[bjrosen]

Doubling the Volt's battery range would make a big difference to me and I'd gladly pay for a big battery option that accomplishes that. If I look at my local area destinations, Boston, Brookline, Rockport MA, Peterboro NH, they are all about 50 miles away which means that I can go one way on the current Volt battery, doubling the range would make roundtrips possible without destination charging (which is only available in a couple of those places). If I look at my longer range destinations many are about 100 miles away, Portland ME, Newport RI, Woodstock Vt. Doubling the battery range would allow me to do one way on battery and roundtrip if there is destination charging available (Portland for example).

How much would you pay for 2X range option?

 

[KineticVolt]

Probably another $8ish grand. Doubling the current battery capacity would also mean it would make the 240v charging a necessity almost. Right now I'm good on the 120v and charges full overnight (~12hrs). To really make use of the larger battery I'd have to invest min $1k in providing a dedicated 240v charger. So in total, making it about a $7ish grand addition for 100 miles EV range.

 

[DrMiguelitoLoveless]

Well, I'd love to pay $2000, but $2500-$3000 is going to be the more realistic amount. Though if this ever to happen, I am guessing that it would offered by a third party. GM would never do it.

 

[rhodomel]

at $145/kWH, willing to pay at $2K and extra $500 to cover GM's profit. Then that would put me in the lifetime 99% battery mileage.

 

[viking79]

Need the option to save $3000 to go with the 35 mile range option.

 

[viking79]

at $145/kWH, willing to pay at $2K and extra $500 to cover GM's profit. Then that would put me in the lifetime 99% battery mileage.

$145 is cost of the cells to GM, finished battery might be more like $210/kwh, and add a 20% margin and you are at more like $250/kwh and you are looking at $4500 in extra battery cost. Now you are adding an extra 400lbs of weight so you need updated suspension and such. Plus the Volt just doesn't have room for those cells.

Again, I would rather see the range drop to 35 miles and they remove 33% of the battery, like the hump between the rear seats and save maybe 150 lbs. Don't need so much range in a vehicle with a powerful genset. What might work is if you made a car besides the Volt on the Bolt EV chassis and gave it a small motorcycle engine or some other small generator and give it a longer range like 100 miles, but the powerful genset in the Volt is one of the reasons you don't need a very big battery.

 

[Loboc]

An extra 18kWh would cost around $3600 for a finished battery (not just cells).

What I would like to see is a replacement cell that is the same size as the current cells but with double the density. In that way, you don't increase the weight and size. For my ELR that would make around 75mi AER. I'd pay pretty well for that. Maybe $4k. I don't see a normal Volt going for that much modification, but, an ELR might be worth the effort.

 

[bjrosen]

$145 is cost of the cells to GM, finished battery might be more like $210/kwh, and add a 20% margin and you are at more like $250/kwh and you are looking at $4500 in extra battery cost. Now you are adding an extra 400lbs of weight so you need updated suspension and such. Plus the Volt just doesn't have room for those cells.

Again, I would rather see the range drop to 35 miles and they remove 33% of the battery, like the hump between the rear seats and save maybe 150 lbs. Don't need so much range in a vehicle with a powerful genset. What might work is if you made a car besides the Volt on the Bolt EV chassis and gave it a small motorcycle engine or some other small generator and give it a longer range like 100 miles, but the powerful genset in the Volt is one of the reasons you don't need a very big battery.

The 60KWh Bolt battery weighs, 960 lb, divide by 2 for a 30KWh battery and you have 480lb. The Volt's battery weighs 405 lbs so a 1/2 Bolt battery would weigh only 75lbs more than the current Volt's battery. The Bolt is getting 238 miles out of it's 60KW battery so they must have some new tricks that aren't in the Volt but could be rolled into the Volt so that you could get at least 2X the battery range in a Gen2.5 Volt with Bolt batteries and Bolt tricks.

 

[Norton]

It's not a 'genset'.
It's an engine.
The Volt is a Hybrid when it's done being an EV.
Similar to a Prius. Only better !!

 

[Loboc]

Doubling the current battery capacity would also mean it would make the 240v charging a necessity almost.

No it wouldn't. Doubling the battery size wouldn't automatically double your normal daily driving. Unless you're one of the guys that drives 100mi/day instead of the normal 40-50mi.

