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Archive for October, 2007

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Does Construction of a Battery Factory Need to Start 2 Years Before the Volt Gets Mass-Produced?

October 24th, 2007 | Posted in: Battery, Production with 15 Comments

In the New York Times today, Mary Chapman published a piece discussing the unusual fact that the Volt is being advertised years before it exists as an actual car (LINK). We have discussed this before (LINK).
Ms. Chapman actually interviewed me for an opinion for this story. I was very bullish and optimistic, but as [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 15 Comments

GM-Volt.com Named Among Top 10 Green Car Websites by New York Times

October 24th, 2007 | Posted in: Public Opinion with 23 Comments

Our efforts have been recognized. Today the New York Times has published an entire section (H) (LINK) devoted to the green car revolution. Amongst the articles is a piece by Ray Wert, senior editor of the quintessential car blog Jalopnik.com. The segment (on page 18) lists the top 10 green car websites [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 23 Comments

Honda Says Chevy Volt Makes No Sense

October 23rd, 2007 | Posted in: Competitors, PHEV, Public Opinion with 58 Comments

Hot on the heels of Toyota’s negative comments about the Volt which we reported in our last post, Honda has taken it one step further, and right from the top.
Honda’s CEO Takeo Fukui told the Wall Street Journal that when lithium-ion batteries become available for them, a pure electric car would be the way to [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 58 Comments

Toyota Hybrid Manager Says Even His Wife Wouldn’t Plug-in Her Car

October 22nd, 2007 | Posted in: Competitors, PHEV with 50 Comments

Toyota continues to expose its weaknesses whenever their hybrid program is compared to GM’s E-Flex effort.
In today’s report by Joe White in the Wall Street Journal, Toyota was portrayed as taking a more “cautious” approach into hybrid development than GM. They continue to describe lithium-ion batteries as still not being ready for them.
Toyota hybrid [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 50 Comments

Under What Conditions is the Chevy Volt’s Quoted 40 Mile Electric Range Modelled?

October 22nd, 2007 | Posted in: Efficiency with 48 Comments

We have had substantial discussions about how the Volt’s 40 mile electric range is calculated. Since the car only exists in models, the 40 mile range isn’t real road conditions, but was arrived at using computer models.
People often question whether that 40 miles will be “downhill with a tailwind” and no AC or headlights, or [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 48 Comments

Bob Lutz Insists Chevy Volt is Not a Plug-in Hybrid

October 20th, 2007 | Posted in: Video with 35 Comments

A video sequence in two parts from Autoline Detroit surfaced on YouTube. It was recorded at the time of the Traverse City, MI CAR meeting when GM annouced the A123 contract. Lutz discusses the Chevy Volt, and among other things makes it clear he does not see the car as a plug-in hybrid, [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 35 Comments

New Bill Requesting Funds to Support Plug-in EV Research Has Been Introduced to Congress

October 20th, 2007 | Posted in: Financial, Politics, Research with 19 Comments

On October 9th, congressman Bart Gordon introduced bill HR3776 to Congress.
This bill is the Energy Storage Technology Advancement Act of 2007. As we’ve discussed previously Denise Gray, battery czar of GM gave testimony to Mr. Gordon’s science committee in support of this research funding (previous post). We also were able to get a [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 19 Comments

GM Expands Chevy Volt/E-Flex Leadership Team

October 19th, 2007 | Posted in: Production with 32 Comments

The Chevy Volt/E-Flex leadership team has consisted of Frank Weber as vehicle line executive and Tony Posawatz as vehicle line director. Next in line has been Nick Zielinski as Volt chief engineer. In fact I’ve had the chance to speak with Nick on two occasions (POST 1), (POST 2). GM has also previously [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 32 Comments

E-Flex Surprise Coming in Detroit Auto Show 2008

October 18th, 2007 | Posted in: General with 42 Comments

We have some reliable but unverified information that GM is planning an “E-Flex surprise” for the world at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show.
You will remember Detroit 2007 was where GM announced the Chevy Volt to the world. Since then we have seen the fuel cell Volt unveiled in Shanghai, and the Opel Flextreme in [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 42 Comments

New Chevy Volt Video

October 17th, 2007 | Posted in: Video with 42 Comments

Here is a video from Rocketboom, including Bob Boniface, E-Flex design director and Frank Weber, E-Flex vehicle line executive, coming out of Boston:
The last interviewer will be taking over this blog beginning tomorrow.
[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiKIG0HphIs]
Thanks to Lucas for the tip.

Posted by: Lyle with 42 Comments

The Garage Doors Have Opened on Project Driveway

October 17th, 2007 | Posted in: Fuel, Hydrogen, Project Driveway, Research with 13 Comments

We have been hearing for a while about GM’s project driveway (see post). This refers to their large-scale experiment in which 100 people will get to use Fuel Cell Equinoxes for several months of real world driving.
Originally slated to begin in the fall, the official word is that it has begun.
The first individuals and [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 13 Comments

John Waters Responds Directly on GM-Volt.com About His Criticism of the Volt

October 17th, 2007 | Posted in: Engineering, Public Opinion with 11 Comments

John Waters
On September 30th, we posted about a new PHEV consortium founded by the Rocky Mountain Institute and led by former EV-1 engineer and EnerDel VP John Waters.
We had reported some comments Mr. Waters had made regarding the inefficiency of design of the Volt. Our readers picked up on this and presented a [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 11 Comments

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