Until now, the Volt has been baked in the sun, to see how it's systems cope with the heat after several hours of UV, gamma, beta, theta and other Greek lettered radiation bombardment.
That was the case in the beginning of the week. Currently, the Volt is eating dust. Tons of it. Moving from the Desert Proving Grounds to the Muggins Mesa Yuma Proving Grounds dust course (owned by the US Army), the Volt trailed behind a Chevrolet Silverado pickup for some 12.2 miles, being engulfed by all the dust thrown in the air by the lead car.
All this huss'n'fuss (getting the Army's permission to use the Muggins Mesa dust course, moving the Volt, the Silverado and the dozens of engineers on location) was caused by the need to check the dust intrusion through Volt's door seals, air filter and other filtration systems.
According to Steve Pratt, GM's durability test engineer, the Volt is the best cars tested in the last 15 years, meaning very little dust intrusion.
Additionally, a hot fuel test (measures the pressures and temperatures inside the fuel tank on a 72-minute cycle at 40 percent capacity) has also been set up for the Volt. The Volt is scheduled to begin mass production in the fourth quarter of the year, with a likely price set at under $30,000.
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