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Archive for February, 2008

More Details on Pricing the Volt

February 29th, 2008 | Posted in: Financial, GM Q and A with 115 Comments

Recently we heard a statement from Dee Allen of GM about the Volt costing around $35,000. Since it’s of tremendous interest and importance, I decided to look into this in more detail. I managed to catch up with Mr. Allen who it turns out is GMs spokesperson on global product and brands, and [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 115 Comments

House Passes Energy Bill: Would Take Money from Big Oil to Give Plug-in Car Tax Credits

February 28th, 2008 | Posted in: Financial, Politics with 94 Comments

We have heard that the Chevy Volt could come with a roughly $5000 price premium to early adopters due to the costs of the lithium-ion battery and specialized low-power accessories.
An option that worked for early Prius adopters is the possibility of a U.S.government tax credit to people buying Volts. This could help offset cost [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 94 Comments

Chevron Has Nothing to do with the Volt

February 27th, 2008 | Posted in: Battery with 13 Comments

I have just received official confirmation from GM that Chevron/Cobasys has nothing to do with the Chevy Volt, the source article of the last post was incorrect in that assertion.

Posted by: Lyle with 13 Comments

Chevron and the Chevy Volt?

February 27th, 2008 | Posted in: Financial with 20 Comments

The Car Connection just broke a story that the battery supplier Cobasys, which makes the nickel-metal hydride cells for GM’s hybrid Aura, Malibu, and VUEs is in deep financial trouble. Cobasys is co-controlled by oil giant Chevron, who is apparently in a financial dispute with the other co-controlling company, EDC.
The article goes on [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 20 Comments

Will Mass Use of Plug-in Cars Increase Air Pollution?

February 27th, 2008 | Posted in: Environment, Research with 45 Comments

 

We have reviewed and discussed the EPRI study which suggested mass-adoption of electric cars can be handled by the power grid, will result in net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and dramatically reduce U.S. petroleum consumption.
A more recent study by GM suggests E-REV use will reduce tailpipe emissions by 80%.
In the USA Today, two studies [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 45 Comments

Lithium-ion Battery Separators

February 26th, 2008 | Posted in: Battery, Engineering with 43 Comments

In discussing the Volt, we are often concerned with the working of the lithium-ion battery. Still not-yet-ready for prime-time, these types of batteries a great for cars because they can hold a lot of power and energy in a small size and weight.
The batteries work as electrons (electricity) flow between the anode (usually graphite [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 43 Comments

Profile: The Man in Charge of the Chevy Volt – Frank Weber

February 25th, 2008 | Posted in: Engineering, Production with 38 Comments

As you may now by now from my numerous interviews with him on the site, Frank Weber is the Chevy Volt’s vehicle line director. He is profiled by the Detroit Free Press.
He is described as a health-conscious musician with a penchant for tinkering and independent thinking. The German native is described analogously as [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 38 Comments

About 10,000 Volts will be Produced in the First Year

February 24th, 2008 | Posted in: Production with 92 Comments

There have been discussions about how many Volts GM plans to produce at first. We have heard before that as many as 60,000 could be built and more recently that tens of thousands were intended to be built.
In a recently published article by the Globe and Mail, GM vice-chair Bob Lutz gave a much [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 92 Comments

Does GM Need Toyota to Make the Volt More Affordable??

February 23rd, 2008 | Posted in: Battery, Financial, Public Opinion, Research with 79 Comments

Motor Trend published a report summarizing some of the presentations at the Society of Automotive Engineers Hybrid Symposium in San Diego last week.
One of these was by a Dr. Menahem Anderman of Advanced Automotive Batteries, which gave a “cold-eyed view” on PHEVs. His report concluded that GM won’t be able to make the Volt [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 79 Comments

Bob Lutz Reponds on the Recent Crock of Global Warming Comments

February 22nd, 2008 | Posted in: General with 91 Comments

We discussed a few days ago, along with several other major blogs, Bob Lutz’ comment about global warming, where he had called it “a crock of s–t”. Apparently the GM vice-chair was quite amazed about how that took off on the blogosphere.
He has now responded on his own blog, and makes the point that [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 91 Comments

Bob Lutz: “The Road Ahead”

February 21st, 2008 | Posted in: E-Flex with 63 Comments

GM’s outspoken Vice-Chairman, and father of the Volt wrote an opinion piece for the Feb 25th edition of Newsweek entitled “The Road Ahead.”
His task was to predict the future automotive landscape and writes that it will be “markedly different than today”.
First he predicts some change in “proportion”, cars will be smaller, but feels that those [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 63 Comments

Volt Hurdles Other than the Battery

February 20th, 2008 | Posted in: Efficiency, Engineering with 65 Comments

Most GM executives involved in the Volt program say the battery is the major stumbling block to development. Other new low-power components have to be made for the car in order to allow the 40 mile range, but these are mostly minor engineering tasks.
Normal cars have tremendous supplies of energy for the accessories to [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 65 Comments

RSS Recent GM-Volt Forum Posts

  • New video: Volt drive in Detroit November 19, 2009
    November 19, 2009 Detroit Free Press story with video featuring a Volt drive with Andrew Farah in... […]
    srschrier
  • New Video: Volt Corrosion Testing November 18, 2009
    From GM VoltAge, the Volt's corrosion... […]
    srschrier
  • Th!nk picks Indiana for U.S. factory November 18, 2009
    Th!nk picks Indiana for U.S. factory: _Link_ (http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/1038564_thnk-picks-indiana-for-u-s-factory) […]
    Jason M. Hendler
  • FIRST ALL-ELECTRIC APTERA 2e PUSHED BACK TO 2010 November 18, 2009
    FIRST ALL-ELECTRIC APTERA 2e PUSHED BACK TO 2010: _Link_... […]
    Jason M. Hendler
  • Any news about the NiMH battery? November 18, 2009
    Now that there are new owners of the patent, is there any indication that they will allow its use for electric cars? Like many others, I believe that... […]
    Desertstraw
  • energy requirments of modern electric vehicles November 18, 2009
    does anyone know any credible sources of information concerning the electricity requirements of modern electric vehicles per mile of travel and the... […]
    crubkings
  • 30% reduction November 18, 2009
    The Belgian governement decided that if you buy a car with less then 60g/km emmision you get a 15% tax reduction and you can write it off for 100% if... […]
    filiep