GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

The Opel Ampera is the twin sister car to the Chevy Volt.  The primary difference is rebadging with Opel styling cues, the platform and powertrain will be identical.   Canadian parts supplier Magna International is in negotiations with GM to become a partial owner of Opel.

There are apparently some snags in the negotiations.  It is well known that Magna intends to become a leader in the electrification of the automobile.  Ownership in Opel could potentially give them access to Voltec intellectual property.  Sources indicate that “Magna is asking for access to future technology such as fuel cells, hybrids and future GM models that go beyond what the company is offering in the deal.”  As such GM is now in new negotiations with buyout firm RHJ International SA and Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co.

Reports out of Europe cite GM sources as saying this uncertainty has led to a plan to introduce the right-handed Chevy Volt at the same time as the Opel Ampera in Europe in 2012, effectively putting them in competition with one another.

However, the reports suggests this competition may only be brief, as GM’s future Voltec plans are made clearer.  GM sources told Autocar that in the future “there won’t be a Volt or Ampera mark two, the powertrain will effectively become mainstream.”  As an example this source said the sixth generation Opel Astra could get the Voltec powertrain  “in 5 or 6 years.”

If this were true one could envision a similar paradigm developing in North America, where new future GM compact cars could come as standard gas combustion as well as Voltec versions.

Source (Autocar) and (Bloomberg)

Facing a fast approaching deadline of June 1st by which GM either restructures or enters bankruptcy, GM CEO Fritz Henderson took to he web to field questions from the public.  There are more Q and As on the Fastlane site, but the following exchanges were particularly interesting.

Henderson was asked by one consumer who needs to replace his first generation Prius, why he should “wait” for the Volt.

Henderson responded “I would love to take you out of your prius! so why wait for the volt? the car will be beautiful, a great driving experience, and if you commute less than 40 miles per day, the car should deliver a totally electric experience to the owner without using any gas at all.”

Next he was asked what GM has planned for its next green initiative beyond the Volt and 2-mode plugin. Henderson wrote “the volt needs to be launched by year end 2010, which means we still have work in front of us. we have a separate team looking at gen II erev technologies while looking at other potential vehicle applications. alongside the volt we have a host of other technology initiatives underway, from second gen biofuels, to hybrids, etc.”

Finally Henderson was asked about how GM will flesh out its new lower number of brands and what each brand’s flagships might be.

He replied “We have big product and technology plans for all our brands. Chevrolet is already loaded with great cars, crossovers and trucks with a lot more coming like the Cruze, Spark and Orlando – and of course, the Volt. And we’ve got some great new Cadillacs, as well as Buicks and GMC cars in trucks in the works. Each week I join our Design chief Ed Welburn, the head of GM Product Development Tom Stephens and a few others to tour GM design and look at future cars and trucks. It’s great to be reminded what this business is all about, and it fills me with optimism about the new GM. I promise you that we have new vehicles that will blow you away.”

Source (GM)

Now that electrification has begun to take hold, the roles will be reversed from present day hybrids.  Instead of a small electric motor assisting the main gas engine, the gas engine will take a backseat.  This is well illustrated in the Volt where the gas engine simply waits until its services are needed only if the battery gets low, a time that in many cases will rarely if ever happen.

Because of this limited functional requirement, gas engines will become increasingly simpler and smaller.  Eventually all of the advanced technology cooked into today’s combustion engines to make them adequately powerful and efficient will no longer be needed.

For the Chevy Volt according to John Bereisa, director of advanced engineering at GM, “All we need is 67 horsepower, enough to maintain the batteries’ charge when the car is cruising at highway speed.”

He explains how the choice for the Volt’s combustion engine was arrived to: “Since there wasn’t time to design an engine from scratch, we looked for the smallest existing engine capable of supplying 67 horsepower, which turned out to be G.M.’s Family Zero design used in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.”

He also tells us the Volt’s engine when in use will run in a target range of 2000 to 3000 RPM.  He notes “When you map an engine’s power versus r.p.m. versus fuel consumption, the resulting chart looks like the Rocky Mountains. In conventional cars, you’re driving all over that map. But in the Volt, we’re able to keep the engine operating in what I call its happy valley, where it delivers the power that’s required while consuming minimal fuel.”

Bereisa hints at what GM is planning for the Generation II Volt engine.  He says “We’d select a smaller displacement engine for the future, probably less than 1 liter,” and “We’d position the catalytic converter and route the coolant lines to minimize heat losses.” He adds not surprisingly “the engine for the next Volt will definitely be as simple and as light as possible.”

And so the gas-powered combustion engine shall ride off quietly into the sunset.

Source (New York Times)