GM to Let Selected Outsiders Drive Volt Prototypes Next Year

Today the Detroit Press published a new interview with Bob Lutz, GMs vice-chairman, taking place at a dinner meeting in Frankfurt.  Lutz re-iterated that the first test drives of the car will take place in the spring, but the report also mentions that this time next year “GM may allow selected people outside the company [...]

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Opel Flextreme Video

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Bob Lutz Admits Battery Advantage over Toyota

In a Frankfurt interview with the Wall Street Journal (subscribers only), Bob Lutz noted that GM will have lithium-ion technology ahead of Toyota on the order of several months to a year. He went on to note that eventually all the carmakers will catch up.
He also indicated that he’s 100% confident that overheating will [...]

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The Opel Flextreme

It’s official. Despite previous leaks, GM has taken the wraps off its European E-Flex vehicle. It is called the Opel Flextreme. The car is built on the same Cobalt platform that the Chevy Volt is and uses some of the same components. These include the 120 kW peak power front electric [...]

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GM-Volt.com Video Voltcast for Sept. 9th, 2007

The latest in our series of bi-monthly video news updates (run time is 3:48):
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Opel E-Flex Pictures Leaked Ahead of Official Frankfurt Anouncement

Originally posted by carscoop and then Jalopnik. These are the first full pictures of the Opel E-Flex diesel variant. Click below to view larger image.

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Enter Mitsubishi to the Plug-in Race: i MiEV Sport

Mitsubishi has now announced its intention to present a plug-in electric concept car at the Tokyo Auto Show in October.
The car will be called the i MiEV SPORT.  It will be compact sized and use 2 front in wheel and 1 rear electric motor powered by a lithium-ion abttery pack.  It will have a 120 [...]

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What Does EEStor Have in Store (or in its store)?

Hopefully, not nothing.
EEStor is a small secretive company in Texas that is reportedly working on developing an ultracapacitor that can be used to power an electric car. Zenn automotive has a contract with them and they are reporting an electric car with this technology should arrive in 2008.
EEStor has indeed taken out patents on [...]

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Volvo Enters the Plugin Car Arena: ReCharge Concept

The wheels of change are unstoppable, oil is running out, and now yet another automaker has pledged to build a plugin electric vehicle.
Today, Volvo issued a press release about a car called the ReCharge concept, based on the C30 model. The car, like the Volt, is a series hybrid, but with an all-electric range [...]

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Will GM Lease the Chevy Volt Battery Pack?

There have been many references in the news media to the idea that GM might lease out the battery pack.
We have previously discussed how this idea may have originated from Compact Power CEO Prabhakar Patil. More recently, a report from the Financial Times continued to expand on the idea and indicated that GM themselves [...]

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Toyota Believes its Parallel Hybrid Approach is Better Than Volts Series Design

Apparently Toyota VP Kazuo Okamoto gave a presentation on September 3rd in which he declared that Toyotas approach of improving battery back range and adding plug-in to the conventional parallel hybrid design was superior to GMs series hybrid design (Chevy Volt)
This was apparently stated in the context of a presentation to investors and is reported [...]

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New York Times Article on Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G)

An idea that is invariably invoked when people discuss plug-in electric cars like the Volt is vehicle-to-grid technology. (see previous post)
The general concept is that when there is a large fleet of plugins on the road, users will plug them in at night during low demand and charge them. During the day, when demand [...]

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