GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

After Volt Nation, I received an email from Michael Granoff, who is a #1 investor with Project Better Place (PBP). It turns out he lives within a mile of where I work and we planned to meet up. We had a wide ranging discussion about Project Better Place, whether it could come to America, and how the Volt might fit in.

For those who are not familiar with it, Project Better Place is the highest funded greentech start-up in history, led by Shai Agassi formerly of SAP, the company aims to build a profitable electric car charging infrastructure. Plans are well underway in Israel, and Denmark also just signed on. They are partnering with Renault-Nissan to build the cars.

The concept is that charging ports and battery exchange station would be rolled out throughout a nation. Subscribers would own an electric car and be able to charge it anywhere they park it, using a vehicle- recognizing smart-charging architecture. For trips greater than the battery’s range, subscribers would simply pull into a battery exchange depot and have the spent battery rapidly replaced. One would never own (or have to pay for) the battery, it would be owned by PBP. The result, according to Michael, is that the vehicles would cost much less; the automaker wouldn’t have to fund or build the battery pack. Michael even suggests that for a reasonable monthly rate, subscribers could get the car for free, just like how cellphones are.

Michael admits that getting PBP to the U.S.  will be challenging, in particular, cars are taxed in Israel and Denmark, and EVs are not, creating public incentives. Overall, the California-based company would love to build the U.S. architecture too.

Michael was pleased GM has realized as Mr. Lutz has said , “the electrification of the automobile is inevitable” but is concerned about the Volt’s design. He feels adding a range extender and its control architecture is an unnecessary expense and complexity, for if PBP’s charging infrastructure was in place, none of it would be needed, and petroleum could be fully displaced.

I pointed out that if we wait for the architecture, though, it may be long after 2010 that we get our EVs here.

Michael agrees battery technology will advance to likely cover 300 or so mile range one day, but feels PBP could be to electric cars like what AOL was to the internet. Get the revolution underway, and then quietly ride off into the sunset.

At the end of last week’s Volt Nation event, some brief videos interviews were shot with attendees, who gave their opinions about the event, etc.:

Segment One

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piSgcH05c3A]

Segment Two

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbvyb7nbm-w]

California is the only state that has authority to make its own rules about vehicle emissions requirements exceeding federal standards, stemming from its smog problem in the early 70s.

Thursday the California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted to reduce the requirement of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) from the initial mandate of 25,000 sales to 7,500 sales in the years 2012-2014. They also must sell 58,000 plug-in hybrids in the same period. The obligation will be spread among the automakers based on their individual market share.

GM representative David Barthmuss was quoted as saying GM is “still scratching our heads” over the implications of this decision, but said the Volt would be sold in large numbers in California due to the mandate. There is additional credit to manufacturers for making plug-in cars.

Also of interest, 12 other states have adopted California’s standards. These include Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. 120,000 plug-in hybrids must be sold in in those states by 2014.

Sources (Detroit News) (New York Times) (AP)

Put this one in the category of “I’ll believe it when I see it”, but Zenn Motor company claims it will launch an electric car powered by EEStor’s ultracapacitor in the fall of 2009.

The car called the cityZENN is claimed to have a top speed of 80 MPH and to be able to drive up to 250 miles on a single 5-minute charge.

EEStor is a secretive company claiming to have a breakthrough technology for energy storage in a specialized ultrcapacitor, rather than battery. They have not given interviews, but Lockheed-Martin has a contract with them (see post).

Source (ZENN)

Thanks to Kent Beuchert for the tip.

Michael Kanellos of CNET wrote a piece in which he analyzed Google.org’s ReChargeIT data. Google has a fleet of plug-in converted Priuses and Escapes which employees drive, and the data is summarized and posted here.

His conclusion is that there is an annual savings of 88 gallons of gas for the Prius plug-in versus the standard Prius. Allowing $3 per gallon of gas, and factoring in the cost of electricity, thats $250 per year savings. Kanellos argues that since the cost of the plug-in conversion currently is $15,000, it would take 95 years to recoup the outlay. He goes on in the story to include the Volt as an example of a plug-in hybrid.

He does point out that CO2 emission are reduced close to 50% in the plug-ins over the standard Priuses.

I wondered how the Volt would compare to a Prius.

First, the Volt is not a hybrid, it is an electric car with a gas range extender. If one drives 40 miles or less per day, no fuel will be used.

At a maximum for benefit, take a 40 mile per day driver (14,600 miles/year), and say a Prius gets 40 mpg. For the Volt, thats one gallon of gas per day or 365 gallons/year savings, which equals $1095/year. At $6 gas its $2190/year. The cost of electricity is about 80 cents for 40 miles (8 kWh) on average, some better some less. Thats $292. Thus, at a maximum, the Volt costs $803 per year less then the current Prius to operate.

If a Prius is $24,000 and a Volt is $35,000, it will take 13.7 years to pay off the difference.

Compared to a standard ICE-driven car, in the same setting, roughly double the numbers for Volt savings (for a $24,000 car getting 20 mpg), and the pay off time will decrease to 6.8 years.

The real question is, is cost-savings the only reason for wanting a Volt?

Bob Lutz gave a rather extensive Chevy Volt interview to the Australian publication Go Auto, and let out remarkable details we didn’t get to hear at Volt Nation.

For one thing he told them the Volt will be sold in Australia in 2011 or 2012.

In terms of production volumes, he said:

“Initially the production is going to be pretty low as we ramp up and make sure the battery suppliers can follow us with the volume etc, but at a very early stage we want to get to 60,000 a year, and then it’s ‘you name it’.”

The article claims Lutz said the Volt will be introduced first in California, next in Washington, and third in Florida. No mention of NY, guess I won’t be one of the first owners

He describes in detail the difficulties in making the battery packs fit in the space they are supposed to, but confirms there are no cell problems.

For the design, he confirms the freeze has occurred. He states:

“The back-end looks a lot like the concept car, but the front-end and cabin look quite a lot different unfortunately,”

and

“The show car, while it was very interesting design and very interesting looking, from an aerodynamic standpoint it was a complete train wreck. We had to fundamentally start over and we reshaped the vehicle for aerodynamic efficiency and make sure the Volt graphics, the grille and headlights are still there and the dropped belt-line on the side is still there. I think it is still going to be a very attractive car – it is just going to be a slight shock for people who expect it to look exactly look like the show car.”

How’s that for detail?

Source (GoAuto)