GM-Volt: Chevy Volt Concept Site Enthusiasts forum and informational site for the General Motors(GM) Chevrolet Volt Concept Electric Car Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 4 5388

Articles from GM-Volt: Chevy Volt Concept Site

BYD F6DM Plug-in Electric Hybrid 2008-01-14 13:37:25 BYD is a Chinese automaker. Here in Detroit, they are displaying the slogan “building your dreams” as opposed to “bring your own drivetrain”. I suppose it probably stands for something else in Chinese. Anyway I stopped by the booth and spoke to their export manager Mr. Paul Lin. Paul explained that the car uses a lithium iron phosphate battery (hence why the call it an ‘iron’ battery). This is similar to A123’s technology but Paul advises is different. He was quick to point out that BYD is also a battery-making company, largest in the world. They also make electronic controls, so all things can be done in house. The F6DM cut-out shown above has a 20 kWh lithium-ion pack capable of 60 miles of range and 120 kW of peak power. After 60 miles the car goes into an HEV mode, where the gas engine acts in parallel with the electric motor, as opposed to only recharging the battery as is the plan for the Volt. Paul notes that there are already work ... Hybrid

GM’s Troy Clarke: Chevy Volt to become this Generation’s 57′ Chevy 2008-01-14 10:40:26 Troy Clarke is GM’s President of North America.  I participated in a blogger interview with him. When asked about why and whether GM has positioned itself as an alternative energy powertrain leader.  He noted the top three reasons are; concern over climate change, price of gas, and energy indepoendence .  He feels GM has positioned itself ahead of the other automakers in fuel diversification and feels the move has been spearheaded by Rick Wagoner. Asked about lithium-ion battery development, he called the lithium-ion battery the “moon shot”.  He said GM doesn’t want to own the battery technology. He is willing to go on record saying that GM is willing to work with the other major carmakers in advancing battery technology despite its competitive aspects. I asked him about the Volt’s rollout plan. He told us GM has started market research last month. He thinks there will be ‘early adopters’, environmentally conscious-minded people, and the l ...

Saturn Flextreme E-Flex Concept Vehicle 2008-01-14 05:00:50 Today GM is introducing the Saturn Flextreme concept. Similar to it’s Opel cousin, the vehicle uses an all-electric drivetrain powered by a lithium-ion battery capable of 34 miles of range and has a 3 hour recharge time. The on-board generator is diesel powered. Read full release below: (more…) ...

Saturn VUE Plug-in Hybrid to Begin Production in 2010 2008-01-14 03:00:18 GM has announced it is making progress on the Saturn VUE plug-in 2-mode hybrid, and that they expect production in calenday year 2010. The vehicle is expected to have 10 mile all-electric driving range and will use a lithium-ion battery pack. I had a chance to speak with Bob Reuter who is the chief engineer. Bob advised that packs from several companies were being evaluated for the vehicle but in the end only one will be chosen for production. He also mentioned that early test mules are indeed already in operation. The plug-in VUE will have a 2-mode hybrid drivetrain, and can function in charge sustaining as well as charge depleting modes. After the 1st 10 miles of charge is depleted, the battery can be restored by regeneration to be able to run the car again if possible in charge depleting mode. Read full release below. (more…) ... Hybrid

Breaking: Bob Lutz Says Driveable Chevy Volt Mules in June, not Easter 2008-01-13 15:52:46 Here on the sidelines of the Detroit auto show myself and several bloggers are having the opportunity to chat with GM Vice Chairman Robert Lutz. I am actually writing this post as we go; so-called “live-blogging”. He is asked what his personal involvement in the Volt project is. He mentioned he is very interested because it’s never been done before. He doesn’t go to the lab daily and “clamp cells together” but it is important to him. Then he dropped the bombshell. He said he was overly optimistic when he said driveable mules would be out for Easter. “It looks more like June”. Asked about the financial relationship with Coskata, the new ethanol producing partner, he says “we took a tiny little bit of equity in Coskata”. In explaining why GM is doing it besides altruism he said “We would like to take the automobile out of the firing line for being involved in everything from global warming to funding terrorism.&rdquo ...

