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Plug-in Saturn VUE to Get 25 All-Electric Miles?
October 16th, 2007 | Posted in: PHEV
A post appeared yesterday on TheCarConnection in which the author was primarily describing the new 2008 mild hybrid Saturn VUE (see our previous post).
As most articles do when this car is mentioned, it goes on to describe GM’s plans to eventually make a 2-mode VUE and in 2009 a plug-in VUE with a lithium-ion pack from A123/Saft.
This author, however, for the first time anywhere indicates that the electric range of this car will be 25 miles (LINK).
From everything I’ve heard the planned range is 10 miles. Does this author know something we don’t? Or is it just an error?
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Related posts:
- Saturn VUE Plug-in Hybrid to Begin Production in 2010
- GM Saturn VUE Likely First Plug-in Vehicle by Major Automaker: 2009…ish
- Update: Saturn VUE 2-Mode Plug-in Hybrid
- Plug-in Saturn VUE Officially Moved to 2011, Cruze and Volt Still on for 2010
- Q & A with Bob Reuter Chief Engineer, Plug-in Saturn VUE
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Posted by: Lyle
14 Responses to “Plug-in Saturn VUE to Get 25 All-Electric Miles?”
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October 16th, 2007 at 10:25 am
Damn! I just bought my wife a new SUV. She drives about 12 miles round trip to work.
October 16th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Twenty five sounds 2 1/2 times better than 10, which I always thought was too little (Toyota-like). Where did that 10 mile range quote come from anyway? Someone at GM?
I’m still all abuzz about the BYD’s apparent 4 year head start on the rest of the world and their apparently very cost effective iron batteries (2000 recharges before “they start deteriorating), which means 120,000 plus miles, and a cheap-to- replace battery pack. Eureka! A practical
electric car for the masses. If true, the $19,000 car will put a hammerlock on the lower end of the market. I’ll still go for the VOLT of course, especially if the yuan
gets revalued. Toyota/Honda/Nissan execs must be pulling their hair out about now.
October 16th, 2007 at 10:56 am
I would be curious if the ‘all electric’ range is based on city driving or if it would include highway driving speeds.
Also, can I run the AC and still be running off the batteries? I live in South Florida and we need the AC 11 1/2 months out of the year.
October 16th, 2007 at 11:14 am
The article says, “Eventually, perhaps by the beginning of the next decade, Saturn hopes to add a plug-in hybrid powertrain…for up to around 25 miles”.
- Eventually, perhaps, hopes… not 2009
- Up to, around… not 25
Sorry, but I would not get too excited.
October 16th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Jim I agree. 25 miles all EV-range would blow the competition out of the water…too good to be true.
October 16th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
David,
I’m curious also. How about adding nighttime high beams with driving pouring rain? I live in New England. Great for high humidity, high heat, pouring rain, and freezing cold. A real nice mixture of weather. I would also need rear defrosters. I wonder how much these things drain the battery.
October 16th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Toyota is in the process of being passed by GM, technology-wise, but don’t rule them out. With the hundreds of millions of dollars the Japanese will be pouring into R&D, the leap being made by GM could be shortlived. Only time will tell.
Concerning the Vue- has anyone heard yet whether or not it will feature the E-Flex design, or is the Volt scheduled to be first?
October 16th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Everything I have read indicates the Volt will be first to plug in and the first attempt at an EV (excluding the EV-1). I read everything that comes out of the internet thanks to Google’s alert notifications but unfortunately do not have access to any professional publications that may not make it on the web.
I’m fairly certain Chevy is excited about the Volt but one concern I have is if GM is truely committed to it. I say this because the GM run EPCOT attraction (Test Track) does not have any information available on the Volt. I was at EPCOT last weekend; nothing was on display and the friendly GM representative just said I should visit the Chevy website.
October 16th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
40 miles is city driving. Anything you turn on will lower your range. The energy comes from somewhere and that is your battery. It doesn’t really matter because the gas will jsut take over a little sooner in those situations.
October 16th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
David, that would make sense about the test track not having seen the Volt yet - they don’t even have a working test mule.
October 16th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Be skeptical, but also have a little trust. So far, there is no indication that General Motors is interested in backing out or even backsliding on the program. I trust they will have the product on delivery in the timeframe so far stated.
October 16th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
#2 (kent)… as I indicated in the other thread… $19,000 for the BYD is very mis-leading….
The car is actually priced in Yen as it will only be available in China. As such the $19,000 is relatively meaningless, you have to compare apples to apples… ie. the price of the BYD to other similiar sized vehicles for sale in China. Also don’t forget that China has fixed their currency so Yen to $ prices are artificially low.
Also different road safety standards… to bring it to US requirements will also raise the price should they want to bring it to the US market. Which I think is unlikely, The Chinese will probably consume everything they can produce.
October 16th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
#8 (David)… you should subscribe to the RSS feed over at http://www.evworld.com/ to stay abreast on EV’s in general (and the RSS feed for this site as it’s the best source for Volt specific info).
In the mid-1990’s and early 2000’s there was more than just GM’s EV1, though that was obviously the most famous thanks to the film “Who Killed the Electic Car?” that focused on the EV1. Toyota for example had the Rav4-EV, some of which are still on the road today (the rest were crushed/destroyed by Toyota like GM did with all the EV1’s), with a max range of 125 miles per charge (compared to 140 miles for the 2nd generation EV1, but obviously a Rav4-EV is bigger and less aerodynamic than the EV1 was).
But yes, GM if it stays on target appears it will be the 1st to the US market with a mass produced plug-in series hybrid EV. Volvo may not be far behind with it’s “ReCharge Concept” C30 with a 62 mile range on a charge before the generator comes on (and it has 4 hub motors for real AWD) but I’ve heard no dates for that (and my guess won’t his US showrooms until after it’s been out in Europe 1st).
October 17th, 2007 at 12:23 am
For what it’s worth, a nice little article in Time magazine on GM going Green…
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1669723_1669725,00.html
The online version (above link) also has a history of electric cars… 1st one is from 1903 that had a range that may sound familiar… 40 miles on a charge.