GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

Yesterday GM unveiled a plugin hybrid version of its next generation Cadillac flagship, the XTS platinum. Its fairly certain that the gas-version of the car will go into production but whether the plugin hybrid will isn’t clear.

GM has been developing the 2-mode plugin hybrid drivetrain since 2006, and I even had the chance to drive a mule version (see post) last summer.  Originally destined to appear in the Saturn VUE, and transiently slotted for a  Buick SUV, where this drivetrain will finally make its retail appearance is not known.

GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz did tell reporters at the Auto Show that GM will build a plugin hybrid and said that car will arrive prior to the Cadillac XTS, possibly in 2011.

“There will be others that will launch before this,” he said about the plugin Cadillac. “That technology can and will be moved to something else. Think possibly Equinox or Terrain, but we’re not ready to announce that or say when it’s coming out.”

Lutz indicated that GM plans to offer a portfolio of electrified vehicles.

“One thing’s for sure,” he said.  ”We will have a wide array of plug-in hybrids.”

Converj?
Bob Lutz also was quoted as saying the Converj would be built, however later Cadillac global product director John Howell called the statement premature.

Howell told reporters GM still needed to develop a business case for the Converj and determine if the Voltec drivetrain would be powerful enough and operate smoothly enough for the Cadillac experience.

“We want it to be a true luxury driving experience,” Howell said.

Also unknown is how large the market for a Cadillac EREV coupe would be.

Bob Lutz told GM-Volt.com that even if the Converj and the plugin XTS were both built they wouldn’t compete with one another.

“They would not (compete),” he said. “One’s a coupe, and basically an EREV like Volt. The other is a large, conventional hybrid, with possibly 10 miles of electric range.”

Source (Detroit News) and (MLIVE)

GM has just unveiled a breathtaking luxury sedan concept car powered by the 2-mode plugin hybrid drivetrain. This appears to be the final resting place of the powertrain that was first intended for the Saturn VUE.

The vehicle showcases Cadillac’s new top-of-the line Platinum series, and is considered a luxury sedan of the future.

“The XTS Platinum concept is the next expression of Cadillac’s Art and Science execution philosophy, reflecting our drive to deliver the latest innovations in the most artful manner,” said Bryan Nesbitt, Cadillac general manager. “We envisioned this concept as an automotive personal headquarters, using advanced technology to enable new levels of connectivity and luxury.”

A 3.6 L V-6 Direct Injection engine is mated with the 2-mode plugin hybrid drivetrain to produce a combined 350 horsepower and 295 foot-pounds of torque. It uses a rechargeable 8 kwh lithium ion battery that can be recharged in about 5 hours. Driving can be done in pure electric mode under most driving conditions, with the car’s goal to deplete the battery’s grid-stored energy over a 20 mile range. When extra power is demanded such as during acceleration and hill climbs, the combustion engine can power on.

Fuel economy should work out to be double what a conventional hybrid of this size would achieve.

It is all wheel drive, shares teh Buick LaCrosse platform and uses a Magnetic Ride Control (MRC) system in which all 4 wheels continuously sense the road and adjust for instantaneous and extremely precise body motions.

The stately, luxurious and athletic exterior is conceived of in what Cadillac is calling a progressive art and science design. It is a large bold car similar in size to the DTS, but more stylish and somewhat reminiscent of the Mercedes S-class.

The interior is opulent and spacious and minimizes the use of buttons, blending the display screen into a flowing back-lit organic LED panel.

The XTS series is expected to go into production in 2012. No pricing is known but if you think $40,000 is expensive for a car…

On Monday Toyota officially announced the launch of the plug-in version of its 3rd generation Prius, calling it the Prius Plug-in Hybrid.  Leasing will start immediately.

Deliveries of approximately 600 units will take place throughout the first half of 2010 in Europe, the US, and Asia.  These will be offered by lease to selected fleet programs, and not consumers.

The car is equipped with a 5.3 kwh lithium-ion battery pack and has an all-electric range of 14.5 miles.  Top speed in EV-mode will be 62 MPH.

The car will use its 1.8 L gasoline engine whenever power demands are high right from the start of operation, which is different that the Volt which will use electricity only for all driving needs in its first 40 miles of operation.

Toyota reports the car averages 134 MPG on the extremely conservative Japanese JC08 test cycle, not taking charging into effect.

Toyota plans to use the learnings from the fleet testing to develop a retail production version of the vehicle, and will begin selling and mass producing them in 2011.

According to Toyota’s Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota aims to sell “tens of thousands” of plug-in cars globally each year.

Pricing is unknown but Mr. Uchiyamada said it will be “affordable.”

A less expensive smaller pure electric car will also go on sale in 2012.

Toyota’s lithium ion batteries will be made through a joint venture with Panasonic.

Toyota states the car can be recharged from a standard electric outlet.

Source (Bloomberg) and (Toyota)

Like all recent auto shows before it, the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show will offer a showcase of new electrified vehicles.

Two examples that seem particularly important are entries from Mitsubishi and Honda.

Mitsubishi is unveiling what it calls the PX-MiEV. This crossover seems to be a conglomerate of all things; its is a plugin hybrid, a parallel hybrid, a series hybrid, and an EV.

