title: Cougar Town

text: The third season begins with Grayson proposing to Jules in the season premier. With the help of the Cul-de-sac Crew, Grayson tricks Jules into being less predictable in her day-to-day life, but when she fails, Grayson is able to plan ahead and propose to her outside at night under a teepee'd tree. The season follows the ups and downs of their engagement, including their many trips to a new psychiatrist (played by guest star Nicole Sullivan). Laurie guilts Jules into letting her be Co-Maid of Honor (Co-Mo's!) with Ellie, much to Ellie's dismay. Travis gets into a skateboarding accident while being pulled by Dog Travis, and goes into the hospital. His injury causes him to wear a helmet for six episodes. Laurie falls for a guy via Twitter, a soldier from Iraq named Wade. Meanwhile, Bobby falls for Travis’ photography professor Angie (recurring guest star Sarah Chalke). In "A One Story Town", Jules and the gang decide Bobby needs help with Angie so they start "operation kiss-the-girl". With help from Ted and his a'capella group, they pull it off and Bobby and Angie get together. (This episode also signifies a special "Scrubs" cast reunion including: Christa Miller, Sarah Chalke, Bob Clendenin, Ken Jenkins, Sam Lloyd, Robert Maschio, and Zach Braff). One of Grayson's old hookups, Holly, returns with news that Grayson is the father of her baby. Although Jules is extremely upset at first, she comes to terms with the fact that baby girl Tampa will be in Grayson's life from now on. Bobby soon finds out that Angie is cheating on him, although she says they never agreed to be exclusive, and they break up. Ellie's mom is introduced, and no one will believe Ellie when she tries to tell the crew that her mother is a sociopath. When a hurricane strikes Gulfhaven, Travis and Laurie get closer than ever when Laurie cannot decide what to do about her army boyfriend Wade. Although he has feelings for her, Travis wants to see Laurie happy, so he tells her to try to make it work with Wade. The hurricane destroys Grayson's house, causing him to move in with Jules. Grayson wants his and Jules's relationship to be more private and suggests that they elope to Napa, but Jules invites the whole group. While there, Travis and Laurie almost kiss but are interrupted when her boyfriend Wade comes back from Iraq to see her. The night of Travis's 21st birthday he gets drunk, strips, and tells Laurie that he has feelings for her and she is being unfair to him. Because Grayson's daughter is not with them, Jules and Grayson decide not to elope, instead getting married on the beach near their home, but because beach weddings are not legal there, it becomes a wedding on the go, and they walk down the beach as they say their vows.


title: Cougar Town

text: The fourth season focuses mostly on Jules and Grayson adjusting to married life, and the will they/won't they relationship between Laurie and Travis. Beginning a week after their wedding, the season shows Jules and Grayson going through a lot of changes now that they are newlyweds. Grayson learns never to lie to Jules and quickly becomes her "wine guy" and her "coffee bitch." They try to keep things fresh by starting fights and having a naked day. Travis is having trouble dealing with his feelings for Laurie, and begins dating around and sleeping with girls in college in an attempt to repress his feelings. Tom officially becomes part of the group, but the gang continues to play tricks on him throughout the season. In a flashback episode, "Flirting With Time," we learn how the group came to be, when Jules and Bobby moved to the Cul-de-sac nine years earlier. Bobby becomes friends with a tomboyish girl named Riggs, and after a makeover she becomes beautiful and he realizes that he has feelings for her. The two begin dating and continue dating for the rest of the season. Laurie's army boyfriend Wade returns from Afghanistan for good and wants to make their relationship work. They eventually decide to move in together, but Wade leaves when he realizes that Laurie has feelings for Travis. Jules' father Chick returns to visit the gang, and it turns out that he has developed some memory problems. Later, in the season finale, Jules and Grayson take Chick to the doctor, where he is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. In an attempt to cheer him up, the gang takes him on a trip to Hollywood to meet his favorite celebrity, Tippi Hedren. Travis and Laurie admit their feelings for one another, and after a series of awkward moments and "almosts" they share their first kiss in Hollywood. Jules's favorite wine glass, Big Lou, is shattered in the finale when Grayson knocks him over while dancing. Ellie and Grayson give her a new wine glass as a gift and name it Big Tippi.


title: Cougar Town

text: The fifth season frequently focuses on the growing relationship between Laurie and Travis. As their relationship becomes more physical, Jules has difficulty. She later sees their relationship as being stronger than the one she shares with Grayson, before Grayson convinces her of the advantages of the "mature" relationship that they have. Grayson and Bobby both struggle with aging as they reach their mid 40s. Chick's Alzheimers'disease worsens, and he has to move closer to Jules. Andy faces some challenges to his reputation as mayor of Gulf Haven and deals with a new boss at his day job. Laurie and Ellie pretend to be a lesbian couple to get preferential treatment in getting Stan into an exclusive school. Travis graduates art school but struggles to find employment, ultimately working at a coffee shop. Jules breaks "Big Tippi" and replaces it with "Big Chuck". Tom reveals he has built a scale model of the cul-de-sac in his garage, complete with figurines of the entire gang, which he uses to recap events or play out his fantasies, which often end with Grayson dying or getting kicked out. In the finale, Laurie and Travis face a breakup after arguing about their future, before Travis confides that the only future that matters to him is one with Laurie in it. Jules then breaks the news that Laurie is pregnant, which she discovered after "borrowing" Laurie's urine for a physical exam.


title: Cougar Town

text: In the sixth and final season, major changes threaten upheaval in the gang's lives, but they manage to work through them. Bobby finally becomes gainfully employed and moves out of the boat, but to Andy's dismay, the job is in Georgia. Laurie gives birth to "Baby Bobby", and she and Travis begin their lives as parents. Travis starts a business. Andy loses his job and his mayorship, and becomes a stay-at-home dad, while Ellie returns to work as a corporate lawyer. Tom finds love. Jules breaks Big Chuck in the series finale — this time on purpose.


title: Cougar Town

text: The gang's love of red wine, particularly by Jules, is a leading theme of the show. Each season Jules has had, in succession, a series of increasingly larger drinking vessels. Firstly, she used the oversized glass "Big Joe", followed by the 44-ounce "Big Carl" (actually part of a lamp), "Big Lou" (actually a vase), "Big Tippi" (a stolen vase from the crew's Hollywood trip in Season 4) and "Big Chuck" (introduced in Season 5). During their Hawaiian holiday, she drank from "Big Kimo" (actually a candle holder from the hotel room). At one point, the group forces Laurie to drink from a miniature glass called "Little Richard" as punishment.


title: Cougar Town

text: Another running gag is the group's love of making up social rules for each other, such as having a "Council" that creates unusual punishments for the members who commit a social infraction. The gang often plays 'Penny Can', a simple yet popular game made up by Bobby that involves throwing pennies into an empty paint can. The gang also frequently changes the meaning of words – such as "cake walk" - to mean something different, as it is difficult to walk while carrying a cake. These changes to linguistic rules are predicated upon Ellie shouting "Change approved!".


title: Cougar Town

text: Since the second season, every episode had a running gag in the opening credits sequence — often making fun of the show's name because it was no longer about man-hungry cougars.


title: Cougar Town

text: "Cougar Town" was created by Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel. Following the cancellation of "Dirt", Courteney Cox wanted to return to television and do another comedy. Lawrence, who is best known as the creator of "Scrubs" and "Spin City", was approached by Cox about "wanting to do something". While developing the concept of the show, Lawrence thought he would do a tryout with Cox on "Scrubs", by guest starring in the first three episodes of the eighth season. Lawrence and Biegel, who worked together writing episodes on "Scrubs", came up with the concept of the show with Cox as a 40-year-old newly single woman because he thought that it was a real "zeitgeist-y topic". He drew inspiration from his real-life wife, actress Christa Miller who also stars in the show as Ellie; Miller had previously worked with Cox as part of the story-arc of the three part "Scrubs" tryout. Lawrence told Cox that the show could be "high risk, high reward", although Cox decided to go for it. He added, "I rarely have this much trepidation because usually the only person I could let down is myself. I want to make it work for her."


title: Cougar Town

text: Before he pitched the idea to ABC, other titles for the show included "40 and Single" and "The Courteney Cox Show", which was eventually named "Cougar Town" because Lawrence thought that "the title is noisy and that people will be aware of this show". He felt that the risk of the title was that the audience would not watch it because people would say "the title bums me", commenting, "it's a risky roll of the dice... We don't call women 'cougars' in it. We certainly don't use the word beyond the unbelievably big cheat that the high school mascot is a cougar." Lawrence believed that with the subsequent scripts they would be doing and the reshoots in the pilot, the show would be "creatively satisfying". After he pitched the idea to ABC, they asked him to have a pilot ready to shoot by the end of January 2009. Lawrence and Biegel together wrote the script with Lawrence, who has written and directed many episodes on "Scrubs", directing the episode. In casting beyond Cox, Lawrence created the character of Ellie for his wife, Christa Miller. Miller felt that her character started off "gleefully" and reported that Lawrence would write down little things that she would say.


title: Cougar Town

text: The series takes place in the fictional town of Gulf Haven in Sarasota County, Florida. Filming took place on the Miami Street back lot located at the Culver Studios in Culver City, California. The Cul-de-sac used for filming is also located in Culver City on Lamarr Avenue. Lawrence served as executive producer/writer/director, Kevin Biegel as writer/co-executive producer, and Courteney Cox and David Arquette as executive producers. "Cougar Town" was produced by Doozer Productions and Coquette Productions and was aired weekly on ABC, before moving to TBS for its fourth season. The sitcom was filmed in the single-camera format.


