GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

GM has just announced at the Chicago Auto Show two important new supplier contracts for the Chevy Volt.

Goodyear has been chosen to supply energy-saving Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max tires and Bose has been chosen to supply the Energy Efficient Series sound system.

GM notes that the specialized Goodyear low rolling resistance tires allowed the Volt to get up to one mile more all-electric range as compared to similar tires.

The Bose stereo system is “30 percent smaller, 40 percent lighter, and uses 50 percent less energy than conventional Bose sound systems,” and is reported to produce energy savings equivalent to removing 50 pounds of mass. To produce these energy efficiencies, engineers were able to reduce the size of the amplifiers, increase the force per unit area of the speakers, and create specialized digital control circuitry.

Per GM’s Volt vehicle line executive Frank Weber, “Everything we do with the Volt is about maximizing its mechanical, electrical and thermal efficiency. From the Voltec™ propulsion system down to individual components such as tires or sound systems, we have been analyzing every part of the Volt so that we can offer a vehicle that is as efficient as possible to maximize the electric range. I think we have achieved this with Bose and Goodyear.”

Also from 5:30 to 6:00 PM EST Volt chief engineer Andrew Farah will be tweeting about the Volt on Twitter @GMBlogs.

Source (GM)

We recently heard that Bolivia has over one half the world’s known lithium reserves, and that mining those salts is very important to the future electric car industry. It is also known that politics and lack of development are stumbling blocks to a successful mining industry there.

A new report from Reuters indicates that Korea-based LG Chem, who has been chosen as the supplier of the Chevy Volts lithium-ion battery cells, has been seeking talks with the Bolivian government.

Evo Morales head the country and has been unfriendly towards the US and has nationalized the gas and petroleum industries there.

According to the report, Bolivia state mining director Freddy Beltran said “LG has expressed a willingness to start talks, to make a proposal. For what we know they have an agreement to produce lithium batteries for General Motors.”

Their goal is to be able to tap into Bolivia’s vast Uyuni salt lake, with rivals Mitsubishi of Japan, and Bollore of France already in the race for the reserves.

A pilot plant has begun construction and there are plans to have it operational by 2010. Although bids from Mitisubishi and Bollore have been made, talks have reportedly not advanced, and Bolivia’s “Morales government would welcome a proposal from LG.”

Source (Reuters)

GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz is the father of the Chevy Volt. He is an outspoken colorful, what-you-see is what-you-get kind of guy. A veteran both of the Marines and the automotive industry, he has been the source not only of the Volt itself but many of the most interesting and important quotes along the way of its development.

Today GM announced that the 76 year old Mr. Lutz will be retiring. On April 1st his position will change from GM Vice Chairman – Global Product Development to Vice Chairman and Senior Advisor. Tom Stephens who is GM VP of Powertrain will assume Mr. Lutz’ current role.

Then, at the end of 2009, Mr. Lutz will retire.

On his blog today Mr. Lutz wrote a post entitled “You’re Not Rid of Me Yet.”

With respect to the Volt he said the following:

There has been speculation that I would stay until the debut of the Chevrolet Volt next year. When I do retire at the end of this year, the Volt program will be well on its way to launch and I’ll feel the same sense of pride and accomplishment that the entire Volt team will feel when the first ones are silently rolling off the assembly line.

He also told reporter Jamie LaReau of Automotive News:

We will be driving finished Volts this summer because we’ll have a lot of them through the tail end of this year and next year. So in terms of low-volume production, we’ll be producing them, we just won’t be selling them. As far as I’m concerned, the Volt is done.

It has become extremely clear that GM is pressing ahead aggressively with its plans for electrification of the automobile, and that the first generation Chevy Volt is just the tip of the spear.

The Volt program is well along towards production and GM has announced they will now be in the battery pack design, assembly, and manufacturing business, opening the country’s largest and first battery assembly plant.

They have matured and advanced what used to be known as E-Flex propulsion system for electric drive with range extender, and are now calling it the Voltec propulsion system. Volt vehicle line director Tony Posawatz , who has now just been named co-chairman of the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) explained why the change was made:

“Every one is calling everything ‘flex’…flex fuel, eco-flex, Ford Flex, etc. So basically we said everyone knows the Volt is electric and the Volt name has resonance, so Voltec propulsion system or Volt with ‘EC’ for electric car. Everyone knows immediately what it is and we also have a history of Vortec engines.”

GM also unveiled a concept of how a Cadillac sedan could look using the Voltec propulsion system and blew us a way with the striking and beautiful Converj concept, which incidentally was named the Best Concept Vehicle in the ‘Eyes On Design Awards’ at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Posawatz also tantalizes us noting that the Converj is just the first of a series of extended-range electric vehicle or Voltec concepts GM will be unveiling throughout 2009 at various auto shows. He noted the Geneva Auto Show it likely the next place we’ll see one, which appears to be the European Volt sister, the Opel Ampera.

