As so often happens when the first spy shots of a new car surfaces, we jump all over them trying to get them on-line and then we stop and take a closer look at what we have. Then questions start to arise. Is this really what we think it is? If not, what is it? Well, when it comes to one of the most eagerly anticipated new cars to come out Detroit in recent years, the late night availability of the first photos causes us to jump first and look where we're going later. In this case, it was the first spy shots of Chevy Volt mules that turned up late last night. We already knew that GM has been testing various bits and pieces destined for the Volt in previous model year Malibu body shells, but now, we had pics.
As it turns out the gray car that we posted on last night is only a ride and handling mule. It has various suspension components destined for the extended range EV, but the powertrain is bog standard Malibu. The red Malibu you pictured above, however, is one of the powertrain mules. Notice the big lump in front of the driver? That's to provide clearance for the prototype power electronics module that goes along with the electric drive motor and engine/generator set. Tying all of this together is a standard nickel metal hydride hybrid battery that acts as a power buffer. These cars are being used to validate powertrain hardware (aside from the lithium batteries of course) and start development of control software. Sometime in the next few weeks these mules should start going back on the hoist to have the new lithium battery packs installed and then the real fun starts.
[Sources: General Motors, AutoblogGreen]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jonathan @ Apr 17th 2008 3:20PM
It is interesting that there is a lot of hype regarding the GM hybrids, especially the Tahoe hybrid which gives more MPG than a toyota camry.
http://www.electricdrive.org/evs23/index.php?tg=articles&topics=7
The link has statistics for the no of vehicles sold during January-March 2008. GM is not on the list!
simianspeedster @ Apr 17th 2008 4:09PM
"...especially the Tahoe hybrid which gives more MPG than a toyota camry"
Huh? How do you figure? Which Camry does the Tahoe Hybrid beat in MPG?
Check the EPA ratings:
Camry 4-cyl Auto: 21 City / 31 Highway
Camry 6-cyl Auto: 19 City / 28 Highway
Camry Hybrid: 33 City / 34 Highway
Tahoe Hybrid 2WD: 21 City / 22 Highway
Tahoe Hybrid 4WD: 20 City / 20 Highway
-SimianSpeedster
DKB_SATX @ Apr 17th 2008 4:39PM
Jonathan fell victim to GM's carefully-worded ad on the topic. They only claim that the Yukon Hybrid bests the V6 Camry in city mileage, and don't point out that the Yukon's highway mileage is essentially the same as its city mileage.
MajorGeek @ Apr 17th 2008 6:47PM
All the same, the fact that a vehicle of that size is getting comparable gas mileage to a Toyota Camry is pretty impressive.
simianspeedster @ Apr 18th 2008 2:57AM
"All the same, the fact that a vehicle of that size is getting comparable gas mileage to a Toyota Camry is pretty impressive."
Hahahaha! Are you really thick enought to believe what you just typed? This is a classic case of apples and oranges and situational facts.
Let's see now, how can we make your statement true?
"If a $25,000 V6 Camry, a darn fast car (even if not sporty), is driven aggressively ONLY in a stop and go city environment, it's possible that a $50,000 Hybrid Tahoe, a slow SUV, can get better mileage if driven with a light foot."
That's as close your statement will ever get to being true. Heck, it's possible for a Ferrari to get better mileage than a Mini Cooper if you really skew the results.
In the real world, ANY Camry will get *significantly* better mileage than a Tahoe Hybrid when driven the same in a real world mixed enviornment of city and highway driving.
-SimianSpeedster
tankd0g @ Apr 17th 2008 3:31PM
An existing GM product with some stuff taped to it, stop the presses!
Justin @ Apr 21st 2008 3:18PM
It's a test mule for the drivetrain. Are you really THAT stupid?
tankd0g @ Apr 21st 2008 3:23PM
Prove it. Or are you really that stupid to be fooled twice?
FrankTheCrank @ Apr 17th 2008 3:32PM
$35,000???
Are they serious about that price? If that is the case, it's going to be a niche auto. And Toyota and Honda will continue to eat everyones Hybrid lunch.
Seminole @ Apr 17th 2008 3:44PM
Except the Volt is not really hybrid in the sense of what we think of one as, but rather mostly electric vehicle. It has a small IC engine, but just to extended highway range. It's expected to be able to operate at 40 miles on batteries alone, and up to 400 with the small gas engine. The Prius can only go about maybe a few miles on pure electric, and the Civic is not capable of electric only driving. So this makes it a completely different car than what the Civic and Prius are. Rather this would more directly compete with the Tesla, and undercuts it by about $65,000 if the $35,000 price point is correct.
tankd0g @ Apr 17th 2008 3:49PM
It's a serial hybrid and there's a reason it hasn't been done before in a car, it's a bad idea. There is no way in hell the Volt is going to get anywhere near Prius milage when the gas motor is both powering the car and charging the batteries unless the car is seriously limited in performance while in this mode. Net result, overall milage will be the same as a Prius unless you are one of these people who only drives 20 miles each way to work, have $48k and are too lazy to ride a bicycle.
The Other Bob @ Apr 17th 2008 4:22PM
tankdog-
And you base this knowledge on what? Because you are an auto engineer or just smarter than the hundreds of engineers at GM working on this thing?
Seoultrain @ Apr 17th 2008 4:15PM
tank, the IC engine in the Volt never powers the wheels. Only the electric motor is connected to the wheels, and when the battery gets low, the gas engine starts and runs a generator which charges the batteries.
And you drive more than 40 miles round trip to work? that sucks, dude.
And seminole, no one of reasonable intelligence is cross-shopping the Volt with the Tesla roadster. $35k absolutely kills this car.
Seminole @ Apr 17th 2008 4:21PM
Seoul, I was making a comparison to the only other real electric vehicle out there. $35,000 is a lot easier to swallow than $100,000.
Now given it won't be able to touch the Tesla's performance, but it still is a competitor in a sense.
Russell @ Apr 17th 2008 3:45PM
With the dollar slide, $35K might be a bargain in two years, then again its way too early to talk about price on the Volt. Just ignore all the BS about prices and you might be pleasantly surprised.
Robert O @ Apr 17th 2008 3:46PM
Finally, they found a good use for all of those unsold prior-model Malibus!
Aprime @ Apr 17th 2008 3:52PM
I never really noticed how the last (albeit, facelifted) Malibu looked like a Magentis until now.
Yesterday's pic felt odd because my mom owns the pre-facelift 'bu in the same color (and they're not exactly that easy to find where I live, so I never get used to seeing one that isn't my mother's).
Shipey @ Apr 17th 2008 3:56PM
With all the wires running down the sides, it kinda looks like there should be a flux capacitor in there somewhere...
I bet the speedo only goes to 88mph.
tankd0g @ Apr 17th 2008 4:02PM
I bet the car only goes to 55mph.
Thedevil @ Apr 17th 2008 4:15PM
I bet 50 down hill.