title: Cougar Town

text: The original theme is written by WAZ and original music for "Cougar Town" is composed by WAZ, Jamie Jackson, Will Golden and Al Sgro. Bill Lawrence stated; "As a show composer WAZ brings something incredibly special. He has the ability to make score music sound current, like it was just lifted off the radio, and yet, it still services the show perfectly ... As a group we're confident that WAZ will be the next singer/songwriter that we try to claim credit for. He's that good." Songs such as Phoenix's "Lisztomania", Foghat's "Slow Ride", and La Roux's "Bulletproof (Remix)" were all used in the pilot episode. In the second episode, Beyoncé Knowles's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and Keren DeBerg's "Today" as well as "Tell Me" were used on the show. A full version of the theme song was released in February 2012 to coincide with the shows return.


title: Cougar Town

text: "Cougar Town"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s opening sequence features a map of Florida showing Sarasota County, Florida. In the Season 1 episodes, the title sequence zooms in from the outline of Florida to show Sarasota with a "Welcome to Cougar Town" sign. The producers wanted something different for the setting of the show and decided to include a map of the show's setting in the sequence, commenting: "Everyone's in New York or Los Angeles. I think there's a lot of fun to be had in that area and with those characters." Jeanne Corcoran, the director of the Sarasota County Film commission, spoke to the show's production assistants to be able to use the locality as the setting as well as including it on the opening sequence. For the second season, each episode (excluding the second episode) replaced the 'Welcome to' subtitle to a reference regarding the "bad" title of the show (e.g., "(Badly Titled) Cougar Town", "It's Okay to Watch a Show Called Cougar Town").


title: Cougar Town

text: All but two of the episodes have been named after songs by Tom Petty, who is from Florida. In one episode, Jules describes Josh as among the top 10–15 people she has met, which includes "Tom Petty and Colonel Sanders".


title: Cougar Town

text: In May 2010, it was reported that the show's producers were considering a name change because the plot had strayed so far from its initial premise. Stephen McPherson, who headed ABC Entertainment, was said to be "on board" with a name change should the producers decide to go ahead. Research also showed that many viewers who ignored the show based on its name actually enjoyed it after seeing a screening of an episode. However, the name change was scrapped, and the show retained the title "Cougar Town" for its second season. Bill Lawrence later stated that two potential titles that they wanted to change to were declined by ABC"Sunshine State" (declined because ABC also had a Matthew Perry sitcom on their mid-season schedule that season known as "Mr. Sunshine") and "Grown Ups" (declined because of the then-recent film with the same name).


title: Cougar Town

text: On May 27, 2011, Bill Lawrence announced through his Twitter account that the name of the show would change for season 3 with input from the fans, but did not give any further details. In June 2011, Courteney Cox hinted that one of the frontrunners for the new title is "Friends with Beverages", but stated that "there are still other titles on the board". Lawrence tweeted on September 9, 2011, that "Those that loved title "Cougar Town" ... Not around for much longer", hinting that the title would be changed. Ultimately, the show retained the original title for the third season, with the first opening sequence subtitle stating that "[they're] not happy about it".


title: Cougar Town

text: On February 14, 2012, Cox and Lawrence revealed in an interview that a title change could still take place for the fourth season, mentioning "Wine Time", "The Sunshine State" and "Family Jules" as potential titles. However, after announcing that the show would move to TBS for the fourth season, Lawrence said if TBS wants that title to change, then it will, but also said that he doubts it will happen.


title: Cougar Town

text: On August 28, 2012, the show announced its new season on its new Facebook page for the now TBS show, with a picture that stated, "Turns out even a new network couldn't change the title." However, even TBS has poked fun in their promos for the new season, referring to "Cougar Town" as a "crappy title".


title: Cougar Town

text: On May 10, 2012, TBS announced that "Cougar Town" would join its lineup in the beginning of 2013 for 15 episodes, after ABC canceled the series. Moving to TBS gave the show the possibility of receiving more episodes and publicity than had the show remained on ABC.


title: Cougar Town

text: In the US the audience dropped from 11 million to 6 million over the first season. In Australia the audience dropped from 1.3 to 1 million in one week after the chief executive of the Australian channel showing it (Seven Network) described it as a "shit show" that he could get large audiences for by promoting it. In the United Kingdom, the first season aired on LIVING, and was shown in double-bills on Tuesday nights at 9pm. The season premiered on March 30, 2010, to a strong 802,000 viewers and concluded on June 15, 2010, to a series low of 593,000 viewers. However, the entire season was the most-watched show on LIVING, averaging 769,000 viewers.


title: Cougar Town

text: "Cougar Town" premiered on September 23, 2009, in the Wednesday 9:30 pm timeslot. The pilot episode aired between the other two pilots, "Modern Family" and "Eastwick". The series premiered with 11.4 million viewers, coming first in its timeslot. The second episode scored 9.14 million viewers, although it dropped 2.14 million viewers from the pilot, as well as other shows that night such as "Modern Family" and "Eastwick".


title: Cougar Town

text: In Canada the show aired on City. The fifth season began on the network on February 26, 2014. The sixth season premiered on February 19, 2015.


title: Cougar Town

text: In the United Kingdom, after being dropped by Sky Living, the show is now streamed by Blinkbox (from Tesco). All seasons are now streaming on Amazon Prime.


title: Cougar Town

text: "Cougar Town" opened to mixed reviews from critics. Metacritic gave the series 49 out of 100 based on the pilot episode, from the 21 reviews. Ken Tucker of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the pilot episode a B, commenting that the show mixes "clinical realism (when did you last hear a C-section scar used as a punchline?) with ridiculous slang (a new boob job is referred to as "gorilla heads"), "Cougar Town" is so brashly vulgar, it's endearing". Tucker also wrote that "the entire show is about getting and having sex... "Cougar" is so single-minded that this obsession itself becomes funny". "Variety" stated that the show "does feed into the dual sense of insecurity and self-empowerment that women harbor about getting older ... though, the execution here is consistently about as subtle as a kick to the groin". "Los Angeles Times"' Mary McNamara said that the "maddening thing about "Cougar Town" is that it isn't completely unfunny or uncharming". Alan Sepinwall of "The Star-Ledger" feels that ""Cougar Town" is still finding itself, but it's already much better than the title would suggest [...] the show "has to walk a very careful line between making fun of the cougar concept and embracing it" although based on the two episodes ""Cougar Town" is self-aware enough to pull that off". "USA Today" was also favorable, saying that the show has "the right cast and good writing".


title: Cougar Town

text: Many critics have speculated that the show will only have a narrow target audience: older women; with Alessandra Stanley of "The New York Times" stating that the show's "plot description alone could drive away male viewers" while the "Los Angeles Times"' Mary McNamara opined that it "is fun and exciting for women over 40". Despite speculation, the show has done well with young males and young adults in all key demographics.


title: Cougar Town

text: In contrast, a writer for feminist blog Jezebel disapproved stating, "It's clichéd, it's lame, it's undignified. It smacks of predatory desperation." Ryan Brockington of "New York Post" compared the show to "Samantha Who?". The "Daily News"' David Hinckley opined that the show is "a waste of Cox's comic talents". In "The Irish Times" Kate Holmquist writes that "Cox is both a symbol and a red light warning for everything that is wrong with the Hollywood portrayal of middle-aged women, who are rarely wise or strong or naturally aged" and states that she is "the female version of the pervert in a dirty raincoat".


title: Cougar Town

text: The second season received more positive reviews. The second season holds an average score of 75 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on seven reviews, indicating 'generally favorable reviews'. Tim Stack from "Entertainment Weekly" regarded the season in a positive light, citing that "very few shows can get away with genuine moments of emotion while also incorporating the phrase 'dead-baby tacos. "Hitfix" writer Alan Sepinwall also gave a positive review of the show, saying that "midway through the first season the writers realized their cast was so funny together that the wisest course was to just put everyone together as often as possible. This is still the show that "Cougar Town" became at mid-season last year."


title: Cougar Town

text: The much-delayed third season of "Cougar Town" became the most critically acclaimed season of the series, garnering an average Metacritic score of 80 out of 100, based on five reviews. RedEye gave the season a positive review, stating that it "returns with its wit, silliness and good-heartedness fully intact." TV Guide concluded: "witty and wacky, this sharp-tongued, sweet-souled sitcom picks up without losing a (heart)beat." The Huffington Post summed up their review by noting that fans of the show will "find a lot to like about the new season." Despite this, the 3rd season ranked 107th among viewers, and was quickly dropped by ABC afterwards. The show continued its run on the cable network TBS.


title: Cougar Town

text: In early 2013, Lionsgate Home Entertainment acquired the home video rights to shows produced by ABC Studios and announced the release of season three on DVD for February 5, 2013. That same day, Lionsgate re-released seasons one and two. The re-releases retained the same artwork and disc content as their original releases.


title: Cougar Town

text: As of July 2017, seasons four through six have not been released on DVD in the United States or Canada, and the DVD releases for the first three seasons have been taken out of print. Since 2016, Seasons 5–6 have not been released in the United Kingdom, and a "Complete Collection" boxset has not been released since the series ended. Despite this, the entire series is available for purchase on iTunes and streaming on Hulu.


title: Cougar Town

text: Internationally, the entire series has been added to the Disney+ streaming service under the dedicated hub Star.


title: Trade

text: Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.


title: Trade

text: An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct exchange of goods and services for other goods and services, i.e. trading things without the use of money. Modern traders generally negotiate through a medium of exchange, such as money. As a result, buying can be separated from selling, or earning. The invention of money (and letter of credit, paper money, and non-physical money) greatly simplified and promoted trade. Trade between two traders is called bilateral trade, while trade involving more than two traders is called multilateral trade.


