Chevy Volt powertrain mule - click above for a high res gallery
It's been 28 months since we watched Bob Lutz drive onto the stage at Cobo Hall in Detroit and step out of the Chevrolet Volt concept. In the intervening period, a corporate drama of epic proportions has transpired as Lutz has gone into semi-retirement, Rick Wagoner has been ousted as CEO and the U.S. government and the UAW are about to take a 90% ownership stake in General Motors.
In the midst of this corporate chaos, a dedicated group of hundreds of engineers, scientists, designers, technicians and drivers have tried to keep their heads down and out of the line of fire as they worked to make the Volt a production reality. From the time we first saw the original concept, GM has selected a battery supplier (LG Chem), defined the final powertrain configuration and released the production design, among countless other tasks. After more than a year of pestering GM, the call finally to get behind the wheel of a Volt prototype. Read the results after the jump.
We arrived at the design building on GM's tech center campus in the middle of a torrential downpour where we were escorted to the executive garage. There we found two of the 30+ second-generation Volt mules that are running around in Warren, Milford and other locations undergoing testing and development. Like their four-legged namesakes, mules are a cross-breed of different vehicles, and because of the lead times and testing required to bring a mass production vehicle to market, development is done in parallel on multiple paths. Automakers build these prototypes by taking an existing vehicle and adapting new components to road test the systems before the complete vehicle is ready for production.
For the Volt program, the first-generation powertrain mules were built using previous-generation Malibu body shells with the Voltec (E-Flex) powertrain -- the so-called Mali-Volts we first saw about a year ago. Those vehicles originally ran in late 2007, with the engine-generator and electric motor as well as a small hybrid battery to start development of the powertrain control system. Later, the full Volt T-shaped battery pack was installed and in 2008, the second-generation mules were built using the body of the new Chevy Cruze. Unlike the larger mid-size Malibu, the Cruze is based on the same Delta global compact platform as GM's plug-in savior, which is closer in size and weight to the Volt and was used throughout winter testing in 2008-2009.
All I can say is to little to late, GM had an all electric car and they trash it many many years ago. They need to bring it back I don't want you use gas....... come on, if we can send people to the moon and have high tech planes and electronic why can't we have just electric cars. Answer OIL Company they control GM, Ford and all the others. You need to watch "Who Killed the Electric Car" this will blow your mind away.......
Different mules are used to test different components. This is a powertrain mule, so everything else goes wherever the engineers have space. Later mules will use the final interior design which will not look like the Cruze.
All prototypes and test vehicles are equipped with fire extinguishers as a matter of course for safety reasons. It doesn't mattery what kind of powertrain is in it
I've never been particularly in doubt that the engineers at GM could create a Volt. The question that remains really is, "at what price?"
It is the management being put to the test, not the engineers, so much. How many billion$ will American tax payers have to subsidize before these things will sell, and how cheaped out with the car be by then?
Well said, it will be an expensive car, and there is quite a gauntlet the company needs to thread before they can get any volume out of the car, or profitability for that matter.
The engineers are doing a good job, it would be hard to imagine a much more difficult environment to get this successful in the next several years.
Salute to the engineers, but the company really has their work cut out for them
I don't think there is any doubt that GM will exist in 2010, but I am still a smidge skeptical that the company coming out at the other end will not be capable of bringing the volt to production. If GM still is sticking to this timeline by December, I think the Volt would be a lock for production. If Toyota does not wise up, they may see their "Green" dominance change swiftly...
why couldnt GM have come up with something like this a little earlier... say 4 years or more ago... then the gov't wouldnt be breathing down their necks, they would prolly sell more of these cars (due to more respect for the company for not seeking gov't help) and for looking down the road for future technologies.... kudos to ford for no bailout $
It is a Fiat 500. If you go into any automakers facilities you will find vehicles from competitors that are being used for benchmarking. In fact around these parts it's not at all unusual to see foreign cars that aren't available for sale in the US with manufacturer plates. These are almost always from the Detroit automakers competitive fleets.