Here’s what Mr. Posawatz said:

“You’ll see in future shows there will be future variants showing up through this year. Hopefully by the end of the year we’ll be able to say around this time next year which on will be the production car. Right now its not a formal process. Individually people will say I either do or don’t like the Volt, they say its not my style or its not my type or whatever. Over the course of this year were going to unveil a bunch of different possibilities of which some will make it into the product line, and some wont. Part of it is going to be this process of ‘what do you think?’”

When I asked how many different Voltec concepts GM would be unveiling he said the following:

“I cant comment in specifics, in Geneva, in LA, in a few other shows this year you will see a couple of different concepts. So there’s some more stuff coming. But the Volt isn’t a one-trick pony nor can it be, but I have to say were being very very thorough in assessing what is the next best play. In order to get volume you have to have more choices. As much as the Volt is a wonderful car there are people that have different functional requirements. Bob Lutz believes that the Converj ought to be on that list. We’re going to work through the discussion of which of the concepts are going to be the right ones to look at as a next installment in the Volt family.”

Looks like 2009 will be an exciting year for electric car enthusiasts.

The US Department of Energy has a loan program called the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program (ATVMIP).  Colloquially known as re-tooling loans, the legislation is section 136 of the  Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

These loans are intended for companies to use to create the facilities necessary to build high-efficiency advanced technology vehicles.

The total sum of available money is $25 billion dollars, and 75 applications were received.  Only 26 of these were considered “substantially complete.”  Funds are expected to be disbursed within the next one to two months.

General Motors has an application for $8.3 billion which they plan to use to build plug-in cars including the Chevy Volt.  Ford has asked for $5 billion to make 90% of its cars more efficient by 2014.

Start-up Tesla Motors has also asked for $450 million for use in building electric sedans and battery packs for selling to other car makers, and A123 systems has requested $1.84 billion to help build a US lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant.

Somewhat surprising however is that Japanese company Nissan has actually requested loans as well, but has not released details of how much or what for.

This move separates Nissan from the Japanese companies Toyota and Honda who have not requested loans.  Toyota’s US VP Irv Miler said “we’re not interested in being beholden to the government” and Honda’s VP of US affairs said “if it’s worth doing, we’ll do it on our own.”  Technically, there was no wording in the loan application to prevent foreign automakers from requesting them, something critics point out as a weakness of the loan’s language.

What do you think?

Source (Bloomberg)

One of our main concerns here as ardent supporters (mostly) of the Chevy Volt is its ability to make a significant stride towards moving the US towards petroleum independence.  By powering our cars through the electric grid and lithium-ion batteries we wouldn’t need to import petroleum.  Indeed even President Obama has pledged a goal in the US of 1 million plugin hybrid on US roads by 2015.

Many know though that lithium ion batteries are made mostly by Asian companies, including the Volt’s supplier LG Chem.  Furthermore, the raw lithium comes from yet other nations.

The New York Times published a provocative piece on the importance of Bolivia in this industry.

It turns out Bolivia possesses half of the world’s lithium.  As a base metals executive from Mitubishi says “There are salt lakes in Chile and Argentina, and a promising lithium deposit in Tibet, but the prize is clearly in Bolivia, if we want to be a force in the next wave of automobiles and the batteries that power them, then we must be here.”

One problem is that Evo Morales’ government of Bolivia is a fervent critic of the US, has already nationalized the country’s oil and gas industries and threatens to closely control the lithium industry and keep foreigners at bay.

Also, the indigenous people that live among the salt flats also want a piece of the action, adding to the tension. A leader of salt gatherer groups has said “we know that Bolivia can become the Saudi Arabia of lithium, we are poor, but we are not stupid peasants.  The lithium may be Bolivia’s, but it is also our property.”

The United States Geological Survey says 5.4 million tons of lithium could eventually be extracted in Bolivia, compared with 3 million in Chile, 1.1 million in China and just 410,000 in the United States.

A significant problem is Bolivia remains a poorly developed nation and hasn’t actually begun a lithium mining industry in earnest.  The country has been under the patronage of Venezuela whose financial reach is declining along with oil prices.

The combination of a lack of resources, politics, internal strife, and a checkered past places the hopes of an important lithium production capacity in considerable doubt.

This uncertainty is of particular concern for experts who believe the country’s vast reserves will be needed if lithium ion batteries are to one day account for the bulk of automotive propulsion energy storage.

Source (NYT)