Chevy Volt Engine Generator Operates Between 1200 and 4000 RPM

The Chevy Volt’s 1.4 L 4 cylinder flex fuel generator garners a lot of attention and discussion online.

It is this range-extender that make the car so unique. Although the Volt always operates as an EV, once the battery’s state of charge reaches roughly 30% this generator powers on, providing electricity to the motor. Energy is also obtained from regeneration and the battery buffer when power demands are high.

GM has yet to publicly demonstrate the car operating in this charge-sustaining mode, but most accounts indicate it is unnoticeable.

In spite of many months of rampant speculation here, GM’s lead Volt engineer Andrew Farah has finally disclosed some details about the engine’s operation. He said the generator would “operate from 1200 to 4000 RPMs and from a 30% to 100% load.”

Further explanation comes from Volt Powertrain Engineer Alex Cattelan:

“We don’t keep it at a fixed RPM, we have a window of operation that is optimized. We have been able to optimize the engine for a window of efficiency but it is still best to change your power and torque levels within that window as the customer torque request varies.”

“We don’t want to always be operating at one state because really you may be putting too much energy into the battery or drawing too much energy out of the battery. It is still good to vary that engine power and torque. Not to follow exactly what the accelerator pedal does, but to optimize efficiency.”

Finally Volt vehicle line director Tony Posawatz explains it this way:

“In charge sustaining or range extender mode, the Volt will not follow the throttle position. The challenge is to select the right operating points (RPMs) that are 1.) efficient, 2.) pleasing to the driver, and 3.) meet regulatory requirements.”

And he teases us, “we are about ready to expose people to this experience.”

Chevy Volt Will Get More Than 32 MPG in Charge-Sustaining Mode

A question that remains unanswered by GM is what the Volt’s MPG will be in charge sustaining mode or while the generator is running.

When the Volt concept was first unveiled math models put it at 50 MPG, however since development began in earnest GM has kept silent about what it is actually turning out to be.  The only thing everyone has heard by now is that city drivers could expect an average of 230 miles driven for every gallon of gas used over time, assuming a daily full charge.

However, when going on road trips for distances significantly greater than 40 miles it is still important to know how much gas the Volt will use in that setting.

The last time I asked Volt engineer Andrew Farah this question he said the MPG will “not significantly” differ from 50 MPG.

When we ran a poll on the topic here in August, 58% of 1549 voters predicted it would be less than 50 MPG, with the majority choosing 40 to 50 MPG range.

The question was recently asked of Tony Posawatz, Volt vehicle line director, by a Fox news reporter who actually had a good understanding of the car’s engineering.  The video of this interview at the bottom of the post is well worth viewing.

When asked what the Volt’s MPG will be in charge sustaining mode Posawatz responded:

“We’re still testing that in all honesty, but we can make the following statement. It will be better than any conventional car in the class and we’re trying to figure out how close or if it will be actually better than other hybrids.”

According to fueleconomy.gov, the car with the best fuel economy in the small car class is the Toyota Yaris which gets 29 MPG city and 36 MPG highway for a combined fuel economy of 32 MPG.

Though Fox as a result of the interview reports“Chevy Volt to Get 32 MPG?” Posawatz seems to clearly state it will be more than that.

Op-Ed: Has the Chrysler ENVI Electric Car Program been Abandoned?

Around a year ago, Chrysler announced three models that made up its ENVI lineup, specifically the Dodge Circuit EV (a 2 seat, BEV sports car), a 40 mile extended range Jeep Patriot and a 40 mile extended range Town & Country van. Two others, a Jeep Wrangler and a concept sedan would follow in the next few months.

Chrysler had promised to bring at least one of these models to market in 2010, and three more models before the end of 2012. However by May of this year, the Pentastar found itself in bankruptcy protection, and control was shifted away from the existing Chrysler executive to Italian automobile maker Fiat.

Since then it is fair to say that information and updates have been very un-GM like from Chrysler, as in, non-existent. Checking out Chrysler’s ENVI blog (at time of press), you will find the last entry dated May 7th, 2009, around the same time it when into Chapter 11.

This seemingly ‘all-stop’ directive did not hinder Chrysler from still going forward with applying to the Department of Energy for a $448 million dollar grant.

