November 30, 2010 – New Canaan, CT
KARL Chevrolet has confirmed that General Motors has officially cleared the first 2011 Chevy VOLT’s for shipment from production at the corporation’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant. The first 200 retail VOLT’s will be shipped to dealers beginning in the next few days. This day marks an epic journey that began in January 2007 when GM first unveiled the VOLT Extended Range Electric Vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show that has culminated in building the world’s first Electric Car with virtually unlimited driving range!
Over the ensuing months, a ground swell of support began popping up around the country urging General Motors to turn the auto show concept into real world reality. An independent website, www.GM-VOLT.com, was started by a New York area Neurologist, Dr Lyle Dennis. He began a daily blog that began attracting fans, and incredibly Lyle has continued blogging about the VOLT virtually every day since the auto show concept was first shown.
A very small percentage of ‘auto show concept’ vehicles ever see the light of day as a production model, but a group of GM Executives, led by Bob Lutz, took the VOLT project to heart. During the spring of 2007, Bob Lutz made the bold prediction that General Motors would indeed turn the VOLT concept into production sheet metal and even went so far as stating the car would travel up to 40 miles on an electric charge and an additional 300 miles on extended range. At the same time, he made what was thought to be a wild guess that the car would be available for sale by November 2010.
Remarkably, the retail ready 2011 Chevy VOLT not only holds true to the original promise of electric range (it will travel between 25 and 50 miles on pure electric power from a single charge) and extended range (it will travel up to 350 miles in extended range on a tank of fuel); but the VOLT is actually shipping to the market in November 2010. For trips longer than about 400 miles, simply stop and refuel the VOLT generator’s fuel tank and drive another 350 miles or plug-in and recharge. The VOLT takes about 4 hours to fully charge on a 240V charger or about 8 to 10 hours using a standard 100V outlet. The charge uses about the same amount of electricity as a spare refridgerator would use. In total, the Chevrolet VOLT represents a massive step forward in the evolution of the automobile in the United States. Only time will tell just how significant the VOLT is; but we believe this is a watershed moment.
Production of the Chevrolet VOLT will be limited over the first couple of years as General Motors ramps up new facilities to produce components such as batteries and electric motors. But consumer interest and demand has already indicated the VOLT will be a smashing long-term success. KARL Chevrolet is proud to be an initial Launch Market Dealer and we look forward to working with our early VOLT owners to ensure they have an exceptional ownership and driving experience.
For those customers who are just now learning about the VOLT, we promise to keep a VOLT on hand for test drives and to help explain what an amazing concept the VOLT represents. Over the coming months and years, KARL Chevrolet looks forward to building up our reputation as the market leader in advanced propulsion systems, servicing, and mechanical expertise.