GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

As exciting and important as the Chevy Volt is, many consumers would like to see the same technology in a larger form factor or multi purpose vehicle (MPV).

GM has displayed a Volt MPV in the past as a concept car, and once then vice chairman Bob Lutz said the company was studying an EREV crossover like the gas-powered Chevy Orlando currently on sale overseas.

On the sidelines of the Detroit Auto Show, GM’s CEO Dan Akerson told reporters GM indeed has solid plans to launch such a car in the US.

He did say GM’s current foremost objective is to “focus on cost reduction” of the current Chevy Volt. Though the Volt wont making any profit in its present iteration, Akerson expects it to become profitable within three years lending to volume increases and cost reductions.

Akerson confirmed there are “likely” plans in place to launch a plugin hybrid version of the Cadillac SRX as well the first definite word of a minivan version of the Chevrolet Volt by the 2012-2013 timeframe. He also mentioned the possibility of even another small hatchback extended-range electric car.

In fact Akerson said he intended for all of GM’s four brands to eventually have its own plugin electric model.  He hopes electric cars make up 10% of the company’s sales in 10 to 15 years.

He said that GM’s new car plans were delayed because of the bankruptcy process taking place in 2009.    “The facts are, with the bankruptcy, we lost a year in terms of development,” Akerson told reporters. “That’s why ’12 and ’13 are critical to us here in the United States.”

Overall Akerson is both surprised and happy about consumer demand for the award sweeping Volt.   “We have been pleased and a bit surprised with the initial demands, initial orders for Volts,” Akerson said. “We don’t want to miss the opportunity.”

As such he told reporters GM will further be pushing Volt production beyond the 10,000 to 15,00o units initially announed for this calendar year.  Instead Akerson said he expects 2011 production to top 25,000.

Source (Automotive News) and (Detroit Free Press)

We have heard before that GM’s newest CEO Dan Akerson is particularly bullish about electric cars. It is clear he feels the Volt is a very significant vehicle for the company and projects that the currently high demand will continue to grow.

Thus far GM has committed to producing 15,000 Volts in 2011 and at least 45,000 in 2012.

There is also evidence the company is developing a crossover Voltec vehicle, a 2-mode plugin Cadillac SUV, and possibly a third Voltec car. The crossover may be called the Chevy Amp and could be unveiled next month at the Detroit Auto Show.

Akerson told reporters previously that GM was studying ways to double or triple electric car capacity. Bloomberg now reports that GM sources say Akerson has asked a team to look for ways to triple or even quadruple 2012 electric car production rates by as early as 2015. These volumes  potentially of 250,000 vehicles would be spread across several different vehilce types and brands.

Spreading the technology across brands and vehicles will help to lower costs. Lower costs are needed to increase sales volume. Only 7% of the US car buying public has been determined able to afford the Chevy Volt at its current price.

Akerson’s production plan aims to make GM the recognized global leader in electric vehicles, and is devised to prepare for higher gas prices in the future.

The new electric vehicles under development for the US will all be larger than the Volt and may include an SUV.

Aside from consumer demand and cost the only other theoretical limitation for increasing production is the availability of the lithium ion batteries.

Volt battery supplier LG Chem, however, has massive production capacity, has already started building one Michigan factory and has a second under development.  In fact, LG Chem Power CEO Prabhakar Patil tells GM-Volt that battery supply isn’t a limiting factor.

“GM will have to speak to their plans for future volumes,” said Patil. “But LG Chem stands ready to support them and does not expect battery capacity to be a constraint.”

Source (Bloomberg)

The oil spill occurring in the Gulf of Mexico last summer was a serious disaster that had a large impact on our environment.

Though the leak was eventually stopped, a large amount of fallout accumulated and still exists.

GM has invented a creative way to utilize some of the toxic debris, they are putting it into the Chevy Volt.

The automaker announced a program to specifically recycle the oil booms that were used to contain surface oil.  The method GM and partners have developed will lead to the conversion 100 miles of the oil-soaked material.

The recycling of this material will lead to the production of 100,000 pounds of plastic resin which will be used for Chevy Volt underhood plastic parts.  That’s enough to build the entire first year production of 15,000 vehicles.

Specifically the parts will be used to deflect air around the radiator and will consist of 25% boom material and 25% recycled tires from GMs Milford proving grounds.

“Creative recycling is one extension of GM’s overall strategy to reduce its environmental impact,” said Mike Robinson, GM vice president of Environment, Energy and Safety policy.  “We reuse and recycle material by-products at our 76 landfill-free facilities every day. This is a good example of using this expertise and applying it to a greater magnitude.”

GM worked with several partners to achieve this objective including a company that harvested the used booms, and others that spun them dry and helped break them down into resin.  The boom transformation effort is already underway and is expected to continue for two more months.

“This was purely a matter of helping out,” said John Bradburn, manager of GM’s waste-reduction efforts. “If sent to a landfill, these materials would have taken hundreds of years to begin to break down, and we didn’t want to see the spill further impact the environment. We knew we could identify a beneficial reuse of this material given our experience.”

Source (GM)

On December 13th at 3:30 PM the first truckload of Chevrolet Volts left the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant grounds headed for waiting customers around the nation.

And a dream four years in the making comes true.

The first batch of cars, of which nearly 400 have already been produced, began leaving Michigan for destinations around the country.

A five truckloads carrying 45 cars left Monday, and through the course of this week 350 cars will be delivered to dealerships.  These initial destinations will include California, Greater New York, and Washington DC.

