Added on July 21, 2014  The News Wheel   , ,
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2015 Chevy Volt Battery Is Supersized

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Earlier this month, we brought you (what we thought were) all the updates for the 2015 Chevy Volt. It turns out, however, that Chevy was holding out on us, until now. One final change to the all-new Volt includes a battery upgrade. Specifically, the 2015 Chevy Volt battery will grow from a 16.5-kWh unit to a 17.1-kWh unit.

2015 Chevy Volt Battery

Pictured: The 2014 Chevy Volt ©GM

This isn’t the first time that the Volt’s battery has been updated while in its first and current generation. Although the Volt debuted with a 16.0-kWh battery pack in 2010, GM changed it up for the 2013 model year, giving it the 16.5-kWh unit. This boosted range from 35 miles electric (94 MPGe) to 38 miles electric (98 MPGe).

It’s not clear if the 2015 Chevy Volt battery will merit the EV an updated EPA rating. The 2015 Volt has not yet been recertified with the EPA, and it hasn’t been made known if that is in the works. EPA rating or not, however, we should expect to see better range numbers from the new model.

In an interview with Hybrid Cars, Kevin Kelly, GM’s manager of Electrification Technology Communications, said, “We did make an engineering change to the cells for the 2015 Chevrolet Volt which resulted in an increase in energy capacity to 17.1 kilowatt-hours. This was done as part of our continuing improvement efforts, to make the product better, to respond to the demands of our customers, and what they expect from the product as we go along. So it’s likely that some customers may experience an improvement in range over previous model years.”

While the increase might not be dramatic, Volt drivers may be able to break the 40 electric mile marker with the 2015 model.