GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

At this year’s Detroit auto show, Toyota unveiled the long expected Prius MPV as well as a diminutive Prius c subcompact concept.

Originally the environmentally advanced leader of automakers, the last couple of years has seen the aggressive strides of competitors GM, Nissan, and now Ford, all introducing either pure electric or plugin electric cars, with both Volt and LEAF deliveries already underway, eat away at Toyota’s environmental marketing monopoly.

To its credit, Toyota has sold over 1 million Prius hybrids worldwide over ten years, and the car is now in its third generation. This announcement reveals the company intends to expand the iconic hybrid from a single model into a family or series of Priuses.

The Prius PHV, which is a plugin hybrid version of the standard Prius with a lithium ion battery and 13 mile EV range will enter the retail market in mid 2012, the company announced. The plug-in will be initially offered in 14 West and East Coast states (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Virginia and New Hampshire) where nearly 60 percent of all Prius models are currently sold. Availability in all remaining states will be a year later.

In addition to this vehicle the automaker introduced two additional non-plugin hybrid models.

The first is a minivan sized car called the Prius v, with the v standing for versatility. The Prius v shares the same Synergy drivetrain only possess 50% more cargo space. Despite its size, the car manages a respectable 0.29 coefficient of drag, meaning it is highly aerodynamic.

It manages spacious seating for five with impressive rear leg room and considerable rear cargo space. To reduce mass a specially designed resin moonroof is available.

The addition of all this size and mass to the drivetrain’s load not unexpectedly drops the fuel economy from that of the standard Prius which gets 50 mpg combined. The Prius v is expected to be rated at 42 mpg city, 38 mpg highway and 40 mpg combined, which Toyota says is the highest for any SUV crossover or MPV on the market.

Normal, Power, Eco and EV driving modes are available. The car will go on sale by the end of 2011. Pricing has not been announced.

Finally Toyota also introduced the Prius’ little sister called the Prius c. At this point the c is just a concept, though Toyota plans to bring it to market in the first half of 2012. It is a diminutive car smaller than the Prius but that still retains four doors and seating for five.  The c stand for city -centric and the car will offer high mileage cordless hybrid driving at a budget price.

Source (Toyota)

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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GM has just announced it will be releasing the second generation BAS mild hybrid system for the first time in the 2012 LaCrosse.

First available in the summer of next year, the hybrid system will become the standard drivetrain for the vehicle. It will lead to 25% improvement in fuel economy over the current  2.4 L 4-cylinder 6-speed drivetrain and is expected to achieve 37 mpg highway and 25 mpg city. This in a luxury mid-sized vehicle class, and larger than the Ford Fusion hybrid.

GM marketing however, has clearly learned their lesson from the dismal sales of the previous mild hybrids it sold as versions otherwise gas cars like the Saturn VUE and Chevy Malibu.

Instead of calling the new Buick a hybrid they instead refer to the car as having eAssist, a new term.

The drivetrain operates by including a 15 kw electric motor/generator, a 0.5 kw 115-v air-cooled lithium-ion battery pack, and regenerative braking.

The small electric motor can assist the gas engine in a variety of scenarios including in particular, during strong acceleration. It is a mild hybrid in that the car never operates on  the electric motor alone.

When braking the generator recharges the pack.  The engine also shuts off during stops and fuel is cut off  during deceleration.

The driver’s dash provides and ECO feedback display enabling him or her to intelligently modify behavior for the purpose of to improving fuel economy.

As well the design of the vehicle was been tweaked for aerodynamic improvement, and includes grille shutters that close at high speeds.

“The eAssist system is more than just the next-generation BAS system. The ability to integrate regenerative braking with the latest lithium-ion battery technology creates a system that delivers significant fuel-efficiency gains that customers will enjoy,” said Steve Poulos, global chief engineer of the eAssist system. “Being able to provide electric boost to the powertrain system during heavy acceleration and grade driving enables the LaCrosse transmission to operate more efficiently, while the added functionality of engine start-stop and fuel shut-off during deceleration provides added fuel savings.”

Pricing is expected to be close to $30,000.

Source (GM)

Last year GM discontinued several mild hybrid models it was offering, including the Chevy Malibu and Saturn Aura hybrids.  These systems relied on a stop-start belt-alternator system that improved fuel economy about 10%.  Those cars used small 36-v nickel metal hydride batteries and did not have the capability of pure electric propulsion.

The cars were discontinued due to poor sales in the case of the Malibu and the brand’s demise in the case of the Aura.

According to GM’s executive director of hybrids an EVs, Larry Nitz, however, GM will be re-introducing a more powerful second generation of the system next year.

The second generation mild hybrid system uses a larger 100-v lithium-ion battery, regenerative braking, and can provide boost during acceleation.  It still cannot drive purely on an elecric motor so in that way is similar to Honda’s IMA system currently in use in the Insight and CR-Z.

Nitz said the application will debut in a mid-size car in the third quarter of 2011 but declined to announce the model.  Some experts speculate it could appear in the new Buick Regal.

GM will eventually manufacture its own electric motor for the system as opposed to sourcing it from suppliers as it has in the past.  In-house electric motors will first get put to use in the next generation two-mode hybrid system which will appear as an option in future trucks and SUVs.  The two-mode system will also have a plugin variant, and are more powerful allowing electric only propulsion and electric assist at both low and high speeds.  Nitz declined to say when either would debut

The new mild hybrid design will achieve a 20% efficiency gain over gas engines.  In the system, a small electric motor is mated to a 4 cylinder Ecotec engine and a six speed transmission, and the engine will be turned off whenever the opportunity arises.  In the first generation system the motor and small battery were bolted to a four cylinder engine and 4 speed transmission which were not optimized for efficiency or regenerative braking.

