Chevrolet Volt's "Biggest Challenge," According to GM

DETROIT — The biggest challenge that General Motors says it has encountered in testing the Chevrolet Volt is "hot-weather storage of the vehicle," the automaker said in a recent update on the corporate GM FastLane blog. In a detailed technical look at the Volt, GM also noted that "everything is not perfect on [pre-production] drives, but there are not any problems that will not be handled before production."

In regard to the issue of hot-weather storage of the Volt, GM said that at this point, "10 years of battery life is the norm, but some people could get more battery life depending on the climate where they live and their driving conditions." The Volt has racked up more than 250,000 miles of testing on the pre-production and mule vehicles in such grueling settings as Death Valley and Pikes Peak.

The automaker is also grappling with cold-weather issues related to the Volt's operation. "The Volt has an electric cabin heater to provide comfort," GM said. "At certain temperature levels, the engine will start to help warm the battery. Heated seats provide good bang for the energy buck."

The Volt team has completed the pre-production build process on the Volt and is in the process of testing the vehicles, noted GM. Some of the pre-production models "are being tested around the clock 24/7," said GM. The Volt team has made enough progress in terms of energy power requirements that it is "now balancing issues such as safety, regulations and customer satisfaction with other issues such as performance, durability, packaging and vehicle design," the automaker said.

The Volt's battery is "well protected inside the vehicle," said GM.

In addition to hot-weather storage, another Volt hurdle is noise. "Since the vehicle is so quiet, noise is an issue and the team is working on ways to reduce ambient noise when the vehicle is in motion," said GM.

Inside Line says: The encouraging word is that the Volt team is getting down to tweaks, not major overhauls as the production date looms large. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent