This is "Marketing" -style review of the Volt project, almost totally devoid of technical information. There is not even a drawing of the power train, for example. It is written about to the level of Motor Trend magazine, for example. I was disappointed, I was hoping for something more technical and more detailed. Lots of pretty pictures, though. The binding is bizarre and incredibly ugly to my taste -- front cover and back consist of thick slabs of hardboard. Good if you just want to look at pictures. Chevrolet Volt: Charging into the Future
I found the author to be very entertaining and informative. The book was well researched and provided some interesting facts behind the scenes of how this ground-breaking vehicle was conceived, designed and produced.
I would give the contents of the book five stars. However, the book cover leaves much to be desired. The photo and artwork are applied (glued?) to bare cardboard. The problem is that the edges of the book do what cardboard eventually does and that is fall apart. It makes a great book look and feel cheap.
While the book is informative, providing "insider" details about the design stages at GM and many great photos, it's very much a company-commissioned product. If you read this book you'd think that idea for this kind of car spontaneously appeared to GM. The acknowledgments show as much: for a phenomenal, industry-changing vehicle, the author talked to virtually no one outside the company!
Here are some of the "ingredients" missing: University of California at Davis Professor Andy Frank, who's been designing various flavors of plug-in hybrids for 30 years (including a conversion of a GM EV-1); The California Cars Initiative (the non-profit group I founded, which has promoted PHEVs since 2002); Sherry Boschert's 2006 book, Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that will Recharge America, the Don't Crush organization and its successor, Plug In America; gm-volt.com, the popular website. You will find a single buried reference to the 2006 filmWho Killed the Electric Car? that had such an impact, and a scattering of mentions about Tesla Motors.
Another casualty of the book's "sponsorship" is that the author doesn't situate the vehicle in the context of the company's new relationship to the outside world. You miss the new spirit of "transparency" GM adopted in developing the vehicle to the outside world both the automotive and green media and the online world and social media. You won't hear much about the four-year dialogue and cooperative effort between GM, the utility industry, government at all levels, and advocates, that led to the Volt's launch in late 2010. Fortunately, others are telling this story to provide these details, and we're looking forward to the sequel movie, "The Revenge of the Electric Car," this spring.
-- Felix Kramer, Founder, CalCars.org
This book presents a very detailed account of the Volt development until its market launch in December 2010. The story flows from Lutz initial idea of an all-electric car and Lauckner's back of the envelope calculation to show that a gasoline-powered generator as a range extender was a more viable solution, through a minute account of the development of the concept car unveiled in the 2007 Detroit Auto Show, to the production model presented in 2008, battery development and testing, until the official introduction in late 2010.
GM allowed Mr. Edsall access to and he interviewed all key players in the Volt development, from Robert Lutz to the hands-on engineers and designers. For most of the people interviewed, the author presents a short bio and their background at GM. This openness allows the book to provide quite the insider view behind the Volt development, but unfortunately, the author is totally uncritical of GM, any serious difficulties that might have taken place are absent from the story, and real technical details are scarce, so once you are finished you are left with the impression the book was written by a PR guy from GM. Still, the book presents an insightful account of the evolution of this revolutionary plug-in electric car.
I also had to agree with other reviewers regarding the low quality of the binding and the cheap material used for the cover (looks hand made over some kind of recycle cardboard). The cover is awfully in contrast with the high quality paper used and the wonderful pictures included (all provided by GM!). Despite their warning I bought the hardcover version, but from the beginning I was so afraid of tearing off the pages from the apparent fragile binding that I ended up buying the Kindle version to read comfortably.
For those interested in more details I do recommend the recently published Bottled Lightning: Superbatteries, Electric Cars, and the New Lithium Economy. Though not devoted exclusively to the Volt, it presents a shorter but more critical account of the Volt development, and particularly its battery pack. Also, considering his background, do not forget to check the upcoming Jim Motavalli's High Voltage: The Fast Track to Plug In the Auto Industry.
Larry Edsall is a great author with plenty of Great books on REAL great Vehicles, MBI/Quayside has done A Great Job on some recent Titles, Legendary Corvettes, Life Is A Highway,The In The Barn Series especially Corvette in The Barn,Corvette C4 Originality Guide,Many Many Great reads. They have something for everyone,in this latest book Chevrolet Volt:Charging into the Future.that something is Not for me,this book would appeal to the Greenies,Vegans and small fringe groups and special interests and Politically Correct Types. Yes The Car has been In Development since Before the Bailouts and Was Bob Lutz's "Big Idea". I Personally Have Test Driven the Volt(A Black one) at a special event and while it drives nice and is comfy,the Rear End Styling is horrible and the Idea that the car will have to be Charged like a cellphone or Laptop sends chills down my spine. The Chevy Cruze while basically a mini-Version minus the Hybrid seems a better Idea,GM is betting The House on this,Instead of Continuing the Performance Image with the Likes Of REAL cars: Corvette,Corvette Z06,The Ferrari Eating Corvette ZR1,C6.R,CADILLAC CTS AND CTS-V,AND The Camaro(They Killed Pontiac and Olds,So don't count on Firebird,Granted It's Great General Motors Feels they can DO Anything from High Performance to A Liberal's Car(It's not as Ugly as The Toyota Prius And Hopefully won't Run off by itself,Brakes anyone?). This Could be The Obama Voter's Dream Car,Union Made(GM still is Somewhat Owned By The Govt,and THE UNION and Canada and Their Unions and now plans for A 15%By Red Chinese Communist Owned SAIC Corp as of this writing)Just read who is behind the Vehicle, A German Vegan Named Weber who believes in "Green Tech",A Professor and of Course EPA participation maybe even Grant money(tax payer money perhaps?) and A United Nations of "Designers" and Engineers" if you can call them that, This Is THE Nixon EPA Approved Dream(A LiberalFascist Car),I don't see demand in the foreseeable future for Less Petroleum,Americans Unlike Europeans LOVE cars and don't like Interference with the Last Freedom they have whether it's performance or More Regulations. The book is even "PC" itself made of what looks like Recyclable Cardboard,This better Be a Wake Up Call To GM We Don't want Huge SUVS,We Don't Want Hybrid or Ethanol,we Want Nice Cars whether it's High Performance or Luxury or something else,Despite my Take on the book it is cannot be faulted,there are no print errors,The reading is there and the development photos are there, But To Me The Original DESIGN of the South African Designer Of the Volt is the best(It's design is based on a Lion according to the Designer himself),the New Iteration is Something very wrong and designed in The Wind Tunnel By Engineers.So if you want to hold hands and think your saving the world by driving a 30k+Car which no matter what will waste by Plugging in(Electricity wastes energy), You will still leave a carbon footprint short of leaving in A Tree,Enjoy the Fad while It lasts,Apparently Lessons from The EV1 did not make GM Cringe hard enough. - Liberal Fascism'
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