You say the gas engine “efficiently charges” but that isn’t really true at all. When braking the engine would stop completely, and normally never run at a stoplight, similar to the stop-start systems common on new vehicles today. The harder you accelerate the faster the RPM, and more noticeable the engine noise became. It felt then more like a regular car, except the engine speed would increase with acceleration, not vehicle speed-which was a weird sensation. I don’t know precisely why it is as enjoyable as it is, but I know I am not alone-tens of thousands of other Volt owners would agree with me.īut when the charge runs out, the noisy engine cranks up and all the fun goes out. Smooth, quiet, instant power, no vibration or jerking when shifting gears. It’s hard to describe the sensation of driving on pure electricity until you’ve done it. I was smitten! After a spin or two around the block, I knew I had to have that car. I pressed down the accelerator pedal and the car silently, instantly pulled away. I can still remember the first time I test-drove a Volt. Needless to say we know them both very well and appreciate both for what they can do.) My daughter still drives the 2nd Volt and I still drive the 2nd LEAF. (My family in fact owned one of each, replaced later by a newer, 2nd-generation Volt and another LEAF, so we have owned four cars total from the two models. The LEAF also made sense as a city car, for driving around town every day, with maybe short trips to neighboring cities nearby. The Volt made sense back then for everyday driving, because it gave buyers a way to adjust to driving on electricity without sacrificing the ability to make long-distance road trips if they chose. At the time most battery capacities were too small for practical long-range driving on electricity, so we could choose between a car we drove 70% on electricity (that was a GM estimate based on driving habits) and a car that we could not drive more than about an hour without stopping to charge. When the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan LEAF both came on the market in 2011, buyers had a choice. Why did the Chevy Volt "gas-electric" idea never catch on with hybrids? It seems that system would work best, gas engine efficiently charges and electric motor gives good performance.
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