2016 Chevrolet Volt To Have More Power From Stem To Stern

by Cameron Aubernon

Published: October 29th, 2014

2016 chevrolet volt to have more power from stem to stern

The Chevrolet Volt came into this world through a combination of engineering, design, and a twee song/interpretive dance number.

The second-generation PHEV, due out of Detroit late next year, plans to aim a bit higher than its quirky beginnings.

Automotive News reports the new Volt will have a clean-sheet Voltec drive unit that is 100 pounds lighter than current, and will deliver 20 percent improved acceleration for blasting off the line at your local drag strip, thanks to two electric motors doing the grunt work instead of one.

Speaking of motors, the main four-pot range extender will gain in size for 2016, jumping from 1.4 to 1.5 liters. The new engine is part of a family of small engines — ranging from 1 to 1.5 liters — that will be used throughout General Motors’ global portfolio.

Holding the electricity will be a new battery pack with larger cells and a 20 percent increase in storage capacity. Cell count falls from 288 in the outgoing pack, to 192 in the upcoming unit.

As far range and MPGs are concerned, GM will announce those figures when the new Volt — sans the aforementioned twee song-and-dance number — rolls down the ramp at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show.

#Chevrolet #Detroit2015 #MY2016 #PHEVs #Powerplants #Volt

Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

More by Cameron Aubernon

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16 of 59 comments

Gasser on Oct 29, 2014

Volt still has a long plug in recharge time. GM had a problem with the electric cord overheating, so they lowered the current draw...less heat in the cord, longer recharge times. I sat in a Volt at the last auto show and agree ith the too plastic criticism. Additionally, if it were to be my only car, I would like a bit more driver room.

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- C. Alan on Oct 29, 2014
  
  I think the big problem was not the cables on the charging units heating up, but the fact is they were too short. I think the main issue now is amps being pulled by house electrical systems. The 120v chargers sold with the early Volts pulled 12 amps. Most house circuits are designed to pull a maximum of 15 amps. So you really couldn't have any other items on the circuit with the car while it charged. Also, if you used a cheap old wall plug to charge it, it would get hot. After a few pictures of burnt electrical outlets began appearing on the internet, I think the lawyers at GM decided to lower the default charging amperage of the Volt to 8 amps starting with the 2013 models. You can still get the car to charge at 12 amps, but it take a few more steps. There is lots of b*tching about this on the Volt forums. I'm just waiting to move, and then I will be installing a level 2 charger at my new home. This gets around the problem by charging from 240 volts. As an added bonus, the car will also fully charge in under 4 hours. This becomes more important to those who live on the west coast, and want to get all their charging done in off-peak hours late at night.
  
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- Mcs on Oct 29, 2014
  
  @C. Alan >> I think the big problem was not the cables on the charging units heating up, but the fact is they were too short. One of the biggest problems with the current Volt is the lame 3.3 kw on-board charger. So, even the at-home level 2 charge is slow compared to other EVs equipped with 6.6 kw or greater chargers.
  
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- Carlson Fan on Oct 29, 2014
  
  @mcs My limited experience with charging a Volt in my garage on 115 VAC was that the cable never got more than warm, if that. I know because that is something I actually checked while I had the car. So your comment makes sense to me but "gassers" does not.
  
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Carlson Fan on Oct 29, 2014

The next Gen Volt will be bigger and seat 5.

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- Highdesertcat on Oct 29, 2014
  
  What GM really needed to do was drop the price by about ten grand to get the masses interested. A lot of people interested in buying a Volt may not even pay $7500 in income tax. Until GM drops the price of the Volt to what Joe Sixpack and Sally Homemaker can afford to shell out, the Volt will remain a toy for the wealthy.
  
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- 28-Cars-Later on Oct 29, 2014
  
  @highdesertcat GM was probably already losing money on the Gen 1 Volt. Their next move will probably be to decontent the heck out of the next one in an attempt to profit. But given how ridiculously priced conventional cars have become (vs wages) I doubt even a decontented Volt will come down much in price.
  
