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2016 Volt to Come With On-Demand Regenerative Braking

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Back in August, Chevrolet announced that the next-generation Volt would debut at the 2015 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. Ever since then, the automaker has been slowly feeding us tidbits of information about the upcoming plug-in hybrid in order to keep our interest. Tidbits like a teaser image of the Volt’s front end, and a hint at increased efficiency. Have they kept our interest? Absolutely.

2016 Chevy Volt Efficiency

The second 2016 Chevy Volt teaser
©GM

Now that the Volt’s debut is mere weeks away, Chevy is slowly giving us more pieces of information to get us pumped up. Just today, the automaker released a video demonstrating a technology completely new to the 2016 Volt—on-demand regenerative braking. Check it out:

In the video, Mark Reuss (executive VP of global product development) drives the Volt around a track along with Andrew Farah (Volt chief enginner) to demonstrate the technology at work. On-demand regenerative braking is already found on the Cadillac ELR (which is essentially a fancied-up Volt with a Caddy namebadge slapped on the front), but this is the first time it’ll be found on Chevy’s version. The technology is controlled by paddles that are built into the back of the steering wheel.

According to Chris Thomason, who is the chief engineer for the Cadillac ELR, “Regen on Demand enables ELR drivers to actively re-capture energy when slowing down, such as when approaching slower traffic or setting up for a tight turn. This allows the driver to take more active role in the electric vehicle driving experience.” If the technology found in the Volt mirrors this, we can expect a much more entertaining driving experience from the vehicle’s second generation.

Luckily, we only have about three more weeks to wait to find out for ourselves!