One of the unknowns in determining how much the Volt or any electric car should cost, is determining the automaker’s cost for the lithium-ion battery.
A number that has been put forth by experts in the field is $1000 per kWh installed in liquid-cooled pack. If this were true, the Volts’ pack would cost $16,000. [...]
Popularity: 7%
On July 1st, GM released its June 08 sales figures. Due to a tightening economy, consumer credit squeeze, sky-high oil prices, and plummeting truck demand it was widely expected that GM would experience a greater than 20% drop in June sales compared to the year prior.
It turns out, all the automakers but Honda and [...]
Popularity: 21%
Ted Miller is Ford’s senior manager of energy storage. He outlined to Bloomberg News Ford’s cautious approach to plug-in vehicles.
Balking at the idea of what GM has done with the Volt he said "if there’s going to be a true plug-in hybrid market, we’re going to be there. It’s just that that’s a huge [...]
Popularity: 38%
Today Republican Presidential candidate John McCain toured the GM auto plant that makes Chevrolet Cobalts in Lordstown Ohio. He told workers there among other things that he supports government investment in producing future electric cars.
He also is reported to have praised the development of the Chevy Volt.
He told the workers, “we can lead [...]
Popularity: 35%
GM CEO Rick Wagoner attended a forum with Barack Obama and other automotive executives and academics today at Carnegie Mellon University.
Obama asked automakers how the next President could help them through the current crisis.
Wagoner asked for help with research funding to develop advanced batteries and vehicles.
Per the article:
Wagoner sounded a note of optimism, noting GM’s [...]
Popularity: 40%
GM VP of global program management Jon Lauckner met with a congressional caucus last week and indicated his hopes for government help in getting people to adopt the Volt.
He said:
“What we favor is actually a sliding scale depending on how much battery you have on board. When I talk about $6,000 to $7,000, we’re [...]
Popularity: 45%
One of the most compelling and important advantages of switching our fleet to plug-in electric cars like the Chevy Volt is being able to break this countries dependence on foreign oil. As oil supplies become tighter and demand increases the detrimental effects on economy and quality of life become clear, as the current oil price [...]
Popularity: 41%
In following the Volt enthusiastically, one cannot help being struck by the significance of GM’s current financial challenges.
The company had been in the midst of a turnaround effort when VOLT was first introduced. Since then many significant economic hurdles have been presented. Not the least of which is the rapidly slumping sale of trucks and [...]
Popularity: 41%
Besides price, another question that we often debate is how many Chevy Volts does GM actually plan to build.
Since the concept was first announced in January 2007, three numbers that come up in the press most often are 10,000, 60,000, and 100,000.
Two of them have come up again.
In discussions I have had with Mr. Lutz [...]
Popularity: 48%
A new interview with Bob Lutz taking place yesterday has been published in the Seattle Times. The article outlines GMs plans for the Chevy Volt as well as electric cars in general and contains some interesting comments from GMs vice-chairman and product czar.
Lutz indicated his enthusiasm for electric cars saying “we believe profoundly in [...]
Popularity: 58%
One of the best things about the Volt is being able to drive without gas for most of one’s daily driving needs. It is clear though, the 40-mile range lithium-ion batteries are going to be expensive, limiting how low GM will be able to sell the Volt for.
In a new interview, Volt vehicle line director [...]
Popularity: 62%
GM has had to recall 9000 NiMh battery packs, made by Cobasys, which are being used in the mild hybrid versions of the VUE, Aura, and Malibu.
This represents one third of the entire fleet. The reports of battery failures apparently began surfacing in December, when drivers became aware of them via dashboard indicators displaying [...]
Popularity: 53%