Why hasn't anybody actually driven a Volt when it's supposedly 7 months away?

[StageLeft]

A stupid question. Does regenerative braking occur as you remove your foot from the accelerator pedal? Or does it only kick in when you step on the brake pedal?

In the Prius there is light regen when you step off. I imagine the Volt does the same thing. It's just there to make drivers feel at home and more like an ICE with its engine braking. Prius also creeps along when stopped and foot off the brake similar to an ICE with torque converter. I bet Volt does the same.

 

[LTC8K6]

Regen happens whenever there is deceleration.

 

[Eli]

A stupid question. Does regenerative braking occur as you remove your foot from the accelerator pedal? Or does it only kick in when you step on the brake pedal?

It will depend on how they implement the system, but with my Insight, it works like this:

When you remove your foot from the pedal, you get some regen braking. Dedpending on speed and gear, this will be 1/4 to 1/2 of the regen capacity, or 12-24A.

When you touch the brake pedal in the slightest, it gives the full 50A of regenerative braking. 50A of regenerative braking is like lightly to moderately hitting the brakes.

This, coupled with engine braking, allows me to only use my brakes only for the last ~15MPH of the stop. I haven't had to change my pads in the 60k miles I've had the car.

 

[Uhtrinity]

I may have a skewed view of it though, since my car has set the bar so high. I just can't consider 50MPG groundbreaking when I can pull 75MPG or more all day long. When the Prius or another hybrid can pull 80MPG, I'll start to be impressed.

My view is skewed as well, but I don't see a sub 2000lb car being acceptable to the general public barring another increase in gas prices.