“Today is a historic milestone for Chevrolet,” said Tony DiSalle, Volt marketing director. “We have redefined automotive transportation with the Volt, and soon the first customers will be able to experience gas-free commuting with the freedom to take an extended trip whenever or wherever they want.”

According to Volt director Tony Posawatz these batches of cars will be of mixed VIN number and not necessarily in order of construction.

“These are all people’s cars,” said Posawatz. “There are no fleet or demo cars.”

Rather than have a press conference about the first delivery as Nissan did with the LEAF, GM is simply announcing the beginning of steady Volt deliveries which will continue from here on out. The first customers should have their cars within the next day or two.

Posawatz confirmed GM plans to build 15,000 Volts in the 2011 calendar year. Mid-year they will change from 2011 to 2012 models. GM is actively studying how quickly they can ramp up production considering the intense demand.

“We’ll turn up production in 2011 and were determining if we can turn it up sooner,” added Posawatz.

And there shall be many a Happy Holiday this year.

Source (GM)

And finally production of the Chevrolet Volt for consumer delivery has commenced, and with it this country’s first big steps from oil dependence.

The Volt has turned out to be a success from a technology perspective and from the perspective of industry accolades, sweeping four key vehicle of the year awards.

GM has long expected demand for the car will far outstrip supply. Only 10,000 to 15,000 Volts will be produced in 2011, and 45,000 in 2012. How much the demand is remains unknown. As of this writing, GM has now signed up 240,000 interested parties or potential buyers through the Chevrolet.com website.

If there are really that many buyers surely GM will have to build more.

According to reports, outside yesterday’s launch ceremony, GM’s CEO Dan Akerson said the company is actually now studying how they could either double or triple production of the car if the demand materializes.  ”(We have) studies underway to see what we could do if we had to double production [or] triple production,” said Akerson.  ”I have a sense this is going to be a game changer, we have to be prepared to meet that.”

GM North American President Mark Reuss confirmed that the major bottleneck for increasing Volt production is the production and supply of lithium-ion battery cells by LG Chem. Though the Koeran company has massive capacity, only a a certain volume is earmarked for Volt.

Akerson also disclosed GM plans to begin exporting Voltec in the form of the Opel Ampera starting in 2011, increasing the need for supply even more.  Akerson also admitted there is almost no profit per each Volt sold at this point, and that they are being sold “for close to cost.”

E85 capability was also discussed. Though the Volt was initially planned to run on E85, this will be not true at least for the first model year of the car.  Actually, according to VP Tom Stephens, GM has not definitely decided if it ever will be an option.    If they do decide to make the car E85 capable, it would not become available until 2012.

GM will start delivering Volts to dealerships this month and will roll them out to the seven locations already announced (NY, NJ, CT, TX, MI, CA, DC) over the next 12 months in limited supply. Over the first half of 2012 it will become available nationwide.

Source (Automotive News)

After three years ten months and 18 days since GM-Volt.com first began, the dawn of a new era is finally upon us.  Today, November 30th 2010, GM launches retail production of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, and the company makes good on a promise from long ago. So to do I complete my promise of January 12, 2007 to you the reader to have followed the car minute by minute to production, and beyond.

To commemorate this most critical and exciting of all milestones, GM is holding an official launch ceremony at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant where the cars are being built.  The event will be led by current CEO Dan Akerson, and will be attended by the Volt development team, media, and some “special guests”.

In addition to announcing the start of retail production, some new news is expected to be released.

The pre-show begins at 9:30 AM and the presentation starts at 10:00 AM Eastern time.  You can watch the event in real-time in the live video stream below at the end of this post.

It is known that at least 200 consumer cars have already been built, and with the arrival of the EPA label last week, these cars can now be delivered to dealerships in NY, NJ, CT, TX, CA, DC and MI for customers to take home.  The dream now becomes reality.

For the past 20 months we have had a very special clock counting down to to this day on the front page of GM-Volt that  has been provided by site sponsor NetLook. With gratitude I offer the following comments from NetLook’s President Chuck Davis:

Hi. I’m Chuck Davis, the President of NetLook, Inc.; the company that provided the Volt Countdown Clock on this site’s home page. I have asked Lyle to allow me to share with you why NetLook is a fan and sponsor of Lyle’s GM-Volt.com:
Reason #1 – Energy Security: Wide adoption of Electric Cars will provide a big step towards Energy Security for America and other countries.
Reason #2 – Cleaner Air: Wide adoption of Electric Cars will reduce air pollution. This is true even when coal fired plants are generating the electricity and will become more so as countries further transition to cleaner energies such as nuclear, wind, & solar.
Reason #3 – Chevrolet Volt: The first generation Chevy Volts will allow Electric Car early adopters that require extended range to purchase an Electric Car today and drive a majority of the miles gas free. Future improved Voltec iterations will further contribute towards making Electric Cars common place. The unstoppable determination of the GM Voltec Team has been an inspiration to us at NetLook.
Reason #4 – GM-Volt.com: Lyle’s incredible resolve to promote the benefits of Electric Cars (and specifically the Chevrolet Volt) has affirmed “The Power of One”. Lyle’s example motivated NetLook to step up and help make a positive difference. Accordingly, NetLook plans to continue directing a portion of its marketing budget towards the promotion of Electric Cars and will be adding three Volts to NetLook’s vehicle fleet. Over time, NetLook plans to transition our entire vehicle fleet to Electric Cars.

The Chevrolet Volt launch event will be broadcast below.  Enjoy, and see you on the roads!