GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

The other day I was in my office when my cell phone rang. I picked it up and on the other end heard a strong voice with a slight Texas drawl, “Dr. Dennis? Hi , Ed Whitacre here.”

You could imagine how taken aback I was, caught by surprise, but quite thrilled and honored.

You see I had been trying to reach out to Mr. Whitacre for a while to learn about his perspective on electric cars, and thanks to GM communications leadership it very suddenly became a reality.

I joked with him that we shared something in common, neither he or I knew much about cars before we started these roles, and he agreed. “I don’t know anything about cars, ” he admitted.

But clearly he knows how to run a business.

I asked why he took the job at GM.

“The government called me in the summer, the Treasury Department, and asked me if I would consider being Chairman,” he said. “I had been at AT&T many years and was happily retired and so I said no I won’t, and they called back the next day and the next day and my conscience finally got to me and I agreed to be Chairman of the Board. I did that for about four months.”

Since it wasn’t much publicized I asked about why Fritz Henderson was fired.

“The board had the feeling GM wasn’t moving quickly enough or the right way, so Fritz left,” he said. “He’s a great guy and he left. I’m pretty old but there wasn’t any other candidate at the time. I had been chairman of AT&T for 17 years so I said yes I could be the CEO.”

“I don’t expect to stay in the position long,” he said. “There’s a search committee doing a search.”

As you might know, Mr. Whitacre also sits on the Board of Directors of ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest petroleum producers, and it is of interest to see how he might reconcile that with the mission of GM’s Chevy Volt, to help wean our country off of oil.

“ExxonMobil is very concerned about the environment and the future also,” Whitacre said. The company works towards “finding different sources (of energy) and converting to natural gas.”

“We provide the fuel to a lot of powerplants that generate electricity, and there’s a lot of scientific work as well like growing algae (for biofuels),” he added.

He described ExxonMobil as being “responsible citizens,” and noted there is opportunity for the company in a world of electric cars.

“They’re tuned into the electric car,” he said. “As good as (our electric cars) are, the electricity has to be generated by some fossil fuel.”

That the CEO of GM reached out to me and us, and was genuinely thankful for our work here on GM-Volt.com is a very, very wonderful thing. Stay tuned for some more of our conversation.

Yesterday GM unveiled a plugin hybrid version of its next generation Cadillac flagship, the XTS platinum. Its fairly certain that the gas-version of the car will go into production but whether the plugin hybrid will isn’t clear.

GM has been developing the 2-mode plugin hybrid drivetrain since 2006, and I even had the chance to drive a mule version (see post) last summer.  Originally destined to appear in the Saturn VUE, and transiently slotted for a  Buick SUV, where this drivetrain will finally make its retail appearance is not known.

GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz did tell reporters at the Auto Show that GM will build a plugin hybrid and said that car will arrive prior to the Cadillac XTS, possibly in 2011.

“There will be others that will launch before this,” he said about the plugin Cadillac. “That technology can and will be moved to something else. Think possibly Equinox or Terrain, but we’re not ready to announce that or say when it’s coming out.”

Lutz indicated that GM plans to offer a portfolio of electrified vehicles.

“One thing’s for sure,” he said.  ”We will have a wide array of plug-in hybrids.”

Converj?
Bob Lutz also was quoted as saying the Converj would be built, however later Cadillac global product director John Howell called the statement premature.

Howell told reporters GM still needed to develop a business case for the Converj and determine if the Voltec drivetrain would be powerful enough and operate smoothly enough for the Cadillac experience.

“We want it to be a true luxury driving experience,” Howell said.

Also unknown is how large the market for a Cadillac EREV coupe would be.

Bob Lutz told GM-Volt.com that even if the Converj and the plugin XTS were both built they wouldn’t compete with one another.

“They would not (compete),” he said. “One’s a coupe, and basically an EREV like Volt. The other is a large, conventional hybrid, with possibly 10 miles of electric range.”

Source (Detroit News) and (MLIVE)

GM has just unveiled a breathtaking luxury sedan concept car powered by the 2-mode plugin hybrid drivetrain. This appears to be the final resting place of the powertrain that was first intended for the Saturn VUE.

The vehicle showcases Cadillac’s new top-of-the line Platinum series, and is considered a luxury sedan of the future.

“The XTS Platinum concept is the next expression of Cadillac’s Art and Science execution philosophy, reflecting our drive to deliver the latest innovations in the most artful manner,” said Bryan Nesbitt, Cadillac general manager. “We envisioned this concept as an automotive personal headquarters, using advanced technology to enable new levels of connectivity and luxury.”

A 3.6 L V-6 Direct Injection engine is mated with the 2-mode plugin hybrid drivetrain to produce a combined 350 horsepower and 295 foot-pounds of torque. It uses a rechargeable 8 kwh lithium ion battery that can be recharged in about 5 hours. Driving can be done in pure electric mode under most driving conditions, with the car’s goal to deplete the battery’s grid-stored energy over a 20 mile range. When extra power is demanded such as during acceleration and hill climbs, the combustion engine can power on.

Fuel economy should work out to be double what a conventional hybrid of this size would achieve.

It is all wheel drive, shares teh Buick LaCrosse platform and uses a Magnetic Ride Control (MRC) system in which all 4 wheels continuously sense the road and adjust for instantaneous and extremely precise body motions.

The stately, luxurious and athletic exterior is conceived of in what Cadillac is calling a progressive art and science design. It is a large bold car similar in size to the DTS, but more stylish and somewhat reminiscent of the Mercedes S-class.

