You’re Invited!: VOLT NATION Town Hall Meeting

GM-Volt.com has reached the next level.
For more than a year I have served as your intermediary. After building visibility and credibility to the point I could meet with actual GM executives in charge of building the Volt, I brought your questions, ideas, and enthusiasm to them. We let them know we are here and holding [...]

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The Latest with Frank Weber, E-Flex/Chevy Volt Vehicle Line Executive

I sat down for a brief Q and A with Frank Weber. He is the vehicle line executive for the Chevy Volt and all of E-Flex systems for GM. He knows a lot about what’s going on and is very forthright and forthcoming.
What was GMs motivation to build the Volt?

Societal challenge. Look [...]

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Poll: Should the U.S. Government Provide Tax Credits to Plug-in Car Buyers?

When we first heard GM was planning to increase the price of intial Volts to more than $30,000, government subsidies in the form of tax credits was discussed as an option to lower cost.
Certainly tax credits have been a factor in the adoption of early hybrids such as the Prius.
We even heard directly from Congressman [...]

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Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk on GM, Toyota, and the Whitestar

Elon Musk, founder of Paypal, is also chairman of Tesla Motors, the silicon valley start-up that has recently rolled it’s first production electric car, the Roadster, off the production line.  Musk himself owns that one.
He was interview by Michael Kanellos of CNET and they covered a range of issues.
When asked about whether he felt the [...]

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Chevy Volt Program is Costing GM Nearly One Billion Dollars

We often discuss how much the Volt will eventually cost us, the consumers, as that’s the bottom line as to whether people will actually buy or be able to buy the car in mass numbers.
We don’t hear too much though about what the program is costing GM.
An article in the Wall Street Journal by the [...]

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Bob Lutz Turns up the Heat on Global Warming

By now many of you have probably heard about this. Originally reported in D-magazine is a “closed-door”conversation between GM Vice-Chairman Bob Lutz and several journalists. On the topic of the Chevy Volt, Mr Lutz reportedly called global warming “a total crock of sh-t”.  He went on to say he’s a skeptic rather than [...]

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Driving the Volt

Peter Savagian is an engineer at GM who worked on the EV-1. He recently presented data from his study on the effect of driving electrified vehicles.
The presentation examines and discusses the implication of plug-in hybrid and E-REV utilization.
Per Peter, “GM’s Advanced Propulsion Technology Strategy is to remove automobiles from the environmental dialogue.”, and “another [...]

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GM’s Financials

Yesterday was a big day for GM financial news, as the company posted a 2007 loss of 39 billion dollars, the single greatest yearly loss for any automaker in history. Of course nearly all of that loss was due to the writedown of $38.6 billion that was given to the autoworkers union to pay [...]

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Congressman Jay Inslee on the Status of Plug-in Vehicle Tax Credits

The other day I was surprised to receive a note from Congressman Jay Inslee. Mr. Inslee has been an instrumental proponent of plug-in electric vehicle adoption. Congressman Inlsee writes:
I am thrilled to discover your site. Thanks for spreading the news. I am a Congressman from Seattle who a leading advocate for renewables and clean [...]

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Chevy Volt to Cost About $35,000?

Originally it was GM’s goal to produce the Volt for under $30,000.  Over time it became apparent that reaching that goal would be difficult considering all of the new and unique technology that would have to be created for the car.
In January, Bob Lutz said the car could wind up closer to $40,000 but he [...]

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GM Would Share Volt E-Flex Technology Among Brands

Some GM news coming out of the North American Dealers Association, besides GM CEO Wagoner asking dealers to fight state level emissions regulations, had to do with the Volt.
A report noted that dealers were told by GM that brands other than Chevrolet could also one day get E-Flex technology.  This shouldn’t of course surprise us [...]

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Chevy Volt A123/Continental Battery Pack will be Tested in Michigan

Lyle Dennis outside the Warren Michigan battery lab building
Recently we heard that GM had received it’s first new prototype lithium-ion battery pack from the A123 Systems (battery cell maker)/ Continental Automotive Inc (pack integrator) and that it had arrived in Germany on January 31st, on schedule.
Two packs from the other team, LG Chem (battery cell [...]

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