GM’s eco-hope Chevrolet driven in Detroit

It seem to me a lifetime might pass before Chevrolet would release the Volt, much less start importing Detroit's answer to the Prius here in Dubai. Naturally, there's still no sign of Voltage in the UAE, where some individuals consider petrol a bold flavour of perfume, but after several years of water-cooler pontification, I finally got a chance to road-test the (don't call it a) hybrid.

As I gabbed away at the good-natured people at GM this past month, they seemed not to mind my occasional reference to the Volt as a hybrid. When I spoke to one of their powertrain engineers, a particularly kind and helpful fellow, he just seemed to want to get the point across that they feel they've built a better mousetrap than their peers around the globe. This experience was summarily refuted by their press release, in which they state: "The Chevrolet Volt is not a hybrid. It is a one-of-a-kind, all-electrically driven vehicle designed and engineered to operate in all climates, with a range of up to 610km." Right, it combines two existing technologies, elements that is, in a manner unique to GM, to create a product that meets a certain criteria — in this case fuel efficiency. Explain to me again how that's not a hybrid?

The Volt, in the simplest sense, is essentially an electric vehicle with a range-extending combustion-engine-powered generator. One could arguead nauseam about whether this constitutes an electric vehicle or not… OK, in my opinion, it's clearly not.

I suppose GM's attempt to massage the meaning of the word ‘hybrid' stems from a desire to underline how special this vehicle is. Maybe this explains the long wait for the Volt, as GM seemingly sat out the rise of the Prius as it trounced the less ostentatious Honda Civic Hybrid in green capitals like San Francisco and Hollywood. Or, perhaps GM just wanted to be fashionably late to the party.

But here's the thing — I like this car and the concept. Not only is it a different kind of hybrid, it offers a different sort of driving satisfaction, one that is more intellectual than, say, the gut-level response one has when matting the accelerator on the 2012 Camaro. GM calls the Volt's power train the Voltec propulsion system, and it consists of a 16kWh lithium-ion battery pack and electric motor offering a range of 40 to80 kilometres, depending on terrain, driving techniques and temperature. At low charge, instead of kicking over to its1.4-litre petrol engine for propulsion, the Volt uses the four-cylinder lump to recharge, extending the range up to an additional 550km on a full tank. Additionally, there are apparently certain circumstances in which the engine does power the wheels, but that's the exception.

A great deal of the enjoyment of driving the Volt is in the constant feedback offered by the display panel. Braketoo hard, and a spinning eco-ball dips down to indicate your excess. Accelerate hard, and it leaps upward. Every driver is unique, and I know all too well the joy of 300bhp+ joy riding, but I found the efficiency metrics in the Volt rather mesmerising. It's like having some eco imp on my shoulder encouraging me to optimise my fuel consumption. (Actually, that sounds a bit like my wife.) This is the thing about the Volt; the efficacy of its fuel efficiency is tied directly to how you drive, and how far. In the US, ideally one could use the included home charging kit each day, charge the car overnight, and then keep within that 50-80km radius each day to avoid having to pay for petrol at the pump. Here in the UAE, where petrol is still relatively affordable, it's not clear how significant a saving would be reaped by paying Dewa instead of at the pump, but I suspect there would be savings.

Out on the road the Volt sails along quietly. In fact it can be slightly unnerving to come across one on foot, as there's little noise to announce its arrival. The Volt has a respectable amount of torque on demand, and would certainly provide enough oomph to overtake the occasional comatose driver doing 80kph in the left lane on Shaikh Zayed. The brakes are a bit touchy perhaps, but the magic eco-metric ball soon disabuses you of the urge to bear down too hard.

The electric motor in the steering column dampens out almost any appreciable road feel, but then this isjust one more way in which driving the Volt is an experience that's essentially quite different from any other car, and I don't think that's such a bad thing. Chevrolet has been at it for a hundred years now, after all, so it's nice to see it doing something really different ina production model.

The Volt isn't going to win any awards for sporty handling, but it feels dignified and decently responsive under normal driving conditions, and the space age interior is quite comfortable, if a tad youthful for those of us born prior to the Nineties.

The battery, which anyone who ownsa laptop or a mobile phone will tell you is often the first thing to go, is covered by an eight-year/160,000km warranty. And here we have another clue as to what went on during the Volt's design phase — over the last four years, GM engineers have logged over one-and-a-half million kilometres and four million hours of validation testing of Volt battery packs, as well as each pack's nine modules and 288 prismatic cells. In a victory for the flagging US manufacturing sector, the Volt's 5.5-foot, 198.1 kgT-shaped, 16kWh lithium-ion battery pack is proudly manufactured in Brownstown Township, Michigan, not far from Detroit. Again, another coup for the rebounding GM, which happens to be the only major automotive manufacturer to see positive growth in 2011.

Since there's almost no chance that any of us here in Dubai will be buying a Volt in the near future, the question becomes, should a car like this even exist? The answer is a resounding yes. The Volt represents not only a thoughtful repurposing of now-ancient combustion engine technology, but it representsa cleaner and greener future for motoring. If you're a diehard petrolhead, this won't be the car for you. But look at it this way; if you convinced every one else in your family to drive a Volt, you could rock the upcoming Camaro ZL1 with only the smallest twinge of eco-guilt.

Specs & ratings