From the GM FastLane Blog: Global electric vehicle development chief Frank Weber is moving back to Europe to join the Opel/Vauxhall senior leadership team and Doug Parks will takeover the reins of the Chevrolet Volt development team on Dec. 2. Doug was the global compact car team leader, or more specifically, the leader of the same architecture on which the Volt is based, and we expect he will provide the same tireless work ethic and attention to detail put forth by Frank and the entire Volt team. We’re sure there are lots of questions you have for Frank and Doug, so they’ll both be available here for a webchat later today at 4 p.m. EST to answer as many as they can. Frank has done an excellent job getting the Volt to the point it’s at today, and we wish him well in his new role on the Opel/Vauxhall senior leadership team. – Rob Peterson, Electric Vehicle Communications ManagerRead the rest of this entry »
If I could sum up last week’s conference on electric vehicles in a single sentence, it would be this: I’m now certain that my kids will grow up driving electric cars.
Advocates have been saying it for a while, but now all sides of the debate—including automakers, utilities, venture capitalists, and policymakers—are saying it too: electric-powered automobiles are the real deal, and we’re on the cusp of the biggest transformation in automotive history since the invention of the internal combustion engine. Read the rest of this entry »
Last night kicked off a three-day conference in Detroit on plug-in electric vehicles (which Gas 2.0 is attending). Today we’ll be hosting a live chat from the event with Britta Gross, GM director of Global Energy Systems, Infrastructure and Commercialization, and Mark Duvall, executive director of the Electric Propulsion Research Institute (EPRI). Read the rest of this entry »
Tomorrow at 11:00 AM PST we’ll be co-hosting a web chat with Bryan Wynne, President of Electric Drive Transportation Association. Join us (return to this post) to ask questions directly and see the conversation develop.
Earlier this year, Colorado passed House Bill 1331, “Incentives for Efficient Motor Vehicles,” which creates new tax credits of up to $6,000 for the purchase of, or conversion to, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.
The new credit will be a substantial discount off the average price of a plug-in conversion, which generally run around $10-14,000. On top of the Federal Tax Credit of 10% (up to $4,000), plug-in retrofits could start to make a lot of sense for some car owners.
“Remarkably Unremarkable” has been the phrase of choice when describing how the Chevy Volt prototype drives.
And that’s really a compliment, since the car was engineered for consumers who won’t accept compromise, even for a an electric car.
I got a chance to drive the Chevy Volt prototype on June 8th, and although the test model was still housed under a Chevrolet Cruze skin, it gave me a good feeling for what the final version will be like.
Chevy Volt Test Drive
The interior of the Cruze doesn’t do the car justice, at least in terms of space and aesthetics. The center divider seemed poorly fitted for the Volt’s T-shaped battery pack that runs the length of the car (which also precludes a 5th seat in the prototype and final versions). Frank Weber, who accompanied me on the the 45-minute drive, said that everything about the interior would change for production. Read the rest of this entry »
Over the holiday weekend, Japanese news daily Nikkei reported that Toyota will start mass producing plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2012.
The plug-in Prius will have a reported all-electric range of 12.4-18.6 miles after a full charge, and will cost $48,000—roughly twice the price of the regular gasoline-hybrid Prius.
Considering that a used Prius can be converted into a plug-in hybrid today for less than $15,000—giving the car the same or better statistics and driving range—I’d have to ask: what the hell is Toyota thinking? Read the rest of this entry »
The real reason we were in Warren, MI wasn’t to test-drive the Volt, but to be on hand for the grand opening of GM’s new battery testing facility. The $25 million Global Battery Systems lab is now the largest battery testing facility in the United States, and is four times larger than the company’s old lab.
GM made a strategic decision to keep battery development in-house, because it will likely be a key competitive advantage in the race to commercialize electric vehicles. The lab already employs 1,000 engineers who work on advanced battery systems like the one found the the Chevy Volt. Read the rest of this entry »
June 8, 2009- It was pouring rain when I arrived at GM’s Testing facility in Warren, Michigan. A crowd had already gathered inside the Alternative Energy Center which, among other things, is home to GM’s first electric car—the original model EV1 (#1).
The ghost of the EV1—a car designed and built 13 years ago—still haunts GM, though it’s both a symbol of lost opportunity and tangible proof that the company could pull off the same kind of engineering feat again. The billion-dollar Volt project is a major component of the company’s reinvention strategy, and it’s clear they aren’t pulling any punches this time.
Today at Noon, a Shell service station in Ottawa, Ontario will quietly begin selling cellulosic ethanol blended into regular gasoline. The biofuel is made locally from wheat straw, and as far as we know is the first time cellulosic ethanol has been made publicly available.
The new fuel will only be available for one month, starting on June 10th, but it’s a major step forward for the production of advanced biofuels. All gasoline purchased at the Ottawa station will be a blend of 10% cellulosic ethanol and 90% gasoline (CE10). Read the rest of this entry »
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Just a few days before GM declared bankruptcy, I was surprised to receive an email from the company asking if I’d be interested in test-driving the Chevy Volt.
The offer to test-drive the product of a $1 billion development program (as well as one of the most anticipated cars of my lifetime) isn’t something that comes along every day, and I’m excited to say that tomorrow I’ll be test-driving the Volt as well as liveblogging from GM’s Tech center in Warren, Michigan. Read the rest of this entry »
At noon today, nascent auto-maker CODA announced a new electric car available in California in fall 2010. The fully electric sedan will have a range of 90-100 miles on a fully-charged battery.
Speaking during a webinar, the company also formally announced a global joint venture between CODA and battery manufacturer Lishen Battery Co., located in Tianjin, China. Lishen is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of lithium-ion cells for companies like Apple, Motorola, Samsung, and Vodafone. CODA will maintain a 40% stake in the partnership. Read the rest of this entry »
