currently does . Toyota is saying that it will get 100 mpg

The Volt is an electric car with a gas engine to extend it's range - It will go 40 miles on a charge before gas engine kicks in to charge the battery (not drive the car). Since the average driver goes 30 miles a day potentially you might never have to get gas. in addtion the eflex drive train that GM is designing will easily be able to subsitute a fuel cell for the gas engine.

This is a revolutionary car.. way beyond what any other automakers big or small are doing . You have to give GM props for aggressively trying to create a game changing car. I hope they succeed

[wolfgangmo]

Sorry to correct your spelling but you wrote "sorry" when you obviously meant to spell "Pleased to."

Yes, the volt MAY be a good car, but it is old technology. It will be limited by it's battery capacity and it's ability to recharge. Meanwhile the Japanese are on the verge of marketing a battery for cars that will recharge in less than 30 minutes.

Gm. Too little too late. But at least they have decided to get into the game sometime this century.

[EinChicago]

"Sorry have to defend GM here

The Prius plug in hybrid that everyone is raving about on this board is an auto with an internal combustion engine that has battery to supplement the gas engine. the battery will give the Pruis a range of 7 miles before gas engine kicks in in addition to supplimenting stop and go drive and idleing like the prius hybrid currently does . Toyota is saying that it will get 100 mpg
"

Also, let's not forget that right now the Prius PHEV is also fictional. It was suppopsed to be 2010, now its 2012 and still not so much of a concept has actually been shown. Th eVolt at least is real; unlike the mythical Prius PHEV.

[jamesinraro]

Lutz should have given it up at least twenty years ago. His greatest accomplishment is the Cadillac tail fin. During his tenure GM has lost massive market share and given us more and more gas guzzlers and shoddy cars while the Japanese, Koreans and Europeans have been the source of true innovation and reliable quality products. This is nothing more than a last gasp PR effort by a company that took advantage of its dominance in the US auto industry for 50 years without a hint of engineering excellence or innovation. By the time this concept car, which is about as revolutionary as a new cup holder design, reaches show rooms GM will be bankrupt, owned by Toyota or sucking off of a government bail out. Fuel cells are revolutionary, hydrogen is revolutionary, biodiesel hybrids are revolutionary.

[DFutureIsNow]

I'll wait for the japanese version.

[JayHorus]

I have absolutely no sympathy for GM and other car manufacturers about loosing sales. I do feel bad for their workers, but the exec"s that are loosing money I am not sad about it. They have had the technology for years. This is nothing new. GM chose to go with a gas guzzling vehicle like the Hummer (which now looks nothing like the original HumV that I used to drive in the army). I watched that Documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car" and they said that the consumer was to blame as well. That is crap. The car companies have historically made the consumer believe that they needed their product. They dropped the ball, because they looked for the quick money instead of the long haul. That is the problem with bean counters. So good luck GM, it will be a while before that company fully bounces back, if they do at all.

[stimpy]

Detroit has being calling electric cars unfeasible for decades, mainly by subjecting it to classic internal combusion criteria. "It must travel 250 miles on a charge! It must tow a trailer! It must go 120mph!" Never mind the average grocery getter drives 10 miles a day on city streets.

Until we get over this mentality that we couldn't possible ask consumers to utilize technology appropriate to a task (the American consumer push-button fantasy writ large), whether it's electric cars, toilets, HVAC, or anything else that could be far more efficient if people were willing to be more involved, more considerate of a thing's use, we will squander huge amounts of time and energy trying to indulge this behavior.

[loki]

really, this wont make a bit of difference if no one who really needs it , can afford it. Its not the people who can spend 40 grand for a car that are having the most problems with the cost of gas. Its a nuisance to them, but not a deal breaker. Its the millions of people who cant afford even the 25+k electric hybrids , the payments, and the insurance and taxes that come along with a new car. Those are the ones who need it most, and they are the ones who have least access to it. Just like all the evo and enviro things. They are play toys for the wealthy, not for the masses. It will be many years, if not decades before the masses will see prices they can afford. But hey, greed driven capitalist dont car about that. Its all about maximizing the profits.

