And here it is [maybe]: Chevrolet's plug-in electric - gas hybrid Volt. Weʼve admired (more or less) the widely-touted concept and glimpsed the camouflaged 1/3 model. Iʼve photchopped my personal guess for the finished model, based on Bob Lutz' contention that the production version will still be recognizable as the Volt. The small cabin silhouette is clearly not making it into production (as we've seen on the scale model). However, the doors' transparent upper sides are a Volt-specific design element; I think they could make it out of concept stage to act as a visual trade-mark. They're not all that useful, but they give the Volt a suitably high-tech appearance. Some mechanical components like the door-locking mechanism or the window crane could be seen through that glass; eye candy for kids and first-time car-thieves. I kept the glass-roof, but I doubt it will be standard equipment. Some high-tech lights (but not as fancy as those seen on the concept) should differentiate the Volt from the rest of the Chevys. The result isn't beautiful, but then, neither is the Toyota Prius.

via thetruthaboutcars 

During the recent British Motor Show, GM Europe boss was expecting to get deluged with questions about the precarious financial situation at the home office in Detroit. To his surprise he found that the subject most of the European media were interested in was the status of E-Flex in Europe. For those just joining the conversation, E-flex is the extended range electric drive power-train architecture GM is developing for the Chevrolet Volt. Forster provides responses to some of the most common questions in a post on the GM Europe Blog, Driving Conversations today. Our friends across the pond will get their first chance to sample E-Flex vehicles about a year after the US launch. An Opel/Vauxhall branded E-Flex vehicle will be the first to appear in late 2011. Since Opel and Vauxhall in the UK are GM's volume divisions there, they will get the first ER-EVs while a Chevrolet branded vehicle will arrive a few months later. Those first Opel ER-EVs will be exported from the Detroit plant that is building the Volt but as production ramps up, additional capacity will be added in Europe. What Forster doesn't discuss is whether the Opel ER-EV will have the same styling as the Volt or a unique body, perhaps looking like the Flextreme concept that appeared at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. Forster also didn't discuss the range extender which we have been told will be the same 1.4L gas engine that will appear in the production Volt. Clearly GM is counting heavily on E-Flex to help it meet future EU carbon dioxide emissions limits.

via autobloggreen 

GM, which will mark its centennial on Sept. 16, will let employees take a peek at the extended range electric vehicle but not allow them to use any cameras because of concerns about the competition. GM has been working feverishly on the Volt to begin production in late 2010, with assembly set for its Hamtramck plant.

No final decision has been made on when and where the Volt will be revealed to employees -- and eventually the public, but spokeswoman Karla Coleman said, "It's going to be soon."

The Detroit automaker confirmed Tuesday that it had filed the necessary paperwork to construct a $326 million, 530,000-square-foot plant in Flint to build 1.4-liter turbo engines for the Volt as well as its new compact car, the Chevrolet Cruze. Construction of the plant is pending negotiations with state and local officials on tax incentives.

GM spokeswoman Sharon Basel confirmed the paperwork to build the plant had been filed. The new facility will be built near Flint Engine South and Flint Truck. The Flint City Council will meet on Aug. 25 to consider granting tax incentives for the plant.

The public won't have to wait too long to see a near-production version of the Volt. GM plans to unveil the revised Volt at either the Los Angeles International Auto Show in November or the Detroit auto show in January, a person familiar with the company's plans said.

The production model will be different than the concept version that was first unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2007; the original wasn't aerodynamic enough, according to GM.

GM's board of directors formally approved production of the vehicle last month.

The automaker recently showed a near-production version of the Volt to a focus group in southern California.

"It was very positive," Coleman said. "It's not like we can change the design at this point, but we want to hear feedback about how we're doing."

GM's engineers are driving the "real architecture" of the Volt under the bodies of other GM vehicles.

