Why Volt?

After 48 months' development, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt has entered series production. The pioneering “E-REV” is as important to the mobility industry as it is to GM.

Mention the words “fuel injector” to anyone who's reasonably savvy about vehicles, and they'll likely know something about the device that controls the metering of liquid fuel into an engine's cylinders and helps cause the vehicle to drive faster or slower.

But mention the term “IGBT” and the response may elicit a lot of blank stares. IGBTs, the acronym for insulated gate bipolar transistors, are the fuel injectors of electrically driven vehicles. They control the supply of battery electrical energy into the electric motors that drive the wheels. IGBTs are valves for electrons, much like a fuel injector is a valve for liquid fuels.