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The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle to be produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors and expected to be launched in November 2010 as a 2011 model. Its propulsion system will be based on GM's new Voltec (formerly known as E-Flex) electric automobile platform, which differs significantly from GM's earlier BAS Hybrid and Two-Mode Hybrid systems. For up to the first 40 miles (64 km), the Volt is powered by electrical energy stored in its on-board lithium-ion batteries which are charged by connection to an electrical power outlet. The car's 16 kW·h (8.8 kW·h usable) lithium-ion battery pack can be fully charged by plugging the car into a 120-240VAC residential electrical outlet using the provided SAE J1772-compliant charging cord. No external charging station will be required.
With fully charged batteries, enough electrical energy will be stored to power the Volt up to 40 miles (64 km).
This distance is capable of satisfying the daily commute for 75% of Americans, whose commute is on average 33 miles (53 km). After 40 miles (64 km), a small 4-cylinder gasoline internal combustion engine creates electricity on-board using a 53 kW (71 hp) generator to extend the Volt's range to more than 300 miles (483 km). The electrical power from the generator is sent primarily to the electric motor, with the excess going to the batteries, depending on the state of charge (SoC) of the battery pack and the power demanded at the wheels. The distribution is controlled by the electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle. Unlike most current commercially available hybrid electric vehicles, the actual propulsion of the Volt is accomplished exclusively by the electric motor.
The Volt's retail price has yet to be officially announced. Recently the Volt's vehicle line director Tony Posawatz from GM responded to the question of anticipated Volt pricing by stating "the real or effective cost to consumers is easily less than $30,000” which includes the $7,500 U.S. federal tax credit and effective savings in electricity and other benefits.
Development and production of the Volt has been kept on or ahead of schedule, despite GM's Chapter 11 reorganization. The first pre-production test car based on the full Volt design was built in June 2009 in Warren, Michigan and by October 2009, 80 Volts had been built and are being tested under various conditions. On March 31, 2010 the first factory-built Volt was produced at the Detroit Hamtramck Assembly Plant in order to test the production line and for quality control purposes, both of the tooling and the pre-production vehicles that will be produced before regular production begins.
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