More than 200 engineers and 50 designers are working on the Volt, and another 400 are working on related subsystems and electric components. The Volt will be able to travel up to 40 miles on electric power alone and will have a gas engine that powers a generator to recharge the battery and keep the vehicle running when its lithium-ion battery pack is low on power.

GM is also working on a plug-in electric Saturn Vue that it also plans to start producing in late 2010. That will be able to go about 10 miles on electric power.

The Volt will operate like a plug-in hybrid; it will be rechargeable by plugging the vehicle into a standard 110-volt outlet. The vehicle could cost as much as $40,000 because of its expensive batteries.

GM announced this month that it is working with a consortium of 34 utilities to overcome technical challenges in introducing tens of thousands of plug-in electric vehicles to the market.

Congress is considering tax breaks for plug-in vehicles that would defray purchase costs of the Volt.

Toyota Motor Corp. announced in January it would produce and begin leasing a limited number of plug-in hybrid vehicles in late 2010 to fleet customers. The experimental version currently has a 7-mile electric range in testing.

GM said it plans to build tens of thousands of Volts beginning in late 2010. The News reported the company currently plans to build up to 200,000 through 2015, with many of them being exported to other markets and some to be sold under different nameplates.

The automaker began road testing the Volt in April after completing its design and cramming 10 years of battery testing into two. Executives lifted a sheet to reveal part of the Volt's restyled front to journalists during a tour in April.

Larry Burns, GM's vice president for research and development, has said the final version would bear "a clear family resemblance" to the concept vehicle "but it won't be a twin." The Volt will have a T-shaped battery, weighing about 400 pounds and in 64 inches in length.

In a related matter, GM won tax breaks in Ohio this week to build the Cruze, which will get 45 miles per gallon, at its Lordstown assembly plant. The automaker won a 15-year, 75 percent state tax credit worth $77.7 million. It also won a $4.4 million tax credit to create at least 200 jobs at the plant.

via detnews 

Chrysler LLC's answer to the much-anticipated Chevrolet Volt could be three to five years away, the Free Press has learned.

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The Auburn Hills automaker launched a special division within the company last fall called ENVI -- pronounced like "envy" -- to bring electric-drive vehicles and related advanced-propulsion technologies to market.

"ENVI is currently developing electric vehicles for the three Chrysler brands and is planning on product within three to five years," Nick Cappa, a Chrysler spokesman, told the Free Press in an e-mail.

General Motors Corp. has promised a breakthrough electric-drive vehicle -- commonly referred to as a plug-in hybrid -- called the Chevy Volt by 2010.

The move by Chrysler comes as some dealers quietly question why Chrysler is not stepping up efforts to bring more hybrid technology to market quicker in light of $4-a-gallon gasoline and tanking SUV and truck sales.

Some dealers tell the Free Press they've been told not to expect the bulk of the automaker's lineup to have a hybrid option in the near future.

Alan Helfman, vice president of Helfman River Oaks Chrysler Jeep in Houston, said he has been told not to expect many hybrid offerings before 2012. "It's lamenting. ... You don't have to have every car -- not everyone wants a hybrid -- but it's obviously a profound proportion of the industry right now," he said.

Another dealer, who didn't want to be named because product plans are secret, echoed those thoughts: They "need to put that hybrid in."

Around September, Chrysler will begin to offer two hybrids: the Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango -- both SUVs and both priced below GM's similar models.

GM and Chrysler teamed up with Mercedes-Benz and BMW to develop a two-mode hybrid system.

Chrysler, beyond announcing plans to have a Dodge Ram hybrid in its 2010 model year, remains mum on hybrid plans, other than to hint that more is to come.

A market forecast by J.D. Power and Associates predicts that Chrysler will offer a hybrid option with the Dodge Grand Caravan next year and with the Dodge Avenger car and Journey crossover in 2013.

One independent dealer told the Free Press that Chrysler officials have said it could be as long as 2012 for a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Paul Lacy, an industry analyst with Global Insight, however, predicts Chrysler will be marketing a hybrid version of the Jeep Grand Cherokee in the 2010 model year as part of the automaker's response to recent federal legislation that requires it to make more fuel-efficient vehicles.