That grant was to produce 365 test fleet vehicles, and would provide seed money to establish a new technology and manufacturing center in Michigan, which would amongst other things develop, test and manufacture EV components and serve as a base for final assembly of ENVI products. It was said at the time, that the facility would produce 20,000 vehicles a year and would be operating in 2010.

Similar to GM’s also still outstanding applications to the DoE, the Chrysler’s application has not yet been approved.

GM-Volt got in contact with Chrysler spokesperson (and Technology PR guy) Nick Cappa about the DoE loan proposal and status, and he offer the following, “We continue to work closely with the DOE on the review process for our loan proposal. We are making progress.” Not a terribly informative update to be sure…but on the bright side, the inquiry did not incur any long distance telephones charges to GM-Volt.com.

Unlike GM’s well documented, and ever accelerating ramp to production with the Volt, it appears that Chrysler’s progress had been tied directly to achieving government support.

So, has ENVI been scrapped, or put on long-term hiatus? Certainly no one at Chrysler is talking. However, after a half a year of darkness, the tumbleweeds will likely be cleared away and that question answered on November 4th. That is when Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne introduces the world to the Chrysler Group’s new “5 year plan” at a epically long SIX HOUR media fiesta. (Hopefully they provide dinner on that flight)

It is a good bet to assume that the ‘new’ to US, 2011 Fiat 500 mini-car, which is to be built at a Chrysler plant in Mexico will also underpin a re-engineered/re-badged electric offering for Chrysler. But what of the ENVI program? With Chrysler under new management, we may find that only survivor from the ‘old’ Chrysler EV program will be the Dodge Circuit, as it is much further down the developmental road than its peers.

When asked if there had been any new developments and/or why there had not been any news of late, Mr. Kappa alluded to forthcoming news, “Nothing about our EV programs to announce today, but stay tuned. Lots of activity here.”

/and so we wait

Volts Before November 2010? GM CEO Does Not Expect to Work With GM-Volt Want List

Besides the MRSP two other things about the Volt people are very interested in is whether they might be available prior to November 2010, and whether GM will in some way use, honor or work with our GM-Volt want list.

Though this list was never intended as a true pre-order list it has served as a long-standing symbolic beacon to GM illustrating the significant demand that exists for this type of vehicle.

As launch day draws nearer, GM has begun to publicly acknowledge these issues, albeit slightly.

Brent Dewar is the new head of Chevrolet, replacing Ed Peper.

In a recent webchat, Dewar was asked if there was a Volt waiting list.

Dewar replied:

We have not started a waiting list, because we don’t want anyone waiting at this time. Once we get closer to production, roll out across the States and regions, we will start taking a list. We do not have our roll out plans decided yet. More to come. In the meantime, stay connected with me.

CEO Fritz Henderson took a similar question in his web chat.

“Will there be an official wait list established for the Volt next year?” asked a participant named Aldo.  ” Will you work with the unofficial list at GM-Volt.com?”

“Work underway today to develop initial start up allocation plans,” replied Henderson.  “While we really appreciate the strong initial interest, we do not expect to work from the unofficial waiting list.”

Not looking to good straight from the top.

What about the chance of an earlier-than-expected Volt launch?  I asked Mr. Henderson that one myself.

What volume of Chevy Volts do you expect to build in year one, and is it possible the release could come sooner than November 2010?

Fritz Henderson: lyle- good to hear from you. we do expect a very controlled acceleration of volt start up beginning late next year. we are constantly evaluating and tweaking our plans, but do not look for a wholesale pull ahead.

This statement could be interpreted in different ways.  I’ll leave it up to you to decide.

We do know GM will only be building around 2500 Volts in calendar year 2010 and at least 10,000 in 2011.  I have recently discovered roll-out plans apparently have been determined though not yet made public.

“We won’t do a rollout in a way we typically do with a vehicle everybody understands,” GM VP Jon Lauckner told Wards Auto. “We’ll probably pick pockets to begin with, like the West and East Coast.

GM Announces Chevy Volt Paint Colors and Contest to Name the Signature Hue and Win a Test Drive

In the passing of another milestone, GM has finally announced the paint colors the Chevy Volt will be available in at the start of production: Black, Silver Ice Metallic, Cyber Gray Metallic, Crystal Red Metallic, a premium White Diamond Tri-Coat, and an unnamed Silver Emerald.