title: Trade

text: In one modern view, trade exists due to specialization and the division of labour, a predominant form of economic activity in which individuals and groups concentrate on a small aspect of production, but use their output in trades for other products and needs. Trade exists between regions because different regions may have a comparative advantage (perceived or real) in the production of some trade-able commodity—including production of natural resources scarce or limited elsewhere. For example: different regions' sizes may encourage mass production. In such circumstances, trade at market prices between locations can benefit both locations. Different types of traders may specialize in trading different kinds of goods; for example, the spice trade and grain trade have both historically been important in the development of a global, international economy.


title: Trade

text: Retail trade consists of the sale of goods or merchandise from a very fixed location (such as a department store, boutique or kiosk), online or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption or use by the purchaser. Wholesale trade is traffic in goods that are sold as merchandise to retailers, or to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services.


title: Trade

text: Historically, openness to free trade substantially increased in some areas from 1815 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Trade openness increased again during the 1920s but collapsed (in particular in Europe and North America) during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Trade openness increased substantially again from the 1950s onwards (albeit with a slowdown during the oil crisis of the 1970s). Economists and economic historians contend that current levels of trade openness are the highest they have ever been.


title: Trade

text: "Trade" is from Middle English "trade" ("path, course of conduct"), introduced into English by Hanseatic merchants, from Middle Low German "trade" ("track, course"), from Old Saxon "trada" ("spoor, track"), from Proto-Germanic "*tradō" ("track, way"), and cognate with Old English "tredan" ("to tread").


title: Trade

text: Trade originated from human communication in prehistoric times. Trading was the main facility of prehistoric people, who exchanged goods and services from each other in a gift economy before the innovation of modern-day currency. Peter Watson dates the history of long-distance commerce from years ago.


title: Trade

text: In the Mediterranean region, the earliest contact between cultures involved members of the species "Homo sapiens", principally using the Danube river, at a time beginning 35,000–30,000 BP.


title: Trade

text: Some trace the origins of commerce to the very start of transactions in prehistoric times. Apart from traditional self-sufficiency, trading became a principal facility of prehistoric people, who bartered what they had for goods and services from each other.


title: Trade

text: Trade is believed to have taken place throughout much of recorded human history. There is evidence of the exchange of obsidian and flint during the Stone Age. Trade in obsidian is believed to have taken place in New Guinea from 17,000 BCE.


title: Trade

text: Robert Carr Bosanquet investigated trade in the Stone Age by excavations in 1901. Trade is believed to have first begun in south west Asia.


title: Trade

text: Archaeological evidence of obsidian use provides data on how this material was increasingly the preferred choice rather than chert from the late Mesolithic to Neolithic, requiring exchange as deposits of obsidian are rare in the Mediterranean region.


title: Trade

text: Obsidian is thought to have provided the material to make cutting utensils or tools, although since other more easily obtainable materials were available, use was found exclusive to the higher status of the tribe using "the rich man's flint". Interestingly, Obsidian has held its value relative to flint.


title: Trade

text: Trade in the Mediterranean during the Neolithic of Europe was greatest in this material. Networks were in existence at around 12,000 BCE Anatolia was the source primarily for trade with the Levant, Iran and Egypt according to Zarins study of 1990. Melos and Lipari sources produced among the most widespread trading in the Mediterranean region as known to archaeology.


title: Trade

text: The Sari-i-Sang mine in the mountains of Afghanistan was the largest source for trade of lapis lazuli. The material was most largely traded during the Kassite period of Babylonia beginning 1595 BCE.


title: Trade

text: Ebla was a prominent trading center during the third millennia BCE, with a network reaching into Anatolia and north Mesopotamia.


title: Trade

text: Materials used for creating jewelry were traded with Egypt since 3000 BCE. Long-range trade routes first appeared in the 3rd millennium BCE, when Sumerians in Mesopotamia traded with the Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley. The Phoenicians were noted sea traders, traveling across the Mediterranean Sea, and as far north as Britain for sources of tin to manufacture bronze. For this purpose they established trade colonies the Greeks called emporia. Along the coast of the Mediterranean, researchers have found a positive relationship between how well-connected a coastal location was and the local prevalence of archaeological sites from the Iron Age. This suggests that a location's trade potential was an important determinant of human settlements.


title: Trade

text: From the beginning of Greek civilization until the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, a financially lucrative trade brought valuable spice to Europe from the far east, including India and China. Roman commerce allowed its empire to flourish and endure. The latter Roman Republic and the Pax Romana of the Roman empire produced a stable and secure transportation network that enabled the shipment of trade goods without fear of significant piracy, as Rome had become the sole effective sea power in the Mediterranean with the conquest of Egypt and the near east.


title: Trade

text: In ancient Greece Hermes was the god of trade (commerce) and weights and measures. In ancient Rome, "Mercurius" was the god of merchants, whose festival was celebrated by traders on the 25th day of the fifth month. The concept of free trade was an antithesis to the will and economic direction of the sovereigns of the ancient Greek states. Free trade between states was stifled by the need for strict internal controls (via taxation) to maintain security within the treasury of the sovereign, which nevertheless enabled the maintenance of a "" of civility within the structures of functional community life.


title: Trade

text: The fall of the Roman empire and the succeeding Dark Ages brought instability to Western Europe and a near-collapse of the trade network in the western world. Trade, however, continued to flourish among the kingdoms of Africa, the Middle East, India, China, and Southeast Asia. Some trade did occur in the west. For instance, Radhanites were a medieval guild or group (the precise meaning of the word is lost to history) of Jewish merchants who traded between the Christians in Europe and the Muslims of the Near East.


title: Trade

text: The first true maritime trade network in the Indian Ocean was by the Austronesian peoples of Island Southeast Asia. Initiated by the animist indigenous peoples of Taiwan and the Philippines, the Maritime Jade Road was an extensive trading network connecting multiple areas in Southeast and East Asia. Its primary products were made of jade mined from Taiwan by animist Taiwanese indigenous peoples and processed mostly in the Philippines by animist indigenous Filipinos, especially in Batanes, Luzon, and Palawan. Some were also processed in Vietnam, while the peoples of Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Cambodia also participated in the massive animist-led trading network. Participants in the network at the time had a majority animist population. The maritime road is one of the most extensive sea-based trade networks of a single geological material in the prehistoric world. It was in existence for at least 3,000 years, where its peak production was from 2000 BCE to 500 CE, older than the Silk Road in mainland Eurasia and the later Maritime Silk Road. The Maritime Jade Road began to wane during its final centuries from 500 CE until 1000 CE. The entire period of the network was a golden age for the diverse animist societies of the region.


title: Trade

text: Sea-faring Southeast Asians also established trade routes with Southern India and Sri Lanka as early as 1500 BC, ushering an exchange of material culture (like catamarans, outrigger boats, sewn-plank boats, and paan) and cultigens (like coconuts, sandalwood, bananas, and sugarcane); as well as connecting the material cultures of India and China. Indonesians, in particular were trading in spices (mainly cinnamon and cassia) with East Africa using catamaran and outrigger boats and sailing with the help of the Westerlies in the Indian Ocean. This trade network expanded to reach as far as Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, resulting in the Austronesian colonization of Madagascar by the first half of the first millennium AD. It continued up to historic times, later becoming the Maritime Silk Road.


title: Trade

text: The emergence of exchange networks in the Pre-Columbian societies of and near to Mexico are known to have occurred within recent years before and after 1500 BCE.


title: Trade

text: Trade networks reached north to Oasisamerica. There is evidence of established maritime trade with the cultures of northwestern South America and the Caribbean.


title: Trade

text: During the Middle Ages, commerce developed in Europe by trading luxury goods at trade fairs. Wealth became converted into movable wealth or capital. Banking systems developed where money on account was transferred across national boundaries. Hand to hand markets became a feature of town life and were regulated by town authorities.


title: Trade

text: Western Europe established a complex and expansive trade network with cargo ships being the main carrier of goods; Cogs and Hulks are two examples of such cargo ships. Many ports would develop their own extensive trade networks. The English port city of Bristol traded with peoples from what is modern day Iceland, all along the western coast of France, and down to what is now Spain.


title: Trade

text: During the Middle Ages, Central Asia was the economic center of the world. The Sogdians dominated the east–west trade route known as the Silk Road after the 4th century CE up to the 8th century CE, with Suyab and Talas ranking among their main centers in the north. They were the main caravan merchants of Central Asia.


title: Trade

text: From the Middle Ages, the maritime republics, in particular Venice, Pisa and Genoa, played a key role in trade along the Mediterranean. From the 11th to the late 15th centuries, the Venetian Republic and the Republic of Genoa were major trade centers. They dominated trade in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, having the monopoly between Europe and the Near East for centuries.


title: Trade

text: From the 8th to the 11th century, the Vikings and Varangians traded as they sailed from and to Scandinavia. Vikings sailed to Western Europe, while Varangians to Russia. The Hanseatic League was an alliance of trading cities that maintained a trade monopoly over most of Northern Europe and the Baltic, between the 13th and 17th centuries.


title: Trade

text: Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama pioneered the European spice trade in 1498 when he reached Calicut after sailing around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of the African continent. Prior to this, the flow of spice into Europe from India was controlled by Islamic powers, especially Egypt. The spice trade was of major economic importance and helped spur the Age of Discovery in Europe. Spices brought to Europe from the Eastern world were some of the most valuable commodities for their weight, sometimes rivaling gold.


title: Trade

text: From 1070 onward, kingdoms in West Africa became significant members of global trade. This came initially through the movement of gold and other resources sent out by Muslim traders on the Trans-Saharan trading network. Beginning in the 16th century, European merchants would purchase gold, spices, cloth, timber and slaves from West African states as part of the triangular trade. This was often in exchange for cloth, iron, or cowrie shells which were used locally as currency.


