Tortoise And The Hare

The First Chevrolet Volt Came to Outrun the Toyota Prius. The New One Hopes to Kill It. A Tale of Two Plug-in Hybrids.

- Tony Quiroga

ELECTRIC VEHICLES ARE MATURING THROUGH THEIR ADOLESCENCE, AND JUST LIKE IN MIDDLE SCHOOL, SOME MEMBERS OF THE CLASS ARE DEVELOPING FASTER.

Tesla and Chevrolet now have electric cars that will travel more than 200 miles per charge, but the vast majority of battery-powered cars are still limited to a 60-to-90mile range. In the next decade, the electric car promises to blossom into something that doesn’t require sacrifices in practicality or price when compared with a gasfueled car, but until the EV’s pimples clear up, we have plug-in hybrids.

With both a battery and a gas tank, plug-in hybrids strive to be everything to everyone, especially buyers who drive too much to deal with range limitations or who don’t want to spend much time plugged into a charger. The battery pack provides some electric-only operation while the gas tank and engine keep things moving when the battery is tapped. Chevrolet’s first Volt could travel 38 miles on its battery; after that, the engine would kick on to drive the car. Toyota, the leader in hybrid sales, also sold a plug-in version of its ubiquitous Prius; it featured a lithium-ion battery pack and could travel 11 miles on electric-only power before burning any gas.

Chevy and Toyota’s plug-ins are now entering their second generation, and both offer greater electric-only range and improved performance. Chevrolet’s Volt now has a larger, 18.4-kWh battery that weighs 21 pounds less than its predecessor’s, uses fewer cells, and delivers more than 40 miles of EV range. Inside the trans axle are two motor/ generators. While the combined gas and electric power output is unchanged from the previous Volt, GM’s redesign of the motors and the gearbox increases efficiency and helps the new car shed 100 pounds.