GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

The Wall Street Journal recently published an in-depth profile of GM’s CEO Dan Akerson.

The story begins with the reporter going for a ride with Mr. Akerson in his Chevy Volt. He was delighted at showing off that he had driven 461 miles in the car only having used 1.2 gallons of gas.

It is repeatedly noted that Akerson is ”not a car guy” just like the CEO before him, Ed Whitacre, who stepped down instead of making a log-term commitment to the company.

Akerson used to be the CEO of Nextel where he pushed the envelope engaging in all out marketing to propel new products, like he did with the push-to-talk feature popular at the time.

He sees GM in need of changing its product development stance. “See this can?” he said to the reporter, raising a Diet Coke. “It’s a consumer product. GM has to start acting like a consumer-driven, not engineering-driven, company. We sell a consumer product—our can just costs $30,000.”

A former Naval officer, Akerson took the job at GM  as a “service for my country.”  In fact, he forfeited  $100 million in future pay at his position in the Carlysle group to do so.

Akerons is interested not only in a heavy marketing approach, but a strong global perspective.   Illustrating this, he was recently shown GM’s upcoming portfolio and was concerned it was too focused on North America. “One of three people on this planet lives in China or India—we need cars for them,” he said.   He then ordered up a new inexpensive car model for rural China.

Akerson has pushed for simplification of GM’s existing engine profile. He was concerned about why GM has so many different engines. “Why do we have 18 types of engines? We have only four brands,” he said. After at first trying to explain to him why, soon thereafter VP Tom Stephens relented and now GM will only offer 12 engines by next year.

Akerson is big on electrification, and is already actively studying methods for the company to expand Volt production volumes. He wants “more, faster” with respect to the Volt because “it’s a place where Dan believes we have a lead,” said GM vice-chairman Stephen Girsky.

Finally the story nonchalantly confirmed GM has a Cadillac plugin hybrid under production. Apparently Akerson was for some reason considering canceling the program when company insiders pushed for him to see the car which was then under development in the design studio. After that “he later agreed to continue production,” writes the Journal.

When the Detroit Auto Show opens its doors to reporters tomorrow, Akerson will take the spotlight as a non-car guy at the wheel. We shall see what interesting news develops.

Source (Wall Street Journal)

There is mounting evidence GM plans to build on the success of the Chevrolet Volt and turn out various electric vehicles in the coming years.  GMs CEO Dan Akerson is a big proponent of vehicular electrification and recently noted GM was already studying ways to double or triple production.

Other reports suggest GM may be planning to unveil an extended range electric crossover Chevy Amp at the Detroit Auto Show in January.

The latest report from Reuters cites anonymous GM sources who say the company is also planning to build a plug-in electric Cadillac crossover based on the SRX.  This vehicle would make use of the two-mode plugin drivetrain that GM had previously been working on for the Saturn VUE which was scrapped with the brand’s demise.

GM-Volt has learned non-plugin 2-mode hybrid version of the SRX is also known to be undergoing testing.

When asked if GM would be spreading Voltec technology to brands other than Chevrolet, CEO Akerson told reporters last week, “you know, I am having a meeting on that tomorrow.”

GM vice chairman Steve Girsky also confirms his company and CEO are determined to push hard on electrification, building on the already established lead of the Voltec foundation.  ”We want to push our lead,” said Girsky. “Akerson is intent on pushing the metal on this thing.”

“GM hasn’t had a leadership vehicle like this in a long time,” he said. “Akerson is insistent that we have that.”

The Volt has begn rolling out to owwners across the nation.  GM plans to build 15,000 total copies of 2011 and 2012 model year versions of the car in the 2011 calendar year, and at least 45,000 in the follwing year.  Just how many they eventualy build annually depends on demand, but GM is looking at many options.

“There is a lot of hand-wringing about whether it should be 60,000 or 120,000, and what if we do this, and what if we do that,” said Girsky. “You can talk yourself out of anything that way, but all that doesn’t take into account the need to have a vision and lead.”

One thing seems certain as thee reports confirm, GM doesn’t plan to rest on its laurels, and will continue to push on with vehicular electrification.

Source (Reuters) and (Autoblog)

It’s auto show time again, and time for GM and the other automakers to strut out some of their R&D and design handiwork.  Don’t forget that’s how the Volt itself was born so sometimes these concepts are worth a close look.  Automakers also gauge consumers response to determine whether to actual build these vehicles, something else that happened with the Volt.

At the LA Auto Show, GM has unveiled what it is calling the Cadillac Urban Concept car.

The vehicle is an example of  a diminutive city car that could be used in tight highly populated urban environment where parking spaces are small and hard to find.  That idea is married with the luxury features and accouterments expected in a Cadillac.  Furthermore the drivetrain is a highly efficient hybrid one.

The vehicle seats four and has scissor doors for easy egress and ingress.  The doors extend outwards and rotate forward when opened with a push of a button.  The interior is spacious and lathered in high tech surfaces including touchpad screens instead of traditional analog gauges.  Premium leather seating with copious head and leg room is provided along with a large windshield and twin skylights to maximize airiness.

It has a razor sharp high tech design profile and is only 151 inches long with a 97 inch wheelbase and sports 19 inch wheels.

The propulsion system is a concept version of the eAssist next-generation mild hybrid design GM recently disclose it was building into the next year Buick LaCrosse.  In this case that hybrid system is mated to a 3-cylinder 1.0 L turbocharged engine, very similar to the one initially conceived for the Volt.