title: Trade

text: Founded in 1352, the Bengal Sultanate was a major trading nation in the world and often referred to by Europeans as the wealthiest country with which to trade.


title: Trade

text: In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Portuguese gained an economic advantage in the Kingdom of Kongo due to different philosophies of trade. Whereas Portuguese traders concentrated on the accumulation of capital, in Kongo spiritual meaning was attached to many objects of trade. According to economic historian Toby Green, in Kongo "giving more than receiving was a symbol of spiritual and political power and privilege."


title: Trade

text: In the 16th century, the Seventeen Provinces were the center of free trade, imposing no exchange controls, and advocating the free movement of goods. Trade in the East Indies was dominated by Portugal in the 16th century, the Dutch Republic in the 17th century, and the British in the 18th century. The Spanish Empire developed regular trade links across both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.


title: Trade

text: In 1776, Adam Smith published the paper "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations". It criticized Mercantilism, and argued that economic specialization could benefit nations just as much as firms. Since the division of labour was restricted by the size of the market, he said that countries having access to larger markets would be able to divide labour more efficiently and thereby become more productive. Smith said that he considered all rationalizations of import and export controls "dupery", which hurt the trading nation as a whole for the benefit of specific industries.


title: Trade

text: In 1799, the Dutch East India Company, formerly the world's largest company, became bankrupt, partly due to the rise of competitive free trade.


title: Trade

text: In 1817, David Ricardo, James Mill and Robert Torrens showed that free trade would benefit the industrially weak as well as the strong, in the famous theory of comparative advantage. In Principles of Political Economy and Taxation Ricardo advanced the doctrine still considered the most counterintuitive in economics:


title: Trade

text: The ascendancy of free trade was primarily based on national advantage in the mid 19th century. That is, the calculation made was whether it was in any particular country's self-interest to open its borders to imports.


title: Trade

text: John Stuart Mill proved that a country with monopoly pricing power on the international market could manipulate the terms of trade through maintaining tariffs, and that the response to this might be reciprocity in trade policy. Ricardo and others had suggested this earlier. This was taken as evidence against the universal doctrine of free trade, as it was believed that more of the economic surplus of trade would accrue to a country following "reciprocal", rather than completely free, trade policies. This was followed within a few years by the infant industry scenario developed by Mill promoting the theory that the government had the duty to protect young industries, although only for a time necessary for them to develop full capacity. This became the policy in many countries attempting to industrialize and out-compete English exporters. Milton Friedman later continued this vein of thought, showing that in a few circumstances tariffs might be beneficial to the host country; but never for the world at large.


title: Trade

text: The Great Depression was a major economic recession that ran from 1929 to the late 1930s. During this period, there was a great drop in trade and other economic indicators.


title: Trade

text: The lack of free trade was considered by many as a principal cause of the depression causing stagnation and inflation. Only during World War II did the recession end in the United States. Also during the war, in 1944, 44 countries signed the Bretton Woods Agreement, intended to prevent national trade barriers, to avoid depressions. It set up rules and institutions to regulate the international political economy: the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (later divided into the World Bank $ Bank for International Settlements). These organizations became operational in 1946 after enough countries ratified the agreement. In 1947, 23 countries agreed to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to promote free trade.


title: Trade

text: The European Union became the world's largest exporter of manufactured goods and services, the biggest export market for around 80 countries.


title: Trade

text: Today, trade is merely a subset within a complex system of companies which try to maximize their profits by offering products and services to the market (which consists both of individuals and other companies) at the lowest production cost. A system of international trade has helped to develop the world economy but, in combination with bilateral or multilateral agreements to lower tariffs or to achieve free trade, has sometimes harmed third-world markets for local products.


title: Trade

text: Free trade is a policy by which a government does not discriminate against imports or exports by applying tariffs or subsidies. This policy is also known as laissez-faire policy. This kind of policy does not necessarily imply because a country will then abandon all control and taxation of imports and exports.


title: Trade

text: Protectionism is the policy of restraining and discouraging trade between states and contrasts with the policy of free trade. This policy often takes the form of tariffs and restrictive quotas. Protectionist policies were particularly prevalent in the 1930s, between the Great Depression and the onset of World War II.


title: Trade

text: Judeao-Christian teachings do not prohibit trade. They do prohibit fraud and dishonest measures. Historically they forbade charging interest on loans.


title: Trade

text: The first instances of money were objects with intrinsic value. This is called commodity money and includes any commonly available commodity that has intrinsic value; historical examples include pigs, rare seashells, whale's teeth, and (often) cattle. In medieval Iraq, bread was used as an early form of money. In the Aztec Empire, under the rule of Montezuma cocoa beans became legitimate currency.


title: Trade

text: Currency was introduced as standardised money to facilitate a wider exchange of goods and services. This first stage of currency, where metals were used to represent stored value, and symbols to represent commodities, formed the basis of trade in the Fertile Crescent for over 1500 years.


title: Trade

text: Numismatists have examples of coins from the earliest large-scale societies, although these were initially unmarked lumps of precious metal.


title: Trade

text: The Doha round of World Trade Organization negotiations aimed to lower barriers to trade around the world, with a focus on making trade fairer for developing countries. Talks have been hung over a divide between the rich developed countries, represented by the G20, and the major developing countries. Agricultural subsidies are the most significant issue upon which agreement has been the hardest to negotiate. By contrast, there was much agreement on trade facilitation and capacity building. The Doha round began in Doha, Qatar, and negotiations were continued in: Cancún, Mexico; Geneva, Switzerland; and Paris, France, and Hong Kong.


title: Trade

text: Beginning around 1978, the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) began an experiment in economic reform. In contrast to the previous Soviet-style centrally planned economy, the new measures progressively relaxed restrictions on farming, agricultural distribution and, several years later, urban enterprises and labor. The more market-oriented approach reduced inefficiencies and stimulated private investment, particularly by farmers, which led to increased productivity and output. One feature was the establishment of four (later five) Special Economic Zones located along the South-east coast.


title: Trade

text: The reforms proved spectacularly successful in terms of increased output, variety, quality, price and demand. In real terms, the economy doubled in size between 1978 and 1986, doubled again by 1994, and again by 2003. On a real per capita basis, doubling from the 1978 base took place in 1987, 1996 and 2006. By 2008, the economy was 16.7 times the size it was in 1978, and 12.1 times its previous per capita levels. International trade progressed even more rapidly, doubling on average every 4.5 years. Total two-way trade in January 1998 exceeded that for all of 1978; in the first quarter of 2009, trade exceeded the full-year 1998 level. In 2008, China's two-way trade totaled US$2.56 trillion.


title: Trade

text: In 1991 China joined the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, a trade-promotion forum. In 2001, it also joined the World Trade Organization.


title: Trade

text: International trade is the exchange of goods and services across national borders. In most countries, it represents a significant part of GDP. While international trade has been present throughout much of history (see Silk Road, Amber Road), its economic, social, and political importance have increased in recent centuries, mainly because of Industrialization, advanced transportation, globalization, multinational corporations, and outsourcing.


title: Trade

text: Empirical evidence for the success of trade can be seen in the contrast between countries such as South Korea, which adopted a policy of export-oriented industrialization, and India, which historically had a more closed policy. South Korea has done much better by economic criteria than India over the past fifty years, though its success also has to do with effective state institutions.


title: Trade

text: Trade sanctions against a specific country are sometimes imposed, in order to punish that country for some action. An embargo, a severe form of externally imposed isolation, is a blockade of all trade by one country on another. For example, the United States has had an embargo against Cuba for over 40 years. Embargoes are usually on a temporary basis. For example, Armenia put a temporary embargo on Turkish products and bans any imports from Turkey on December 31, 2020. The situation is prompted by food security concerns given Turkey's hostile attitude towards Armenia.


title: Trade

text: The "fair trade" movement, also known as the "trade justice" movement, promotes the use of labour, environmental and social standards for the production of commodities, particularly those exported from the Third and Second Worlds to the First World. Such ideas have also sparked a debate on whether trade itself should be codified as a human right.


title: Trade

text: Importing firms voluntarily adhere to fair trade standards or governments may enforce them through a combination of employment and commercial law. Proposed and practiced fair trade policies vary widely, ranging from the common prohibition of goods made using slave labour to minimum price support schemes such as those for coffee in the 1980s. Non-governmental organizations also play a role in promoting fair trade standards by serving as independent monitors of compliance with labeling requirements. As such, it is a form of Protectionism.


title: Keala Settle

text: Keala Joan Settle (born November 5, 1975) is an American actress and singer. Settle originated the role of Norma Valverde in "Hands on a Hardbody", which ran on Broadway in 2013, and was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk Award, and Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. In 2016 she was in the original Broadway cast of "Waitress" portraying Becky. In 2017, she portrayed Lettie Lutz, a bearded lady, in the musical film "The Greatest Showman". The song "This Is Me" from the film, principally sung by Settle, won the 2018 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. On January 27, 2019, Settle sang "Seasons of Love" in Fox's "".


title: Keala Settle

text: Settle was born in Hawaii, the oldest of five children of Susanne (née Riwai), who is of Māori (Rangitāne, Ngāti Kahungunu) descent from New Zealand, and British-born David Settle. She is a graduate of Kahuku High School (class of 1994), and an alumna of Southern Utah University.


title: Keala Settle

text: Settle made her Broadway debut in 2011 in "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" as Shirley and in the ensemble.


title: Keala Settle

text: Settle originated the role of Norma Valverde in "Hands on a Hardbody", a musical which ran briefly on Broadway in 2013, and is based on the 1997 documentary about real people competing to win a new truck. The "TheatreMania" reviewer wrote: "Settle, as Norma, steals every scene she's in. The spectacularly bizarre lead-in to her big number, 'Joy of the Lord,' is more difficult to pull off than most Shakespearean monologues, and her solo vocals reveal a soulful, oversized gospel range that drives the Holy Spirit straight to the back of the theater. When she tearfully realizes what her faith in God may have wrought, it stings like a chigger bite. Settle's touching performance should go on the shortlist for every Best Featured Actress prize in town." For this role, Settle was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Additionally, she was awarded the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway debut performance during the 2012-13 theatrical season.