GM Announces Cellulosic Ethanol Production Breakthrough by New Partner, Coskata Inc. 2008-01-13 10:57:42 Corn can be converted into ethanol, but yields only about a 30% increase in energy over what is put in and of course requires food crop to make it. Being able to use other sources of carbon such as biomass or switchgrass is important if ethanol use in the U.S. is to become widespread. Making cellulosic ethanol from renewable sources other than corn and sugarcane has been difficult, expensive, and inefficient however, until now that is. GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner has just moments ago announced a partnership with a company that has been in “stealth mode” since 2006. The company, called Coskata, is based in Illinois and has venture capital funding from among other sources Vinod Khosla. Today they have broken their silence with an announcement of an ethanol from renewable sources production breakthrough. The company uses a gasification process to convert organic matter (including garbage, and old tires) into CO2 and hydrogen gas. Using proprietary microorgansisms, the gase ...

Chevy Volt at the GM Style Event 2008-01-12 23:01:09 This is the second year GM hosted an exclusive and decadent event they call GM style, which took place tonight on the eve of the Detroit Auto Show’s first press day. The event showcases GM’s vehicles as they shared a special stage with famed performers Mary J. Blige, Kid Rock, and Maroon Five. International media were the invited guests, and yours truly got to go. Quite an interesting and glamorous show, watching the pop stars play their greatest hits, as the latest cars rolled out on stage while models in top designer’s fashions strutted by. The food was great, the conversation was great, but my favorite guest you can see above. ...

GM-Volt Exclusive: Inside the GM Chevy Volt/E-Flex Battery Lab 2008-01-11 23:01:56 Lance Turner is the electrical engineer who runs the day to day operations of GM’s advanced battery lab. He reports to Denise Gray who is GMs advanced battery director. While in Detroit for the impending auto show I was graciously allowed to meet Lance and tour the lab where the Chevy Volt’s prototype battery packs are delivered, housed, and tested. The facility was a warehouse-sized unassuming space filled with large temperature regulation chambers, test benches, workstations, power supplies, people, and of course batteries. After clearing the security checkpoints, as I passed into the lab, I immediately recognized the T-shaped Chevy Volt prototype pack, disrobed of its black case, on the floor to my left. It was attached to a work station running proprietary software that controlled cycling the pack through charge-discharge cycles as well as monitored the behavior of the individual cells and the pack as a whole. I watched Lance run the pack through an entire US06 ...

Chevy Volt to Have 50/50 Weight Distribution 2008-01-11 05:00:26 One question people have asked about the Chevy Volt is what will the weight distribution of the production version be. In an article in Autoobserver, Jon Lauckner, GM VP of technology tells the author: “…although the addition of hundreds of pounds of batteries typically would be a detriment to any vehicle’s dynamics, because of their placement roughly in the center of the Volt’s chassis, the Volt’s weight distribution will much closer to the ideal -– and entertaining -– 50 percent front/50 percent rear ratio than any conventional front-wheel-drive vehicle displays.” “…with near 50/50 weight distribution and the 0-60-mph target of around 8.5 seconds, “the Volt will not disappoint” in terms of driving dynamics.” Balance is a good thing, and 50/50 weight distribution for a car suggests excellent handling and agility. Source (AutoObserver) ...

Latest Battery Pack Q & A with Denise Gray, GM’s Battery Director 2008-01-10 09:17:11 Sam Abuelsamid of Autobloggreen went to Las Vegas for CES and had a chance to chat with Denise Gray about the latest developments of the Chevy Volt battery packs. Key points: -they’re still confirming the behavior of the first two CPI packs, but they appear to be conforming to predictions.-packs are still evolving and haven’t reached final design, they are taking an iterative approach. -rumors about pack problems are untrue. They are not rising to too high temperatures even when tested without the cooling system -She is unable to comment on cold and heat temperature goals and performance in those ranges, it is a work in progress. -The first Conti/A123 pack will be delivered this month. -Test mules are built and awaiting their packs. The first packs will be transferred from the bench to the mules this quarter. To read the whole transcript, go here: (LINK) ... Amp