With this configuration and considering the vehicle’s size shape and weight, GM is confident it could achieve 56 mpg in the city and 65 mpg on the highway.  GM even confirmed its confidence in these numbers based on “extensive prototype and production experience.”

“The Cadillac Urban Luxury Concept celebrates its scale with intelligent, innovative content that makes it unique regardless of its size,” said Clay Dean, Director of GM North American Advanced Design and Cadillac Brand Champion. “It has a small exterior footprint, but is roomy inside.”

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In January, GM unveiled its new flagship Cadillac luxury sedan, called the XTS.  It was shown as a plug-in hybrid concept mating a 3.5 L V-6 engine to GMs’ 2-mode plugin hybrid drivetrain.  This drivetrain has been under development since 2006 and is functioning well in prototypes, including one this author test drove.  It includes an 8 kw lithium-ion battery and the potential to travel 20 miles up to in EV mode when fully charged.

Recently, inside reports confirmed by Bob Lutz indicated that GM’s first electric Caddy concept, the Converj, had been cancelled.  The Converj was a stylish but compact 4 seater that relied on an amped-up Voltec drivetrain, similar to the Volt’s, for up to 40 miles electric driving.

According to new reports citing inside sources the plugin XTS has been greenlighted for production.

Apparently GM’s rationale for killing the Converj and approving the plugin XTS is simple, profit.

It is speculated that GM will not make money on early units of the Chevy Volt, and may sell them at a loss.  The new technology may be too expensive to allow the cars to be sold affordably for profit.  The same would be true for the Converj.  Furthermore, it is reported that GM isn’t sure there is enough global demand for 3 Voltec vehicles; Volt, Ampera, and Converj.

The 2-mode plugin drivetrain has half the battery expense and is built off the 2-mode hybrid system already in production.  It could appeal to the luxury-green crowd much as competitors such as the Mercedes plugin S class, slated for production, and be profitable.

Also it would have been a difficult engineering challenge for GM to give the Converj the power and smoothness expected of a luxury Cadillac using the Voltec propulsion system.  The 2-mode drivetrain can utilize the gas engine when high power is required.

Source (MotorTrend)

The Cadillac Converj was a stunning extended range concept car GM first unveiled an the January 2009 Detroit Auto Show. The luxurious stylish vehicle was to utilize the same Voltec propulsion system as the Volt though specifically tuned for increased performance and luxury.

GM vice chairman Bob Lutz has long been a proponent for the car whose pricetag and market segment was purported to be better able to absorb the added cost of the electrified drivetrain.

Bloomberg reported that the program has been cancelled specifcally so the company can focus on bringing out lower cost plugin parallel hybrids for the Cadillac brand.

Apparently GM’s internal research concluded that GM could not produce the Converj with sufficient features and performance to be compelling enough to buyers at the same time producing a profit.  This information was obtained from two GM executives who asked not to be identified.

To have made the Converj perform as intended, faster and smoother with heavier seats and larger wheels, its range would have been halved to 20 miles, while at the same time increasing its price by $30,000.

The decision to kill the Converj was made at a late January meeting even though earlier in that month Lutz had said the car was cleared for production.

“As we took a look at our available capital and engineering resources, we decided that there were things that were more urgent than doing a Cadillac version of the Voltec architecture,” Bob Lutz told Reuters. “We had originally had a time slot for the Converj and that has been put on hold.”

GM still plans to electrify Cadillacs, only relying on lower electric range plugin parallel hybrid technology, like the plugin 2-mode drivetrain recently previewed in the XTS concept.

According to analyst Eric Noble, president of CarLab, an automotive consultant, GM’s decision to kill the Converj is “a tacit admission from GM that they over-batteried the Volt.”

“The future lies in plug-in hybrids with smaller electric range,” he said.

Voltec/EREV now seems dead to the Cadillac brand, at least using today’s lithium ion batteries.  Does it also speak to the Volt possibly becoming a one-off model?

Source (Bloomberg) and (Reuters)

Aside from the Chevy Volt which it could be argued isn’t a hybrid, GM has not released any public plans to produce a strong hybrid sedan.

At present the company produces 2-mode hybrid trucks including the Tahoe, Escalade, and Sierra models.  These vehicles have a 25% higher fuel efficiency than their non hybrid counterparts, yet their $10,000 price premiums have resulted in very limited sales.

GM recently announced they were investing in their own dedicated electric motor assembly plant, which would produce the motors for the next generation of 2 mode hybrids.

Vice Chairman Tom Stephens told Automotive News that the next generation would be the first to appear in rear wheel drive sedans.

Though Stephens did not say which models weer slated to get the powertrain, he did say they would utilize a new GM designed electric motor that;s 25% smaller and 20% more powerful than the ones curently found in the 2-mode trucks.

“The new motor will be lighter,” said Stephens. “It will be more affordable.”

These attributes he said would make it better-suited for a sedan.

Automotive analyst named Jim Hall concluded the vehicle most likely to get the new hybrid drivetrain will be the next generation Cadillac CTS and the new upcoming smaller Cadillac ATS .

The ATS is expected to go on sale in 2011, and the next generation CTS is scheduled for 2012.

The new compact and affordable hybrid powertrains won’t appear until 2013.

GM has not yet released images of the ATS which will be about theh same size as a Honda Accord, and share styling cues with the Voltec-powered Converj.

“We’re finalizing the four-door showcar of the ATS first,” a  source told Edmunds Inside Line. “Then we’ll follow quickly after with a wagon, a coupe and a convertible.”

Source (Automotive News)