title: Keala Settle

text: Settle played the role of Madame Thenardier in the revival of "Les Misérables", starting in March 2014, and ending on March 1, 2015.


title: Keala Settle

text: Settle originated the role of Becky in the musical "Waitress", which opened on Broadway on April 24, 2016, at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre after premiering at the American Repertory Theater in August 2015.


title: Keala Settle

text: Settle played the role of Tracy Turnblad in the national tour of "Hairspray". In the review of the tour stop at the Kennedy Center in 2005, the "Washington Post" reviewer wrote: "As for Settle, she is a fine Tracy, even if she looks too old for graduate school, let alone high school." She appeared in the national tour of the Lincoln Center production of "South Pacific" as Bloody Mary, starting in 2009. The reviewer for the "Pioneer Press", Massachusetts, wrote: "Better cast is Keala Settle, who plays the conniving Tonkinese trader lady Bloody Mary with a rolling gait, the venom of viper and—buried deeply but achingly visible in strategic moments—the maternal fierceness of a lioness."


title: Keala Settle

text: In November through December 2012, Settle played the role of Mrs. Fezziwig in the Pioneer Theatre Company (Salt Lake City) production of the musical "A Christmas Carol".


title: Keala Settle

text: She played the role of the Narrator in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at the Ogunquit Playhouse, Ogunquit, Maine from July 31 to August 25, 2013.


title: Keala Settle

text: Settle performed in the Encores! concert staging of "Violet" on July 17, 2013, with Sutton Foster, but did not move on to the Broadway revival due to taking the role of in the revival of "Les Misérables"; she was replaced in "Violet" by Annie Golden.


title: Keala Settle

text: Settle discussed her career path, noting that "I really am not a musical theatre performer. I'm more an R&B singer and have been doing that my whole life. My mother is—well, was—also an R&B singer, in New Zealand...I was too busy wanting to sing backup or doing studio work singing chorus stuff, and singing backup for Gladys Knight in Vegas." Further, after her run in "Hairspray", she stated that she "didn't know how to live in that world..." and so for several years worked backstage with designers until she was cast in "South Pacific".


title: Keala Settle

text: In 2017, Settle portrayed Lettie Lutz, a bearded lady, in the biographical musical drama film "The Greatest Showman", alongside Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, and Zendaya. The song "This Is Me" from the film, principally sung by Settle, won the 2018 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. On December 22, 2017, she released an extended play entitled "Chapter One".


title: Keala Settle

text: In 2018, she was featured in "Forbidden", the newest Todrick Hall visual album, especially in the song called "Forbidden", a song against homophobia.


title: Keala Settle

text: In 2019, Settle played the role of Cy (a gender-flipped version of Paul from the original, also combined with soloist 1) in Fox's "".


title: Keala Settle

text: Also in 2019, Settle toured with Hugh Jackman during his "The Man. The Music. The Show." concerts globally, performing the song "This Is Me" from "The Greatest Showman". On this tour Settle performed her original song "Harder" to a live audience for the very first time.


title: Keala Settle

text: She performed "This Is Me" at the 2021 Royal Variety Performance. In January 2022, it was announced that Settle would make her West End debut performing the role of Angelique/Nurse in the musical "& Juliet" for a three-month run from March 29 to June 18, 2022.


title: Keala Settle

text: Settle made her pantomime debut in 2022, playing the role of Fairy Sugarsnap in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Royal Derngate Theatre, Northampton.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid manufactured by General Motors, also marketed in rebadged variants as the Holden Volt in Australia and New Zealand and the Buick Velite 5 in China, and with a different fascia as the Vauxhall Ampera in the United Kingdom and as the Opel Ampera in the remainder of Europe. Volt production ended in February 2019.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Sales of the 2011 Volt began in the United States in mid-December 2010, followed by various European countries and other international markets in 2011. Global combined Volt/Ampera-family sales totaled about 177,000 units by the end of October 2018. The U.S. is the leading market, with 157,054 Volts delivered through the end of 2019, followed by Canada with 16,653 Volts sold through September 2018. Just over 10,000 Opel/Vauxhall Ampera cars had been sold in Europe . Until December 2018, the Volt/Ampera family of vehicles was the world's all-time bestselling plug-in hybrid vehicle. , the Chevrolet Volt is listed as the all-time top-selling plug-in hybrid in the American market.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The Volt operates as a pure battery electric vehicle until its battery capacity drops to a predetermined threshold from full charge. From there, its internal combustion engine powers an electric generator to extend the vehicle's range as needed. While running on gasoline at high speeds the engine may be mechanically linked (by a clutch) to a generator set, improving efficiency by 10% to 15%. The Volt's regenerative braking also contributes to the on-board electricity generation. Under the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cycle, the 201315 model year Volt all-electric range is , with a combined electric mode/gasoline-only rating of equivalent (MPG equivalent).


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The second-generation Volt's improved battery system and drivetrain increased the all-electric range to , its EPA-rated fuel economy in charge-sustaining mode to , and the combined city/highway fuel economy in all-electric mode to 106 MPG-e, up from 98 MPG-e. Deliveries to retail customers in the U.S. and Canada began in October 2015 as a 2016 model year.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The Volt has won several awards, including the 2009 Green Car Vision Award, 2011 Green Car of the Year, 2011 North American Car of the Year, 2011 World Green Car, 2012 European Car of the Year, and 2016 Green Car of the Year.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The Society of Automotive Engineers' (SAE) definition of a hybrid vehicle states that the vehicle shall have ""two or more energy storage systems both of which must provide propulsion power, either together or independently."" General Motors has avoided the use of the term "hybrid" when describing its Voltec designs, even after the carmaker revealed that in some cases the combustion engine provided some assist at very high speeds. This contribution from the gas engine is only at high speeds. Normal driving there is no contribution and the car runs all electric. Instead General Motors describes the Volt as an electric vehicle equipped with a "range extending" gasoline-powered internal combustion engine (ICE) as a genset and therefore dubbed the Volt an "Extended Range Electric Vehicle" or E-REV. In a January 2011 interview, the Chevy Volt's Global Chief Engineer, Pamela Fletcher, referred to the Volt as "an electric car with extended range."


