Reshared post from +Sam Abuelsamid
That +General Motors would replace the 1.4-liter inline-four cylinder engine in the +Chevrolet Volt sooner rather than later is a given. The replacement almost certainly will not be a 2.0-liter turbocharged four as used in numerous GM vehicles including the Buick Regal GS and Verano T.
When the GM board gave the production go-ahead for the Volt in mid-2007, the engineering team only had three years to get the car off the assembly line. The original concept was specified with a 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder. While such an engine existed on the design screens at GM powertrain, it was nowhere near ready for production in the Volt timeframe.
The best option available was the 1.4-liter since it was already in use and ready to go. It wasn't an optimal solution but given that GM was already well on the slide toward bankruptcy by the end of 2007, and there was so much other work to do, the engineers made the smart decision to work with what they had.
Even before the Volt was approved, R&D boss Larry Burns talked about the possibility of other engines including HCCI http://green.autoblog.com/2007/05/15/chevy-volt-could-end-up-with-radically-different-engine/
and as job 1 approached other options were being considered for the Gen2 Volt http://www.autoblog.com/2010/05/26/next-gen-chevrolet-could-use-diesel-two-cylinder-or-rotary-rang/http://rechargingthecar.abuelsamid.com/
The team wants a smaller, lighter and more efficient powerplant in order to better compete with the likes of the +Nissan Leaf and the upcoming +Ford Motor Company Fusion Energi. A 200+ hp turbo 2.0-liter makes absolutely no sense when you only have 161 hp of electrical power. The 2.0-liter is larger, heavier and thirstier than the 1.4 and makes way more power than can be used by the electric drive system.
The 2.0T would only make sense as part of a parallel plug-in hybrid drivetrain in some other vehicle. My guess (and I have no inside information on this, pure educated speculation) would be that they would opt for the new small engine family being co-developed with SAIC http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/17/general-motors-and-saic-to-jointly-develop-small-engine-and-dual/ which starts at 1.0-liter. Those engines could be in production by next year and would be a much better fit.
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Insider: 1.4L Engine Discontinued in 2014 Chevrolet Volt
All we had known for sure about the future of the Chevrolet Volt was that it will be undergoing a powertrain upgrade in about a year's time. That is until now. A source inside the company (who did…
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I find it hard to believe that GM had no ultra-small displacement engines at their global disposal. Whatever happened to the 1.0L 3-cylinder from the Suzuki-sourced Metros?
+Cheese Slap That was an ancient engine that had no hope of meeting current emissions standards and GM and Suzuki are no longer affiliated
I'm a bit confused.
With the Volt being the closest thing to a locomotive for the roads, why is it not using an ultra-tweaked-for-cleanliness diesel?
Diesel fuel doesn't go 'stale', they're quiet, and they in an application like this, it'd last forever.
Wait. GM… Car diesel engine… Longevity…
Never mind.
/stillwouldlovetoseeithappen!
+Sam Abuelsamid Yes, but. An engine in the flesh is a lot different than an engine on a drawing board. And that's just one example. You mean to tell me that GM of Europe or Opel or…SOME part of GM couldn't supply a smaller, more efficient engine of SOME kind?
+Cheese Slap Opel did provide the 1.4. As Larry Nitz explained back in 2009, http://greenfuelsforecast.com/ArticleDetails.php?articleID=550
it provided the best combination of brake specific fuel consumption and output of the available off the shelf engines at the time. Cost of course was also a major factor.
+Kelly Bradley Yes a diesel might have been a better option from a pure efficiency standpoint and GM showed the Opel EcoFlex concept with a diesel. However, weight and cost were also huge factors in the first gen Volt development. A diesel would add at least $1,000 to up-front cost and many pounds. The extra mass would have eaten into electric range.
Packaging diesel emissions system needed for US use would also be a major issue. On a larger vehicle it might have been doable but I don't think they could do it on the Volt and they certainly would not have met the weight, cost, EV range and mpg targets.
They could have gotten around the extra mass by "decontenting", i.e., leaving off superfluous crap.
Oh, wait…this can't be done, anymore.
MUST HAVE MOAR CREATURE COMFORTS!
I see what you're saying, though.
I agree completely. The current 1.4 liter was a very reasonable choice, for all the reasons you provided. It was simply what was available at the required time schedule. And it's not bad. I expect them to change it at some time. My sense is that they will want something that's lighter and/or smaller. The current power provided is okay. They don't want to reduce the power, but they don't need to increase it materially either. I have full confidence that the GM engineering team will make a great choice, whatever it turns out to be. I think they will simply evolve/refine the current 1.4 liter in order to reduce size and weight, while increasing power very slightly. They only reason to fiddle any further is to try to provide a differentiated spec claim for the Cadillac ELR, if they think that's necessary (they probably want to say that the powertrain is not 100% identical to the Volt, even if it is 99%).