GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

GM vice chairman Bob Lutz has told reporters that the automaker has indeed decided on which of the two battery making teams they have chosen to supply the Chevy Volt battery packs.

Lutz would not specify which company team that is, LG Chem/CPI or A123/Continental. High ranking sources within those battery companies advise me they they don’t know either. The decision should be made public sometime between now and the end of the year.

Per Lutz, “the Volt is real … and test work is progressing nicely. We haven’t hit any obstacles so far for the batteries. They are all performing flawlessly. It’s almost scary we are not seeing any problems with the batteries.”

Source (Detroit Free Press)

On another note, GM is acting officially off guard about yesterday’s leak of pictures of the production form VOLT from the Transformers2 set. GM spokesperson Rob Peterson told reporters “you can tell it caught me off guard. I didn’t even realize it (the Volt) was out of the state of Michigan.”

Peterson also said the car in the video was “representative of the production vehicle” which would be revealed soon.

Source (Edmunds)

I have also received confirmation from other sources that the interior photo of the Volt was the same shown by Volt designer Bob Boniface at the recent CAR conference, as the picture below reveals, meaning that it is correct.

One question remains. Is GM secretly involved in the leak of these images to build up excitement to the actual reveal? While they won’t say when that will be many speculate it will occur at the GM Centennial Event on September 16th.

From reader requests, here’s a poll. From what you see so far, do you like the look of the concept or the production version better?

Before we get on to the massive Q and As, I felt a need to clarify a certain point.  People might be getting the misconception the the Chevy Volt will be based on the Malibu.  See this article so titled: (LINK).

This isn’t true.  Lutz said the concept’s aerodynamics were not good enough for the efficiencies required for the Volt to get a 40 mile range, and thus had to be re-designed.  This “production Volt” will still look like the concept in some ways.  GM is not releasing the design yet or saying much about it.  Per designer Bob Boniface he wants to keep it a surprise (see my interview).

Lutz said old version Malibus will serve as Volt test mules, but will not have anything to do visually with the final design.

Also, the plan is for the car to be available in November 2010, not 2011, it will just be known as a 2011 Chevy Volt.

Bob Boniface, head of Volt desigin

Mostly we have been discussing the remarkable engineering that will propel the Chevy Volt. Alot of thought also goes into design.

It is interesting to note that the first hybrid cars strove to appear different, so much so that the Honda Insight is discontinued, and the original Prius modelling was later changed. Drivers, it is determined by automakers, want others to notice that they are driving fuel-efficient cars. In the present day, the unique but not radical appearance of the Prius has become synonymous with hybrid. Other models, that carry a hybrid badge only have not fared as well (Accord Hybrid). A new report about this discussion was published today in the Boston Globe.

GMs latest hybrids such as the VUE greenline comes in green with a large badge.

The Volt, is meant to be differnent. Not frumpy, but camaro-esque, and bold-grilled, with its unique glass dropped into the doors and windows up high.

There is talk about a secret new Toyota hybrid to appear at Frankfurt, and others are guessing about a new battery deal to be announced for Toyota next week.

In any event, the Frankfurt show will certainly be a source of some potent information, both with regards to engineering and design.

It has been reported that Bob Lutz said the production model of the Volt wont be able to look like the concept car. The aggressive styling will have to be subdued, and the car will have to “look a little more traditional”. He also gave the car a 90% chance of making it to market.

We thought it would be fun to make a mock up drawing of what the car might actually look like, and it appears below, below the concept:

We would be very interested in seeing your designs. Make one and email it to chevyvolt AT gmail DOT com. We will post them here for all to see…