We know what some of you may be thinking; since General Motors revealed the production version of its Cadillac ELR extended range hybrid at last month’s Detroit Auto Show, shouldn’t it be ready to go on sale?
Well, it’s actually fairly common for automakers to display production models at auto shows around the world without having completed the final development and testing stages. The ELR is one such example, as it will be another year before it arrives in showrooms.
In the meantime, and while GM prepares the Detroit-Hamtramck factory for series production of the new ELR, Cadillac’s engineers are hard at work refining the extended range hybrid model.
Cadillac informed us that last week, a team of engineers completed winter weather chassis testing on pre-production ELR models in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
“Being able to test the ELR in extreme road conditions, like those we experienced here in the U.P., allows us to provide a ride-and-handling character unlike any EV on the market today,” said Chris Thomason, ELR chief engineer. “During this latest test, the ELR continued to perform beyond our expectations.”
The ELR’s hybrid powertrain comprises a 16.5 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, a naturally-aspirated 84HP 1.4-liter gasoline engine that functions as a generator and two electric motors, for a combined system output of 207-horses.
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