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Ben,
Thanks for posting this query -- they (GM) do seem to be schizophrenic on all aspects of the Volt, and some of it certainly seems tied to the EV1. They can't admit that they have already designed the best (so far!) electric car, the EV1; and they can't admit that they did in fact "kill" it for various reasons. They can't therefore design another electric car (or just refresh the EV1) because that would raise the question of why isn't the EV1 still in production. So, the Volt *had* to be a hybrid since electrics are no good -- but they had to be able to call it an electric, so it ended up as a serial hybrid so they could call it an electric car with a "range extender". But then they added THREE clutches and the most complicated transmission they could think of, and used an off-the-shelf cast iron block 1.4L (oversized for the job) ICE and the ability to have the ICE mechanically connect to drive the wheels...
Sheesh.
So, it is much more complicated and heavier and much more expensive than it could have been as a "pure" electric -- especially if they had just kept the EV1 in production and kept updating it as they went along.
And now the ads just reflect this strangeness...
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