California will be the "lead market" for the Chevy Volt when the electrically driven car is available at the end of next year, General Motors said Wednesday.
California was chosen because the state has the largest U.S. car market, and Californians are "known to be leaders in adopting groundbreaking new technologies," GM's vice president of global Chevrolet brand, Brent Deware, said in a statement pegged to this week's Los Angeles International Auto Show.
Production of the Volt is scheduled to start in late 2010. GM has not announced pricing for the 2011 model, though newly dethroned CEO Fritz Henderson acknowledged earlier this fall that the price would be about $40,000. (GM's board on Tuesday asked Henderson to resign, effective immediately.)
California, here we come.
(Credit: General Motors)As part of the California rollout, GM plans to make 100 Volts available to three utilities for testing. The cars will be used as fleet vehicles, and performance data will be collected via GM's OnStar in-car communications for a Department of Energy-run research program.
Financially strapped GM has a lot riding on the Chevy Volt. The car is designed to run for 40 miles on its lithium ion batteries and then use an engine-generator combination for longer rides. GM expects that most customers will do the majority of their driving on electric charge only, making the cost per mile cheaper than gas-only cars.
Even with the public excitement over electric cars, automakers are still not totally sure how consumers will adjust to the new technology and how electric components will operate in real-world conditions.
GM, as well as other automakers, plans to offer electric vehicles in certain regions that will invest in the infrastructure to support them. The California research program calls for the installation of 500 charging stations at people's homes, at businesses, and in public places.
One year before starting production of the Chevy Volt, General Motors engineers say they are confident in the performance and safety of the electric car's batteries.
GM executives gave an update on the car's plans on Tuesday, saying engineers are making some tweaks to the design but that they are on schedule.
The Volt's chief engineer, Andrew Farah, also implied that GM is close to moving ahead with a project to make a Cadillac that uses the same gas-electric power train that the Volt uses. Last week, there were reports that the Converj concept had been given the green light internally, with expected car delivery in 2013.
For the Volt, GM is preparing the battery and auto manufacturing, which will happen in its home state of Michigan, with the process and product validation scheduled to begin early next year, executives said.
In the meantime, GM engineers are testing the Volt's battery pack, called the Voltec, and putting 80 prototype vehicles through the paces. In addition to crash tests for safety, they are testing the car's performance on a range of conditions, including very hot and cold temperatures, and steep hills.
This crash test shows that the orange T-shape battery pack of the Volt is not impacted during frontal collision, says GM.
(Credit: General Motors)The Volt is a gas-electric hybrid, but unlike the Toyota Prius and other hybrids on the road now, the Volt moves only from electric motors. The gasoline engine is used to supply energy to the batteries through a generator.
Because it's a new car, GM still is trying to project what sort of performance to expect. Overall, engineers are happy, but they also know that climate conditions and driving style will affect the battery's performance, they said.
"Ten years is the target life (for the battery). Depending on how you use it and where you live, you could see significantly longer time," said David Wallace, engineering group manager for Voltec Battery Systems.
The biggest challenge is battery durability in very hot weather, he said. People who live in more temperate areas and do a lot of city driving will have more forgiving conditions, Wallace added.
"But even if you live in Phoenix, as long as you charge at night, and you run during the day, your battery will remain happy," he said.
During its testing, GM has to tune the chemistry of individual batteries, which will be supplied by LG Chem. Various tests, including crash tests, have indicated that battery safety is good, executives said.
For the car itself, auto engineers are now making adjustments to reduce the overall noise during times when the gas engine kicks on for longer rides.
Farah declined to say how big the gas tank will be, which will indicate what the overall driving range is, saying that decision will be made as late as possible.
Separately, Farah said GM's plan to produce an Opel in Europe that uses the Voltec powertrain is still on target, with a schedule roughly one year behind the Volt.
Automakers are expected to agree this week to use the SAE J1772 five-pin charging system and coupler as the standard connection for plug-in vehicles.
(Credit: SAE International)The Society of Automotive Engineers International, the organization that sets the standard for aerospace and automotive industry technology, will vote this week to make the SAE J1772 charging system and coupler the standard connection for plug-in vehicles, according to a General Motors executive.
Britta Gross, director of GM's Global Energy Systems, shared the news during a live Web chat at GM's Fastlane blog on Tuesday evening.
