GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

When the Chevy Volt was first unveiled there was a procession of so-called leaks of images. First grainy footage on the Transformers set, and then the bizarre set of photos with GM executives standing in front of the car just days before the official reveal.

The Opel Ampera is set to debut at the Geneva Auto Show on March 3rd. It is the European sister car to the Chevy Volt using the identical platform and extended-range electric car drivetrain. We’ve seen a teaser photo, and then some sketches from the European patent office.

Today the car has been snapped in full color by a spy photographer.

Yes it looks like the Volt, but at least we can see it in true white. The front and rear ends do differ though but the basic shape was retained.

Source (WorldCarFans)

The Detroit Free Press added up all of the loans requested and so far given to the auto industry.

The total sum requested or received by GM and Chrysler so far is $39 billion. The retooling loans, still not dispersed another $25 billion, and there is a request for $25.5 billion from suppliers. Adding in other money the reporter came up with $97.4 billion.

This is quite possibly not the end either. After all Ford has yet to ask for money, and if car sales plunge further, more money will be needed.

Alternatively GM and Chrysler say finacing their bankruptcies would cost the government $125 billion.

President Obama’s Press secretary warned there have to be limits to aid. Robert Gibbs said “The president understands that whether it’s financial stability, whether it’s banks and the lending system, whether it’s the auto companies, there can’t be a bottomless pit to this, there’s just not the resources to deal with it.”

The US government has so far given $700 billion to the financial sector and put a $787 billion stimulus package into effect.

Republican Senator Bob Corker who has emerged as a prominent voice in the auto bailout process said “the country as a whole has great concerns about the economy, but people are questioning where does government involvement end.” Corker also reminded us that economist Mark Zandi predicted in December that the total cost of the industry bailout would be $75 to $125 billion, a value the auto CEOs dismissed at the time.

GM’s says it needs $2 billion by the end of March, another $2.6 billion in April, another $4.5 billion by 2010 and a $7.5-billion line of credit for 2011 in case the market doesn’t recover.

The President’s Task Force on Autos led by Timothy Geithner is planning to meet later this week to review GM and Chrysler’s plans.

Yes we want our Volts, and yes we must get this country off of oil, but at what cost? Are there any alternatives?

Source (Detroit News)

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Previously GM announced they would be unveiling the European version of the Chevy Volt, the Opel Ampera at the Geneva Auto Show in March.  They provided us with a teaser photo that when given careful scrutiny suggested it was actually the same Volt body with signature Opel branding.

The vehicle is known to use the identical compact Delta platform and Voltec extended range electric car drivetrain as the Volt too.

Expected to arrive in Europe in 2011,  GM-Volt.com also found out that the car would continue to use the same gas generator configuration the Chevy Volt did, without a diesel genset that some speculated.

Apparently the European Union trademark office required some sketches of the upcoming car and thus its cover was broken.

Lo and behold, its a Volt with Opel branding.

Of course does it really matter?  After all its really about getting the country and the world off of oil.

Source (Autoblog)

Gallery:

GM’s new restructuring plan attempts to explain how GM hopes to achieve profitability by 2011, and how it will need $16.6 billion in government funds to do so. Reading the fine print it also tells us a  bit more about what GM plans to do in the area of extended range-electric vehicles and other alternative energy vehicles.

In addition to beginning the mass production of the first generation Chevrolet Volt in 2010, it is apparently GM’s plan to produce two additional extended-range electric car models.

From the plan:

General Motors is also investing significantly in hybrid and plug-in vehicles, for both cars and trucks, and offers 9 hybrid models in 2009 (more than any other manufacturer), a number which will increase to 14 models in 2012 and 26 models in 2014. The Chevrolet Volt is included in this count, as are two additional models sharing the Volt‘s extended range electric vehicle (EREV) technology.

Furthermore, GM says it is planing to build those two new Voltec extended-range vehicles starting in 2012.  That year as well will bring with it second generation strong hybrids and compressed natural gas vehicles.

Further out GM has plans to mass produce hydrogen fuel cells cars, HCCI cars, and third generation strong hybrids starting in 2015.  Further advanced pure electric cars are not mentioned in that long-term timeframe.