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: According to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) definitions, the Volt is a plug-in hybrid vehicle due to the combination of an internal combustion engine and two electric motors, along with a battery that can accept off-board energy. As a plug-in hybrid, the Volt can operate as a purely electric vehicle for the first in charge-depleting mode. When the battery capacity drops below a pre-established threshold from full charge the vehicle enters charge-sustaining mode, and the Volt's control system selects the most efficient combination of two electric motors, one powered by the propulsion system battery pack reserve and one by the combustion generator, to improve performance and boost high-speed efficiency.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The Chevrolet Volt concept car debuted at the January 2007 North American International Auto Show, becoming the first-ever series plug-in hybrid concept car shown by a major car manufacturer. The Volt concept vehicle had four doors with a rear liftgate and seating for four passengers. This was a significant change in design when compared to the General Motors EV1 of the 1990s, which only seated two to reduce weight and to make the necessary room for the lead-acid battery pack. The top speed was also increased on the Volt, from the electronically limited to . The battery pack size was reduced, from about in volume in the EV1, to in the Volt.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: General Motors' then-Vice-Chairman for global product development Robert Lutz was looking for a "Prius fighter", a leapfrog product like Apple's iPod. The two-seater sports car being developed by Tesla, the Tesla Roadster (2008), and the rapid advancement of lithium-ion battery technology inspired him to push the carmaker to develop the Volt after the 2006 Detroit Auto Show, overcoming internal opposition that recalled losing a billion dollars in the 1990s over the EV1 electric vehicle program. Lutz's initial idea was to develop an all-electric car, but Jon Lauckner, General Motors Vice President for global program management, quickly sketched out the powertrain layout, estimated the vehicle weight and battery requirements, convinced Lutz that to avoid an expensive battery, range anxiety concerns, and lack of public charging infrastructure, they could use a smaller battery pack with a small combustion engine driving a generator acting as a backup to extend the range, but without a mechanical connection between the gasoline engine and the drive wheels, so it would be a pure electrically driven vehicle without many of the limitations General Motors learned from the EV1 experience.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Most of the Volt initial design parameters defined for the development of the concept car, then referred as the "iCar" in homage to the iPod, were kept throughout the process up to the final production version. A key design parameter was a target of for the all-electric range, selected to keep the battery size small and lower costs, and mainly because research showed that 78% of daily commuters in the U.S. travel 40 miles or less. This target range lets drivers make most travel electrically driven, with the assumption that charging takes place at home overnight. This requirement translated to using a lithium-ion battery pack with an energy storage capacity of 16 considering that the battery would be used until the state of charge (SoC) of the battery reached 30%. This limit to the SOC was necessary in order to maintain operational performance under a wide range of environments, and to minimize the battery degradation to allow at least a ten-year life span. The initial target range for the gasoline engine/generator was set between and the vehicle had to be family size for four or five passengers.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Another key design decision was to develop the concept car based on a new family of common powertrain components for electric propulsion, which initially was called the E-Flex Systems, "E" stands for electric drive and "Flex" for the different sources of electricity, but later was renamed Voltec drive system. The E-Flex or Voltec powertrain is an attempt to standardize many components of possible future electrically propelled vehicles, and to allow multiple interchangeable electricity-generating systems. The E-Flex powertrain has the potential to adapt the vehicles to pure battery electric, to fuel cell-powered or to several other sources of energy to create electricity on board, such as engine-generator sets (genset) fueled by gasoline, diesel, biodiesel, ethanol fuel (E100), or flex-fuel (E85). Regenerative braking would also contribute to the on-board electricity generation. In October 2006 the E-flex powertrain was selected for the new propulsion architecture and the name Volt was chosen by General Motors.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The Volt concept car became the first application of the E-Flex (Voltec) drive system with a combination of an electric motor, the same used in the Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell, a lithium-ion battery pack with 136kW of peak power, and a genset consisting of a small 1.0L, 3-cylinder turbocharged flex-fuel capable engine linked to a generator. General Motors called this genset an electric vehicle (EV) range extender. The vehicle was propelled by an electric motor with a peak output of delivering of motoring torque.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The Volt concept featured a fuel capacity providing the vehicle a total driving range of around , which considered a gasoline fuel efficiency of about and a all-electric range. According to General Motors estimates, a daily drive of , combined with an overnight recharge to support the first 40 all-electric miles, would yield an effective gasoline fuel economy of . General Motors also emphasized that the Volt would further reduce dependence on imported oil if E85 ethanol was used instead of gasoline to power the on-board generator engine. Robert Lutz added that if the driver used E85, ""the fuel economy figure became 525 miles per" (equivalent) "petroleum gallon"", as only 15% of gasoline is used in this blend. General Motors also noted that actual production of the Volt depended on further battery development, because the required rechargeable batteries needed to make the Volt a viable vehicle did not exist in the market and had yet to be developed. The concept car was actually powered by two 12-volt conventional car batteries, just enough power to allow the vehicle to move at low speeds in the stand.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Lutz initially said the Volt was expected to sell around $30,000, based on the cost of a conventional car of that size with a conventional four-cylinder engine plus US$8,000 for the lithium battery. Developers faced cost escalation as they found out the Volt could not share components from GM's compact car platform like power steering, power brake, air-conditioning compressor that were driven by a belt running off the engine, in addition to the cost of a compact electric motor and specialized microprocessors to control energy flow to the motor, GM eventually decided to price the Volt at a base price from around US$40,000. The US$1 billion cost to develop the Volt is equivalent to creating three vehicles on an existing platform.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The production design model officially unveiled on September 16, 2008, as part of General Motors (GM) centennial celebration at the Wintergarden headquarters in Detroit. The production model differed greatly in design from the original concept car. The carmaker cited necessary aerodynamic changes needed to reduce the concept car's high drag coefficient of down to , still higher than the Toyota Prius . Another reason was the use of General Motors's new global compact vehicle platform Delta II to keep costs reasonable, and shared with the 2010 model year Chevrolet Cruze. Another significant difference from the concept car is the seating, as the production Volt seats four rather than five passengers. This change was due to the higher-than-usual central tunnel that runs from the front console to the rear seat that houses the car's T-shaped battery pack.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: After the concept was put into the pipeline for production, GM began looking for a partner to develop the Volt's lithium-ion battery pack. The carmaker evaluated about 25 battery cell chemistries and constructions from around two dozen lithium-ion battery makers around the world. Due to their more promising cell technologies, two companies were selected in June 2007, Compact Power (CPI), which uses a lithium manganese oxide (LiMnO) cell made by its parent company, LG Chemical; and Continental Automotive Systems, which uses lithium iron phosphate based cylindrical cells made by A123Systems. By the end of October 2007 CPI (LG Chem) delivered their finished battery pack prototypes, and A123 delivered theirs by January 2008. GM's testing process was conducted at the laboratory the carmaker had created for the GM EV1 program. The battery packs included monitoring systems designed to keep the batteries cool and operating at optimum capacity despite a wide range of ambient temperatures. To ensure the battery pack would last 10 years and expected for the battery warranty, the Volt team decided to use only half of the 16 capacity to reduce the rate of capacity degradation, limiting the state of charge (SOC) up to 80% of capacity and never depleting the battery below 30%. GM also expected the battery to withstand 5,000 full discharges without losing more than 10% of its charge capacity. According to GM, , no batteries had been changed due to degradation.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: In April 2008 GM started extensive battery testing. In two years, the carmaker put the battery packs to the equivalent of 150,000 real-world miles (240,000 km) and 10 years of use. The durability of the battery pack was tested for a broad range of extreme ambient conditions including a shaker table to simulate potholes and a thermal chamber, to simulate temperatures varying from , typical of the Southwest deserts, to typical of the Alaskan tundra. In April 2008 the lithium-ion battery pack was placed in Chevrolet Malibus fitted with the Volt powertrain to be used as test mules for further real-world testing. In October 2008, GM chose CPI (LG Chemical) to provide the battery systems for the first production version of the Volt. In July 2008, GM confirmed that a non-turbocharged, 1.4 L 4-cylinder engine would be used as the range extender, and that the intention was to build it in Flint, Michigan. In April 2009, General Motors let journalists test the Volt powertrain without the range-extending generator in the body of Chevrolet Cruze sedans that GM used as test mules at the GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The first pre-production test car based on the final Volt design was built in June 2009, in Warren, Michigan, and by October 2009, 80 Volts had been built and were tested under various conditions. On March 31, 2010, the first factory-built Volt was produced at the Detroit Hamtramck Assembly Plant to test the production line and for quality control purposes, both of the tooling and the pre-production vehicles produced before regular production began.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Tony Posawatz was the Volt Vehicle Line Director from 2006 to 2012, and he was known as employee #1 and led the team from concept to production.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: General Motors held a ceremony at its Detroit Hamtramck Assembly Plant on November 30, 2010, to introduce the first Chevrolet Volt off the assembly line. The first Volt built for retail sale was earmarked for display at GM's Heritage Center museum in Sterling Heights, Michigan. The second unit was offered at a public auction, with an opening bid of and it was won by Rick Hendrick who paid . The proceeds went to fund mathematics and sciences education in Detroit through the Detroit Public Schools Foundation. Deliveries to retail customers in the United States began in mid December 2010. Volt deliveries began in Canada in September 2011. The first deliveries of the Chevrolet Volt in Europe took place in November 2011. The European version of the Volt, the Opel Ampera, was released to retail customers in Europe in February 2012. Deliveries of the right-hand drive Vauxhall Ampera in the UK began in May 2012. The Holden Volt was released in Australia in December 2012.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The 2011 Chevrolet Volt has a / 45 A·h ( usable) lithium-ion battery pack that can be charged by plugging the car into a 120–240 VAC residential electrical outlet using the provided SAE J1772-compliant charging cord. No external charging station is required. The Volt is propelled by an electric motor with a peak output of delivering of torque. Capacity of the battery pack was increased to ( usable) for 2013 models, which increased the all-electric range from . Other specifications remained the same. The battery pack capacity was increased to for 2015 models. This incremental upgrade is likely to reflect in an improvement in range over previous model years, but , the 2015 Volt has not been re-certified with the EPA.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: While driving, after the Volt battery has dropped to a predetermined threshold from full charge, a small naturally aspirated 1.4 L 4-cylinder gasoline fueled internal combustion engine (Opel's Family 0) with approximately , powers a 55 kW generator to extend the Volt's range. The vehicle also has a regenerative braking system. The electrical power from the generator is sent primarily to the electric motor, with the excess going to the batteries, depending on the state of charge (SOC) of the battery pack and the power demanded at the wheels.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Prior to the 2016 model year, the Volt required premium gasoline of (R+M)/2 octane rating of 91 or higher because the higher octane permitted the 10.5:1 compression ratio engine to use more ignition timing advance to maximize fuel efficiency by 5 to 10% compared to regular gasoline. For users who drive mostly in electric mode, and to avoid maintenance problems caused by storing the same gasoline in the tank for months, the 2011 Volt has a sealed and pressurized fuel tank to avoid evaporation. As a result, the fuel filler must be depressurized before opening the tank. Also, the engine management system monitors the time since the engine last ran, and prompts the driver to run past the all-electric range before recharging to consume some gasoline. If the driver does not run on gasoline, the system automatically runs the maintenance mode, which starts the engine to consume some of the aging fuel and circulate fluids within the engine. A configuration with an E85 flex-fuel capable engine is under development and was expected to be available in 2013.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: These units are connected via a planetary gear and three electrically controlled hydraulic clutches to provide power output for propulsion in any of four programmed operating modes:


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The drivetrain permits the Volt to operate as a pure battery electric vehicle until its battery capacity has been depleted to a defined level, at which time it commences to operate as a series hybrid design where the gasoline engine drives the generator, which keeps the battery at minimum level charge and provides power to the electric motors. The full charge of the battery is replenished only by loading it on the electrical grid. While in this series mode at higher speeds and loads, (typically above at light to moderate loads) the gasoline engine can engage mechanically to the output from the transmission and assist both electric motors in driving the wheels, in which case the Volt operates as a power-split or series-parallel hybrid. After its all-electric range has been depleted, at speeds between , the Volt is programmed to select the most efficient drive mode, which improves performance and boosts high-speed efficiency by 10% to 15%.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: While operating modes are switched automatically the Volt allows the driver to choose from three drive modes: normal, sport and mountain. The mountain mode, which is expected to be required only under unusual power demand conditions, increases minimum battery state of charge (SOC) to around 45%, thus maintaining performance on steep and long grades. The driver hears more engine noise due to the higher rate of power generation required to maintain this mode. The sport mode causes the engine to rev higher, and the response to the throttle pedal is quicker. The Ampera has an additional option, the "City Mode" or "battery hold", allowing the driver to save the energy currently stored in the battery for use when traveling in urban areas or restricted zones. The 2013 model year Volt includes a "Hold" option to provide the same choice.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The 2011 Volt's lithium-ion battery (Li-ion) battery pack weighs and "consists of 288 individual cells arranged into nine modules. Plastic frames hold pairs of lithium-ion cells that sandwich an aluminum cooling fin. The design and construction of that aluminum plate was critical to ensuring an even temperature distribution with no hot or cool spots across the flat, rectangular cell. The battery pack has its own cooling circuit that is similar to, but independent from, the engine cooling system."