They have also announced a contest to name this signature exclusive Volt paint color which is the familiar silver with emerald hue shown in the photo above.

To enter the contest you create a unique name for the color and submit it at the link below. The contest starts today at 8:00 AM EDT and will run until November 4th at 8:00 AM .

From all of the submissions they receive, GM will choose three finalists “based equally on originality, creativity, and the ability to capture the innovation and spirit of the Volt.”  Then, a public consumer vote will take place and from the three finalists a winner will be chosen.  That vote will take place from November 16th at 8 AM to December 1 at 8AM also on this site.

The three finalists and their guests will get free all-expense-paid trips to the LA Auto Show on December 2nd. The paint color winner will be announced on December 1st and be given the exclusive opportunity to test drive a pre-production Chevy Volt.

Though not confirmed, it is possible that charge-sustaining (generator) mode will be included in the test drive.

“We want to invite consumers into the development process of the Chevy Volt and give people an opportunity to be part of our program,” said Maria Rohrer, director, global Volt and global marketing operations at Chevrolet. “We’re looking for a color name that captures the innovation and spirit of the Volt.”

As the Internet’s oldest and leading independent Chevy Volt fan site, right here on GM-Volt.com you have the opportunity to enter your name and the name you choose for the color by clicking the link that says ‘Submit Your Name Here‘ at the end of this post.

For what it’s worth, I have chosen Freedom Earth Silver, signifying freedom from oil.

GM Reveals OnStar EV Lab Which Connects to Chevy Volt Prototypes, OnStar Will be Standard in Production

OnStar is General Motors’ cellular and GPS-based system for monitoring vehicles.

It currently provides real time assistance, directions, theft prevention and other features to 5.6 million drivers who pay from $199 to $299 per year for the service.

Its no secret that GM believes the Chevy Volt could gain significant value-added utility from having access to OnStar. In fact, Volt executive Tony Posawatz says the possibilities for this relationship are “mind-boggling.”

GM has yet to confirm or finalize all the OnStar-mediated features the Volt will offer, but have just shown off their new testing facility called the OnStar EV Lab.

Currently the lab is using OnStar to monitor 19 of the Chevy Volt integration prototypes.

Engineers are collecting all sorts of data from these cars each of which have 20 different independent modules that are capable of transmitting back status updates to the system.

The data includes performance and diagnostic information and relays such things as battery state of charge, temperatures, and thermal management operation.  Though the primary focus for now is real-time observation of battery health and function, GM is using the lab to develop the final features for the car once it reaches production.

Posawatz notes that OnStar could be used to communicate with the utility companies. Using this method, the cars could actually charge slowly or not at all when rates or demand is high, and then more rapidly when rates are lower, reducing the drivers expense.

A more simplified approach would be to simply let the driver manually program in those parameters in the same way one programs an automated household thermostat.

“The car will have to talk to the grid and be able to pull very sensitive (utility) data,” Posawatz told CNET. “Electric vehicle customers want to manage their energy–they’re very into data. OnStar is an enabling tool for us.”  GM is currently working with EPRI to collect some of this data nationwide.

Posawatz also cautions that the ability of the car to communicate with local utilities will limit the pace of the car’s rollout.

“It certainly won’t be a nation-wide roll-out (at first),” he said.  The whole nation might not see these cars until sometime in 2011.

Another potential use for OnStar will be in the other direction allowing for example firmware upgrades to the car.

And for those who might ask, Tony Posawatz has confirmed to GM-Volt.com, “OnStar will be standard with VOLT.”

Back in late 2008 we heard then GM executive Bob Kruse say that “OnStar gives us the opportunity to know more about the environment the driver is driving in,” implying that terrain could be taken into account to show the driver the most energy-efficient route home.

If it was clear that a driver was returning home, OnStar could also shut off the ICE to let the driver arrive “as close to zero as practical or possible,” minimizing the use of petroleum.

In response to that post, readers generated 180 responses, some of which I’ve been told by reliable sources were actually integrated into the car by the Volt team.

