Vauxhall Ampera: UK’s first secret test
02 December 2009
It might not look like it, but the car to your left could be the most significant vehicle in decades. Deputy editor, Stuart Milne was among the first in the world to drive a prototype of the Vauxhall Ampera.
When is a Vauxhall Ampera not a Vauxhall Ampera? When it has all the oily and sparky bits wrapped up in a Chevrolet Cruze bodyshell.
And the car I’ve come to the top-secret Millbrook Proving Ground to drive is far from the finished article, but is here to demonstrate how the car which represents a massive seed change in how we think about eco-cars, will work in practice.
But climb inside, and it doesn’t feel like it. There are no Starship Enterprise-style lights, buttons or levers. Just a push-button start, an automatic gearbox and a couple of pedals – one for go and one for stop, just like a conventional car.
Fire the system up by pressing the brake pedal and pushing a button by the steering wheel and it hums into life. Release the brake and the car moves forward silently.
Just like a normal car
It goes, stops and turns exactly like a normal car, which is exactly what Vauxhall wants. It says buyers want mobility, space and affordability just like you get with a conventional car. After all, why should buyers looking for green driving and low running costs have to buy a green car as their second or third car?
The Vauxhall Ampera has been designed to do it all.
Vauxhall says it’ll reach 62mph in nine seconds thanks to it being able to dump its 272lb/ft of pulling power onto the tarmac from zero rpm. Overtaking grunt is equally impressive, again thanks to all that torque being instantly available. Top speed is 100mph, which is more than fast enough.
The bizarre thing is it does all these with but a whisper from the electrical system, leaving only a whiff of road and wind noise to break the silence. It’s an eerie experience for motorists used to throbbing engine note, but one we’ll be getting used to soon.
The final car’s design, unveiled at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show looks fantastic, and Vauxhall is expecting some decent handing. But most importantly are its low running costs and emissions.
Don’t call the Ampera a hybrid
Under the bonnet sits a petrol engine, a generator and a motor, while somewhere in the middle sits a battery pack – but don’t even think about calling the Vauxhall Ampera a hybrid.
It’s actually an E-REV – Extended-Range Electric Vehicle – and while that might sound like a hybrid, there are some not-so-subtle differences.
A hybrid uses its electrical oomph to power the car at low speeds and an engine for higher speeds (and a combination of both for extra acceleration). That means the electric drive system is merely assistance for a (often) wheezy petrol engine, and simply added weight and complexity when it’s not in use.
An E-REV, like the Ampera, is always powered by the electric motor. The concept is that owners charge the car at home overnight, or from the office car park for a 30 mile drive.
But we’ve seen that before in cars like the G-Wiz, which if you need to make a detour will leave you stranded at the roadside with a flat battery.
Clever
The clever part of the Ampera is the Extended-Range bit. When the battery is nearly flat, a 1.4-litre petrol engine kicks into life to slowly inject fizz into the battery to make it good for another 300 miles.
That might sound like a lot of effort, but it works with zero involvement from the driver. All you need to do behind the wheel is make sure you’ve enough fuel and concentrate on the road ahead.
Vauxhall is expecting the Ampera to emit an official average of 40g/km of CO2. It could be even less if the body who rubber stamp car makers’ CO2 claims would allow the Ampera to go through its test procedure using electricity alone. And although Vauxhall’s engineers won’t be drawn on its fuel consumption, it’s safe to say it’ll gently sip the bad stuff.
Vauxhall’s parent company, GM, has learned a lot from its EV-1 electric vehicle from the 1990s – which were made (in)famous by the dodgy docu-flick Who Killed the Electric Car – and discovered the biggest concerns were ‘range anxiety’, or the fear of getting stranded with a flat battery and limited recharging infrastructure.
The 80p commute
The E-REV technology gets around the first problem, and the second is solved by the use of a lead that plugs into the Ampera’s front wing one end and a standard household electrical socket the other. Charging to the batteries capacity takes three hours from a standard household socket, and Vauxhall say it’ll cost just 80p.
According to its calculations, a daily commute of less than 30 miles (of which most are) will cost 80p a day. Multiply that with the 220-or-so working days in a year, and your yearly commute will cost around £175.
The Ampera also uses a similar kind of power regeneration system to an F1 car which boosts the battery’s charge under braking.
There is, inevitably some bad news. The Ampera hasn’t been priced yet, but it’ll almost certainly be more expensive than the similarly-sized Vauxhall Astra, and it is currently unlikely owners will be able to get their Ampera serviced at many of Vauxhall’s dealerships at launch.
But Vauxhall is pushing the government hard on making the Ampera an appealing proposition for buyers. It wants the Treasury to offer £5,000 tax incentives, which could mean is beats the Astra on price and make it exempt from road tax and congestion charging.
Additionally it wants utility companies to provide cheaper, off-peak tariffs, councils to offer free or cheaper parking, and planners to ensure all new garages have 240-volt outlets.
All of these will undoubtedly help buyers into Amperas, but the car’s ability and clever design means it deserves to be at least as popular as the Toyota Prius.
I’ve seen the future, and it has a Vauxhall badge.
