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How Chevrolet Volt Works: Video

The Chevrolet Volt is different from any other car on the market today. It’s neither a full electric vehicle nor a a typical hybrid, and that’s what sets it apart. Call it a hybrid of a hybrid, if you will. Yet despite having launched a couple years ago, people still don’t understand how it works. So, Chevrolet launched a video to remind everyone what the Volt can do.

When a fully electric vehicle is out of juice, that’s it. Sorry, but it looks like you’re walking home from work this time. On the other end of the scale sits a hybrid, it has the ability to deliver great fuel economy due to its electric aids, but it will never travel under solely electric propulsion.

Enter the Volt. For the first 38 advertised miles on a full charge, the Volt will scoot around on electricity alone, enough to suffice for the average American’s daily commute. After that, the electric drivetrain is charged using the car’s small onboard 1.4L gasoline engine, which can be refilled like a conventional car at a gas station, until the Volt is plugged in again.

Sam loves to write and has a passion for auto racing, karting and performance driving of all types.

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Comments

  1. The subtitle “Sometimes it doesn’t need gas. Sometimes it doesn’t need electricity.” is somewhat misleading, since the Volt (and its twin Opel Ampera) always drives electrically. Only electric motors are connected to the central planetary gearing, the main 111 kW engine all the time, and the smaller, 42 kW engine when the main engine is its upper range of rotational speed. The combustion engine is there only to generate electricity; but since the second electric motor is also used as the generator of electrical energy when the battery is depleted, a part of its torque also reaches the central planetary gearing by this indirect mechanical connection. But the internal combustion engine never drives the car alone.

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