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

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 [...]

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

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, [...]

Should Gas Taxes be Raised to Promote Electric Car Adoption?

Electrification of the automobile brings with it some significant tax implications.
For one thing since costs of early models will be high, there is a government $7500 tax credit that buyers of the Volt will be eligible for.
However, some auto executives think even that isn’t enough. Proposed is a gas tax.
The idea is nothing new [...]

GM Wins* October Sales Race; Decides to Keep Opel Citing Improved Financial Health

Monthly Sales:
Alright, who lost the script? GM is supposed to finish last in these things aren’t they? (I mean after Chrysler of course) Yet, the numbers are in, and GM stands as the only manufacturer of the ‘top 5′ to record a gain:
GM +.4% (177,603 vehicles sold)
Toyota -3.5% (152,165 [...]

GM CEO Says Help Needed to Achieve Mass Adoption of Electric Cars

Op-Ed: GM Reviews its ‘First 90 Days of Progress,’ and Mark LaNeve has Left the Building!

CEO Fritz Henderson took to the airwaves this week to give us a first 90 days update on the happenings at ‘new’ GM.
Mr. Henderson confirmed that the majority of the restructuring plan that was put in place in July was still on track, and that the four remaining core brands were performing to expectations, and [...]

Compact Power CEO on the Cost of Lithium-ion Batteries

Prabakhar Patil is the CEO of Compact Power Inc, the subsidiary of LG Chem that has been working with GM to produce the Volt’s battery packs.

I recently had the chance to ask him about the cost of lithium-ion batteries.  As some sources suggest cost could be as high as $1000 kwh, I asked him what [...]

Guest Post: September Sales Collapse at GM

With the demise of the Cash for Clunkers program last month, it was expected that auto sales industry wide would suffer, however the car buying public continues to be reluctant to embrace the two government supported automakers, shunning both GM and Chrysler in September.
For the month, General Motors reported that sales nose-dived 45% on 156,673 [...]

Nissan to Lease LEAF EV Battery for Under $150 per Month

When Nissan debuted its all electric Leaf on August 2nd, the indication was that they intended to sell the car and then lease the battery separately for most parts of the world.
At the time, Carlos Ghosn (Nissan’s CEO) told the media that the price of the car would be competitive with its peers, and that [...]

Lutz: Gas Must Rise to $5 or $6 per Gallon to Allow Generalization of Volt Technology

For some of us interested in electrification of the automobile, it can’t happen soon enough.
The Volt is a great first step, though as GM says it is a car for most people, not a car for everyone.  Even considering the wide swath of those for whom it will be ideal, production volumes are expected [...]

Op-Ed: Cash for Clunkers Ends in August and GM’s Monthly Woes Continue Unabated

On August 24th, the CARS program (more affectionately known as ‘Cash for Clunkers’) ended. The program was rolled out to generate sales to the distressed North American car industry (and the economy in general), while putting more efficient cars on the road.
Was it well received? Very much so. Who doesn’t like free money* after all? [...]

CEO: GM Would Consider Selling Voltec Technology

GM has invested over $1 billion and significant human capital developing the Voltec propulsion system that will power the Chevy Volt.
When the company first announced it had changed the name from E-Flex to Voltec, and that it would be doing its own pack assembly in house, it came to me that selling Voltec to other [...]