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: For the 2011/2012 model years, the battery pack stores 16kWh of energy but it is controlled or buffered via the energy management system to use only 10.3kWh of this capacity to maximize the life of the pack. For this reason the battery pack never fully charges or depletes, as the software only allows the battery to operate within a state of charge (SoC) window of 65%, after which the engine kicks in and maintains the charge near the lower level. The minimum SoC varies depending on operating conditions. When the car needs more power, such as in mountain mode, the lower limit of the SoC rises to 45% to ensure enough power is available. The battery capacity was increased to 16.5kWh for the 2013 model year, the SOC window was increased to use 10.8kWh of the total battery energy, and the buffer to ensure battery life is not reduced. These changes increases the Volt's all-electric range, but charging takes slightly longer. GM achieved the improved battery performance and durability through minor changes to the material composition of the battery cell chemistry.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Despite containing near identical energy (±0.5kWh), the Volt's battery pack is over 70% lighter than the EV1's original 16.5kWh AC Delco lead-acid battery pack, mainly because the Volt uses higher specific energy Li-ion batteries. Li-ion batteries are expected to become less expensive as economies of scale take effect.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Because batteries are sensitive to temperature changes, the Volt has a thermal management system to monitor and maintain the battery cell temperature for optimum performance and durability. The Volt's battery pack provides reliable operation, when plugged in, at cell temperatures as low as and as high as . The Volt features a battery pack that can be both warmed or cooled. In cold weather, the car electrically heats the battery coolant during charging or operation to provide full power capability. In hot weather, the car can use its air conditioner to cool the battery coolant to prevent over-temperature damage.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: General Motors guarantees the Volt's battery for eight years or , and cover all 161 battery components. GM estimates that Volt batteries will degrade by 1030% after 8 years or 100,000 miles. GM has applied for a patent that may allow technicians to quickly and cheaply recover some of the performance of degraded battery packs. The Volt's battery management system runs more than 500 diagnostics at 10 times per second, allowing it to keep track of the Volt's battery pack in real-time, 85% of which ensure the battery pack is operating safely and 15% monitor battery performance and life.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The Volt uses the J1772 charging plug, a standard connector for electric cars in North America. Depending on in-car settings, a full charge takes from approximately 10 hours (with the 12A setting) to as much as 14 hours (8A setting) from a standard North American 120V receptacle. From a 240V source, a full charge takes around 4 hours. The Volt comes with a charging cord suitable for the standard household power outlet in its country of sale. If plugged in, recharging can be controlled remotely through a smartphone application.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: To save energy, the Volt sometimes heats the seats instead of blowing heated air through HVAC system, as heating the vehicle's cabin draws significant power, and can even exceed what is needed to move the vehicle on occasions. A power-saving stereo system uses amplifiers that switch on and off rapidly to save power. It uses 50 percent less energy. The system is also lighter because the use of high grade neodymium magnets.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The Volt has a top speed of . According to Edmunds.com road tests, the Volt's 0 to 60 mph acceleration time is 9.2 seconds running on electric-only mode, and 9.0 seconds with the gasoline engine assisting propulsion. Motor Trend reports the Volt's quarter-mile (402 m) time is 16.9 sec at , while Edmunds reports a quarter-mile (402 m) time of 16.8 sec at in electric-only operation, and 16.6 sec at with the gasoline engine assisting. Motor Trend reports a braking distance of and Edmunds.com of .


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: According to General Motors the Volt's all-electric range with fully charged batteries varies from depending on terrain, driving technique, and temperature.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The 2013 model year Volt increased its EPA's rated all-electric range to . The 2014 and 2015 Volt have the same EPA ratings.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The Opel Ampera official all-electric range under the EU-approved UN ECE R101 standard for plug-in hybrids is .


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officially rated the 2011 model year Volt's combined city/highway fuel economy in all-electric mode at 93 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (MPG-e) (2.5 L gasoline equivalent/100 km; 112 mpg-imp gasoline equivalent) and 94 MPG-e for the 2012 model year.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: For the 2012 model year, EPA revised the Volt's fuel economy ratings, increasing the combined city/highway rating in all-electric mode from 93 MPG-e to 94 MPG-e, and the highway rating was increased from 90 MPG-e to 93 MPG-e. As a result of its improved battery pack, the 2013 model year EPA rating climbed to a combined city/highway fuel economy of 98 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (2.4 L gasoline equivalent/100 km; 118 mpg-imp gasoline equivalent).


