GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

In his latest interview, with Forbes reporter Jerry Flint, the Volt’s main proponent GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz was asked about his confidence in being able to produce the Volt.

Lutz told the reporter on a scale of 1 to 10 he rated his confidence that the Volt will get produced as a 9.5.

This number dropped to 5.5 when he was asked about his confidence in achieving a 2010/2011 release.

Lutz said:

We’re holding people’s feet to the fire for the very end of 2010 into 2011. But that can slip, depending on how the development goes.

He also cautioned, regarding the Volt’s rollout:

It probably won’t be a flawless launch

On a more positive note, Lutz did mentioned he was pleased with the initial tests of the CPI/LG battery packs.

It’s Lutz expressing a slight shift in enthusiasm? Are significant hurdles arising? Only time will tell.

Source (Forbes)

A few final questions from my interview with Frank Weber, Chevy Volt/E-Flex vehicle line executive:

Do you have or are you working on E-Flex simulation models for other sizes of vehicles besides the Volt?

Before we get the team up off the track in thinking too much about the expansion of E-Flex, the focus is clearly to get as fast as possible the Volt on the road. While we do this we think about what is the smartest was of expanding the architecture and the propulsion system. The natural thing that you would consider is looking into the mid-size segment or the small segment, where you have a lot of architectural similarity where it would be easy to take an E-Flex system into those architectures, before you start thinking about putting it into SUV’s.

To go into those larger and heavier vehicles you would have to reconfigure how the architectural components are laid out.

Considering the new potential CAFE standards of 35 mpg and the fact that the Volt can drive without gas, how does GM expect to see the Volts fuel efficiency calculated?

Unfortunately there is no current regulation in the U.S. that is properly reflecting the EV range of a Volt. This means we have with all authorities a discussion ongoing what is the proper label value of the Volt. We’ve said it from the beginning. This is a clear must requirement to make a success of the program is to make the authorities understand the EV capability and quickly develop a cycle for plug-in electric vehicles that is available in the 2010 timeframe, to give those vehicle the right label.

We are working with all authorities because as you know this is a tricky intense process in setting up those regulations and we are currently working with them so that everybody understands the concept. This is very important and is currently happening while we are developing this program.

The Volt will have a significant role in the CAFE discussion.

Since the EV-1 had a very low CD (coefficient of drag) are you using the knowledge you gained with that vehicle in redesigning the Volt?

Absolutely. We have a long history of aerodynamic performance within the organization (GM). We have many activities, also in Europe, and this is all coming together now. I think that the advantage is for the Volt we have said from the beginning the aerodynamic performance is really key. When you work it from the architecture of the vehicle down to the hardpoints of design and into the finished surface as we have now. We have had and will continue to have enough time to work into all the various details.

Today President Bush signed the energy bill passed by the House and the Senate, mandating automakers to achieve a corporate average of 35 mpg for their vehicles by 2020, 40% higher than they are right now.

Rick Wagoner of GM said the standard “set a tough, national target that GM will strive to meet.”

The bill also includes a provision for 90 million per year in plug-in vehicle battery research.

Source (Detroit Free Press)

We have previously reported how Honda CEO Takeo Fukui did not believe the idea of a rage-extended electric car made sense.

Now, according to the AFP, he has gone so far as to say that he “saw no value in developing plug-in hybrid vehicles”.

It seems Honda is interested in petroleum displacement as they have begun leasing a new hydrogen fuel cell vehicle dubbed the FCX Clarity.

But why such blurred vision about plugging in?

Source (AFP)

Thanks to Kent Beuchert for the tip!

Normally we discuss news and facts related to production of the Chevy Volt. But this technological breakthrough seems so important I thought it deserves mention here.

As we know, the Volt will be powered by lithium-ion batteries either from A123 systems or LG Chem.

In these and most li-ion batteries, energy is stored in an anode made of carbon. Carbon has a limited storage capacity. Silicon has a much higher storage capacity, but when silicon is used as an anode, its fibers swell as they fill with electrons, that makes them unstable, and they actually break apart.

The new breakthrough has come from the lab of Yi Cui at Stanford University. He found if he made silicon nanowires and used these as anodes, the batteries have 10 times the charging capacity and the fibers remain stable without breaking.

OK so now imagine a 400 pound battery pack that hold 160 kWH or 400 miles of range, perhaps for no great added cost.

Is GM looking at this? I will try to find out.

What do you think?

Source (Stanford U.)

At the Frankfurt Auto show in September, GM unveiled the Opel Flextreme; an E-Flex concept car illustrating the possibility of using a diesel generator as a range-extender. Lost in the initial enthusiasm were comments we had here from Tony Posawatz in which he acknowledged the Flextreme was not production intent.

Here is vehicle line director of Chevy Volt/E-Flex Frank Weber’s most recent response to the following question:
Is the Opel Flextreme production intent, and if not what are your international plans for the Volt?

First of all, the Volt is a global product. So we are currently designing Volts for worldwide application. What we did with the Flextreme actually, is we wanted to show the bandwidth of what the propulsion architecture and the vehicle architecture is able to deliver. And what we said because the Volt was a rather sporty concept with not too much versatility, we wanted to show conceptually how a versatile concept could look like. So this was more for us to demonstrate the bandwidth of the vehicle and propulsion architecture. When it comes to final roll-out globally we have always said that the Volt is the lead application, and we have not finalized the complete portfolio, and how and when we are going to roll out each vehicle. There is still time to do that because we are designing in all the requirements for a global rollout.

It is my understanding that GM plans to roll out the Volt in North America (U.S. and Canada) in 2010. From there, next stop will be Europe, and after that China. As per Bob Lutz, the Volt is being designed in both left and right driver side versions.

So I’m sorry to say you won’t be seeing a Flextreme any time soon, but hey at least we’ll all get our Volts!