From what executives have told GM-Volt.com previously, GM will be displaying several new extended-range electric car (Voltec) concepts at auto shows throughout this year beginning in Geneva next month.  It seems likely that those receiving the greatest public reaction will become the two that are produced in addition to the Volt.

Source (GM)

GM tonight along with Chrysler submitted plans to the newly formed Government Auto Task Force explaining how they will achieve viability.  GM’s 117-page plan spells out in detail the methods they plan on using to achieve viability, or net positive value, that they promised they would in exchange for $13.4 billion in loans they’ve already received.  The last $4 billion payment from that in fact came today.

The Auto Task Force will have 6 weeks, until March 31st, to decide if the methods described by GM are adequate to allow the company to continue to operate or if the loans will be called back and the company forced into bankruptcy.

GM has broken their plan down into the following areas, and bases it on a projected 11.5 -12 million units of vehicles sold per year:

1. Dealerships and brands will be reduced. It was noted that Hummer and Saturn will either be sold or phased out, with Hummer potentially gone by March 31, and Saturn by the end of 2011. Saab will be sold with support from the Swedish government. Pontiac will become a niche brand. Total dealerships will be reduced from 6,246 in 2008 to 4,700 by 2012, and to 4,100 by 2014

2. Every car and crossover GM will produce from 2009 to 2012 will be fuel efficient. Building the Volt pack assembly plant and advanced battery lab are also part of the plan.

3. They will close an additional 14 assembly plants by 2012.  47,000 jobs will be eliminated in 2009.

4. The Jobs Bank has been eliminated and additional agreements have been achieved and will be ongoing in negotiations with the UAW.

5. Debt reduction from $28 billion to $9 billion will be achieved, with bondholders by the end of March and with the UAW by the end of May. At this point however a deal has not yet been struck.

6. GM is requesting an additional $16.6 billion in government loans by 2011 in addition to the $13.4 they have already received, for a grand total of $30 billion in government loans. Additional funds will be sought from Canada, Germany, and Sweden.

7. Bankruptcy is considered as an option per the government’s request but GM considers it to be a “too risky costly, and time-consuming” alternative per CEO Rick Wagoner. It was suggested that bankruptcy would cost $100 billion.

READ THE PLAN HERE

GM said it needs $2 billion in March, $2.6 billion in April, $4.5 billion to replace a credit line by 2011, and if conditions worsen, a $7.5-billion credit line.

In the period leading up to the electric car revolution in which we are just in the foothills of, a future of hydrogen-powered vehicles was all the rage.

Some automakers like Honda and GM have put a lot of resources into developing hydrogen vehicles. At the Detroit Auto Show in 2008, Honda unveiled its Clarity FCX fuel-cell sedan.

Author Dan Neil had a go at the car in the LA Times.

Neil said that despite his long experience driving many cars, he’d never driven one so advanced and “blinded with science” as the Clarity FCX. He derided the concept though calling hydrogen a poor way to move cars and describing it as a “tragic cul-de-sac” in the search for sustainable fuels. He noted that hydrogen fuel cell cars were nothing more than a way to game California’s CARB rules requiring automaker to build zero-emissions vehicles.

Hydrogen he says is a lousy way to move vehicles, not to mention that a hydrogen fueling network doesn’t exist and building one would cost countless billions. The electric grid, and power outlets on the other hand are already everywhere.

Neil also reports summarily that it requires 60 kwh of electricity to produce one kg of hydrogen, which in the FCX works out to an efficiency of 1.1 mile/kwh. Plug-in cars with lithium-ion batteries like the Tesla Roadster or the Volt get 5 miles/kwh, for a nearly five-fold increase in efficiency.

Furthermore he noted the FCXs likely cost around $2 million per car.

Finally though he gushes over the intense beauty and function of the car says “Behold, the grand and lovely futility of the FCX Clarity. It’s hard to scold something so wonderful, so I won’t. Just bring me one that I can plug in.”

And so it may well be that the hydrogen highway may very well be the road to nowhere.

Source (LA Times)