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The Opel Ampera official equivalent fuel consumption under the EU-approved UN ECE R101 standard for plug-in hybrids is (83.3 km/L). However, a leading Opel engineer prefers saying 169 Wh/km (16.9 kWh/100 km) while battery-powered, and then 20 km/L (5 L/100 km) petrol-powered. The ECE R101 standard weights charge-depleting mode as 76% and gasoline-only driving as 24%.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: According to "Consumer Reports" in December 2011, the Chevrolet Volt fuel cost in electric mode was 3.8¢/mile.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: According to Edmunds.com, the price premium paid for the Volt in 2012, after discounting the U.S. federal tax credit, takes a long time for consumers to recover in fuel savings, often longer than the normal ownership time period.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The Volt received a five-star overall crash safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the highest possible score. This rating was obtained with NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program for 2011 model year vehicles.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: In August 2010, General Motors began a training program for first responders when performing rescue duties involving the Chevrolet Volt.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Due to significant noise reduction typical of vehicles traveling in all-electric mode at low speeds, the Volt is fitted with a manually activated electronic warning sound system called "Pedestrian-Friendly Alert System" for use when the car is operating at low speeds to alert pedestrians to the car's presence.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The second generation Chevrolet Volt was officially unveiled at the January 2015 North American International Auto Show. Retail deliveries began in the United States and Canada in October 2015 as a 2016 model year, with 1,324 units delivered in the U.S. that month. Availability in the American market was limited to California and the other 10 states that follow California's zero emission vehicle regulations. GM scheduled the second generation as a 2017 model year to be released in the 39 remaining states by early 2016. Manufacturing of the 2017 MY Volt began in February 2016, and the first units arrived at dealerships at the end of February 2016. The 2017 model complies with stricter Tier 3 emissions requirements and was available nationwide.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The second generation Volt has an upgraded powertrain with a 1.5-liter engine that uses regular gasoline; the 18.4 kWh battery pack has new chemistry that stores 20% more electrical energy and uses fewer cells, 192 compared with 288 on the 2014 Volt; it uses a new power controller that is integrated with the motor housing; the electric motors weigh less and use smaller amounts of rare earth metals. GM engineers explained that the second generation Volt was developed using extensive input from Volt owners.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: These improvements allow the 2016 Volt to deliver better EPA ratings than the first generation model. The all-electric range was officially rated at , up from attained by the 2015 Volt. The gains in efficiency allow the second generation Volt to improve its combined fuel economy in gasoline-only (charge-sustaining) mode to , up from for the previous model. The official second generation Volt's rating for combined city/highway fuel economy in all-electric mode is 106 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (MPGe; 2.2Le/100km), up from 98MPGe (2.4Le/100km) for the 2015 first generation model. The combined gasoline-electricity fuel economy rating of the 2016 model year Volt is equivalent, 82MPGe (2.9Le/100km) in city driving and 72MPGe (3.3Le/100km) in highway. Both the all-electric range and fuel economy ratings are the same for the 2017 model year Volt.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: In April 2013, CEO Daniel Akerson announced that GM expects the second generation Volt to be priced on the order of to lower than the 2013 model year with the same features. The 2016 Volt pricing started at before any government incentives, plus for destination. The starting price was lower than the 2015 Volt. In California, order books for the second generation Volt were opened on May 28, 2015.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: In July 2014, Opel announced that due to the slowdown in sales, they would discontinue the Ampera after the launch of the second generation Volt—and that between 2014 and 2018, Opel planned to introduce a successor electric vehicle in Europe. General Motors announced in February 2016 that the all-electric Opel Ampera-e hatchback would go into production in 2017. This is the European version of the Chevrolet Bolt EV.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: In April 2015, General Motors confirmed that it would not build the second-generation Volt in right-hand-drive configuration. Due to low sales, only 246 units had been sold in Australia by mid-April 2015, and they discontinued the Holden Volt once they sold the remaining stock.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Assembly of the Volt was assigned to Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant following the UAWGM conclusion of the 2007 contract talks. For initial production the gasoline engine is being imported from the Opel engine plant in Aspern, Austria. In November 2010, General Motors began investing million at its engine operations plant in Flint, Michigan, to support increased production of the Ecotec 1.4 L engine that is used in the Chevrolet Cruze, the upcoming 2012 Chevrolet Sonic, and the variant used in the Chevrolet Volt. The Flint plant was expected to start production of 400 engines a day in early 2011, ramp up daily production to 800 engines in late 2011, and to increase its capacity to 1,200 a day by late 2012. In May 2011, General Motors decided to invest an additional at the Flint plant to further increase 1.4 L engine production capacity.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: In 2010, General Motors planned an initial production for calendar year 2011 of 10,000 Volts and 45,000 units for 2012, up from the 30,000 units initially announced. In May 2011, the carmaker again raised its production targets, as Volt and Ampera production capacity was increased to 16,000 units in 2011, including 3,500 units for exports and 2,500 demonstration units destined to U.S. dealerships, and the rest for U.S. sales. However, in November 2011 GM's sales chief announced that they would not meet its sales goal of 10,000 vehicles in 2011.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Out of the 2012 production, General Motors expected to produce 10,000 Amperas for sale in Europe, 6,000 destined for Opel and 4,000 for Vauxhall in the UK. In addition, 2,000 Volts were available for the region. By early 2012 GM abandoned its sales target to deliver 45,000 Volts in the U.S and instead announced that production in 2012 would depend on demand. By March 2012 the Volt plant has a global production capacity of 60,000 vehicles per year.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The Volt's battery cells are produced by LG Chem in South Korea and then shipped to the US, where the battery packs are assembled at a purpose-built facility in Brownstown Charter Township, Michigan, owned and operated by General Motors. Compact Power, the North American subsidiary of LG Chem, is building a battery plant in Holland, Michigan, to manufacture the advanced battery cells for the Volt and other carmakers, with capacity to produce enough cells for 50,000 to 200,000 battery packs per year. The million Holland plant was funded by 50% U.S. Department of Energy matching stimulus funds and is planned to open by mid-2012.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The 2011 Chevrolet Volt was officially launched on November 30, 2010, at a ceremony at the Hamtramck plant, where the first production unit for retail sale came off the assembly line. The first retail vehicle was delivered to a customer in Denville, New Jersey, on December 15, 2010. GM reported it had built 12,400 Volts in total through December 2011. This includes dealers' demo vehicles in North America and Amperas in dealerships in Europe, crash test vehicles and other unavailable Volts owned by GM.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: GM halted production for about one month at the Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant by mid June 2011 to complete some upgrades, including the installation of new tooling, equipment and overhead conveyor systems throughout the facility. These upgrades allowed GM to triple the rate of Volt production and prepared the plant for 2012 Volt and Ampera production. After the plant retooling, the production rate reached 150 units per day four days a week by August 2011. The Volt plant was also down during January 2012 in preparation for building the California lower-emission version. A four-week shutdown due to slow sales took place between March and April 2012. GM said it had around 3,600 Volts in inventory and needed to reduce dealer inventories as production is expected to meet market demand. GM also extended the traditional two-week summer vacation by an extra week at the Hamtramck plant. GM closed its Detroit-Hamtramck plant from September 17 until October 15, 2012, affecting roughly 1,500 workers on downtime while the plant was retooled to assemble the all-new 2014 Chevrolet Impala alongside the 2013 Volt. This was the second time in 2012 that GM has halted Volt production.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Production of the 2013 model year Volt began in July 2012 and customer deliveries began during the same month. In October 2012, GM announced they would build the Cadillac ELR extended-range luxury coupe at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant, together with the Chevrolet Volt, Opel Ampera, and Holden Volt. The addition of the ELR to the plant represents an additional million investment, bringing the total product investment to million since December 2009. The first 2014 ELRs rolled off the production line in late May 2013. These were pre-production units destined for testing purposes before production for retail customers began at the end of 2013. Deliveries of the 2014 model year Volt began in August 2013. Volt sales in the U.S. reached the 50,000 unit milestone in October 2013, out of more than 60,000 vehicles of the Volt/Ampera family sold worldwide. Production of the 2015 model year Volt ended in mid-May 2015, while manufacturing of pre-production units of the second generation began in March 2015. In July 2016, Volt sales in the American market passed the 100,000 unit milestone, out of about 117,000 Volt/Ampera family vehicles sold worldwide through June 2016. Volt production ended on February 19, 2019. The final Volt that rolled off the assembly line went to the GM Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, Michigan.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Sales of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt began in selected markets due to limited initial production, as General Motors' original target for 2011 was 10,000 units. The first cars were delivered in Washington D.C., the New York City metropolitan region, California, and Austin, Texas. By May 2011 the Volt had been launched also in Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, and Virginia. Deliveries in Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Washington began in the third quarter of 2011. In June 2011, Chevrolet dealers nationwide began taking orders for the 2012 Volt, and deliveries in all 50 states began in November 2011.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The suggested retail price (MSRP) for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt in the U.S. started at . That price excluded destination freight charge, tax, title, license, dealer fees, optional equipment—and savings due to factory incentives, tax deductions, or other subsidies for qualifying buyers. The MSRP for the 2012 Volt starts at including a destination freight charge and excludes tax, title and license fees, or other available government subsidies. The base price is less than the 2011 model year, and General Motors explained that this price reduction was possible because of a "wider range of options and configurations that come with the expansion of Volt production for sale nationally." The price dropped to including destination charges for the 2014 model year.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Due to the capacity of the Volt's battery pack it qualifies for the maximum federal tax credit as specified in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. The federal tax credit phases out over a one-year period after the manufacturer has sold at least 200,000 vehicles in the U.S. Several states also have additional incentives or rebates available for plug-in electric vehicles for qualifying buyers. The 2011 Volt price including all available regular production and premium options is , including destination charges and before tax credits or any subsidies. For the 2012 model year the price of the Volt with all available options is before tax credits or any subsidies available. , General Motors combined sales of plug-in electric vehicles in the U.S. totaled almost 197,000 units and are expected to pass 200,000 early in 2019. Thereafter, the applicable tax credit reduces gradually until it is completely phased out beginning on January 1, 2020.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The price for the home charging units is plus installation costs. The Voltec is a home-charging unit built by SPX for Volt owners. It is a 240V AC charger, and, according to General Motors, can replenish the Volt's batteries in about four hours. Consumer Reports has advised buyers to budget up to , as many older homes may need a substantial electrical upgrade because the U.S. National Electrical Code requires that the charger have its own dedicated 240-volt, 30-amp circuit. Early buyers can benefit from the federal tax credit available for charging equipment.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The 2011 Volt was not submitted for application to the California Air Resources Board's (CARB) Clean Vehicle Rebate Project rebate and therefore was not required to meet the 10-year battery warranty requirement for enhanced advanced technology partial zero-emissions vehicles (enhAT-PZEV). The Volt team explained that for the launch General Motors decided to go with a common national package that includes an 8-year battery warranty. For this reason owners of the 2011 Volt did not qualify for California's rebates and free access to use carpool lanes even when traveling solo. A third package, scheduled for 2013, is under development with an E85 flex-fuel engine. General Motors engineering team commented that "introducing two or three packages of an entirely new technology set and platform at the same time wasn't an option."


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: In February 2012 General Motors began deliveries of a low emission version destined for California that features a new low emissions package that allows the 2012 Chevrolet Volt to qualify as an enhanced, advanced technology –partial zero emissions vehicle (enhAT-PZEV) and have access to California's high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV). The new standard California version of the Volt features a modified engine and exhaust components. The catalytic converter was modified to add a secondary air-injection pump that ""streams ambient air into the exhaust stream to increase its ability to remove pollutants"." Owners of a 2012 Volt with the low emissions package are eligible to apply for one of 40,000 available HOV lane stickers issued to vehicles that qualify as a California AT-PZEV. The permits are handed out on a first-apply, first-served basis. Additionally, the new low emissions package makes the 2012 Volt eligible for owners to receive up to in state rebates through the state's Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP). This incentive is in addition to the federal government's tax credit. Only the 2012 Volts manufactured after February 6, 2012, are fitted with the low emission package and sold as standard models in California. Other states where the Volt has solo driving access to HOV lanes are Florida, Georgia, New York and Virginia.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: When introduced in December 2010, the 2011 Volt was the most fuel efficient car sold in the American market in the compact class, with a combined gasoline-electricity fuel economy of equivalent (MPG-e), until it was surpassed by the 2012 Ford Focus Electric in February 2012. Nevertheless, the Volt remained as the most fuel efficient car with an internal combustion engine available in the United States until May 2014, when the BMW i3 REx replaced the Volt as the most efficient EPA-certified current year vehicle with a gasoline engine, with a combined gasoline-electricity fuel economy of equivalent (MPG-e).


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: In December 2012 General Motors reported, based on data collected through its OnStar telematics system since Volt deliveries began, that Volt owners drive around , or a month and a half, between fill-ups. By mid June 2014, GM reported that among Volt owners who charge regularly, they typically drive more than between fill-ups and visit the gasoline station less than once a month. In early October 2014, based on General Motors' real time tally of miles driven by Volt owners in North America, the company reported they have accumulated a total of 1 billion miles (1.6 billion km) traveled, of which, about 62.5% were driven in all-electric mode. A similar report, issued by GM in August 2016, reported that Volt owners have accumulated almost 1.5 billion miles (2.4 billion km) driven in EV mode, representing 60% of their total miles traveled.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: The 2015 edition of the EPA's annual report ""Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends"" estimates the following utility factors for 2015 model year plug-in hybrids to represent the percentage of miles that will be driven using electricity by an average driver, whether in electric only or blended modes, The Volt has a utility factor of 66%, compared with 83% for the BMW i3 REx, 45% for the Ford Energi models, 43% for the McLaren P1, 37% for the BMW i8, and 29% for the Toyota Prius PHV.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: Since sales began in December 2010, a total of 157,054 Volts have been sold in the country through December 2019. The Volt listed as the all-time top selling plug-in electric car in the United States until February 2015, when it was surpassed by the all-electric Nissan Leaf in March 2015. Cumulative Volt sales passed Leaf sales in March 2016, and became once again the best selling plug-in car in the U.S. ever. In July 2016, Volt sales in the American market passed the 100,000 unit milestone.


title: Chevrolet Volt

text: In December 2018 the Volt still ranked as the all-time best selling plug-in electric car in the United States, but by February 2019 it was surpassed by the all-electric Tesla Model 3. , the Volt ranked as the top selling plug-in hybrid in the American market ever, and also as the third all-time best selling plug-in car after the Tesla Model 3 (~300,000) and the Model S (~158,000).