Holden Volt: How does it work? Video

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By Alborz Fallah | February 15th, 2012

Holden has uploaded a new video explaining the technologies behind its soon to be released electric Volt. In the video Holden hints at why the Volt is superior to hybrids and a better fit for Australians than pure-electric vehicles.

Does the video explain all your questions about the Volt? Will it be a model that has real appeal to Holden buyers?

The Volt will be in Holden showrooms before the end of this year. Read more on the Holden Volt.

marc

the fuel bill economy is so in question for $60k small car… return on investment means 10s of years… its a joke… lets drive v8 so we deplete all the fossil fuels and get this at normal retail price…
gt86.com.au

Anyone crazy enough to get this heap of junk, needs to give themselves 240Volts.

Anthony

your a tool.
therre is a market for this and it will sell.
i wouldnt buy one myself due to the price. but there are lots of people that will. and they are not silly people. it’s a lifestyle choice thay will have made.

Gizza

Prius C $29,000 will be far better choice for those lifestylers
Chocolatemoose

anyone else feel weird when she keeps saying holden volt.. when… its not?

V8car

Do you also feel weird when Ford Australia call the Focus as there’s?
horsie

you’re a fool

Fred Bear

I find this video misleading.
There was a major sh_t fight in the US about this car as GM told everyone that ‘it was only electric driven’ and the engine was only a ‘range extender’
Do a search, you’ll find that when you look at it, the technology is no different to a Yoda Prius, and YES, underload, the engine will drive the wheels.
So, for the same technology as the Prius, you have to pay over $20000 more.

I’d just buy a Prius, if i in the market for this. But if you were smart, a small diesel would be better again and more money in your pocket.

vin

as I see it the Volt is All electric with a petrol driven generator recharging the batteries when you need to travel long distances.

Matthew Werner

You’ve been had by the GM/Holden marketing. After some people looked at patent filings regarding the drivetrain and asked the question, GM admitted the engine can drive the wheels in ‘certain circumstances’.

So its a just a different flavour hybrid.

horsie

I would much rather drive a volt than a small diesel.
This car is 100x better than a Prius

Anonymous

Go ahead and blow 60k on this GM propaganda exercise, a fool and his money are easily parted. A small diesel will wipe the floor with this junk in every way.

horsie

I can’t personally afford one. but there are plenty of people out there who can and will. And i would rather drive a GM Volt than your gay golf any time . In-fact i would rather drive any GM/Holden .

Anonymous

I suppose you would put chev badges back on it to match the ones you have fitted to your Daewoo. There is better small diesels around than the golf. The fact that you would rather drive any GM/Holden regardless of how much better the competitors cars are says volumes about you.

Matthew Werner

And the ’80 kms of tailpipe emissions free driving’ makes me chuckle – the pollution is happening at the coal fired power station that generated the electricity

http://www.caradvice.com.au/ Alborz Fallah

That’s true, Matthew, but at least its out of our CBDs and away from the general population. It’s the lesser of two evils.

Guest

On top of that, controlling pollution at the power station at their various locations is much easier than 1,000,000 new tailpipes scattered around Australia that gets registered every year.

Keen on Volt.

Not just that but if you look at the amount of polution generated to create Petrol compared to coal fired power stations you would Gasp! you also need to burn the Petrol ontop of that so there is Much More polution from your Petrol powered cars and Alborz Fallah is Correct, the Polution is usualy in the middle of Nowhere, Away from the central population. Its also a smarter choice as it is $2.50 Per 80K’s which is Much cheaper than Petrol, Even cheaper if you have a Workplace that is Kind Enough to let you charge your car Whilst you are at work.

Matthew Werner

Yeh I know its the lesser of two evils but the way marketers spin it and tell just part of the story annoys the hell out of me. Actually all marketers annoy me… forget statistics, its pretty much ‘lies, damn lies and marketing”

Shak

Why do so many people get hung up about the specifics of how the car gets it power to the ground? It can be a pure electric if you dont use the ICE so even if the engine turns the wheels with whatever mechanical link does it really matter. You have the choice of having up to 80km of pure electric range, or if you want the choice to go up to 600km if need be. The car is a pretty smart innovation even if to some people it just looks like a hybrid. SO far from all reports the car handles well, is well equipped, has lots of power for a small to midsized hatch and in general is a big step forward for the GM empire. The GM haters on here would hate even if GM presented them with a hydrogen powered car which cost 10k and nothing to run, but the facts are, these things will find a market regardless of all the fear mongering, and misinformation.

Guest

people get hung up because GM promised it would be completely different to the Prius and not have direct petrol drive to the wheels and they deliberately hid it until the 11th hour… and then they produced information that it works exactly like a Prius… but twice the cost… and it catches fire!

educate yourself before you go about defending GM

also… here’s a car that now has a $10,000 tax rebate in the US and the average buyer earns $175,000…

the Volt is a white elephant and shame on Holden for selling it here… it is no different to a Tesla or a Fisker… its just a scam to get US govt. money and its a toy for rich people

get a Prius C instead for less than half the money…

Dave S

I think Gm has said, EV with petrol range extending feature. This true. Full electric, for most short trips. Even the Prius C will use fuel for short trips.

I still like the story of Jay Leno, who drives his Volt everyday and only put fuel in it once in 6 mths of ownership. None of the Hybrid Toyota’s can do this.

Plenty of people spend 60K + on a car. When shopping in that price range, why not get one that may not need fuel for weeks.

Guest

Prius C is a normal hybrid like the Prius. It doesn’t claim to have a range extender.

Greg Tuck

I like it, price it at $40k and it would be a hit.

I’m just afraid it’ll instead be a $60k niche as is rumoured. Holden may sell it at a loss or with minimal profit if you believe their line about the Volt being a big about improving the Holden brand…
jekyl & hyde

if i had a tourer in the garage,and the coin combined with the lack of common sense that most ideal driven people who buy these type of vehicles do,i’d buy a leaf,and wait for the batteries to come that will take it 600kms on a charge.no brainer….

AndrewF

You’ve got that right – only someone with absolutely no brains will wait for batteries that will provide 600kms range.

jekyl & hyde

you’ve no idea,really,have you.that day is coming…

AndrewF

I’m sure it is coming. But since it took over 100 years of development to get batteries to the point where they might provide 100km range in optimal driving conditions, you’d have to be an extreme optimist (to put it politely) to expect 6-fold improvement by tomorrow.

Ben

The Tesla S already is capable of over 500km range. There is plenty of new battery tech on it’s way. Fast charge and massive range. How about you do some research or just keep your ignorant comments to yourself.

100 years of development. Yeah right.. That’s just funny.
AndrewF

It might be funny but it is correct. When cars were still a new idea, their sources of power were pretty evenly divided between petrol, steam and electric engines… that was give or take 100 years ago.

And the only place where Tesla S achieved 500km range is in Tesla’s marketing materials.