"As soon as the energy bill starts to take effect, they'll pound in on these things. They won't have a choice," Lacy said. He also said he expects a Dodge Charger hybrid by 2011.

Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management acquired majority control of Chrysler from now-Daimler AG last August. Since then, Chrysler has undergone dramatic changes as it races to remake itself as a smaller company and deal with a worsening U.S. auto industry.

Chrysler's U.S. sales are down 22%, hurt particularly by its truck-heavy lineup. The privately held automaker has also had to battle speculation about its financing, issuing statements to deny bankruptcy fears and to say it is beating financial goals.

"The big thing for Chrysler is money. It's a cost thing. ... They don't have any," Lacy said of why Chrysler can't rush hybrids to market quicker.

"They have been involved in a cooperation with GM ... but they haven't really made any commitments. They've also put a lot of money into their up-and-coming diesel lineup."

The automaker said pulling forward hybrid models is no simple matter. "There's a full plan in place for hybrids at Chrysler," Cappa said.

Chrysler has given few details about what its ENVI efforts will produce. "ENVI is going to play a lot deeper role than a lot of people think going forward," Cappa said.

"If you want to go ahead and make everything a full hybrid system, fine, but what if you can turn everything into a range-extended vehicle and take it beyond the 2020 campaign for 35 miles per gallon?" Cappa asked. "The new technology ENVI is developing could do that."

Last year, Chrysler announced plans to spend $3 billion to develop more fuel-efficient powertrains. A big part of that announcement has been the development of a new V6 engine, axle and dual-clutch transmission, all of which Chrysler executives promise will deliver fuel savings.

And there are Chrysler's diesel efforts. The new Dodge Ram is expected to have a diesel option to introduce after 2009.

Carl Galeana, vice president of Van Dyke Dodge in Warren, said he's frustrated about the hybrids but hopes Chrysler's diesel plans will help.

"I don't know if hybrid is going to be the magic wand," Galeana said. "I think we're certainly going to see diesels and other things that will be just as meaningful as a hybrid car and maybe more, as far as functionality and real-life usage."

He said the company will be better off by 2010. "If we're able to get some decent European diesels in the mix, I think that will help us a great deal."

via freep 

When the Volt concept was first unveiled, GM was not sure how to badge European versions of the E-Flex cars. Apparently, the decision has been made and the first Euro-bound EV's from GM will be badged as Opels, with a Vauxhall version coming shortly thereafter. All three models of the E-Flex chassis will be built in Detroit atop the next-gen Delta compact car platform which was designed to carry a large lithium ion battery pack along with a range-extending engine. Though the Europeans would likely favor a diesel powerplant, it seems that the first-generation of all three E-Flex vehicles will use a gasoline-powered engine for on-the-fly battery recharging.

It goes without saying that the Volt and its Euro-clones will be the most expensive vehicles built on the Delta platform, with U.S. pricing estimated to be at least $40 grand. Across the pond, the Opel and Vauxhall E-Flex's will be saddled with at least a 10,000 euro premium. The price of gasoline, which is significantly higher in Europe than in the States, along with any government assistance for purchasers of the EVs, will determine how quickly customers will recoup that added investment.

via autoblog 

WASHINGTON — General Motors Corp. has told federal regulators they should not count on any fuel economy gains from the upcoming Chevrolet Volt or other plug-in hybrids when setting new efficiency standards, saying such vehicles would be built in low numbers through 2015.

The comments counter the enthusiasm GM and others have been building for the Volt as a revolutionary model with technology to reduce oil consumption and leapfrog Toyota Motor Corp.’s lead in hybrids. GM’s has set a goal for the Volt to travel 40 miles on batteries charged from a home outlet, with a engine powering electric motors providing an additional range of a few hundred miles.

GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told the Free Press last month that the automaker planned to build 10,000 Chevrolet Volts in 2011, the vehicle’s first full year of production, and 60,000 the following year. He added that the goal was highly dependent on battery and electrical suppliers, and that GM was still targeting a sales price of less than $40,000.

Earlier this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed a 25% increase in fuel economy rules from 2011 through 2015 model years, with costs to GM alone estimated at $17.3 billion. NHTSA based its rules on product plans from GM and other automakers, along with its own models of the costs and benefits from various fuel-saving technologies.

At the time, NHTSA said no automaker had provided enough information about plug-in hybrid vehicles to use them in its models. It said it would ask automakers for updated plans and incorporate estimates of plug-in hybrid production into its final rule, expected before the end of the year.

But GM told the agency last week that plug-in hybrids and Volt-type models – what GM calls EREV for extended range electric vehicles – “present numerous challenges” in being built.

“For the purposes of the NHTSA rulemaking, GM’s game-changing EREV technology should be treated as a low-volume application during the time period under consideration,” the automaker said in a filing. “We strongly discourage NHTSA from applying either PHEV or EREV technology in any significant volume in its … model during the 2011-2015 timeframe.”

GM spokesman Greg Martin said the automaker was trying to set “reasonable perspectives” with regulators.

“We’ve been very cautious in terms of the volume, just because of the innovation and the technology associated with that vehicle,” Martin said. “There’s a note of caution that, yes the technology is breakthrough, it is a game-changer, but as with any new game-changing technology, there needs to be a reasonable expectation set in terms of volume.”

GM and other automakers criticized the proposed standards on several other fronts, saying the combined target of 31.6 m.p.g. for cars and trucks woefully underestimated the industry’s costs, and took no account of its financial challenges. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the trade group that includes Detroit automakers, said the rule would cut annual sales by 856,000 vehicles, triggering job cuts of 85,000 workers.

Environmental groups and some Democrats have pressed the Bush administration to make the proposed rules even tougher, since they rely on estimates for gasoline prices of about $2.30 a gallon through 2015, far below what the government’s experts now forecast. Higher gasoline price estimates would make more expensive technologies viable under the government’s model, despite the increased burden on automakers.

Contact JUSTIN HYDE at 202-906-8204 or jhyde@freepress.com.

via freep 

The electric car is back, and coming to a movie screen near you.

"Revenge of the Electric Car," a documentary by the team that created the hit "Who Killed the Electric Car?," should reach theaters in 2009, filmmaker Chris Paine said.

Details are thin at this point, but Paine said the movie will chronicle the work major automakers are doing to get a second generation of electric cars on the road.

via freep 

By Soyoung Kim and Kevin Krolicki

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp is rushing to finish the production version of its Chevy Volt and plans to unveil a showroom-ready model of the heavily touted electric car in September, people familiar with the project say.

Battered by a deepening slump in sales and concerns about whether it can ride out the downturn, GM (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is counting on the Volt to break its costly association with gas-guzzling vehicles at a time when truck sales are tumbling and gas prices are near record levels.

GM is likely to complete the production version of the Volt by early August and plans to show it off in September, just when the embattled automaker celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding, people familiar with the plans said.

A GM spokesman declined to comment on the timeline for its next announcements on the Volt, which will include naming a supplier for the vehicle's lithium-ion battery pack, the single most expensive element of the vehicle and the component seen as critical to its success.

"Everyone is waiting for the next steps," Rob Peterson, spokesman for GM's electric vehicle program, told Reuters. GM designers and engineers are "getting very close" to a production-ready version of the Volt, he said.

GM showed off a concept version of the Volt in January 2007 but has retooled the look of the vehicle significantly since then, in part in order to improve its aerodynamics, representatives of the automaker have said.

GM has already shown a near-production version of the Volt to a Los Angeles-area focus group of consumers as it pushes toward production of the vehicle by late 2010 under a development plan the GM board approved in June.