GM had once considered producing a lightweight highly-aerodynamic dedicated non-plugin hybrid capable of over 50 MPG, but cancelled the program in favor of focusing on the  Volt.

Source (Automotive News)

Honda was the first automaker to sell a mainstream hybrid when it launched the first generation Insight in 1999 ahead of Toyota releasing the first Prius.
That car, being a tiny 2-seater, didn’t sell well and was ultimately discontinued. Meanwhile the Prius surged ahead through three generations and the became the world’s best selling hybrid by far.

After paltry interval sales of Civic and Accord hybrids, Honda re-entered the dedicated hybrid scene last year with its mild hybrid second generation Insight, offering 5 seats and 40/43 mpg fuel economy. Honda had hoped to sell 100,000 Insights that first year but only wound up selling about 25,000.

Now in a continued effort to pick up hybrid market share, the automaker has unveiled a new first-in-class dedicated sports hybrid called the CR-Z.

The CR-Z is another 2-seater that is built on the same platform as the Insight but with a more sporty exterior design, slight handling improvements, and a slight increase in horsepower.

The car will start at $19,200 for a manual transmission model, and the fully loaded automatic CVT version with navigation will go for $23,100. Official fuel economy rating comes in at 31 mpg city/37 mpg highway/34 mpg combined for the manual transmission and 35/39/37 for the CVT version (plus a $750 destination charge).

A 1.5 L V-Tec four cylinder engine is the powerplant and hybridization is achieved with Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) technology. This incorporates a small 13 hp (10 kw) ultrathin electric motor that operates in parallel with the combustion engine to add power during acceleration and to recapture energy during deceleration. Energy is stored in a 100 V nickel battery. This system is actually the sixth revision of the original IMA that debuted in the 2000 Insight.

The car has no ability to drive on the electric motor only, and additional fuel economy is achieved by stopping the engine during idling.

The gas engine produces 112 horsepower (125 hp total when combined with the electric motor) and the car can be driven in sport, normal, or economy mode. Economy mode dampens acceleration, and sports mode allows for full acceleration potential.

The car has been test driven by multiple media outlets who don’t seem particularly enthused overall. Zero to 60 time is about 10 seconds, not very impressive for a sports car. Curb weight, suspension, and handling is similar to albeit it a bit more sporty than the 5-seat Insight.

Honda executives were apparently uncertain about whether to release this car at all. Though it is selling well initially in Japan it remains to be seen how it does in the US market when it goes on sale here on August 24th.

Considering the more practical, higher fuel economy, Insight can only muster about 1500 units per month, chances are the CR-Z may not fare too well.

So while you may lament GM’s low production ramp up for the Volt, it appears Honda fans have much less to look forward to.

Ford has been experiencing significant success in the marketplace, especially since they were the only US automaker to evade bankruptcy last year. Their Ford Fusion strong hybrid is seeing some modest increases in sales, with 2,486 units moving in the month of May. For comparison, in the same month Toyota sold 14,248 Priuses and Ford sold 22,381 standard gas Fusions.

Looking forward, Ford has plans in place to produce several electrified vehicles.

Ford’s global electrification strategy includes plans to launch five new full electric or hybrid vehicles in the compact, midsize and light commercial segments for the North American market by 2012 and European markets by 2013. This lineup includes:

• The Transit Connect Electric light commercial vehicle in North America later this year and in Europe in 2011
• The Focus Electric in North America in 2011 and in Europe in 2012
• A Lincoln MKZ hybrid, available this fall in North America
• A next-generation hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle based on Ford’s global C-car platform in North America in 2012
• A C-MAX hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid electric model for Europe in 2013

As Ford spokesperson Jennifer Moore told us, Ford plans to produce about 10,000 Ford Focus Electrics in its first year of production starting in 2011. No further ramp up plans are acknowledged. Mainly this is because Ford is taking a cautious approach. They have positioned themselves to enter the market after the Volt and LEAF, and could theoretically use the observation of these competitors before making a large an investment in production capacity. In fact, this diverse mix of vehicle types suggests Ford’s plan is to have many different forms of electrified cars covering all the bases so that they can focus on the type that begins to win in the marketplace.  That is all except one type.

Ford has specfiially ruled-out the extended range electric car design GM is using in the Volt. As Fords’ director of hybrid and EVs, Nancy Goia once explained to GM-Volt.com, “because of the battery costs and the size of the battery, and the weight of the battery, and the fact that battery technology is going to continue to evolve, we believe that the blended hybrid is a better solution.”

Ford CEO Alan Mulally was just interviewed at the D8, Al Things Digital conference in California. His comments confirmed this cautious approach, and why.

“We can make electric cars,” said Mullaly. “But as you know, we can improve them, like battery life.” Mullaly is concerned modern day lithium ion batteries are still insufficient to allow for widespread electric car adoption.

“Most of them are too big, too heavy,” he says of lithium ion cells. “There’s a lot of room to improve the batteries.”

Not only is battery technology the limiting factor as Mullaly sees it, but so too is the lack of public charging infrastructure.

“(An)other point is that the infrastructure has to get there,” he said. “You need charging stations for people in apartments, in rural areas, etc.”

Mullaly expects Ford to be ready once the infrastructure arrives.

“When we get there, Ford will be there,” he adds.

Source (CNET)