Any more ideas?

Source (CNET) and (Autoblog)

Electrical Infrastructure and the Chevy Volt

People often grumble when GM raises the idea of getting the electric grid infrastructure ready in anticipation of the Chevy Volt’s launch.  Since charging the Volt is like running two plasma screen TVs at night, what’s the fuss?  I had the chance to ask that question and others of Britta Gross who is GM’s direct of infrastructure development.  Today at 4PM EDT you can ask her your own questions as well when she joins Mark Duvall, director of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), in the live chatbox below.

If there is excess capacity at night and we are going to charge our cars at night, and studies show there is plenty of capacity, why are we so worried about infrastructure?
We’re really not. But there will come a day when there are millions of vehicles and the road and we want to make sure we’ve anticipated correctly what that will mean. It’s not those low numbers in the thousands were worried about.

Although at night there is capacity, there will be people charging during the day. There is a lot of excess grid capacity even during the day too, for many months of the year.

It comes down to about a dozen days a year, mostly during hot summer day afternoons from four to six PMs and for a few places very cold mornings when they get close to their peak power-generating capacity. And so even if low numbers of vehicles are charging at that time, we care about what that might mean for the grid.

So we want to make sure everything is thought through, that we have the right smarts on the vehicle and the right smarts on the grid and the utilities to be able to communicate with the vehicles to simply delay charging if it happens to be at a peak time. Consumers might agree to let utilities delay their charging in exchange for lower rates.

For people to benefit from this won’t they need a special variable rate meter?
Yes, time of use metering.

If someone doesn’t have one of these meters they can’t benefit from delaying charging, so how will you educate people?
That’s exactly the dialog we’re working on. Utilities are growing right now and evolving. I have a list of things I want them to consider doing in their states to help make the transition to electric cars smoother.

Historically people buy cars on how they look, behave and cost, and now you’re throwing in a fourth variable, and it seems having to educate people more deeply might make it harder to make a sale?
And for that reason I don’t want to overcomplicate it. I think we’ve learned a lesson in the last 12 months. When people ask me about public charging I say its a ‘nice to have’ but not a ‘must have’. The vehicle has been designed to plug into standard outlets. So it’s as simple as finding a plug. We want to go the extra mile and consider the needs of apartment-dwellers or people who want to extend their range and charge at work. We are going to look at some ways of enticing corporations to allow employee charging at work.

Also keep in mind the average cost of electricity is 10 cents per kwh so for most people without off peak considerations it will cost 80 cents per day to drive 40 miles. We’d like to get that to 40 cents, but never lose site of how easy the basics are.

Q&A With the CEO of Compact Power Inc.

Prabakhar Patil is the CEO of Compact Power Inc.  CPI is a subsidiary for LG Chem, the Korean company that was awarded with the Chevy Volt cell supplier contract.  CPI helped GM to develop the packs for the Volt.  I had a chance to interview Dr. Patil on the current status of the relationship and operations.

Where are things with respect to pack development and considering GM’s announcement about in house pack and your relationship with them?
The relationship is good and unchanged because the decision for GM to manufacture the pack in-house after they got into volume production had been made some time ago. We agreed to it in the spirit of partnership because for strategic reasons it was important for GM to do this in house, even though we were prepared to support them in high volume production.

Right now nothing has really changed. As you know we shipped around 50 packs last year, this year we are shipping around 400 packs and that continues to happen. We are validating the pack design, the manufacturing process etc, and these are the prototype packs that are going into GM vehicles. That part is exactly the same as it would have been were we to make the high volume production packs.

So the prototype packs are currently being produced at your facility?
Yes, and they will continue to be made here until GM’s facility is up and running.

Are you helping GM to prepare their facility?
We work together. It’s a joint team that is actually at work.

As a subdivision of LG Chem, will you continue to work in GM’s facility?
No, once the production moves to their facility our role will be more supportive.

LG Chem got a $150 million DOE grant for setting up a cell manufacturing facility that will be locating in Michigan?
As you know, up to now the cells are made in Korea and we assemble, engineer, design and manufacture the pack here. The DOE grant is targeted at making the cells here. That has always been our plans and our footprint but this helps expedite the process.

So you are going to build a US battery factory from the ground up with that money?
Yes.