Lockheed Martin Signs Agreement with EEStor 2008-01-09 23:01:32 Mostly, we talk about the Volt here, but relevant and related topics are often worth discussing. We have previously discussed a secretive Texas company called EEStor, who are reported to be working on a new type of ultracapacitor that can hold 10x the energy in 1/10th the weight of typical batteries, at a fraction of the cost. They have an agreement to produce caps for Zenn electric cars but to date have not shown any prototypes. This has led some to suspect EEStor as not having the technology they report. Today, however, Lockheed Martin, the major U.S. military equipment manufacturer has announced a partnership agreement with EEStor to develop energy applications. If these ultracaps can really deliver what they are projected to, they could offer a dramatic advantage for electric vehicles. To that end, I interviewed Lionel Liebman, manager of Program Development – Applied Research at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. The entire interview can be seen by clicking below. Can ...

Do you want your Volt to Drive itself? 2008-01-09 11:33:06 Besides displaying the Cadillac Provoq, GM CEO Rick Wagoner also discussed GMs future plans for vehicle to vehicle (V2V) technology in his speech as the Consumer Electronics Show. Using their built in GM OnStar communications system as a starting point, cars could eventually be programmed to communicate with one another, GPS, and the road such that they can drive autonomously. In his words: autonomous driving means that, someday, you could do your e-mail, eat breakfast, apply your makeup, read the newspaper, watch a video … all while commuting to work. In other words, you could do all the things you do right now while commuting to work, except you could do it safely How’s that for cruise control? Who knows, one day in the future maybe our Volts could all log-on to GM-Volt.com, and we can drive together, virtually exchanging ideas, and car data as we go. Source (Detroit Free Press) ...

GM CEO Rick Wagoner Now Says 2010 a “Stretch” for Chevy Volt Production but he is Optimistic 2008-01-08 23:01:43 picture from autoblog In the year I’ve been writing this blog, never has there been quite so much word-mincing and media attention to production date as has occurred since I first asked GM CEO Rick Wagoner in an online chat how confident he was the Volt would be released in 2010. As you know, his answer at the time was that he could not guarantee it (post). Prior to hearing it from Mr. Wagoner, most press about release dates came from vice-chairmen Bob Lutz and not direct from GM’s CEO. After the initial negative press blitz, I was able to obtain direct statements from the E-Flex team on the front line, that there had been no change in production status, and that 2010 was still the internal target (post). Today on the sidelines before his speech at CES, Rick Wagoner told reporters himself that his comments last week were indeed misinterpreted. He noted that there have been no “glitches” in Volt development, that initial battery tests are indeed favorable, and ...

Cadillac Provoq Fuel Cell E-Flex Concept 2008-01-07 23:01:04 The Chevy Volt’s upscale cousin has been born. GM has just revealed the Cadillac Provoq, a 4 door crossover concept, which uses the E-Flex platform with a hydrogen fuel-cell range extender. It runs on GM’s svelte 5th-generation hydrogen fuel cell stack married to an E-Flex propulsion system, which is the all-electric powertrain powered by a large rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack. It is a zero-emissions vehicle. The vehicle is designed to go 20 miles on a charge with an additional 280 miles of range provided by two hydrogen tanks each capable of holding 3 kg of the compressed gas. No gasoline here. This one is all-wheel drive, with a pair of 40 kW rear wheel hub motors and a 70 kW front coaxial motor, and goes 0 to 60 in 8.5 secs. Per GM VP of R&D Larry Burns, “This is proof that alternate fuels and advanced technologies create even greater opportunities to satisfy the luxury buyer.” Additional cool stuff included: solar panel in the roof for small electrica ...

GM to Unveil Cadillac Provoq Concept 2008-01-07 10:23:52 GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner will be speaking tomorrow at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). We hear than among other things he will say, he will be introducing a new Cadillac concept called the Provoq. We don’t know much about the car except that it will offer petroleum-free driving. Will it be an E-Flex variant, or a pure fuel cell? We’ll have to wait and see. Source (Detroit News) ...