GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

I had the chance to sit in on on a blogger interview with GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz. In this segment (video below) Lutz explains how he feels the effect of the Volt on fuel use will be more at the individual level rather than on a national one, the ability for the individual; to drive 40 miles without gas.

However he says he feels GM has “discovered the right formula” when it comes to the Volt. He notes while the pure EV is attractive, it has the problem of range anxiety and wide variability of function depending on accessory use and climate.

He discussed his personal range anxiety experience of how once he was 15 miles from home on his Vetrix electric scooter when it ran out of charge, he was fooled by a defective charge gauge.

He also makes the technological claim that the Volt will know how far the driver is from home and will only produce enough energy to charge the battery to get them home.

Lutz also says, despite the known EPA wrangling, that he expects the Volt to get an extremely high mpg rating label. The core of the Volt’s success thus will be because that at the same time as getting such a great sticker, people wont have to worry about running out of battery.

Yet despite all this he says his competitors remain skeptical.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKMol_10hSc]

Tomorrow, Chrysler is expected to unveil its quickly cobbled together version of the Chevy Volt.  Reports indicate the car will use the same E-REV paradigm as the Volt, with a 40 mile EV range and combustion range extender.

It was also reported that Chrysler may have to work with a partner on the powertrain.

A late breaking report out of the Wall Street Journal quotes inside sources as saying Chrysler is actually in advanced talks with A123 Systems of Watertown  MA to supply the batteries for that car, which is expected to launch by 2011.

A123 is of course one of the two battery suppliers in the running for the initial Chevy Volt production contract.

A contract with Chrysler would help bolster A123s upcoming IPO.

Chrysler for its part with this forthcoming announcement is reportedly responding to fear about being left out of the electric car buzz that the Volt has clearly generated.

Source (Wall Street Journal)

An uncharacteristic opinion piece was written by Mark Phelan of the Detroit Free Press.

It is called the Chevy Volt’s value is as dawn of a era.

The author noted that the Volts two main criticisms are that it is too expensive and that its range is too short.

He says neither contention is correct and rather that the Volt should not be judged on its limitations, but on its merits.  It should be considered “the 1984 Apple Macintosh on wheels, smashing an old paradigm and setting America free.”

For after all no matter what price it sells for he says, “the first year’s production will sell out the weekend the Volt goes on sale.”

He predicts that prices will come down quickly as lithium ion batteries go into mass production, and that if successful, E-Flex is likely to become the powertrain for many vehicle to come.

I couldn’t agree more.

The Chevy Volt isn’t really about being a car, but as I wrote on January 12th, 2007, its about the beginning of a revolution.

Source (Detroit Free Press)

For those of you who don’t know, Chris Paine wrote and directed the film “Who Killed the Electric Car” which chronicled the demise of GM’s EV-1 program.  The film basically villainized GM and intensified their already bad PR.  There is little doubt that Paine’s film helped to spark the Volt program.  It is also the case that the act of watching that film for the first time sends people to the pages of this site and leads to my receiving some often bitter emails.  Here’s a random recent example:

I just finished watching the movie “Who Killed the Electric Car”. It appears General Motors was the primary killer!  Accordingly, I suspect GM might do it again, given the right amount of incentives!!

As you might expect, my enthusiasm for the GM Chevy Volt has diminished.

Anyway it turns out at the GM Centennial last week Chris Paine was an invited guest where he participated in a roundtable discussion on the future of transportation.

Many may remember that GM had previously announced they planned to let selected media drive Volt mules this summer, and it never seemed to happen, or did it?

I was told that a group of selected people, variably referred to as “VIPs” or “technical people” indeed had the pleasure of driving Volt mules last week.  This group included Chris Paine.

I also observed Paine and his crew filming interviews for a sequel to his movie, to be called something along the lines of “Who Saved the Electric Car”.

It looks like GM is really starting to pull a 180 on this PR thing.

Enjoy this video of the production version Chevy Volt actually in motion. Includes interior footage. No it isn’t a real Volt with E-Flex drivetrain, just the production model with a low speed electric motor, but it might send chills up your spine anyway!:

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5w2VgY4YK8]

I had the chance last week to watch live and in person as the production version Chevy Volt broke out onto the stage in front of thousands of journalists packed into an arena at GM headquarters, at the cue of CEO Rick Wagoner and driven by none other than GM vice chair Bob Lutz himself.

It was an experience I wont soon forget. I have included the video I shot of that moment below to share it with you.

After the unveiling we ran a poll to see if GM-Volt.com readers preferred the production or concept model.

Of 2468 unique respondents, 48% preferred the production version and 40% preferred the concept version, and 11% preferred both models equally.

It is good to see more people prefer the production model to the concept, and I’d like to say a final goodbye to that concept and thanks to GM for making it happen.

The photo above shows the swarm that immediately occurred after the car rolled out. It is the official GM shot, and it was fun to discover myself standing right in the middle of it all (arrow).

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKW2hvIKF8o]