When will you start construction?
We probably will complete the site selection process by the end of this year and then we’ll be breaking ground sometime next year. We have to go through all the permits and site preparation and all that stuff. More importantly in terms of production, the first of the cell lines in that new facility we expect to come on in production rates by second quarter of 2012. It will be fully done with all of the cell lines and electrode lines and all that stuff a year later. At that point, it will be capable of producing enough cells to support anywhere from 50,000 to 250,000 vehicle packs depending on how many cells the packs contain.

Is that factory going to solely be used for the Volt pack or might it be used for other automakers?
It is not tied to a single application or customer, that’s part of the flexibility that we will have that it can support different applications. Because as you know the cells for the Volt will initially come from Korea. In fact, that cell line is already up. It has to be in order for us to have certified cells that have to be ready well ahead of the vehicle launch so GM can go ahead with the pack validation and so forth.

That cell line is already up. That will be used to supply cells for the Volt until the cell line here comes on line, so we have a lot of flexibility.
As far as GM or any other customer is concerned they won’t be able to tell the difference as to whether the cell is made here or in Korea.

The cells for the Volt, are they pretty much going to be a standard LG automotive cell for all applications or are you developing differently nuanced cells for different applications?
There have to be different nuances. For example, if you go from a non plugin hybrid to a BEV there are three discrete types of cells that you need. On plugin HEV like hybrids, the power to energy ratio is high, because those hybrid configurations don’t need large pure electric range.

On the other end of the spectrum the battery electric vehicle where the energy density requirements are very significant when you get to 50 or 100 miles of range. The P to E ratio in that case is relatively low then. Plug in HEV cells like the Volt are in between in order for the cells to be optimized we have to tweak the chemistry or the recipe.

Chevy Volt Prototype Spotted in a Home Driveway

An astute observer noticed none other than a pre-production Chevy Volt integration vehicle nonchalantly parked in a neighbor’s driveway.

A fleet of eight of these vehicles just returned from a 3-day 1200-mile extended test drive last week, and perhaps one of the lucky participants got to take one home for the weekend. It is known that 80 of these cars are in existence and nvolced in continuous and extensive testing

General Motors engineers are often given the opportunity to take home pre-production vehicles prior to launch.  In fact, some of the learning that goes into the refinement of these vehicles is derived from these take-home experiences.

However, these IVer Volts are unusually early in development for this type of endeavor.  Most pre-production cars are taken home just a few months prior to launch when they are usually at a high level of refinement. The fact that they are already allowed home appears to confirms the great confidence GM has with their robustness and the particularly advanced level of development they have already achieved in such a short time.

No, its not my house.

Apparently this is nothing new. According to GM spokesperson Rob Peterson, “several engineers have already taken these vehicles home over weekends.”

Source (Autoblog)

Coskata Opens Semi-Production Cellulosic Ethanol Plant

Coskata, Inc. is a pioneering cellulosic ethanol production company. It was announced in January 2008, that GM had invested and taken an ownership stake in the company.

Coskata has developed a proprietary high temperature plasma gasification process that turns any carbon-containing waste or biological product into ethanol. In the first step the carbon containing material is gassified into CO and hydrogen. Proprietary microorganisms then combine both gases directly into ethanol. In the final step the ethanol is separated from the water.

The technique does not rely on expensive enzymes, as the microorganisms can reproduce themselves.

A great value of the technology is that ethanol can be made from many sources including numerous feedstocks, wood biomass, agricultural waste, sustainable energy crops, and garbage, old tires, and construction waste. It yields a 7 to 1 energy ratio and uses half the water it takes to produce gasoline.

Earlier this week the company opened a small-scale or semi-production facility in Madison PA that is capable of producing 50,000-gallons-a-year.

This facility demonstrates the capability of scaling up the technology from the laboratory into the 65 foot high structure. The next step will be opening a full scale production facility capable of producing 55 million gallons per year in 2012.

According to the company’s CEO Wes Bolen, the cost of the process is about $1 to make one gallon of ethanol.

As part owner, GM is also one of Coskata’s first customers.