[eatyourveggies]

good post

[eXcommunicate]

What foolish things to say. In order for the masses to afford these things, one at least has to start development of the things to begin with! I bet you're someone who trashed the concept of the Automobile because only the rich could afford them at first. lmao. "DVD players are too expensive, only evil rich people can afford them" - loki, circa 1997

[YellowDogInRedCounty]

And what is the better alternative, then, loki? Not develop it at all? Sell it at a gigantic loss? Technology always starts out expensive then goes down in price. A color television in 1965 cost $900 IN 1965 DOLLARS which would be equal to about $3600 in today's dollars.

[loki]

I wonder if he ask anyone why they traded this technology , for the Hummer? Oh wait, it was total and complete Greed that factored into that. Nothing to do with doing what is right. Oh well, they will now claim to be forerunners in this technology. No one will mention that they killed this type of technology in favor of the gas guzzler Hummer. Just think , they could have helped control the out of control oil prices if they only would have kept making the Electric car . That makes way to much sense for an American Capitalist though.

[eatyourveggies]

Apparently you've been reading too much. Stop it. The only reading materials allowed anymore are corporate press releases.

You've been a bad boy, loki.

[asus389]

I don't get it, why don't they just liscense the battery tech from Tesla. I am sure with larger volume the price will drop. They get, what, 250 miles on a charge? Even if they used half a tesla batter unit they would be doing better than they are with the volt. Or maybe if they make the frame out of carbon fiber instead of heavy steel it would go for longer... Why do they use steel in cars anyways, its quite possibly the oldest and heaviest material out there.

[berryessence]

steel doon"t bend!

steel DOES NOT RUST

I RATHER HAVE STEEL THAN PLASTIC

BUT I'M WITH YOU ABOUT TESLA....THEY NEED TO UPDATE WITH TESLA'S BATTERY

[wolfgangmo]

Steel doesn't rust?

Where? In a hermetically sealed room? The Gobi desert?

Wherever you had in mind it didn't have either oxygen or moisture.

[EinChicago]

Because the Tesla is basically a papier mache death trap right now.

[DrFinkster]

1) Because the Tesla battery, on it's own, costs between $25,000-$35,000, wholesale. I think the Volt, as a complete car, is supposed to cost around $40,000.
2) The battery tech of the Telsa isn't that complicated - basically it's thousands of laptop batteries wired together in a big enough array to provide the required Volt-Amps. Tesla is taking advantage of COTS technology from the laptop industry to avoid the seriously large R&D costs of building an electric car battery from scratch. That works great for a niche player like Tesla, because there are so many laptops out there compared to Tesla cars. But it makes their batteries more expensive because they are paying for basically unpackaged laptop batteries in bulk.
3) The Tesla sports car is absurdly lightweight, not only because it is made of carbon fiber, but because it is basically a modified Lotus Elise. Have you ever seen one of those or read about them? They look like a souped up go kart. There's no denying that they are fast and agile though.

If you put the Tesla battery in a car the size of, say, a Toyota Corolla, it would probably get 150 a charge or less. Half of that is not good enough for a production electric car.

[norkas]

The reason they do not do it is because there MORONS that need to go out of business. Tesla is so advanced compared to these Idiots that it is a poor joke. Why not form a joint venture with Tesla? Maybe oil has GM still by the balls ot the old hippie days of acid and peyote has gotten to these DUMMIES. Tesla goes 185mph and 0-60 in under 4 seconds. It is expensive today but Tesla is developing cheaper models. The i phone started at $500.00 and year later $200.00 and the same could happen fast if GM rid themselves of there poor management. EGOS EGOS EGOS we suffer because of these fools.

