Holden Volt: A bridge too far

Travelling the longer distances often encountered in Australia isn’t a job for an electric car, right? For starters, electric motors are inefficient at higher speeds, batteries offer limited range and, for the most part, electric cars are cramped, small little things with no space for a family.

But what if an electric car, chargeable from a standard wall socket, could get you from Sydney to Melbourne? Albeit with a little help from our old friend the combustion engine.

Ah, a hybrid I hear you say. Well, yes... and no.

The Holden Volt is an extended range plug-in hybrid vehicle. One that can operate both as an electric vehicle, with a very usable 87km range, or as an electrically driven, petrol assisted car capable of traveling up to 600km from its 35-litre tank of 95 RON PULP.

It’s a complicated arrangement. GM’s Voltec drivetrain uses a combination of batteries, clutches, electric motors and a petrol engine to provide lively motivation, in spite of the four-seat hatch’s rather hefty 1721kg kerb weight.

On this occasion, however, we weren't about to review the Volt, as such. Instead, we set out to disprove Holden’s range claims by driving the futuristic five-door from Sydney to Melbourne – the long way.

Don’t spare the horses... As well as taking the circuitous coast road with its undulating terrain, frequent speed limit changes and, on this occasion at least, mile upon mile of road works, we planned to drive the Volt in the most normal manner possible.

There was no hyper miling, no taping of panel gaps and no light footed tactics aimed at skewing a positive result. Oh no, we were not prepared to let the Volt off the hook that easily. We adhered to the speed limit, kept with the flow of traffic and – wait for it – used the climate control the entire way. Just like any normal person would.

With the battery fully charged and the fuel tank full to the brim I met our staff snapper – and his payload of gear – at the Harbour Bridge where we zeroed the tripmeters and set off through Sydney’s slow moving peak hour traffic. Using regenerative braking the Volt’s battery charge remained high until we reached the outskirts of the city. From here on out, it was noticeable that the range dropped as our average speed increased.

The serenity that we had enjoyed from our all-electric touring was over, and the gentle hum of the 1.4-litre four-cylinder engine intermittently punctuated our journey as it worked to supply charge. The miles ticked by and so did the last of our good weather, a heavy rain storm demanding even more from the Volt’s electrical system.

With the AC in ECO mode – one of the few eco concessions we made – and the wipers and headlamps operating, the Volt’s petrol engine ran more frequently. We noticed a rise in consumption at this point, one that increased as the outside temperature fell. With nine degrees showing on the Volt’s external temperature display, the warm and humid cabin required even more AC work to keep the windscreen clear, again to the detriment of fuel economy.

It may have been an issue limited to this car, but the constant need for full AC and front screen demisting did detract from what was otherwise a pleasant ambience.

The Bose audio system was a real treat, especially when enjoying the many hours of tunes required to break the tedium of such a long trip. The hours of slow-going roadworks and caravan traffic tested our patience to breaking point.

Eventually, the chance to overtake proved too tempting, and as we said at the outset, we wanted to drive the Volt in a manner as close to normal as possible. So overtake we did – and might we add, Volt had enough performance for the task too.

With such distances between (open) fuel stations, the economy of the Volt and the accuracy of its trip computer played a great part in getting us to our destination. Even if we had to slow the pace slightly to make it.

Come morning, we topped up the tank and continued the journey. The average consumption figure changed little as the miles clicked by.

Passing through the colourful small towns that dot the Princes Highway we soon found ourselves at the La Trobe valley where we were reminded just where Volt’s primary motive power was sourced. A quick detour for a photo op at the aging Hazelwood power station added a few extra clicks, but did little to ruin the average.

The city skyline appeared in the distance and Volt’s petrol supply fell low as the 100km/h average took its toll on our range. Still, as the climb over the Westgate Bridge loomed the Volt still had over 100kms range remaining. And by the time we’d reached a vista suitable for our closing shot the car had consumed 57 litres for a total average of 5.2L/100km.

Sure, it’s not as good as some modern turbodiesels but considering the weight of the car and the demands placed upon it, we felt the range was acceptable. Holden’s own engineers estimated we’d average “around five” litres per 100km at the start of our trip, and as we drove with little regard for economy, the effort was worthy of applause.

Best still, an overnight charge at home saw an all-electric drive to the office (a distance of 45km) leave enough in reserve for the rest of the motoring.com.au crew to get some time behind the wheel before returning the Volt to Fisherman’s Bend. All in all, it was an outstanding result that proves the point of the range-extended EV concept.