My Car is So Cool, There is a Book About It

Is there a book all about your car?

Perhaps there is. I've seen books in my travels about some cars. There is a book about the Ford Model A -  I saw it at Barnes and Noble. If you have a Porsche or a Corvette, you are definitely in luck. But I haven't found any books about the Chevy Malibu. Or the Hyundai Sonata. Or even the Nissan Leaf.

There is a book about the history of the Chevrolet Volt.

Of course I bought one. The Chevrolet website sells them for $30. I got mine new on eBay for $8.

I'm not done reading it yet but I'm really enjoying it. I was interested in knowing about the engineering and the engineers on the team. I was curious about who came up with the extended range idea and how quickly the car came to be developed. The book is full of glossy photos and the most exciting ones, I'm pretty sure most readers would agree, are of the original Volt concept car, which was first revealed at the 2007 Detroit Auto show, barely a year after the idea for the Volt was conceived by Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman and Chief of Global Product Development for GM at that time.

She's a beauty, it's easy to admit. I personally prefer the body style of MY Volt as I find this one a little more manly (if that's the right word - maybe "mean" would be better - not to imply that all men are mean - they are not - but they tend to like mean-looking cars) than I like. But the glass roof - gorgeous! I'm not sure that would have been practical in our Florida weather conditions but wow, it sure is pretty.

Encapsulating the entire history of the Volt would take too much time but here are a few interesting bullet points that MAY get you wanting to read the book, if you're into automobiles. Don't say I didn't warn you!

• While Bob Lutz was revealing the new Camaro at the 2006 North American International Auto Show in Downtown Detroit, by all definitions an exciting reveal for GM, all he could think about was developing an electric car that people could actually use.
• Tesla's announcement of the Roadster and the technology that would make it possible at the same auto show inspired Lutz and helped drive his passion to create the Volt concept in time for the show the following year.
• GM's prior effort at producing and selling an electric vehicle was the EV1, which was a marvel of engineering ahead of its time, but fell far short of what was needed for a vehicle that could be used every day due to being a two-seater with a very limited range. After removing all EV1's from the marketplace (and crushing them - ouch!), GM was accused of "killing" the electric car.

• After the concept was unveiled, an abbreviated production schedule was announced for the Volt even though the technology for the lithium-ion battery pack needed was not yet developed. Some could say that necessity drove a very quick invention because the Volt delivered on time with its 2011 model at the very end of 2010.

The book is chock-full of historical narrative about the development of the battery and engines, which I find riveting, and also the exterior and interior, which is interesting but I'm a nuts-and-bolts kind of girl.

All in all, I find the book to be a very cool part of being a Volt owner.

In other recent retail Volt-related purchases, I found one of these on eBay:

Now everyone who is not educated on EVs will know that my Volt (as are all Volts) is powered on "E" - the good stuff, that's good for the environment, and good for the future.