Frankfurt Motor Show: General Motors Ampera review

We drive General Motors' Ampera - and asks whether it is key to Vauxhall's future.

By Andrew EnglishPublished: 6:11PM BST 15 Sep 2009
The world's eyes were on General Motors' new plug-in hybrid this week, at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
But nowhere does the Ampera hold more promise than in Britain, where Vauxhall's threatened Ellesmere Port plant has the flexibility to build this Astra-based car.

The UK Government still hopes to entice GM to build the extended-range battery car there and GM hopes to capitalise on the wave of popularity for such hybrid vehicles by building about 220,000 a year.
Last year the UK Government was offered a deal by GM Europe head, Carl Peter Forster, that Ellesmere Port would get the Ampera in return for UK government support at a European level.
The Magna deal announced last week - a plan that sees the German government-funded buyout of some 65 per cent of loss-making Opel and its profitable British arm, Vauxhall, by Canadian car parts specialist Magna and the Russian bank, Sberbank - means all bets are off, but business secretary Lord Mandelson is still hoping to salvage UK jobs and hybrid production out of the deal.
First Drive
The stylish Ampera - a four-door hybrid hatchback that goes on sale next year in the US as the Chevrolet Volt and in the UK as Ampera in 2012 - is far more evolution than revolution. But it is a crucially important car as we found when we drove a test mule on GM's proving ground in Frankfurt, Germany,
While a hybrid driveline combines electricity, the plug-in hybrid Ampera takes the idea further, using mains-generated electricity to charge the lithium-ion battery, with a standard UK 240-volt mains supply promising a full recharge in about three hours.
When that charge is exhausted, the 74bhp, 1.4-litre petrol engine starts and runs a generator, providing a total range of 311 miles. For most users the engine should never be needed as the 40-mile electric-only range covers 95 per cent of average European daily driving needs. The engine never fully recharges the battery as the aim is to use mains electricity.
Mounted in a Chevrolet Cruze on our mule, the driveline activates silently. With maximum torque at zero revs, the Ampera scorches away from a standstill, eerily silent.
Top speed is limited to 100mph with 0-60mph acceleration in 9sec, but the 111kW (148bhp) electric motor provides sizzling kick-down performance. This prototype weighs about 1.6 tons and you can feel that weight in corners, although with the battery's mass low down, the car feels stable.
When battery power is down to a quarter full, the engine provides current to drive the car and maintain battery charge at around 25 per cent.
In electric mode only it emits about 40g/km of CO2 and has running costs about one-fifth of an equivalent Vauxhall Astra. GM is still debating the price, uncertain whether to sell or lease the battery pack. With battery included, the Ampera would cost over £35,000 against around £20,000 for an equivalent Astra.
Ampera changes the way we think about car travel, presenting the flexibility and range of a fossil-fuel powered car with most of the environmental, driving and silent-running advantages of a battery electric. It could save huge amounts of fuel and provide a catalyst to huge changes in the type of cars we drive. If that isn't a revolution, it will have to do.