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- Dr. Kenneth Noisewater on Oct 29, 2014
  
  @28-Cars-Later Gen 1 Volt marginal cost to produce was estimated to be in the $26k range, so they made a gross profit on each one. Any so-called lost money was already lost due to R&D, tooling, etc. From what I've read, it looks like they reengineered the 2 electric motors to behave in a sort of 'wide-ratio CVT' way, whereby the final drive ratio changes when both the sun and ring gears in the planetary transmission rotate. Gen 1 Volt does this at highway speeds, but if the new gen does it at all speeds then that'd allow for a 'shorter' primary final drive ratio and thus better launches. Plus, gen 1 has a 'kick down' point you can sense when hammering the accelerator while already in motion, as it clutches the ring gear to the secondary motor/generator instead of having the ring clutched stationary. In any event, without a 5th seat and more front headroom (and rear head+legroom), I don't see anything terribly extraordinary to keep me from holding my 2013 a few years until a nice Model S CPO or Model III become available.
  
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- VoGo on Oct 29, 2014
  
  @highdesertcat Volts routinely lease at $250/month. Joe and Suzy won't find a decent new car that leases for less than $200/month. Plus, they'll save $50-$100/month in gas, depending on their commute. Put another way, the Volt and Leaf are just about the cheapest cars for sale in America, once you factor in gasoline costs.
  
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- Celebrity208 on Oct 29, 2014
  
  @28-Cars-Later this
  
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- Carlson Fan on Oct 29, 2014
  
  @ 28cars - Yep that is my worry is that they will cheapen it. The Gen 1 Volt driving experience is certainly more "luxury" than my wife's 2014 Audi A4 . Smoother and quieter. Hopefully they don't ruin that either. I think the number for Volt buyers new to the brand is like 85%.
  
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- KixStart on Oct 29, 2014
  
  @Dr. Kenneth Noisewater "Gen 1 Volt marginal cost to produce was estimated to be in the $26k range," Estimated by who?
  
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- FreedMike on Oct 29, 2014
  
  @highdesertcat Why should the Volt be cheaper? It's the best plug in hybrid on the market. The other competitive vehicles cost similar money, but none have anything close to the Volt's EV range. Plus, I don't think you can get anything close to the tax writeoff you can get from the Volt. Best product equals highest price. As far as tax is concerned, $7500 is the tax on $56000 in taxable income for a couple that's married filing jointly. That probably puts the gross household income in the $80-90,000 range. That's a pretty good-sized market.
  
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Blackcloud_9 on Oct 29, 2014

Current lessee of a 2013 Volt here. I’m very happy with the car. I’m 6’4” and because it is a small car, ingress/egress can be a bit challenging. Once I’m inside, however, I’m able to get comfortable. I think the car fulfills it role very well, better than any other hybrid on the road IMO. I really like the fact that no matter how you drive it won’t use any gas until the initial battery charge is depleted. My wife uses the car for work which involves driving to several schools within her school district. Each day the car arrives home with the charge (nearly) depleted; which means she has gone the whole day without using any gas (or very little). We plug the car in to charge overnight (on the standard 110 charger) and the car is good to go the next morning. If I love the car so much, why did I lease? Two reasons: - We balked at the 45k price tag. I mean, that is a lot of money for a small car no matter how “whiz-bang” it is. Chevy was offering a very attractive lease offer at the time - More importantly, being one of the (kind of) early adopters I realized that the next gen Volt would be a lot better than the original. It was like buying a computer in the 90’s or early 2000’s, when the next gen rolled out, your current model was quickly obsolete.

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DeadWeight on Oct 29, 2014

Production of the next gen Volt drivetrain & hybrid battery was "in-sourced" and consolidated 100% at GM's Warren Technical Center for corporate security reasons; this is probably the most "cloak & dagger" type operation GM has undertaken in at least 40 years. The three major objectives for GM are to significantly extend electric range, significantly reduce charging time, and to dramatically increase the efficiency/output of the heating function of the HVAC system (major bitching about this Volt weakness especially in the wake of last year's brutally cold winter).

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- Dr. Kenneth Noisewater on Oct 29, 2014
  
  From what I've read, Volt will continue to charge at 3.3kW. That sucks. Incidentally, higher charging rate would also allow for better winter 'preconditioning', as I've seen an indicated 6kW being drawn while parked with the system set to Comfort + Defrost.
  
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