By unveiling the final version of the Volt at a centennial observation in September, GM will be looking to shift the focus for investors and consumers from its current sales slump toward the more fuel-efficient vehicles it has in development.

The automaker, which saw its stock hit a 54-year low last week, is expected to use the circuit of major auto shows that begins with Paris in October to unveil a series of upcoming vehicles that will underscore its effort to move away from a reliance on light trucks.

Those include the production version of the Chevy Beat, a replacement for the Aveo hatchback, and a replacement for the Chevy Cobalt, a small sedan.

VOLT: READY FOR ITS HOLLYWOOD CLOSE-UP

In a further bid to create buzz, the Volt is one of several GM cars set to make an appearance in the action movie "Transformers 2," scheduled for release next summer, a person familiar with the matter said.

GM was heavily involved in the production of the first Michael Bay-directed "Transformers" film, released last summer, and provided a concept version of its 2009 Camaro for a central turn in the movie.

GM is designing the Volt to run for 40 miles on a lithium-ion battery pack that can be recharged at a standard electric outlet. The Volt will also capture energy from braking, like a traditional hybrid, and feature an on-board engine that will be used to send power to the battery on longer trips.

GM is racing Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to bring the first plug-in car to the marketplace and has already featured the Volt in its advertising, part of a bid to improve the public image of the fuel efficiency of its car line-up.

Just as the Detroit-based automakers once rolled out limited-edition performance cars to create a buzz around their brands, the Volt has emerged as a kind of environmentally friendly "halo car" that GM hopes will have as much impact as the Prius hybrid has had for Toyota.

Two suppliers have been in the running to provide lithium-ion batteries for the Volt: A unit of Korea's LG Chem (051910.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said last month that it was ready to supply batteries for the Volt, and German auto parts supplier Continental AG (CONG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), adapting battery technology used by privately held A123 Systems, is also competing for the Volt battery contract.

The Volt marks one of the first attempts to adapt lithium-ion batteries, widely used in consumer electronics, for a car, although Toyota and others are pressing ahead with their own work on the same technology.

GM celebrates its centennial on September 16, the anniversary of its founding by Billy Durant. It kicked off a series of events last year to mark the date, but those have been overshadowed by concerns about its performance and whether it has sufficient cash to ride out the downturn in U.S. sales.

GM's U.S. sales are off 15 percent this year, and analysts expect the automaker to raise additional capital to shore up liquidity as it looks to turn around its U.S. operations.

(Editing by John Wallace)

via reuters 

General Motors has downsized plans to equip the Chevy Volt plug-in electric car with a 12-gallon fuel tank. The original idea was to give the vehicle an extra 600-mile driving range once the lithium-ion battery pack ran out of its initial charge.

The tank has been shrunk to hold fewer than 12 gallons. GM won't say exactly how many gallons it will now hold, other than a source saying, "We're working on that."

GM's goal is to begin selling the Volt by the end of 2010.

The original target with the Volt concept was for it to run in battery mode only, without burning a drop of gas, for up to 40 miles — about the distance most folks travel each day — before the lithium-ion battery pack needed to be recharged. 

That goal hasn’t changed. Initially, though, it was intended to be able to travel up to 600 miles more after that using a small on-board gas engine/generator to create more electricity to power the car. It would then need a one- to two-hour recharge, or the gas tank would need to be refilled.

The target now is to travel 360 miles after the initial charge wears off rather than 600.

GM says because most cars travel 40 miles or less each day, there was really no need to have a 12-gallon fuel tank — and the added weight — to extend the range by 600 miles.

"Most cars today have a range of more than 300 miles and less than 400 miles before refueling,” said Jim Hossack, vice president of AutoPacific, an automotive research and consulting firm. “GM didn't need a longer range because most bladders can't go 600 miles.

"By going with a smaller tank it means GM can take weight and price out and make Volt a little lighter and a little cheaper, and that's what you call making an improvement.”

via autoblog