Chevrolet Volt Dissected: Powertrain, Design, Chassis, and More (2016)

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

In the eight years since it was announced, the Chevrolet Volt has been a few different things. First, it was a concept at Detroit’s 2007 North American International Auto Show, presented as Old GM’s technological Great Leap Forward. Then it became a political tool to get New GM through its 2009 bankruptcy. And it has always been a sop to greenie-type sensibilities. In all those jobs, it has performed dutifully and sold modestly—Chevy moved 19,000 Volts off lots last year—since hitting showrooms as a 2011 model.

Now comes the second-generation Volt, promising to be even more satisfying to drive than the surprisingly satisfying first one. The 2016 Volt is refined, buffed up, and smoothed over, but it remains conceptually consistent with the original.

Powertrain

The first Volt’s 84-hp, 1.4-liter, four-cylinder gas engine stood in contrast to the car’s high-tech credentials. It used an iron block, required premium fuel, and lacked leading-edge technologies such as direct injection. The 1.5-liter is the first of GM’s new four-cylinder, direct-injection, aluminum-block engines in North America. Despite a compression ratio of 12.5:1 (compared with the 1.4’s 10.5:1), the 1.5 runs on regular gas and makes 101 horsepower. And the powertrain is 100 pounds lighter than the outgoing car’s, useful considering that Volt drivers generally prefer to motor electrically, carrying the engine as dead weight.

GM's new Ecotec small-engine family includes turbocharged and naturally aspirated three- and four-cylinders between 1.0 and 1.5 liters.

“There was speculation that the engine would be smaller, have fewer cylinders, or be turbocharged,” Volt chief engineer Andrew Farah says. “What this really comes down to, with the new higher-compression, direct-injection, larger-displacement engine, is that we can get the same amount of power at any point we want with lower rpm. And lower rpm translates into lower noise.” And, no doubt, lower consumption.

True to the original recipe, the Volt still uses two electric motors. But, according to Farah, “not a single part number” is common between the first- and second-gen Voltec powertrains. The first-gen car used one large motor and one small one, but the new car’s motors are closer in size and share the workload more evenly. Combined electrical power stands pat at 149 horsepower, while torque from the motors climbs 21 pound-feet to 294. Once the batteries are depleted, Farah says, “the most efficient thing to do is to take torque from the engine to the wheels. So we will actually do that more often.” GM says the new Volt will get 41 mpg on gas and 102 MPGe on electricity, increases of four in both combined-driving metrics. The corporation also says that the new Volt will be quicker, getting from zero to 60 mph in 8.4 seconds, 0.4 second fleeter than the last Volt we tested.

Battery

Energy capacity is up while battery mass has dropped by 31 pounds. The number of Compact Power lithium-ion cells in the T-shaped battery pack has dropped from 288 to 192, while revised chemistry helps energy capacity grow from the outgoing car’s 17.1 kWh to 18.4. The pack enables a claimed all-electric range of 50 miles.

The Volt's new battery pack is lighter than the old one, with fewer cells and a lower center of gravity. A full charge on 120V will take about 13 hours, while 240V will drop that time to 4.5 hours.

Since most Volt owners favor electricity over gasoline, engineers focused on more-efficient ways of charging the battery pack. A new “Regen on Demand” feature allows the driver to engage regenerative braking using a paddle behind the steering wheel, a feature adopted from Cadillac’s $76,000 version of the last Volt, the ELR. In this mode, the motors more aggressively recycle energy when the driver lifts off the accelerator, supplying enough deceleration to turn the Volt into a “one-pedal” car during normal commutes.

GPS location-based services will optimize battery-charging conditions. When the car knows it’s home, for example, it might only charge when utility rates are at lower, off-peak rates.

Tires are low-rolling-resistance, all-season Michelin Energy Savers, size 215/50R-17.

Chassis

Under its fresh sheetmetal, the Volt is still a member of GM’s front-drive Delta II family, alongside the Buick Verano and Chevy Cruze. That means struts up front and a torsion beam under the rear end. The body structure is stiffer than before, and one significant change is that the front subframe cradle is no longer isolated by means of rubber mounts. “You get a much better feel for the road,” Farah asserts about the solidly mounted cradle, “though you do have to worry about transmitted noise.” The wheelbase creeps up by 0.4 inch and length by 3.3 inches, while the roof is 0.2 inch lower. Curb weight, the enemy of efficiency, is said to drop by more than 200 pounds.

Design

Rounder, pointier, and more sculpted at the nose, the new Volt looks like a cat with its rump in the air. It instantly makes the first Volt seem prehistoric, but it’s also less distinct from conventional cars.

Inside, the first Volt’s Kenmore washer/dryer touchpad dash is gone, replaced by dials, switches, and knobs, and more-conventional but richer-looking finishes. Two eight-inch screens supply most of the information, while blue lighting is supposed to emphasize the electric nature of the Volt. A lot of chrome accent trim emphasizes that this is a GM design.

Chevy has managed to squeeze a third seat between the two outboard positions in the back. But it’s the definition of “occasional use,” a pillion you’ll want to rely on not more than once a decade, when the gang at work wants to go to Denny’s for lunch. Make the guy who suggested Denny’s ride in the middle.

February 2015 || BY JOHN PEARLEY HUFFMAN || MULTIPLE PHOTOGRAPHERS