"As Jon Lauckner said this morning, the Volt comes with a 120-V charger and if you can find a normal outlet, you can charge the Volt," Gross said.
She went on to add that all major automakers will eventually equip cars with the same charging coupler when their respective plug-in cars in the pipeline reach the consumer market because a standard agreement was being reached.
"Yes, GM's Gery Kissel is chair of the SAE J1772 standards committee. The standard is going to a vote this week after two and a half years of work. All major automakers are expected to agree to adhere to these charging standards. All infrastructure that goes in from now on should be J1772 compliant so all plug-in vehicles can use it," Gross said.
Gross is referring to the SAE J1772 or SAE electric vehicle conductive charging cable and coupler which has five pins and can be used with 120V or 240 V single phase electrical systems.
The agreement would allow charging stations throughout the world to plug in to any standard plug-in vehicle in the same way nozzles at gas stations are standardized to fit gas- or diesel-powered vehicles, respectively.
All the droolworthy stuff from Frankfurt, what it will *really* take to sell the Chevy Volt, Toyota's gonna' call everything a Prius, and this is the first episode of 'Car Tech Live', the new live video edition of the CNET Car Tech Podcast.
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EPISODE 136
SHOW NOTES• CNET coverage of the Frankfurt auto show
• What's the funny noise coming from your electric Nissan?
• Hertz NeverLost supports USB drives to load your navigation destinations
If you buy a Chevy Volt, are you a moron? The writing's on the wall for driving while texting. Future Toyotas may call you a liquor face. And we take a ride in really great American hybrid.
Listen now: Download today's podcastSubscribe now: iTunes (audio) | RSS (audio)
SHOW NOTES
• BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept car
• Toyota breathalyzer also checks your face
• Garmin Nuvi 1690 with NuLink service
Chevy Volt gets 230 miles per gallon (for a day) while Nissan says we can play that game, too. BMW gets hybrid religion (again), and we take you for a ride in an Audi Q5 and point out what we love and what we wish we could.
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SHOW NOTES
Audi's nav screen goes crazy with the 3D in the latest version of their MMI interface.
(Credit: CBS Interactive)• We take you for a ride in a Chevy Volt test mule
• CNET Review and video of the Audi Q5
• BMW has a hybrid x6 and 7 Series on the way
MILFORD, Mich.--It was brief, but my ride in a Chevy Volt was decidedly fun, even exciting.
On Tuesday, I visited the sprawling Milford Proving Grounds in southeastern Michigan, where General Motors vehicles have been put through the paces since the 1920s.
I was one of the lucky few who got the last ride of the day in a pre-production version of the Volt, which was "almost stolen" from the car's development team by Frank Weber, the global vehicle line executive for the Volt, to give journalists a taste of the upcoming plug-in electric sedan.
In addition to being a key figure in the Volt's development, Weber clearly has got a car engineer's love of driving. His high-speed tour around the track gave me a feel for the "driving experience" GM executives tout with the Volt, which is due late next year.
I was prepared for the zippy acceleration. Models will vary of course, but electric vehicles can boast great acceleration--the Tesla Roadster is faster off the line than many sports cars, for instance--and they deliver their full torque at all speeds.
What surprised me though was the handling. As Weber dipped around the couple turns we took, the car seemed to really stick to the road, and I didn't slide off my seat at all.
It makes sense that it felt like the car "hugged" the road. The large, 400-pound battery pack, which is positioned under the back seats, gives the Volt a low center of gravity, and the car has a good weight distribution, GM executives said.
During the drive, Weber--obviously enamored with its performance--said that you feel much closer to the electric car when you drive because of the responsive acceleration. "It's more like flying than driving a vehicle," he said. And, of course, the ride was very quiet as the car was running on batteries.
I've never taken a Lamborghini or Ferrari around a test track, but I can say the Volt's acceleration and handling are noticeably sportier than sedans like the Prius or the alternative fuel SUVs I also drove at Milford.
Watching the video, you can get a feel for how Weber showed off the Volt's acceleration and, on the last turn, the handling.
Under construction
Earlier in the day, I took a tour of GM's pre-production facility at its Tech Center in Warren, Mich., where I gained a bit more insight into the interplay between the Volt's two power sources--its batteries and the internal combustion engine.