The interior is opulent and spacious and minimizes the use of buttons, blending the display screen into a flowing back-lit organic LED panel.

The XTS series is expected to go into production in 2012. No pricing is known but if you think $40,000 is expensive for a car…

Your Range Will Vary

We have long heard that GM is targeting a 40 mile electric only range and a 300 mile gasoline range for the Chevrolet Volt.

Engineers have repeatedly said the Volt is meeting range expectations and have explained that the 40 miles can be achieved both on the city and highway cycles, which is fairly non aggressive, and doesn’t take into account significant electric accessory draws.

According to GM vice chairman Bob Lutz, the Volt’s electric range will vary considerably in the real world. He noted that some customers could become unpleasantly surprised and even “perplexed” at how drastic the range will be reduced under some driving conditions.

Though GM has in place special provisions to allow the car to be maximally consistent in range delivery, physics are physics, and 8 kwh is 8 kwh.

Lutz told a reporter from the Dow Jones that he drove the Volt for a weekend recently during the cold Detroit winter, and found he got only 28 miles of electric range.

Of course, with the Volt this will be far less important then in pure EVs, as the range extender will always be there to kick in and keep drivers going.

Pure Electric Volt

On the flipside, Lutz also told reporters at the Auto Show that GM is planning to build a pure electric version of the Volt too. This will be for that segment of people who want it and to compete against such vehicles as the Nissan Leaf.

For as long as the Volt concept has been in existence a certain contingency of people have expressed interest in such a vehicle as many comments on this site over the years can attest.

Lutz wouldn’t say when such a car would hit showrooms, but noted the process for building it would be “technologically trivial,” and just a matter of removing the range extender and expanding the battery pack.

“Once you’ve done the Volt, pure electric is trivial. You just leave some parts out,” Lutz said.

Source (ABC News)

Michigan Confirmed to be Initial Volt Market

Today the NAIS is underway in Detroit Michigan, and news tends to come in furious waves.

Though we heard yesterday that Michigan will be a  first market to get the Chevy Volt in addition to California, the official release came today.

“Launching in California and Michigan gives us important West Coast and Midwest platforms that will allow us to introduce the Volt more effectively into broader regions across the U.S.,” said Maria Rohrer, Chevrolet marketing director for Volt.

The Detroit Edison utility company llwi also participate in the Volt fleet project, involving 100 Chevy Volts across the nation that will take part in an extended research and demonstration fleet program, most of which will be in California. It is important to note this fleet test will begin this year but after, not before consumer launch.

GM also unveiled the new subcompact Aveo as part of the new upcoming Chevy small segment portfolio which will also include the Volt, the Cruze, and the Spark minicar.

GMC Granite

The wraps were  pulled on what GM is calling the GMC Granite, a small crossover that would be the smllest GMC ever built.

“We think of the Granite as the automotive equivalent of an urban loft apartment,” said Dave Lyon, executive director of North American Interior and Global Cross-Brand Design. “The exterior has an unmistakable industrial look, but the interior is warm and personalized.”

It would run on the same 1.4L turbo engine the Cruze uses, and could host a Voltec powertrain just as the Orlando might.

The doors hinge on opposite sides allowing for a French-door type opening. There is no chrome and it has 20 inch wheels.

The interior is designed with an aircraft-like mechanical cluster and precision tool motif.

Cadillac Converj Offically Greenlighted

GM vice chairman Bob Lutz told reporters for the first time that the Cadillac Converj Voltec vehicle has been officially greenlighted for production.

He told reporters the car is “heading for production,” but that it wont be sold until 2013. He noted the car would be for consumers “who don’t mind paying a large price for a luxury vehicle.”

Lutz also reiterated that the Volt be have to be sold at a loss. As such, GM will only build a maximum of 50,000 to 60,000 Volts per year, and bring costs down by offering a portfolio of Voltec cars.

“First-generation vehicles are hard to make profitable,” Lutz told reporters.

GMC Granite Gallery

For over two years GM has held to its plan for launching the Chevy Volt in November of this year. But there have been a lot of changes since then including the surprise seizure of the CEO position by Ed Whitacre. Whitacre spoke to the Detroit Press about the Chevy Volt and his eagerness to get the car into consumers hands.

“I wish it were on the market today,” he said. “We’re going to push as hard as we can to get this vehicle out there. It’s a complicated process.”

Whitacre also said he expected the car to cost consumers $32,000 after tax breaks.

He suggested a significant motivation for building the Volt at least in his eyes, is for the environment.

“This is a bold journey for us. We want to do this for the environment. … We think this is part of the future for us,” he told the reporter. “We’re putting a lot at risk here, but we’re going to do it.”

Earlier reports suggested that Whitacre and the board have been pushing to beginning selling the Volt earlier than the long cited November timeframe, as long as quality measures can be achieved.

The new goal according to anonymous sources: late September or October.

Whitacre has also been surprised by what its like driving the Volt

“I was prepared for something like a golf cart. This is no golf cart,” he told the Press. “This is very powerful, a lot of acceleration, it feels really solid and it goes fast. It’s a very impressive car.”

The first three markets the Volt will be sold have now been revealed.

“The first markets that we anticiapte retail sales will be California and Michigan,” Lauckner told Autoline Detroit last week.

According to the Detroit Press the third region will be Washington DC.

Source (Detroit Free Press)