GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

General Motors is putting its best foot forward with the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car.

From their experience with the EV-1, the company has decided a 40 mile pure EV range with a gas range extender is the best solution for mass adoption, allowing the most gas-free driving while at the same time eliminating range anxiety and the need for charging infrastructure.

However, many car companies are choosing to produce pure EVs. Which approach will gain greater public appeal is unknown at this early stage, though the next few years should clarify things.

Thus GM isn’t resting on its heels but is continuing to study a pure EV launch in the US.  They have already joint ventured with Indian electric car maker REVA to produce a pure electric Spark for the Indian market this year.

Vice chairman Bob Lutz was reported as saying an electric Volt would be easy to build.  “Once you’ve done the Volt, pure electric is trivial,” he said. “You just leave some parts out.”

Pete Savagian, GM’s director of hybrid and EV engineering recently admitted that GM has “been studying (the BEV) internally really intensely.”

“Since we see electrification as the long term evolution of the auto, and there is so much going on in the industry,” he told GM-Volt.com. “We study various electrified vehicle options on an ongoing basis to evaluate the merits of how such a vehicle might perform in a particular market and segment.”

When asked specifically about a US pure EV Chevrolet Marketing director Jim Campbell said “thats not something I have a lot of comment on.”

“Its possible but we haven’t made a commitment on it one way or another,” he said.  “Were looking at a whole range of possibilities and that could be a possibility in the future.”

Though vague about the US market, GM’s electric plans for Europe are now more concrete.

In a recent statement on their five-year plan, Opel anounced it would be spending €11 billion to develop advanced technology vehicles.  Included would be the launch of  ”an extended-range electric vehicle in addition to the Ampera,” and “pure battery-electric vehicles in smaller-size segments.”

Opel President Nick Reilly indicated GM will be unveiling a new green car concept at the Geneva Auto Show next month.

“Using green innovation and alternative propulsion,” Opel told Auto Car the concept “is proof that size and comfort do not need to be sacrificed for a vehicle to be environmentally efficient”.

The Ford Motor company has just unveiled its first commercial electric vehicle.  The Transit Connect Electric Cargo van will go into production in late 2010.

It is a small van weighing in at 3948 pounds with a wheelbase of 114.6 inches and a length of 1806. inches.  It can hold from two to five passengers and a 1000 pound payload.

It is a pure electric vehicle utilizing a Siemens 3 phase AC induction motor and single speed transmission that offers 235 Nm of torque and a top speed of 75 mph on flat ground and 60 mph up 3 percent grade.  It will do 0 to 60 in 12 seconds based on curb weight and 15 seconds based on gross vehicle weight rating.

Power comes from a liquid-cooled 28 kwh Johnson Controls-Saft lithium-ion pack that can be recharged in 6 to 8 hours at 240 volts using the industry standard J1772 SAE coupler. It has an 80 mile target driving range.

The vehicle is intended for commercial fleet use and is “well-suited for commercial fleets that travel predictable, short-range routes with frequent stop-and-go driving in urban and suburban environments and a central location for daily recharging,” said Ford in a press release.

The “Force Drive” electric powertrain is manufactured and integrated by specialty upfitter Azure Dynamics.

“We’re excited about the potential for our electrified vehicles,” said Praveen Cherian, program manager for the Transit Connect Electric, who added that today’s electric vehicle buyers are similar to early adopters of hybrid vehicles. “People were a little hesitant about hybrids at first, but now they accept it and embrace it. We expect the same will be true of electric vehicles.”

Ford says the vehicle will offer lower cost of operation than a comparable gas vehicle due to the low cost of electricity versus gas  fuel and low cost of maintenance.

The vehicle including the battery pack is designed for a lifetime of 10 years/120,000 miles.

The current gasoline powered Transit Connect van won the 2010 North American Truck of the Year.

According to Ford spokesperson Jennifer Moore pricing has not been announced and will be “primarily for commercial use.”  Ford  ”would not exclude retail sales,” she added.

Ford has not yet determined whether the vans will be leased or sold.

“Volumes will be low to begin with to determine how the emerging market shapes up,” says Moore.  ”Up to a thousand will be produced in the first full year of production.”

Ford also plans to bring out a pure electric Ford Focus in late 2011, and in 2012 they will produce their next generation C-class hybrid and plugin hybrid.

Source (Ford)

In the first IPO of an automaker since Ford went public in 1956, Telsa Motors has filed with the SEC an application to sell shares to the public and become a publicly traded company.

This is seen as a victory of sorts for the Silicon Valley start-up company that has been plagued with difficulties, controversies and delays. It is another landmark on the path to electrification of the automobile for the company that Bob Lutz admits inspired the Volt concept. Its CEO Elon Musk, billionaire founder of PayPal is not one to give up, and he has been pushing for this event for some time.

The timing of the IPO is not specified but is expected to raise $100 million dollar or more for the sale of shares.  Telsa has already received $465 million in goverment loans for the building of its Model S sedan assembly plant and a powertrain plant.

In the filing Tesla, has indicated it has sold 937 Roadsters for $109,000 each.  In the first three quarters of last year the company lost $31 million on revenue of $93 million.

The company warns that revenue is likely to become lower until 2012 when the Model S Pure EV goes into production.  The car was initially projected to go on sale in 2011, but was moved back. There are 2000 people who have put down $5000 deposits for it. Tesla will also acutally be ending the production of its current 2-seat Roadster in 2011, for which there are only 220 more backorders. A replacement isn’t due until 2013.

The filing also contains an easter-egg of sorts for current Tesla owners.  They will be considered “friends and family” of Tesla which means they will be permitted the option of purchasing shares of the company at its inital price prior to entering the secondary public market. This is a way for Tesla to extend their appreciation to their loyal early customers.