Updated at 12:00 p.m. PT with comments from GM representative.
Even as GM develops the electric power train for its Chevy Volt, the company has plans to design a hybrid platform for sedans, according to a report.
The hybrid technology will be used in a midsize sedan as well as other vehicles and offer better mileage than its current technology.
"What we are trying to work towards is 'Yes,' we will have other hybrid vehicles (besides the Volt) but we are trying to work towards a dedicated hybrid," Ed Peper, GM's general manager of Chevrolet, told GM-Volt.com, a site not affiliated with GM. "We think that's probably a better way for us to go longer term."
The hybrid Chevy Malibu: time for an upgrade?
(Credit: General Motors)GM currently offers a hybrid edition of the Chevy Malibu that promises up to 26 miles per gallon in city driving and 34 on highway. That's only slightly better than the 22- and 33 miles-per-gallon rating for the gasoline-only version--a situation that GM is seeking to improve on, Peper said.
"I think when we bring out a hybrid, and I think its very important, we've got to make sure it has significantly better fuel economy than a non-hybrid," he said.
GM stopped production of the 2009 Malibu but it will offer the improved hybrid system with the 2011 Malibu, a GM representative said on Monday.
The fuel economy with the new hybrid system will be on the order of 20 percent compared to the gasoline-only versions, he added. Rather than nickel metal hydride batteries, the newer hybrid system will use lithium-ion batteries supplied by Hitachi.
"This future system will have the capability to work over a wider range of vehicles," he said.
Offering more hybrid editions would complement GM's range-extended electric vehicle technology used in the Volt and potentially other cars. In announcing its departure from bankruptcy on Friday, GM repeated that advanced battery development is a "core competency" for the revived automaker.
A hybrid power train uses both the gasoline engine and a dedicated battery to power the car. When the car decelerates or brakes, the system charges the battery.
All-electric or range-extended electric vehicles are different in that they use the batteries and electric motor only to move the car. The gasoline engine in the Chevy Volt will be used to charge the battery for trips longer than 40 miles.
In addition to the Volt's electric power train and a revamped hybrid platform, GM also plans to offer plug-in hybrid vehicles across its four core brands. The basis for the plug-in hybrid will be from GM's "two-mode hybrid" system and will be available in 2011, according a GM representative.
Meanwhile, Honda on Monday said that it plans to offer hybrid versions of its CR-Z sports car and Fit Hybrid in Japan by the end of 2010.
Cash for gas guzzlers becomes law--how many loopholes? The Chevy Volt is taking shape, literally. Is Porsche thinking of something cheaper than a Boxster? Pioneer wants to use WiMax to stream to your car. And we drive the cheapest Land Rover you can buy.
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SHOW NOTES
The Chevy Volt is taking shape--might GM really deliver this thing on time?
(Credit: General Motors)• Cash for Gas Guzzlers signed into law
• Audi will evangelize diesel all summer
• Chevy Volt prototype seems to be shaping up
General Motors opened the doors to a battery research and development plant in Michigan on Monday, a facility the company says will accelerate its move to electric vehicles.
The Global Battery Systems Lab in Warren, Mich., will be used to test the lithium ion batteries planned for the Chevy Volt as well as other energy storage systems such as ultracapacitors, GM said.
Destined for a Volt: the lithium ion battery pack to be used in the Chevy Volt and potentially other GM electric vehicles.
(Credit: General Motors)The facility, at 33,000 square feet, is four times larger than GM's existing testing operation and will be used by 1,000 engineers, according to the company which hosted a ceremony with Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm and GM CEO Fritz Henderson.
"Our new lab improves GM's competitiveness by speeding the development of our hybrid, plug-in and extended-range electric vehicles, including the Chevrolet Volt," Henderson said in a statement.
Construction of the plant started last August and full operation began in May of this year.
Earlier this year, GM said that it would enter the battery business because the technology is considered strategic to its future cars. The auto giant, which filed for bankruptcy protection last week, said it still intends to have the Chevy Volt electric car available by the end of 2010.
The facility will be able to test the properties of individual cells as well as battery packs. General Motors intends to build its own battery packs for the Chevy Volt, using cells and control electronics from LG Chem.
