GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

Thanks to the watchful eye of one of our readers, DaveP, we now have some new never-before-seen footage of the production Chevy Volt.

ABC news got into the design studio and filmed portions and angles of the car never before seen in public.

Included in this post below are several screen grabs of that video which can be seen in it’s entirety at this link:

VIDEO

or in lower quality on YouTube::

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZk4A7lUlD4]

The interior is confirmed as "i-pod-esque" although only the clay model is acutally shown.

Some shots of the battery lab reveal a bank of LG Chem/CPI prototypes.

More images:

Clearly we are all here waiting for our Volts. But we have heard there may be some limitations in price and availability at first.

Now that consumer sentiment has shifted gears from truck to small cars, GM is accelerating the production of the latter.

One that stands out is the Chevy Cruze. It will be GM’s replacement car for the Cobalt, and is set to begin production in 2010. It is a well-designed compact car with a 1.4 L turbo engine that should get better than 40 mpg. Previously we had only seen camouflage mule photos of the car.

Apparently on Tuesday when GM CEO Rick Wagoner spoke to employees about GM’s future, they and the media were shown images of some future cars which included the Cruze. Likely through rogue screen captures, those images have now surfaced on the web.

I have been advised by GM officials that these photos were not officially released, which is why no better resolution pictures publicly exist.

Bob Lutz previously downplayed the launch of this car, preferring to focus more on the current Cobalt.  But that’s marketing, what do you expect?

The Cruze might very well be considered the gas-powered sister of the Chevy Volt, since they are both built on the next generation Delta global compact platform. The car also seems ripe for a next-gen lithium-ion hybrid option (see post ), also slated to appear in 2010 and offering up to a 20% increase in fuel economy, but that is a matter of pure conjecture.

Looks like a great car.  The new GM.  Yes I know, no plug.

GM has yet to show us the final complete design of the production Chevy Volt, which we know will be different than the concept. GM has shown a 1/3 scale model heavily camouflaged. Above is the expert rendition of Captain Jason Cullinane of the U.S. Army who thinks he may be very close.

Here’s what Jason has to say about it:

"This all started when I sent Lyle a draft logo I designed for the GM-Volt.com website. I wanted to help and this was a way I thought I could contribute. Lyle asked me if I could flesh out one of the frames of the 1/3 size "camo" Volt that was shot in the wind tunnel so I decided to try my hand at it – and this was the result!

I researched a lot of the photos of the concept Volt from multiple angles since Mr. Lutz said that the final version would be distinctively like the concept. I also referenced the "sneak peak" shots when building the nose. I even outfitted this version with some EV1 rims – I doubt that the concept rims were very aerodynamic. This design may be have more hard edges than the final design but I am speculating where I didn’t have good data and just tried to make it look good.

I used to be a full time graphic designer (with an art and design background) and always enjoyed designing cars in school but I have been called back to service as an officer in the U.S. Army. I will be heading out to Iraq in a few months to lead my troops in combat.

I have been eagerly watching the developments of the Volt ( I check the site daily) and have started to put money away so I can afford one. I really do believe that the Volt project signals the start of a US shift away from mideast oil. I think that this will be good for us all.

I still do some freelance design projects and have even wrote, designed and published my own book, LogbookONE: The Log for Runners, Joggers and Walkers. I used to also be a competitive runner (U.S. Olympic trials 3000m Steeplechase in 1996 and was 9th in the US at the 1998 US National Track & Field Championships).

You can order LogbookONE online at www.runninghat.com (I give discounts to team orders )."

As you have seen in our last post, there are pictures of the Chevy Volt mule car in motion circulating on the Internet as spy photos. There has been related conjecture about whats under the hood of that mule. I understood no li-ion pack mules are running yet, but other sites reported the vehicle has an li-ion pack in it.

I always, as is the mantra of this website, try to get the real facts. Per my request, here is the truth per GM EFlex spokesman Rob Peterson:

"We have had E-Flex mule vehicles testing components on our test tracks in Milford for over five months. However, the one being shown is not one of them. The photo circulating on the web is a Volt ride and handling test vehicle. It does not include E-Flex propulsion components – specifically, it does not include the li-ion t-pack."

Note the picture we show here above and below is a real E-Flex mule with the E-Flex drivetrain, but no li-ion pack.

Spy photos have surfaced on the Internet of one of the Chevy Volt test mules making its way around the test track presumably at GM’s Milford proving grounds.

We know GM has been running these using 2005 Malibu skins for the past 6 months. Except for using a 1 to 2 mile range NiMh battery pack, these mules have all the specific Volt hardware including electric motor and on-board generator. We also know this month of April is when the first full 16 kWh lithium-ion packs go into the test cars.

I checked in with GM today and they have not confirmed whether a lithium mule has moved yet, so I suspect the above picture is a NiMh mule.

Source (Jalopnik ) and (Leftlanenews )

Just kidding folks.

Graphic is courtesy of Matt of mJay Studios, who also by the way, has produced the two finalist bumper stickers we are presenting in our contest.

We have received some of your bumper sticker submissions..keep them coming. We’ll have a run off between your submission and the winner of Matt’s two.

Below is another speculative rendition made from the teaser photo about what the production Volt might look like, this one’s from GM-Volt.com community member mmc.

Enjoy the holiday season!