GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

While at the L.A. Auto show for the Volt briefing, I met some very interesting bloggers.

One of those was Hank Green, founder of EcoGeek.org, a cool blog devoted to planet-saving innovations. Hank is a genuine and earnest man of great talent. He put up a post so his readers could check out our GM-Volt.com Chevy Volt Q&A. If you haven’t already, I recommend you check out his blog too.

Also, if you haven’t seen it as well, I was interviewed for WIRED magazine’s automotive blog about my experience with GM and the development of this site, should you be interested in that.

One terrific quality of GM-Volt.com is the very wide range of opinions, political leanings, and concerns of the people that come and comment here.  We have one common denominator; we all want GM to make the Volt!  So whether you’re an EcoGeek or not, all are welcome.

Clearly in a sign of times to come, big oil company ExxonMobil has announced it is developing a new technology to be used in lithium-ion battery cells. The energy company’s chemicals division in partnership with its Japanese affiliate Tonen Chemical have apparently been developing a new separator film.

Separators are sometimes necessary in certain lithium-ion cells to prevent short circuits from propagating so far as to cause the battery to go into thermal runaway (i.e. explode)
The new film separator technology will allow for larger and therefore more energy and power capable cells to be made without the risk of overheating. These cells would theoretically be optimal for automotive use.

More details on the cells will be revealed at the upcoming 23rd Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exposition (EVS-23) in Anaheim, Calif. on December 2-5, 2007.

Well I guess if you can’t beat em’, join em’.

Source (Guardian)

Here is a live video of Tony Posawatz and Denise Gray giving the media a live briefing on the current status of the Chevy Volt/E-Flex program.  This took place in LA on November 14th.  This is the first of three parts, each ~8 minutes.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKtYk3bgSAA]

Well, our first Q & A session is over. 42 question asked with detailed answers.  I hope everyone enjoyed it.  There was one last question, though…

I asked Scott Fosgard, who is director of GM communications, whether GM is specifically reaching out to former EV-1 drivers. I actually asked this question at the behest of Doug Korthof. Many of you have heard of Doug, as he appeared in the Who Killed the Electric Car? movie, and he has since filled the web with anti-GM commentary.  I happened to run into Doug in person at the LA Auto Show where I found him outside holding up a picket sign and a bullhorn telling passersby not to buy GM products. I recognized him, and went up to introduce myself.  The picture above is of Doug where I found him.

I consider myself open-minded and diplomatic in spirit. Rather than debate Doug I thought it best to see what question he wanted me to ask the GM people, since he felt only people in support of GM could be invited to the type of press event I was there for.

Scott’s response:

Scott himself had driven an EV-1. He told me a story about a trip he once took over a weekend. He said he really enjoyed driving the car, it was fun, and he engaged in some spirited acceleration. By the time he reached his destination (about 40 miles), the car’s battery was half empty. He experienced what he called “range-anxiety”, since he didn’t have the specialized charger at the destination, he was afraid he might not make it back.

He noted that the EV-1 was not for everyone, and in the end only 850 were leased. Problems he explained were the small size, two seats, long charge time, and limited range.

Scott says that Bob Lutz considers the Volt’s range-extender to be an emergency generator. It often won’t be used, but exists primarily for “peace of mind”.

Scott says right now there is no special reason to reach out to former EV-1 drivers in particular as currently the Volt doesn’t yet exist, but imagines they will be contacted when the car arrives.  GM has indeed had special meetings with EV-1 advocates Chris Paine (who made) and Chelsea Sexton (who starred in) Who Killed the Electric Car?  In fact the two of them were also there in L.A. in a special closed door session (to which I wasn’t invited) with other “stake-holders’ getting a private viewing and private briefing on the Chevy Volt’s development.

Q: One of the most common request we get are whether GM will out solar panels on the roof, are you considering that?
A: “As Denise mentioned there are certain technologies we do scans on continually. Before we started in the Volt program and E-Flex project her team had made assessments that battery suppliers were building the technology to handle it. Did they have the business acumen, i.e. integration into the vehicle, etc, etc. So were looking at a lot of pretty cool stuff. Solar panels in particular we’ve got a study team looking at it. But, in all honesty, from a Gen-1 perspective”..” it is very unlikely.”..”You’d hate for the battery to work, and then you have an issue with the solar panels.”..”And those are the kind of things that I think are a key message.”

Q: How is the drivetrain configured, will a clutch mechanism be necessary?
A: (TP) “The internal combustion engine will be directly connected to the generator and the generator will be mechanically connected to the output shaft.”..”There’s two electric motors.”..”The primary traction motor is what drives the wheels all the time.”..”It is constantly engaged.”..”Some of the nuances is appropriate to share when we have hardware”..”Will be able to share more of this with you mid-next year, we’ll do some cutaways and things like that.”

Q: Can the car be configured so that is can be temperature acclimated while it’s plugged in, before you begin to drive it, so as not to waste battery power, are you thinking about that?
A: (Smiles and winks) (DG): “Yes we are thinking about it. ”

Q: What is the top speed of the vehicle?
A: (TP) “100 mph but transient spikes to greater velocities will be permitted to occur.”

Q: Will using the Volt as a back up power generator possible?
A: (TP) “This function is not being designed into the first generation car. V2G won’t be possible, but future versions may very well have these capacities.”