A Serious Weakness to the Chevy Volt?

E-REV (Extended Range Electric Vehicle) technology has a lot to offer, all the strengths of the electric car over not-so-short driving distances, with the range of a gas engine comes to mind. But Ford, and Toyota, have not gone for it so far. In fact GM seems to be the leader in the E-REV field, while other companies have continued their development of plug-in hybrid technology.

Without going into all the details of the differences, it seems there's a reason for that reluctance and in an interview, Nancy Gioia, Director of Sustainable Mobility Technologies and Hybrid Vehicle Programs at Ford, feels their is a significant weakness to E-REV technology. Read the entire interview at GM-Volt, but what it boils down to is the lack of flexibility in the E-REV.

The engine can't switch back and forth from the gas engine to the electric propulsion, which may leave the driver in a bad spot. I don't want to go any farther than that, but read the interview at GM-Volt if you're at all interested in the Volt.

You can also use a smaller battery pack, which given the size and expense of the battery packs, is no small consideration.