Chevy's New Volt Is Way Better, But Maybe Not Good Enough - Wired

The Chevy Volt was supposed to be historic. It would be the first affordable and practical electric car, with an internal combustion engine tucked in to wipe away fears of running out of battery power miles from home. It cost $41,000. It could only go 38 miles on electric power. Then Nissan came out with the affordable, all-electric Leaf. Tesla made electric driving thrilling with the luxury Model S. Ford, BMW, Porsche, and Toyota introduced their own plug-in electric hybrids. The upside of the car’s disappointing early years is that Chevy gets to make act two a comeback. And so it introduces the second generation, 2016 Volt, packed with a suite of improvements to identify the weaknesses of the first car and make each a non-issue. The 2016 Volt is more capable, comfortable, affordable, and attractive than the original car. Electric Range One upgrade matters more than any other: The Volt has a greatly improved range that will let it go 53 miles on nothing but electricity. In a July test drive, I did even better, covering 54. 9 miles in electric mode. Like the first Volt, the second gen car has a dual motor system and an internal combustion engine that revs up when the battery’s drained. Source: www.wired.com