The front and rear wheels are powered by two electric motors that total 60 kw, and there is a 1.6 L gas engine that can both power the front wheels and act as a generator. All of the driving configurations are managed by a power control unit and software called the “MiEV OS.”

EV mode can be automatically switched between front wheel drive or 4 wheel rive depending on road conditions. When the battery is depleted to a certain level, the vehicle transforms into Volt-like series hybrid operation where the generator simply provides energy for the electric motors. However unlike the Volt, when power demands become high, the engine can also turn the wheels supplementing the electric motors as a parallel hybrid configuration.

The EV mode range is 31 miles from a full charge, and the car seats 4.

Mitsubishi claims the vehicle will achieve about 117 MPG overall.

Also Honda has finally taken its first baby step into the electric car arena and is unveiling its pure BEV concept called the EV-N. This is a retro styled 4 seat mini car that Honda says is purely a design study and that there are no plans for production.

They are also revealing the CR-Z sports hybrid which is similar to the Insight in mild hybrid engineering only does 0 to 60 in 9 seconds instead of the Insight’s 11 seconds. It will go into production in 2010.

GM has been developing a plugin 2-mode hybrid since 2006. It was at first to be deployed in the Saturn VUE.  The host vehicle was later changed to a compact Buick SUV when the Saturn division was sold. That decision too was scrapped, however, GM still intends to sell the drivetrain in some vehicle in 2011.

Although GM has decided to do pack assembly in-house for the Chevy Volt, apparently they have decided to let LG Chem subsidiary Compact Power assemble the packs for the plugin hybrid themselves.

“We will be supplying the production packs,” Compact Power CEO Prabahkar Patil told GM-Volt.com.  “Those production packs will not be made by GM. We will actually be making them but in volume production.”

He explains that LG Chem and GM’s “relationship of course goes well beyond the Volt.”

The 2-mode plugin pack will be half the size of the Volt’s, consisting of 8 kwh of lithium ion cells.

“It’s a different form factor because its tailored to fit in the vehicle its intended for,” says Patil. “It is a different configuration, but there is quite a bit that is shared with Volt in terms of technology. The cell for example will be the same.”

He says that the thermal management system will also be “very similar” to the one used in the Volt.

“We try to commonize as much as we can,” he says. “That will always be our approach, to bring the cost down because of the volumes being higher and secondly because when you are reusing something it doesn’t require as much additional validation and testing and that also helps being the cost down and actually make the quality more robust.”

Patil says the packs will be made in a facility in Michigan that LG Chem just acquired in the past few months and refurbished.  He says that right now the facility is “still in the prototype phase as that’s where we are also making the Volt prototype packs.”

GM has not announced what production volume they expect for the 2-mode plugin hybrid.

Patil gives some guidance be explaining that when the current LG facility “gets some automation by the end of next year, it will have the capacity of 2500 of the large Volt type packs or as much as 10,000 of smaller packs.”

“The capacity depends on the nature and size of the pack,” he says.

Mercedes Benz continues to push the electric car envelope in remarkable directions.

The German company has announced it will be unveiling what it calls the Vision S 500 Plug-in HYBRID at the Frankfurt Auto Show next week.

This is a full size S-class high luxury high performance sedan that can drive up to 18 miles on pure electricity. It is not a range-extended electric car like the BlueZero Cell Plus concept previously unveiled, but rather a parallel PHEV.

The vehicle uses a 6 cylinder gasoline engine as the main powerplant which is integrated with a 44 kw (60 hp) electric motor. There is a rechargeable 10 kw usable lithium ion battery pack mounted in the rear. Mercedes points out that this battery location is “crucial” to maintain weight balance and allow a substantial size for the gas tank.

The weighty car can accelerate from 0 to 60 in 5.5 seconds. It will drive purely on electricity when possible but the gas engine will go on any time power demands increase sufficiently such as with strong acceleration and hill climbing.

The on-board charger allows recharge in 4.5 hours at 120 V but is capable of accepting a fast charge at 20 kW in 60 minutes.

Mercedes has also announced the car will achieve a fuel efficiency of 3.2L/100 km which translates to 72.5 MPG, and will emit a 74 gCO2/km.

Obviously no pricing has been announced yet, but expect it to be north of 100K. Mercedes does report the car is “near-series production” and that it will likely be launched as a member of the next generation of S-class hybrids. In fact reports suggest the entire S-class line will be hybrids.

“Although it will take some time before this model can go into series production, our engineers will be working full steam to carry out the necessary integration measures and ensure that all components can meet the tough everyday demands required of a luxury long-distance saloon,” says Dr. Thomas Weber, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG with responsibility for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. “We’ve already got all the key technology we need for such a dream car, which is why I see it being included in the next generation of the S‑Class. The important thing now is that our development work be accompanied by the establishment of a full-coverage infrastructure that will allow the potential of this innovative drive system to be fully exploited.”

Right now Mercedes has the $87,950 S400 Blue Hybrid in production, which uses a 3.5L V-6 gas engine combined with a 15kW motor and 1 kwh lithium ion pack, and achieves 19 MPG city and 26 MPG highway fuel efficiency.

Source (Mercedes-Benz)