2016 Chevrolet Volt Delivers 50 Miles of EV Range

Half a decade after the first generation Volt started production at Detroit Hamtramck Assembly as the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, the 2016 model year brought with it the second coming of the PHEV that sold a cool 87,000 units (Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera combined) as of November 2014. With the all-new generation, it is no surprise that Chevy engineers pushed the envelope yet again by a huge margin.

Looking at it from the outside in the Tron-like blue lights of Chevrolet’s NAIAS stand, the 2016 Volt is far less dramatic styling-wise than its forerunner. It isn’t a bad looking car, nor the Chevrolet Corvette-alike styling we were promised only recently by a General Motors higher-up. Starting with the face, it is hard not to imagine the new Chevrolet Volt a as sort of Optimus Prime with a rapper-like teeth job.

Overall, the front fascia is sleeker and bolder than before, even though I was expecting more visual sauce. From the side profile view, the 2016 Volt is beautified by a way more sloping roofline, making it look like the PHEV equivalent of the Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The liftback hatch is still there.

In other styling news, the thin horizontal headlights of yesteryear have been swapped for smoke tinted clusters, styled a lot like those of the 2015 Ford Focus.

The moment we opened the 2016 Volt’s door, we got a certain feeling that it’s more grown up inside than its plasticky predecessor. Compared to the space tweed-like upholstery on some older Volts, the show car presents itself with jet black leather and plastics, elements that contrast beautifully with the blue gear shift knob and the metallic trim present on the center console and the dashboard.

As before, the driver is offered with a neat 8-inch digital color display which can be reconfigured to relay driver-oriented information. The infotainment bit of the deal is taken care of by a similarly sized touchscreen, marketed as the Chevrolet MyLink. I guess that’s enough talk about the aesthetic front, so let’s move on to the bread and butter of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle - the hi-tech powertrain.

The second-gen GM Voltec propulsion system is a cracker, all things considered. To sum it up fair and square, you get an 18.4 kWh battery with 192 cells instead of 288, which was co-developed with LG Chem. This battery juices up an electric two-motor arrangement, which drives the front wheels with a nippy 60 horsepower and 294 lb-ft (398 Nm).

If the internal combustion engine interests you most, the old unit has been swapped for an all-aluminum 1.5-liter four-cylinder that churns out 101 HP running on regular 87 octane.

With a top speed of 98 mph (157 km/h), the 2016 Chevrolet Volt also boasts with a pure EV range of 50 miles (80 kilometers), while the EV + extended range clock up 420 miles (676 km) of driving. Fuel economy? 41 mpg (5.7 liters/100 km), while the electric efficiency sits at 102 mpg-e. In terms of get-up-and-go, don’t expect too much from the Volt, but just 0 to 30 mph (48 km/h) in 2.6 seconds and 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) in a mere 8.4 seconds.

According to the manufacturer, the 2016 Chevrolet Volt’s powertrain is 100 lbs (45 kg) less ponderous than the 2015 model year’s and up to 12 percent more efficient. Underpinned by the all-new D2XX vehicle architecture, around 70 percent of the all-new #NextGenVolt is made up of parts produced in the United States of America. For very detailed intel on the 2016 Chevrolet Volt, please refer to the press release attached below. And don’t forget to peer through the live photo gallery and drop us a comment whether you like the new Volt or not.