[BiggerD]

Great idea! Let's see, how much gas at $4/gal can you buy for the extra $10 grand for the all electric car? Say 2500 gallons more or less.
And did anyone else notice the "Tail Pipe" on the test car? Hummmm.......... Must be where they let out the hot air.

[eXcommunicate]

Watch the video again. It tells you why.

[YellowDogInRedCounty]

It's not JUST about saving gas. It's ALSO about saving the environment.

[EinChicago]

It was 6 months ago. after this energy price spike, almost everybody except the most hardened environmentalist is now actively hostile to any measure that would cost more. It's ALL about how much it costs now. Ignoring that paradigm shift will cause anyone interested in climate change to seriously underestimate the opposition.

[MyTake]

Let's see, Jamie Lee Curtis took possession of a Honda hydrogen fuel cell vehicle yesterday and this goof is driving this electric car which GM produced in the 90's and promptly sent their first production models to the car crusher. Too bad this guy wasn't in it at the time.

Now it takes 5 minutes to gas the the hydrogen car and it's fuel cell generated electricity and its ELECTRIC motor gets you 280-300 MPG. This electric piece of crap will take hours to charge and don't try to drive it uphill either.

But the oil cartel won't be installing hydrogen gas pumps anytime soon even though Shell can build them now.

Also, how come the car shell, interior, wheels, drive train, electric motor and battery COST MORE than the current car which has all those machined and heavy parts?

Wasn't it GM that bribed LA politicians back in the sixties when they were going to put a subway system in LA. GM said, no wait, we will build you a ton of diesel buses and look at the smog in LA today because of it.

I do hope that GM goes bankrupt and is taken over by Toyota!

[thegreatgiginthesky]

Toyota, Honda and Nissan will not be wasting their capital on a loser like GM.

[DrFinkster]

As the poster Smartone mentioned above, "the eflex drive train that GM is designing will easily be able to subsitute (sic) a fuel cell for the gas engine". That's what is in those hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. So with the Volt, you can drive the car anywhere in the U.S., until such time that they install hydrogen fueling stations in sufficient number to make it practical to use hydrogen, at which time you could swap out the gasoline generator for a hydrogen fuel cell. Getting a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is great for Jamie Lee Curtis, but I do wonder how she's going to refuel her car at her house in Montana.

Just curious, but how is the hydrogen stored in the car? Not as a liquid, assuredly (think space shuttle fuel tank - needs venting and cryogenic cooling). Is it stored as a hydride? maybe a lithium hydride? Then it is basically a big lithium battery.

[stimpy]

For more info re the role of GM destruction of transit systems all over America:
http://www.lovearth.net/gmdeliberatelydestroyed.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Streetcar_Scandal

[javaman]

So a presumed 35k + car. yeah, a real car for the masses alright. We are so dead.

[KillTheMessenger]

Honda has plans for a small gas electric hybrid that might go on sale in 2009 for approx. $20k, undercutting the Prius by 20%. Problem solved.

And if Honda says they can do it, I tend to believe them. If GM says something, I tend to laugh about it.

[wolfgangmo]

And Volkswagon quietly announced that they will also release an electric gas hybrid for release the same time as GM.

Give you three guesses as to which vehicle is better. I put my money on the company that puts less into promotions and advertising and more into R and D.

[veracity]

BIG DEAL !

Chevron _SUED_ Toyota and Panasonic to STOP producton of the modern NiMH battrerie, which powered the _2002_ Toyota RAV4-EV all -electric small SUV to.... up to an 80 mph speed, and 120 mile range, with THREE TIME the dollar-per-mile efficiency of its already frugal RAV4 gas-powered sibling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_RAV4_EV

In other words, here it is 2008, America is in an ECONOMY GUTTING economic and energy CRISIS - and the brains and techies of GENERAL MOTOR corp. are just now COPYING what Toyota and Panasonic did over SIX YEARS AGO!

and final mark of GM STUPIDITY - it was GM execs who SOLD that battey technology TO TEXACO, so the OIL EXECS could CRUSH it!

