GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

Spyphotos of a next generation Buick Excelle undergoing testing have surfaced.  Reportedly this is a new-version Buick built on the same compact Delta platform that the Chevy Cruze and Chevy Volt are.

It is conjectured that this vehicle could become an extended-range electric car as well since it already has the proper architecture.

We have been told by GM executives that multiple Voltec concepts would be shown this year.  The Cadillac Converj and Opel/Vauxhall Ampera have already been shown.

Since Pontiac, Saab, and Saturn are being shed as apart of GM’s restructuring, Buick is the best candidate to get the third Voltec car.

The Excelle is a model currently only sold in China, but it is speculated the car could be brought to Europe or even North America.

GM officials have responded to my questions about this as “speculation”.

Recently is was announced by JD Power and Associates that Buick has achieved first place for vehicle quality, tying with Jaguar and upsetting long running number one Lexus.

Since we are imagining here, I will go on record speculating that such a car would be called the Buick Electra.

Source (LeftLaneNews)

I offer the following guest post from Michael Brylawski, Vice President of Corporate Strategy of Bright Automotive in response to our recent post here:

Following a recent posting about Bright Automotive, the GM Volt site has been some great discussion about our company and our vehicle. Speaking as the company’s Vice President of Corporate Strategy, I can tell you that we see a bright future for GM’s electrification efforts, including the Volt and Voltec powertrain, and the mutually beneficial efforts of the more than 50 electrified platforms in development across the globe. Our vehicle differentiation and comments are sometimes “reported” as criticism for creating interest, rather accurately representing our full support of the GM Volt program.

The electrification of the U.S. vehicle fleet is going to require “all hands on deck” from every established automaker, as well as a host of new, innovative enterprises like Bright Automotive. Ultimately, the U.S. is going to need tens of millions of new, electric-drive vehicles coming online in the next decade if we are to seriously address our oil and carbon problems, and revitalize American industry. We do not see electric-drive vehicles as a “niche” market where automakers will battle each other over slices of a small pie; on the contrary, the U.S. market need is ultimately for over two-hundred million new, efficient, electric-drive vehicles.

The future automotive market will be more like an ecosystem with a host of players, including companies like GM and its Voltec powertrain, and newer enterprises like Bright Automotive and its core set of technologies that will complement – not necessarily compete with – each other. And, in fact, our Bright Works engineering services unit is working with other automakers to help them with critical electric drive technologies such as control systems, motors, and battery-pack integration.

What we share in common with forward-looking automakers is the vision of the electrification of the automobile; a focus on the paramount importance of efficiency; and ultimately a renewed, domestic automotive industry that is globally competitive using American know-how and talent to solve some pressing global problems. As well, the success of the Volt, of Bright Automotive, and countless other electrification efforts will help create “critical mass” for a new electrification infrastructure, ranging from the components needed to make electric vehicles affordable to the charge stations, and communications technologies to make owning an electrified-vehicle as convenient as an internal combustion one.

Michael Brylawski
Vice President of Corporate Strategy
Bright Automotive, Inc.

GM CEO Rick Wagoner who is now working for $1 per year told Bloomberg “I do it because it’s important and I feel like I have a responsibility to do it. I plan to stay here until we get things well in shape and on track and beyond that, we’ll see.”

He noted that the shedding of debt, brands, capacity, and jobs that the restructuring process is causing “is really, in substance, about re-inventing General Motors.”

Wagoner was pleased about the $5B in aid auto suppliers have now been granted, he said “It’s a good sign on the proactive nature of the task force,” and “I think it’s a good sign on how they are digging in and focusing on what are the key issues.”

He expects a new lean mean (and electric) GM will result from the government-brokered restructuring. “GM will be leaner and more flexible,” said Wagoner. “We’re going to have moved significantly to lean out our cost structure and address things that have been competitive disadvantages for years.”

The President’s Task Force on Autos have been working aggressively on developing a restructuring framework, and although bankruptcy hasn’t officially been ruled out, all signs are seem to be pointing against it. Steve Rattner, the Task Forces chief, has indicated that the $16.6 billion loan GM is currently asking for “depends on them achieving plans that are somewhat ambitious.” He noted that the actual amount they will need could be “considerably more.”

“Like all management teams they tend to take a reasonably, slightly perhaps, optimistic, view of their business. So it could be more (money), I can’t rule that out,” Rattner said.

Though a technical deadline of March 31st exists to determine if a viable restructuring plan can be arrived at, possibilities still include an announcement next week or even a delay in the deadline. Difficulties remain in getting bondholders and the UAW to accept stock in exchange for debt.

Sources familiar with the negotiations told GM-Volt.com they “expect the task force to say something next week” and that “there’s been positive signals that they want to solve this outside of bankruptcy” and “help get the Volt on the road.”

Source (Bloomberg)

President Obama has mentioned before it is his goal to see 1 million plug-in cars on US roads by 2015. On Thursday he visited Southern California Edison’s Electric Vehicle Technical Center in California. The facility is an experimentla electric car plant that maintains more than 300 electric and gas electric cars.