Stuart Milne, deputy web editor
When is a Vauxhall Ampera not a Vauxhall Ampera? When it has all the oily and sparky bits wrapped up in a Chevrolet Cruze bodyshell.
And the car I’ve come to the top-secret Millbrook Proving Ground to drive is far from the finished article, but is here to demonstrate how the car which represents a massive seed change in how we think about eco-cars, will work in practice.
Gallery: Click the link below for more pictures of the Vauxhall Ampera prototype
But climb inside, and it doesn’t feel like it. There are no Starship Enterprise-style lights, buttons or levers. Just a push-button start, an automatic gearbox and a couple of pedals – one for go and one for stop, just like a conventional car.
Fire the system up by pressing the brake pedal and pushing a button by the steering wheel and it hums into life. Release the brake and the car moves forward silently.
Just like a normal car
It goes, stops and turns exactly like a normal car, which is exactly what Vauxhall wants. It says buyers want mobility, space and affordability just like you get with a conventional car. After all, why should buyers looking for green driving and low running costs have to buy a green car as their second or third car?
The Vauxhall Ampera has been designed to do it all.
Vauxhall says it’ll reach 62mph in nine seconds thanks to it being able to dump its 272lb/ft of pulling power onto the tarmac from zero rpm. Overtaking grunt is equally impressive, again thanks to all that torque being instantly available. Top speed is 100mph, which is more than fast enough.
The bizarre thing is it does all these with but a whisper from the electrical system, leaving only a whiff of road and wind noise to break the silence. It’s an eerie experience for motorists used to throbbing engine note, but one we’ll be getting used to soon.
The final car’s design, unveiled at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show looks fantastic, and Vauxhall is expecting some decent handing. But most importantly are its low running costs and emissions.
Don’t call the Ampera a hybrid
Under the bonnet sits a petrol engine, a generator and a motor, while somewhere in the middle sits a battery pack – but don’t even think about calling the Vauxhall Ampera a hybrid.
It’s actually an E-REV – Extended-Range Electric Vehicle – and while that might sound like a hybrid, there are some not-so-subtle differences.
A hybrid uses its electrical oomph to power the car at low speeds and an engine for higher speeds (and a combination of both for extra acceleration). That means the electric drive system is merely assistance for a (often) wheezy petrol engine, and simply added weight and complexity when it’s not in use.
Watch the Ampera's cousin, the Chevy Volt in action
You need Flash Player 8 or higher to view video content with the ROO Flash Player. Click here to download and install it.
An E-REV, like the Ampera, is always powered by the electric motor. The concept is that owners charge the car at home overnight, or from the office car park for a 30 mile drive.
But we’ve seen that before in cars like the G-Wiz, which if you need to make a detour will leave you stranded at the roadside with a flat battery.
Clever
The clever part of the Ampera is the Extended-Range bit. When the battery is nearly flat, a 1.4-litre petrol engine kicks into life to slowly inject fizz into the battery to make it good for another 300 miles.
That might sound like a lot of effort, but it works with zero involvement from the driver. All you need to do behind the wheel is make sure you’ve enough fuel and concentrate on the road ahead.
Vauxhall is expecting the Ampera to emit an official average of 40g/km of CO2. It could be even less if the body who rubber stamp car makers’ CO2 claims would allow the Ampera to go through its test procedure using electricity alone. And although Vauxhall’s engineers won’t be drawn on its fuel consumption, it’s safe to say it’ll gently sip the bad stuff.
Vauxhall’s parent company, GM, has learned a lot from its EV-1 electric vehicle from the 1990s – which were made (in)famous by the dodgy docu-flick Who Killed the Electric Car – and discovered the biggest concerns were ‘range anxiety’, or the fear of getting stranded with a flat battery and limited recharging infrastructure.
The 80p commute
The E-REV technology gets around the first problem, and the second is solved by the use of a lead that plugs into the Ampera’s front wing one end and a standard household electrical socket the other. Charging to the batteries capacity takes three hours from a standard household socket, and Vauxhall say it’ll cost just 80p.
According to its calculations, a daily commute of less than 30 miles (of which most are) will cost 80p a day. Multiply that with the 220-or-so working days in a year, and your yearly commute will cost around £175.
The Ampera also uses a similar kind of power regeneration system to an F1 car which boosts the battery’s charge under braking.
There is, inevitably some bad news. The Ampera hasn’t been priced yet, but it’ll almost certainly be more expensive than the similarly-sized Vauxhall Astra, and it is currently unlikely owners will be able to get their Ampera serviced at many of Vauxhall’s dealerships at launch.
But Vauxhall is pushing the government hard on making the Ampera an appealing proposition for buyers. It wants the Treasury to offer £5,000 tax incentives, which could mean is beats the Astra on price and make it exempt from road tax and congestion charging.
Additionally it wants utility companies to provide cheaper, off-peak tariffs, councils to offer free or cheaper parking, and planners to ensure all new garages have 240-volt outlets.
All of these will undoubtedly help buyers into Amperas, but the car’s ability and clever design means it deserves to be at least as popular as the Toyota Prius.
I’ve seen the future, and it has a Vauxhall badge.
Stuart Milne, deputy web editor
RSS