“We invested in Coskata so that we could enable the rapid deployment of commercially viable and environmentally sustainable ethanol globally,” said Bob Babik, GM Vehicle Emissions Director. “We’re proud to say that we have already accepted some of Coskata’s ethanol at our Milford facility.”

As we know the Chevy Volt itself is E85 capable, and on one leg of the recent extended development test drives, the Volt prototypes were filled with E85 to analyze function using that fuel source.

Source (Coskata)

Guest-Post: Magna Group Reportedly Pulls Plug on Building Ampera

It was long thought that shortly after the Chevrolet Volt went into production in Michigan that a plant would open in Europe to produce the Ampera.

The front runner for this plant had been the Ellesmere Port plant in the United Kingdom, given the strong backing of the state government, and their willingness to subsidize the project to protect jobs.

On Tuesday, however, the Magna consortium reportedly decided it will not produce the Volt’s cousin at this time, and that the reason for this decision is that they feel demand will not exceed the amount of investment needed at this time.

In a report first brought forth by British media, it was said that Magna did not shut the door on ever producing the Ampera in UK, but felt it would not likely again consider that as a option until 2015 or 2016 in the project’s 2nd generation; although a mystery Vauxhall ’source’ later said that demand, “rather than the launch of the second-gen model, will drive the decision on timing.”

As of now the plan is to export the Ampera/Chevrolet Volt from the DHAM facility in Michigan indefinitely. Naturally, this may cause a strain on capacity and availability of the Volt going forward both domestically and internationally if demand has been underestimated.

Vauxhall’s unofficial-official stance from “sources” on this leak (according to autocar) was:

“There has categorically been no decision on where European production of the Ampera will take place, but in order to justify production at any European plant there will need to be sufficient demand…Obviously we would like to see it built at Ellesmere Port as the Ampera is underpinned by the new Astra. It would make sense”

According to our own GM “sources” here at GM-Volt, Ampera production volumes will be “minimal” anyway. One has to wonder if this development could cast doubt on whether the Ampera reskin of the Volt will indeed happen at all.

One unintended advantage to GM because of this development, is that the recent major devaluing of the US dollar against most major currencies has made exporting cars a much more profitable business. Provided that trend continues, any US made-European sold Voltec vehicle, should be profitable.

What is the True Demand For Electric Cars?

This is clearly a question that is important to answer.

Since the Volt was introduced in January 2007, many EV programs and EV concepts have emerged. President Obama was elected and pledged to put 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015. The hydrogen car future has been put in doubt. Oil reached nearly $150 per barrel. The world economy nearly collapsed. GM and Chrysler entered and left bankruptcy. US Car sales went from nearly 17 million per year to rates below $10 million. Rick Wagoner lost his job. A123 Systems went public. EEStor still hasn’t shown us anything.

All the while, GM-Volt.com and you, its audience of EV early adopters, have chugged along.

At this point GM admits there are over 50,000 people waiting for a Volt as this site can attest, and Nissan claims more than 20,000 will pre-order its LEAF EV next Spring.

Nissan’s CEO Carlos Ghosn thinks 10% of car sales will be electric in 2020. A very recent Credit-Suisse report predicts 1.1% of global cars sales will be electric by 2015, and that EV sales will be worth $400 billion by 2030 and sales of lithium ion batteries will reach $100 billion by the same year. It is also predicted widespread adoption of EVs will reduced petroleum consumption by 4 million barrels per day by 2030.

There are several factors which are at work to promote electric car adoption, especially a growing interest in reducing reliance on petroleum for social, environmental, and economical reasons.

Similarly, forces resist the change such as image, range limits, cost, and recently lower gas prices.

So what is the true demand for EVs?

From October 19th to 21st the first ever “Business of Plugging In” conference will take place in Detroit which will attempt to answer and discuss this and other relevant issues. It will bring together many influential people in the electric car industry for a series of workshops and discussions. Speakers will include such people as Wesley Clark, George Pataki, Bill Ford and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. Executives from A123 Systems, Kleiner-Perkins, GM, Fisker, and Think will join many others.

One particular session will be called “The Consumer: Who, When and Why?” and will include Tony Posawatz of GM and Felix Kramer of CalCars.org. You can join them here today in a multi-blog livechat in the box below at 3:30 EDT, and help start the conversation.