2019 Chevy Volt to have nice upgrades

2019 Chevrolet Volt

Aside from some new colors and moving a few things around inside like the wireless charging pad, it'll have some really nice things in it.

- Power seat. Yes, many cars have this already, including higher trim Priuses. But the Volt always had manual seating, so this should be nice for people who wanted this feature.

- 7.2 kW charging. The 2016-18 Volts capped out at 3.6 kW on a 240v charger. This means if you have an EVSE that can charge at that rate, you can fully recharge the Volt in a little over 2 hours now, vs the 4.5 hours it currently takes. This was also something Volt owners requested over and over.

- ERDTT (Engine Running Due to Temperature) can be delayed until temps are -13 F/-25 C. The current thresholds are 35 degrees F/1 degree C, or you can set it to "deferred" which drops it to 15 degrees F/-9 C. This also annoyed some Volt owners because they could still have plenty of battery juice left, but the moment those temps dropped, ERDTT kicks in where the engine runs to assist in cabin heating. Which some folks who live in colder climated and wanted to stay in EV mode as long as possible hated.

It seems like it'll still have the same size battery (18 kWh, of which about 14 kWh is usable), but with that faster charging, now people won't have to wait as long to recharge the battery in case they have lots of errands.

 

I'd say it's most likely anticipating for the tax credit expiring for GM within a year or so. If they didn't offer any substantial improvements, it's unlikely a lot of people would want to pay that much for the Volt without the tax credit.

I just wonder if GM will also cut the price in anticipation of the credit expiring, and by how much. I doubt they'll just give us a straight $7500 price reduction when the credit expires.

And more importantly, if there's a Gen 3 Volt, will it continue being on the same platform as the Cruze, or if GM will turn it into a crossover.

 

I don't think they will. If anything, the Volt is likely a HALO car for GM, and they'll probably use things they learned building it to incorporate the Voltec system into GM's other vehicles. The Malibu hybrid that came out back in 2016 used a modified Voltec system, mostly by having a larger engine and a much smaller battery but doesn't have to be plugged in (not that it has a plug though).

Much as many of us here want to see the end of gas cars, the reality is that they will be around for a long time, at least 2-3 more decades barring something drastic happening like a $20k EV that can go 300+ miles, takes 15 minutes to charge up, and can fit 5 people comfortably.

So in the interim, I think plug-in hybrids will become more of a thing, if nothing else to meet emissions requirements around the globe, current US government claiming otherwise notwithstanding. Honestly, I'm eager to see plug-in SUV's and trucks that can do 30-50 miles on electric, then gets 35-50 mpg on gas.

As long as it doesn't cost $10-15k more than the gas counterpart, I think they'd have a real winner there.