We spend a great deal of time testing cars that manufacturers have finished developing, but yesterday I spent a few hours with a car that will become the Vauxhall Ampera.
The Ampera is a green car with a difference. It’s not a hybrid and it’s not an electric vehicle as we know it, rather a blend of the two. It will run for 30 miles on its electric battery which charges from a household socket, but for your 31st mile, its tiny petrol engine will kick in.
And here’s the clever bit. The engine doesn’t power the wheels directly, like a conventional or hybrid car; rather it turns a generator to keep the batteries ticking over and it’s these power packs that turn the wheels.
That means there’s no need for the kind of gearbox found in most cars and much less complexity than a hybrid.
We hacked a test mule – a Chevy Cruze with all the electronic bits crammed inside – around Millbrook Proving Ground, and guess what.
It drives exactly like a normal car, just much more quietly.
I’ve always thought hybrids and electric cars compromised for different reasons, but the Vauxhall Ampera is the first practical eco-car that actually makes sense to me.
Stuart Milne
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