 

[Barry]

I'm already driving almost all electric unless I am on a long out of town trip, typically well over the 106 miles, so it wouldn't make much of a difference for me. And I couldn't give up any cargo room at all. I would pass on this.

 

[KineticVolt]

No it wouldn't. Doubling the battery size wouldn't automatically double your normal daily driving. Unless you're one of the guys that drives 100mi/day instead of the normal 40-50mi.

Sorry should've added little more detail about my usage I guess. I drive 110kms to work one way. So I do about 220kms each day commuting to work and back.
So to really make full use of the added battery capacity, I'd defenitely need to upgrade the charger.

 

[Sheldon]

I think you're comparing a gen2 Volt to an i3 rex, where the i3 rex trades a bigger battery against a smaller genset and a very small fuel tank.

Different folks drive the gen2 Volts differently. I tend to use the genset mostly for road trips, and long day trips, and sometimes its a month or two between needing the genset as it is.

 

[16513]

You won't need to pay any extra for 100 mi. range at the rate of battery progress we have already seen. Competitive pressures will dictate that the lowest cost, highest range battery for the allowable space will be offered. The Volt's T battery shape is probably history on any Gen 3 prototype. A whole redesign will be required for a platform battery. I hope it happens. Volt sales are now encouraging and I think a Gen 3 is more likely than not. Model 3 may be the new package target.

 

[telveer]

Even if it were an option (which does not make sense in an EREV like the Volt), where would they put all that extra battery?

OTOH, Gen 2 Volt may see small incremental increases in range as cell technology and chemistry improve. Gen 1 Volts started with 16kwh, then 16.5kwh in late 2012 and eventually to 17.1 in late 2014. I hope to see similar or better incremental updates for Gen 2.

 

[bjrosen]

You won't need to pay any extra for 100 mi. range at the rate of battery progress we have already seen. Competitive pressures will dictate that the lowest cost, highest range battery for the allowable space will be offered. The Volt's T battery shape is probably history on any Gen 3 prototype. A whole redesign will be required for a platform battery. I hope it happens. Volt sales are now encouraging and I think a Gen 3 is more likely than not. Model 3 may be the new package target.

I'm speculating about a gen 2.5 Volt for the 2019 model year, not a true Gen3 which wouldn't happen before the 2021 model year. A midlife kicker to the Volt would only involve upgrading the battery cells to the Bolt's cells, the regen braking improvements from the Bolt and perhaps using a greater percentage of the battery which the Bolt seems to be doing, it's not a full redesign which I don't think will ever happen.

My reason for thinking that a Gen3 won't happen is because at the rate battery prices are falling a 90KW Bolt at the same cost as the current Bolt will be possible by 2021. Supposedly batteries will drop to $100/KW by 2020 which seems like a reasonable prediction, the Bolt is at $145 and Tesla claims that the Gigafactory batteries will be at $120 this year. A Bolt with a 90KW battery can go 350 miles, add a 150KW DC Fast charger and it's a completely satisfactory road trip car, if a 350 mile BEV is available at a similar price why would you build a plugin hybrid?

 

[Neromanceres]

$145 is cost of the cells to GM, finished battery might be more like $210/kwh, and add a 20% margin and you are at more like $250/kwh and you are looking at $4500 in extra battery cost. Now you are adding an extra 400lbs of weight so you need updated suspension and such. Plus the Volt just doesn't have room for those cells.

Add to that doubling the battery doesn't double range. As you state you would be adding 400lbs of battery increasing the Volt's weight (not to mention added weight for more structure, suspension, brakes, etc..). Plus performance would take a hit.

 

[turboguy327]

Nothing, that's why the volt can use gas....

 

[jcanoe]

I would welcome an incremental increase in battery capacity (10 - 20%) due to improved battery chemistry while keeping cost the same. There would be no additional weight or increase in the size of the traction battery but this would still require a corresponding longer time for full recharge. A higher wattage on-board charger, going from 3.6kw to 4.8kw or even 7.2kw would be indicated.

 

[Qinsp]

I will make a silly prediction. The raw capacity of the next model Volt will be 21.6 kWh. Since the buffer does not need to be bigger, that's a full 3.2 kWh gain in capacity. So I predict it will get a 64 mile EPA combined range and produce 147 kW of EV power and get CCS capability.

(all I did was use the math based on the Bolt's ~65kWh 3p96s and go 1p96s)