GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

In the past Honda president Takeo Fukui has said lithium-ion batteries weren’t ready for cars yet, and that an E-REV like the Volt didn’t make sense (see post). His company also despite beating Toyota to the starting gate with its now defunct Insight, has been markedly losing the race to the Prius.

Amidst all the recent fuel efficiency and oil price headlines, Honda has now joined the crowd with its own hybrid announcements.

The automaker will be coming out with a low-cost hybrid based on the FCX clarity exterior design. They also intend to make a hybrid version of the Fit in 2010, the current ICE model of which is already the most fuel-efficient in its class.

However Honda is holding to its guns, and has no plans to compete in the plug-in hybrid arena. The most recent quote from Mr. Fukui, “We don’t necessarily think the plug-in hybrid is a very great idea,”

I beg to differ Sir.

Source (Businessweek)

Most people know Jay Leno as the host of the Tonight Show. He is also a huge car fanatic and very enthusiastic about electric cars.

He wrote an opinion piece for Conde’ Naste Portfolio in which he expresses reasons why he believes U.S, automakers have lost ground to the Japanese over the years due to quality issues.

Things may be turning around. He uses GM as an example of a company that has now made great strides in producing high quality cars, especially with its newest line-up.

All things being equal, he writes, Americans will buy American cars. It just that today’s generation grew up on all the Japanese models.

Key though he believes the Chevy Volt because it is bold, new, exciting, and high-tech will lure those buyers back.

Let’s hope you’re right Jay..and hey how about a spot for me on your show?:)

Source (Portfolio)

I just had the opportunity to interview Micky Bly who is GM’s director of hybrid vehicle integration. He runs the team that will integrate all the subsystems in the Volt to make it a pleasantly drivable and cohesive machine.

I asked him about the Volt development vehicle schedule.

He explained to me the the Volt will eventually come into being in three distinct developmental vehicle stages, or "build phases".

The car that’s currently running with the lithium-ion pack is one of about a "handful" of cars that he calls EDV’s or engineering development vehicles. These cars, with Malibu shells, are for testing various functions of the final Volt. There are battery cars, ride and handling units, ones for propulsion systems, brakes, and steering. These are intended to analyze the behavior of and to get specific subsystems working. They are not complete vehicle tests but to go prove individual subsystems.

Next up are the true mule vehicles, or ARM’s, and are whole vehicles with all of the systems coming together. They contain a lot of hand built parts, but are "design intent". Those will arrive at the end of 2008, and will typically be run for about a year, because that’s about how long they can last from a mechanical standpoint due to their rough hand-made nature. There will be "a couple of dozen of these", and some of these cars will have the approximate final Volt physical design.

The final phase cars are called the integration vehicles. These look and act for all intents and purposes nearly exactly the same as the production cars. This phase brings every thing together from a "pleasability, driveabilty, fuel certification, fuel economy, and EV" standpoint. Final surfaces are on those vehicles so we’ll know what they’ll look like. All the final aero and wind tunnel work can be done with them. They are the last phase until going into production in the manufacturing plant after that. These are very high fidelity vehicles and they will run beyond the production date.

Bly can "say confidently the integration vehicles will make their appearance in the 2009 calendar year" and will be built in some significant quantity. These cars are street legal and may be used in a captured test fleet for selected GM employees to gather real-world data.

So, in a way, it looks like there will be Chevy Volts on the roads in 2009.

As the race to mass produce electric cars heat up, GM competitor Nissan has teamed up with NEC to form a lithium-ion battery company called Automotive Energy Supply Corp.

The company is producing lithium-ion batteries for automotive use which rely on Manganese-spinel for the cathode, the same chemistry that LG Chem is using.

The company announced today they will produce 13,000 units (for forklifts) in 2009 and 65,000 units by 2011.

Besides using these batteries in their own cars (Nissan and Renault), the company hopes to sell them to other carmakers as well.

Source (Wall Street Journal)

GM has made significant aerodynamic changes to the original Volt concept they showed in early 2007, but I expect it to be very similar and very cool. The Volt team has already finalized the redesign. We’ve been shown partial teasers (above) and a camouflage 1/3 scale model, but haven’t yet seen the whole car.

A report has just been published indicating that, “the Volt will be seen in Paris in US production specification.” This presentation is to take place at the Paris Motor Show, which is scheduled for October 4-19. This is of course less than 5 months from now.

Volt lead designer Bob Boniface told me in early April that we will see the Volt “sooner rather than later”, and noted cars are usually revealed 2 to 3 year prior to the production date and at events where there is large media attention.

I would imagine, but can’t say for sure, that Europe is not likely to be the first place the world will see the Volt, but more likely, in its home country the U.S. The fact that Paris is aware they will have the production Volt model in October means GM must have planned to have revealed it already by then.

Since there are no major car shows (NY, LA, Detroit) between now and October, it must be that the car will be shown at some other major assembly.

As GM has not told me exactly when and where we will see it, I would only be guessing, but one thing is for sure, it will be very soon.

The article also seems to confirm GM is planning a production diesel E-Flex for Europe but not necessarily the Flextreme.

Source (Channel4)

I recently wrote a post entitled “Could Recession Crash the Volt“. Now another sobering article was published by Businessweek.

The Chevy Volt program along with the entire portfolio of hybrids that GM is building and planning to build is described as a do or die situation for GM. The title, ‘GM: Live Green or Die’ tells it all.

The automaker is sort of described as a deer in the headlights, spooked by Toyota’s success in the hybrid realm and unpredicted rapidly rising gas prices.

The story recounts Lutz’ initial recommendation to build an electric car, confirming its early moniker as the “iCar”, and how the idea was delayed until 2007 when the Volt concept was first introduced.

GM is noted to be burning $1 billion a month and has yet raised it’s R&D budget for future cars from $6.6 to $8.1 billion last year. GM CEO Rick Wagoner is painted as the generally cautious type now forced to make bold moves and bet on unproven technology in the hope of allowing the company known for Big Hummers, Fat Caddys, and Massive Yukons to survive in the lean 35 mpg or more world of the future.

The truth is, the future is here now, and the Volt is already in the race to the finish to save GM.

Source (Businessweek)