Road Trip

Many automotive executives attending the Los Angeles Auto Show drove to the airport to catch a flight for Tinseltown. But for Chevrolet’s U.S. marketing vice president, Joel Ewanick, getting to the show meant driving past several airports and all the way here in a Chevy Volt.

“We’ve done a number of these kind of drives and I have missed every one of them for one reason or another,” Ewanick said before setting off on the trip. “I told my wife I wanted to be able to drive across country. It’s a proof of concept for me. We’re making history here with the Volt. I don’t think I would do this for just any car.”

The Volt, which gets 25 to 50 miles on a single electric charge before a gasoline-powered generator provides electricity to power the wheels for an additional 300 miles, began production this month at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant. California is one of the Volt launch markets, along with New York City and Austin, Texas. The groundbreaking vehicle was named Green Car of the Year at this year’s L.A. Auto Show.

“Some of the technology is so sophisticated,” Ewanick said. “I want to help people understand it’s a real car, one that can be your only car.”

Taking five days out of the office for the 2,400-mile trip wasn’t a hard decision, especially because getting public reaction to the Volt from chance encounters along the way was a big part of the fun.

Ewanick was accompanied by Lane Rezek, a powertrain development engineer, who brought along some testing equipment to get real-world data on the Volt’s sophisticated battery beyond what was gathered during the million miles of development driving already conducted.

The Chevrolet Volt is not a hybrid. It is a one-of-a-kind, all electrically driven vehicle designed and engineered to operate in all climates. Powered by GM’s revolutionary Voltec propulsion system, it consists of a 16-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack and electric drive unit that provide a pure electric range of between 25 and 50 miles, depending on terrain, driving techniques and temperature.

A 1.4-liter gasoline-powered engine extends the range up to an additional 310 miles on a full tank of fuel by operating the vehicle’s electric drive system until the car can be plugged in and recharged or refueled. This distinguishes the Volt from electric-only vehicles, which cannot be operated when recharging is not immediately available — such as during a power interruption or on a long-distance trip.