"Whether or not Toyota wanted to continue production, it was unlikely to be able to do so, because the EV-95 battery was no longer available. Chevron had inherited control of the worldwide patent rights for the NiMH EV-95 battery when it merged with Texaco, which had purchased them from General Motors. Chevron's unit won a $30,000,000 settlement from Toyota and Panasonic, and the production line for the large NiMH batteries was closed down and dismantled. Only smaller NiMH batteries, incapable of powering an electric vehicle or plugging in, are currently allowed by Chevron-Texaco."

[TXfemmom]

Perhaps, Congress needs to take a look at the oil company which has suppressed this technology and see if Congress couldn't enact a law which says the technology must be sold or transferred to an entity which could and would use it, and declare it a national security issue?

[CaptainStormfield]

You think the oil companies wont try to control any new technology that threatens the
stranglehold of oil? They have been doing it for a long time. Its called capitalism.
Corner the market. Destroy the opposition. Squeeze the customer.

The spice must flow.

[KillTheMessenger]

The patent on that "technology" is not valid in other parts of the world, so if Toyota wanted to use similar batteries outside of the US, it could. The batteries are in use, by the way: in hybrid buses.

http://www.scgov.net/PublicCommunications/MediaRelations/documents/HybridBusFactSheet8-06.pdf

The technology makes some sense (although not too much) in hybrid buses. It is economically not a feasible contender for all-electric cars.

But the electric RAV-4EV is a pretty lame concept vehicle, anyway. It is expensive and low performance. In cost it can not compete against a Prius. So why would Toyota want to waste resources on it? Why would you? Just so you can say "Look, I am driving an electric vehicle!"?

Any more conspiracy theories or will you take your daily dose of reality?

[DrFinkster]

Sorry, but NiMH technology is not all that special anymore. The EV-95 battery is so last century! Lithium batteries are inherently much more efficient and lightweight than NiMH. Plus, they don't suffer from the dreaded idle draining that NiMH batteries suffer from (you know, when the charged batteries go dead just sitting there unused). When was the last time you saw a NiMH-powered laptop, or cell phone?

GM was certainly stupid (or evil) to do what they did, but don't blame them now for deciding not to resurrect the EV-95 battery for the current incarnation of the Volt.

[thegreatgiginthesky]

Like everything GM makes this will be another poorly made car that will end up having problems before you have paid off the car.

[MetalCanuck]

I wouldn't crap too much on this car, we NEED it.

[thegreatgiginthesky]

I would welcome this car if it were a competent company making it. GM isn't, that is all I need to know.

[KillTheMessenger]

Why do we need it? A Prius or Civic Hybrid are perfectly well working hybrids. You can buy them today, they are highly functional vehicles and hedge against gas prices well into the $10/gallon range.

Of course, they are not "sexy". But then, few really functional solutions are.

[arvay]

Obviously, GM must have known about the workability of the underlying technology, which makes the fact that its execs were caught pants-down by the surge in oil prices (there is this war in the area, and constant threats of new conflicts) even more serious.

Why do any of these idiots still have their job? But don't worry, the auto company employees are poised to take the hit for their incompetence.

Sound familiar?

[thegreatgiginthesky]

Have you ever seen an instance where a corporation is run into the ground by executives and they actually get fired for it? There are a few instances like Bear Sterns, but I feel like that was only done because there was such a public stink about the CEO's lack of interest in his job. But look at every other company where this has happened. Executives run the corporation into the ground and the employees are the ones that get fired, while the same executives get massive bonuses. It is this rewarding of incompetence that has reduced american automakers into a joke.

[Huffingtonposter231]

I'm reading this is a $40,000+ dollar car and can only get into the 30's with government subsidies.

Hey, why don't we all just quit working and let the government provide everything? Oh gee, that DOESN'T work does it?