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Archive for November, 2009

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New York Times Report on the Chevy Volt Generator Mode Driving Experience

November 20th, 2009 | Posted in: Generator, Prototypes, Test drive with 136 Comments

On the same day the Today Show ran its piece on test driving the Chevy Volt integration prototype, Lindsay Brooke, a reporter from the New York Times published his.
Brooks was the only other journalist so far besides CNBC’s Phil Lebeau to test drive the Volt in generator or charge-sustaining mode and has written about it.
His [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 136 Comments

CNBC Test Drive of the Chevy Volt in Charge Sustaining Mode

November 20th, 2009 | Posted in: Prototypes, Test drive with 52 Comments

A long awaited milestone has just been achieved, sort of.
For many months we’ve discussed, debated, deduced, asked about and imagined what it would be like to drive the Chevy Volt while its generator is running.
This mode is so critical because it represent the first mass market application an electric car operating at the same time [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 52 Comments

Chevy Volt Will be Able to Hit 104 MPH

November 19th, 2009 | Posted in: Performance with 93 Comments

The Chevy Volt is no slouch.
A Volt ride and handling engineer named Mark Popilek said “I got it up to 107 on the test track, but we’re planning on limiting the speed around 104.”
At this point in development the integration vehicles have become highly refined.  In fact, GM has just started to allow journalists test [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 93 Comments

Chevy Volt and Battery Program Update

November 18th, 2009 | Posted in: Engineering, Production, Prototypes with 128 Comments

General Motors provided an online media update as to current progress on the Chevrolet Volt and battery development program, moderated by vehicle chief engineer Andrew Farah and Voltec battery system manager Bill Wallace.  I and several actual journalists attended.  We were given the current state of development and the roadmap of the next 12 months [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 128 Comments

GM to Announce Initial Volt Markets at LA Auto Show

November 17th, 2009 | Posted in: Launch, Marketing with 84 Comments

As many people are aware, GM plans to roll out a limited number of Chevy Volts for sale in late 2010.
Source have stated the exact number is likely to be around 2500.
Even though Nissan has already announced the five markets they plan to introduce the LEAF electric car, GM has remained silent on this issue.
They [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 84 Comments

Coalition of Industry Leaders Releases Roadmap to get 120 Million Electric Cars on US Roads by 2030

November 17th, 2009 | Posted in: Financial, Politics with 88 Comments

A group of industry leaders have formed a new coalition and released an ambitious roadmap to deploy electric vehicles and infrastructure in the United States. The Electrification Coalition states “Our primary mission is to promote government action to facilitate deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale.”
Their goal is to have electric and plugin [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 88 Comments

Op-Ed: GM Reports a $1.2 Billion Loss, but Has the Cash To See Volt Well into Production and Beyond

November 16th, 2009 | Posted in: Financial with 57 Comments

General Motors reported today that it lost $1.2 billion in the period since exiting bankruptcy on July 10th, and also said it will begin to repay government loans early, starting next month.
Overall, there was not a lot to hang your hat on in this update if you consider yourself a defacto shareholder of ‘new’ GM, [...]

Posted by: Statik with 57 Comments

Three Chevy Volt Paint Color Finalists Announced

November 16th, 2009 | Posted in: Design, Features with 78 Comments

On October 22nd, GM announced a contest to allow members of the public to participate in choosing the name of the Chevy Volt’s signature silver with emerald hue paint color.
The decision process was in the form of a contest.
GM claims nearly 13,000 creative entries were received from which they were able to whittle down three [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 78 Comments

What BMW Has Learned from the MINI E Program So Far: That They May Need to Build EREVs

November 15th, 2009 | Posted in: BEV, Competitors with 100 Comments

BMW started the MINI E electric car field test program from scratch in Spring of 2008 as a tool for their Project i plan to develop vehilces for sustainable mega cities of the future..
The trial has been ongoing since the first car was delivered in May of this year. Richard Steinberg of BMW group presented [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 100 Comments

GM: EVs are Cool, but EREV’s are Really Cool

November 14th, 2009 | Posted in: BEV, Competitors, E-REV, Video with 97 Comments

It is fitting that on the day the Nissan LEAF began its US viewing tour I happened to forget to plug in my MINI E electric car the night before, and only had a few miles of range left on it. Luckily, I have a third backup gas car for just these reasons.
The Nissan [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 97 Comments

Report: New Buick Regal Will be First to Get GM’s New Hybrid Drivetrain, and Possibly Plug-in

November 13th, 2009 | Posted in: Hybrid, New Car with 141 Comments

GM is set to launch a brand new version of its classic Buick Regal sedan.
Discontinued in 2004, the new Regal is a rebadged and slightly redesigned version of the Opel Insignia which is already popular in Europe.  The new Regal which will begin selling next year in the US as a 2011 model will initially [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 141 Comments

Chief Powertrain Engineer Pleased With Chevy Volt’s Charge-Sustaining Mode

November 12th, 2009 | Posted in: Engineering, Generator, Original GM-Volt Interviews, Performance, Prototypes with 160 Comments

I had the following discussion with Alex Cattelan who is the Chevy Volt’s chief powertrain engineer. She has a very deep understanding of how the car operates and recently drove in a fleet of integration Volt prototypes through rugged mountains of Knoxville Tennessee.
Do you feel the charge-sustaining (CS mode) experience is now pretty solid [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 160 Comments

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