In theory I'm against electric cars: they are heavier and more expensive than usual, those with an internal combustion engine. But practically, when I got behind the wheel of this "car of the future" in the Swiss town where 133 years ago, was born Louis Chevrolet, "Volt" I really liked it. It was too much fun! Literally everything.
You can't go. I just don't have time to look at the road, for God's sour! I have two large color displays before me, one oppressed where the instruments are usually located, the other with an elegant, white piano, the central console. On the first, in addition to the digital speedometer, the synch of the battery and the green ball of the battery, it turns out like a curable and constantly bouncing. This is an indicator of acceleration-braking. The driver of the Volta is a milk-horse, but I, grizzled by my uncle, like a 10-year-old, an eye from a drawing of a drawing ball, I can't tear off my eyes, and now I can't stop the brake. In fact, at the bottom, under large numbers of speed, the cheerful carousel symbols-these are the performance indicators of different machine systems. But the screen that's in the middle is still interesting. I realized that by touching the image of the blue leaf that blunked over the alarm-blue button of the engine. The following series of fun images appeared on the display instead of a map of the area of the navigation system-the image of the powertrain and several digits. The cartoon wheels were fun and completely meaningless. So, what about one of the blue plaque? Let' s say "energy information." Yeah, out of 16 kilowatt-hours, there's still ten kilowatt hours, and we've spent ... 0.00 l/100 km. Oh, my! That's why it's so quiet in the salon! I thought the engineers of Chevrolet were perfectly tushers of the insulation motor, the vibration of vibration and the noise from the engine to almost zero. And it turns out he doesn't work at all! Oh, how many times do we have these wonderful ...The magic power of electricitySince this moment, I, as the novelists of the 19th century have written, has become a rumour. I'm pressing the gas pedal ... And the car is moving forward. And from somewhere far away, not out of the subpoetics, even further, there is a slight echo of a passing electron, the one that has so far taken the almost destroyed sound of the engine. It's actually tickering two electric motors. The energy is derived from the lithium-ion battery. It is made up of 288 prismatic elements in the size of approximately 13 x 18 x 6.5 cm, weighs 198 kg and represents a truly masterpiece of engineering. In order to ensure its efficient operation in the temperature range from minus 25 to plus 50oC, it was necessary to develop liquid cooling and heating. And in order to avoid falling capacity (we all know how fast with age starts to unload the cell phones), the electronics do not allow full charging or battery discharge, leaving a working range of about 65%. The capacity of this miracle battery is 16 ampere hours, and it has been found to be 40 km long. However, I was not inclined to save and shake gas from the soul, everywhere, where the strict traffic laws of Switzerland were allowed, driving the Volt into the tail and the mane. If I had been careful with the accelerator pedal and supported the merry green ball on the left display at the center of the scale, or at least turned on the hold mode, could have traveled more-the maximum that the battery is capable of, 80 km. Internal combustion only when the battery is down, I finally heard the sound of the engine. I won't say it's loud-even when I made the Volt wear the narrow paths of village Switzerland as much as possible. And to my surprise, the four-cylinder motor in 86 forces was not that much behind 150-strong electric steam. And yet, the gas "quartet" had to rotate the generator shaft, which in turn charged the batteries-electricity in them, however, also came from energy recovery under braking. Yeah, the whole Volta jumped, but it's not even critical. And in general, on the road, this Chevrolet suddenly liked me-at least in the same way as the asphalt of the Alpine Republic. It's about nine seconds to a hundred, it's not a pound of raisins! He looks pretty good-both inside and out. The machine is built on the base of "Cruz": they have the same wheelbase, only "Volt" is a bit shorter, already (with the wider, however, the coler) and lower. But it looks much richer, more elegant and more modern than one's petrol relative. A small part of this effect was played by a two-person sofa, elegant, high quality trim, a black leather interior with white-coloured inserts and 17-inch light alloy hard drives with reduced rolling resistance. Of course, the aerodynamics of the body cannot fail to be noted: the coefficient of air resistance is 0.28, a very good result for a relatively short car. As the Americans calculated, only this made it possible to increase the total stock at a single gas station by 80 km, and on a single electric range-13 km. Miracle is delayed as long as the electric energy consumption is generated (16.9 kW). The 100-kilometer/100-kilometer/100-kilometer/100-kilometer/100-kilometer/100-kilometer/100-kilometer/100-driver will have to spend approximately 109 rubles per 100 drivers. The cost of the project is estimated as 19.2 billion rubles. Impressive?However, do not hurry to call the dealer "Chevrolet". And second ... Apart from the small, not too significant deficiencies of the machine, such as the unimportant visibility due to the windscreen racks and the low ceiling above the sofa, there is a "Volta" typical electrical issues with which its master will have to put up with. It takes four hours to charge, it's not too comfortable. Where do you put the 6-meter-long charging cable? How will the battery be charged at -30 ° C? And if the snow with the rain is going on at this time? In California, where, since last autumn, "Volts" are already sold, of course, easier-neither frosts, slush, nor snow. Can you imagine what would happen if your "Chevy" along with the wire and the miracle of the found receptacle would cover the ice-crust, as is often the case with cars on the winter streets of our cities? So you need at least a warm garage. But all of this, however, is children's questions. The main reason to postpone the global electric revolution is the price. In Europe, the Bolt is worth E41 900. Meanwhile, Kruz-1.6 can be bought for the E14990. So, what do we have? The car, which weighs almost half a ton more than its pure gasoline relative, is dispersed by three seconds faster, the maximum speed is equal to 30 km/h, the trunk has a maximum of 103 liters, and there are only four seats in the passenger compartment. And almost three times more?The only indisputable advantage is almost six times the amount of harmful emissions. It is true that the environmentalists do not take into account the cubic meters and gallons of gas or oil that are to be burned in the toppets of the European power plants for electricity generation. But that's not even the main thing. If you're so clean about the environment, buy a bicycle. The Prophets will be less with him than with the "Volta" charge.