This year is also expected to potentially bring the IPO of the new GM.

Risks or rewards.  Will you buy these companies’ shares?

(Read Prospectus)

GM engineers have rightly been assiduously concerned and careful about ensuring the Chevy Volt’s battery will last 10 years or 150,000 miles and deliver its stated range and power.

The Nissan LEAF electric car, also expected to arrive at the end of the year, apparently isn’t so meticulously engineered.  Or so says Wired.com in an article written by Daryl Siry, former marketing head of Tesla and currently an advisor to Coda Automotive

Siry portrays Nissan almost as a brazen bull in a china shop fearlessly led by an overoptimistic and headstrong Carlos Ghosn.  Nissan, Siry notes, now at the forefront of EV marketing wasn’t even part of the discussion two years ago.  This rush to the front lines may have made them less careful in their haste.

Ghosn reportedly said, “The engineers will always tell you, ‘Wait a little more,’ and if you keep playing this game, you never launch any product.”

Yikes.

Siry points out that the LEAF’s 100 mile estimated range is based on the overly conservative LA4 test cycle, and that in real world conditions range will be “significantly less.”

It gets worse.

Nissan is not using an active thermal management system for the LEAF’s batteries.

Instead of including a separate high-tech computer controlled liquid heating and cooling system like the Volt has, Nissan is simply blowing cabin air into the pack with a fan.  It is this sophisticated pampering of the pack GM feels is so critical for maintaining range, power and longevity, that Nissan has ignored completely.  In fact GM has gone so far as to call pack construction core competency and has built and begun operating its own battery pack assembly plant.

Nissan director Mark Perry went so faras to dismiss the importance of a thermal management system.

“We don’t need thermal management for the U.S. … we’ve gone on the record saying that the pack has a 70 to 80 percent capacity after 10 years,” he told Wired.com

Another Nissan product manager told Wired the real reason there is no thermal management system is that it would take up too much cabin space, by adding height to the pack.  This is the reason Volt has four seats, compared to the LEAF’s five.

GM’s Volt executive Tony Posawatz explained why separate battery HVAC is so important in electric cars.

“Thermal management  has bookend issues to manage: minimized power at low temperatures and life reduction at high exposure to higher temperatures,” he told Wired. “If you want to replace your battery every four to five years and someone is willing to pay for [a replacement battery], either the customer or the manufacturer, a modest or minimal HVAC system may work.”

It is quite likely Nissan’s awareness they are taking a battery shortcut has led them to the decision to lease the battery separately.

Source (Wired)

You will remember Bill Reinert, Toyota’s advanced technology manager who appeared in our last recent post.

He gave an interview to CNN in which he downplayed enthusiasm for electric cars.

He believes America isn’t ready for the electric car and that pushing them on people is a mistake.

“We don’t look at electric cars as a replacement for internal combustion cars,” he said.

He announced that Toyota’s upcoming mini pure BEV will arrive in 2012, will have a 40 mile range, and will not be sold, but leased.

“You don’t own it,” Reinert told CNN. “You get in it and pay by the minute or by the hour.”

Reinert also explained that pure electric cars are not a solution for families and longer range driving.

“A car that has a 100 mile range and needs to be recharged for eight hours after that, that’s not flexible enough for the modern family,” said Reinert.

Reinert also said that 100 mile advertised ranges are far from realistic, something I can personally account for.

“You’re out on the highway, you’re flooring it, your throttle position is wide open and you’re accelerating a lot,” he told CNN. “You’ve got the heater on and the air conditioner on and all these parasitic loads greatly drain the battery.”

Reinert did admit that GM might have developed the perfect solution with the Chevy Volt extended range electric car, letting people do most if not all of their driving on electricity with the built-in flexibility for extended drives and range reduction from parasitic loads.

“I greatly admire General Motors for going in that direction,” said Reinert.

There’s one thing we can agree on.

Source (CNN)

When the Volt concept was first unveiled it was met with significant skepticism, especially from competitors.  It was believed at the time that lithium-ion technology was not ready for the mass production automotive application.  One of the strongest naysayers in those days was Toyota.  GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz even promised Toyota they would have ‘egg on their face’ after GM proved it could be done.

He was right. Three years later the Volt battery production plant has begun operations, and even Toyota itself has committed to lithium-ion powered plugin Priuses that will roll out later this year, and go on sale next year.  Countless automakers have either shown concepts or committed to production electric cars.

Nissan and its CEO Carlos Ghosn has been particularly bullish about electric cars.  However, their focus is on pure electrics, forgoing range extenders and plugin hybrids.

“This is about preserving the planet,” Ghosn was reported as saying by Bloomberg Markets magazine. “If we start being skeptical, nothing is going to happen.”

“We aim to be the global leader in zero-emission mobility,” he said.

Even Toyota thinks the Nissan LEAF’s 100 mile range will be a significant shortcoming.

“One hundred miles covers most daily trips but not all,” Bill Reinert VP of advanced technology of Toyota told Businessweek. “How many people can afford a specialized car that can’t be used on vacation?”

Bob Lutz who is the principle architect of the Chevy Volt does not think the LEAF will be a winning bet either.

“He’s rolling the dice,” Lutz told Businessweek about Ghosn. “I don’t see it happening.”

Even still, Lutz was recently quoted as saying GM will build a pure electric version of the Volt, though GM spokesperson Rob Peterson is playing that claim down.

“In essence he was stating that it could be done,” said Peterson. “It is not currently on the production timeline.”

If it were true, I guess thats what you call covering your bets.

Source (BusinessWeek)