There he said “our greatest discoveries are born not in a flash of brilliance, but in the crucible of a deliberate effort over time” and that “often they take an investment from government. ”

He acknowledged that “Japan is producing the batteries that currently power American hybrid cars.”

He said “We can remain one of the world’s leading importers of foreign oil, or we can make the investments that will allow us to become the world’s leading exporter of renewable energy.”

Obama also reiterated his pledge stating “we will put one million plug-in hybrid vehicles on America ‘s roads by 2015. ”

He took the opportunity to announce a new $2 billion grant program under the Recovery Act “that will spark the manufacturing of the batteries and parts that run these cars, build or upgrade the factories that will produce them, and in the process, create thousands of jobs right here in America.”

As well he introduced a $400 million “down payment” on preparing electric car infrastructure, and mentioned the $7500 tax credit already earmarked for the first 500,000 buyers of a company’s electric cars.

Meanwhile, back in DC the Auto Task Force is apparently nearing a framework that could be in place as early as next week for restructuring GM and Chrysler and defining how the governemnt will help, though bondholders and the UAW are still wrangling over their mandate to reduce the automakers debt to them.

And so it seems from this economic catastrophe, government intervention, and fantastically enormous spending, shall rise something positive, the electric car.

DONT FORGET TO DIGG THIS STORY:

Source (Washington Post) and (Automotive news)

GM hosted a press conference on their battery strategy and GMs director of EVs and HEVs Bob Kruse wrote a blog post about it.

As we know, the Volt lithium-ion cell contract went to LG Chem of Korea. Mainly the decision to choose them over A123 was based on the fact that LG was ready with cells sooner, and had a much larger production capacity and longer track record. According to Denise Gray, GM’s advanced battery director, the lithium-manganese chemistry of LG chem was “not significantly different” in energy density or power density characteristics than the lithium iron phosphate chemistry of A123 cells. In fact, A123 cells and packs continue to undergo testing.

GMs main point of the conference was reiterate that they are doing the pack design, engineering, and software controls in-house. So while LG or someone else may make an excellent cell, GM intends to make the best pack and become the worlds best electric car battery make maker. This gives them competitive advantage over car companies that are “married” to a specific cell supplier. Gray is convinced batteries will continue to advance in the future and right now GM is testing cells from “more than a dozen suppliers.”

Kruse confirms GM will soon open a large advanced battery lab within their Warren Technical Center in addition to the Volt’s battery assembly plant. That plant he notes “will be the first lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant operated by a major automaker in the U.S., and will create new “green” jobs.”

He advises us that GM is already working and second and third generation designs for these battery packs, and current ones have already evolved considerably from the first prototype packs GM received a year and a half ago.

Future generation Volt packs will continue to deliver the goal 40 miles of all electric range but will be considerably less expensive. Costs will be cut in several ways. Economy of scale will bring down production costs for the cells. GM and LG are also studying ways to tweak the chemistry perhaps removing expensive elements within the chemical mixture. The packs will also become more refined. ” Fewer parts leads to lower costs,” according to Andrew Farah, the Volt’s lead engineer. In addition to fewer parts Gray notes the current first generation packs have “a lot of bells and whistles” in terms of temperature and control management and suggests this safety overkill may not all needed.

The present crop of mules are performing flawlessly by the accounts of all involved and that the only surprises so far have been “pleasant ones” with respect to how perfectly they and their batteries have been performing.

It was also acknowledged and demonstrated that the Cruze-mules have already undergone considerable crash safety testing.  The design of having the battery enclosed in the central tunnel has proven to be extremely safe. The graphic above illustrates what happens to the pack as filmed from below as the mule is crashed into a concrete barrier at 35 mph.  Nothing.  No breach has occurred.

We are at a turning point.  As long as GM can hold on financially we will be seeing some beautiful things called integration vehicles in the coming months.

Television superstar and host of the Tonight Show Jay Leno is well-known to be a car enthusiast. In fact he is an ardent fan of electric cars in general. Reuters had a chance to talk with him about his upcoming free concert in Detroit on April 7th, called the Comedy Stimulus Package. The reporter asked Jay about the Volt and shared this material with us here. It is not published anywhere else.

Q: (Reuters) Are you in line to get a Chevy Volt?

A: (Jay Leno) I’m going to go by and drive it and test it. Right now, I’ve got the Equinox, the hydrogen car. It’s not mine but I’ve had it for about a year and I put about six or seven thousand miles on it. I’m kind of a geek and if there’s any problem I write it down in the notebook.

Q: How has the Equinox been?

A: It’s been incredible. The only downside is that it’s about a 20 minute wait for a fill-up, so bring a book. But that’s only because the infrastructure is not here yet so it takes a little longer to fill.

Q: Do you think you’ll be one of the first to test drive a Volt in real-world conditions?

A: I would love to be. I would love to try it. I think it will be great. I think you’ll find that the Volt will be a superior package to the Prius.