| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
xrotaryguy
Heavy Crude
Joined: May 28, 2007
Posts: 125
Location: Tempe, AZ
|
 Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 6:43 pm Post subject: GM Volt Updates |
  |
|
| CNN Coney.com wrote: | TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (Reuters) -- General Motors Corp. will begin road testing its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid in the spring of next year and remains on track to produce the rechargeable car by late 2010, a senior executive said Thursday.
As the race to bring a mass-market, rechargeable electric vehicle to the market heats up, GM's global product chief Bob Lutz said he expects to have next-generation lithium-ion battery packs ready for the vehicles by October this year.
chevrolet_volt_concept.03.jpg
Video More video
Interface Inc. has increased its environmentally friendly efforts to try and save the earth while being green every stitch of the way.
Play video
"We should have the battery packs by October," he said, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference. "We'll have some on the road for testing next spring, and we should have the Volt in production by the end of 2010."
In June, GM announced contracts with two companies - a subsidiary of South Korea's LG Chem Ltd. called Compact Power Inc. and Germany's Continental AG to work on parallel battery development programs for the Volt.
On Thursday, GM announced another contract with A123 Systems, which has been working with Continental on battery technology.
GM said both Compact Power and A123 could end up providing the batteries for the Volt, or only one of them might meet the automaker's requirements. |
Man, I hope that GM isn't full of crap for once.
_________________
Brian Jackson: Weird, old, and rare car preservatinist.
61 Corvair Van, Turbo Charged 62 Corvair Rampside, Retired SCCA Improved Touring 74 Rx2 Road Race Car, 75 Rx4 Sedan, 79 Triumph Spitfire, and a couple of boring practical cars. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
WisJim
Expert
Joined: Jan 03, 2005
Posts: 1178
Location: western Wisconsin
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 8:00 pm Post subject: Re: GM Volt Updates |
|
|
They could bring back a new version of their previous successful electric car (the one that they crushed), or what about the Honda electric that they have had out since 1998, but that Honda is recalling to destroy? http://hondaev.org/acar.html
What is it with these car companies??? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Windmills
Heavy Crude
![]()
Joined: Oct 11, 2005
Posts: 409
Location: Arizona, USA
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 11:22 pm Post subject: Re: GM Volt Updates |
|
|
| What is it with these consumers? They just seem to refuse to deprive themselves of luxury--such as a nice, powerful V8--until they're forced to do so. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
evilgenius
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Dec 06, 2005
Posts: 847
Location: Stopped at the border.
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:02 am Post subject: Re: GM Volt Updates |
|
|
2010 will be too late.
_________________
"Hope encourages men to take risks; men in a strong position may follow her without ruin, if not without loss. But when they stake all that they have to the last coin (for she is a spendthrift), she reveals her real self in the hour of failure." |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Cabrone
Heavy Crude
Joined: Apr 21, 2006
Posts: 230
Location: London
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:25 am Post subject: Re: GM Volt Updates |
|
|
Here's a YouTube video talking to a GM representative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgTcdfkihE4
I find his line about there not being a big enough battery out there to drive this thing.
May I suggest he takes a trip to Altair Nanotechnologies? If I'm correct isn't their battery good enough to drive a Tesla for a couple of hundred miles. Also he should ask what Zap are using in their Zap-X car as they are quoting 350 miles (I suspect it's Altair too).
Then again Zap are using PML flightlink's in hub motors which GM aren't so maybe that's why they will beat this car's performance hands down. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bas
Moderator
Joined: Mar 26, 2005
Posts: 3758
Location: over here
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:32 am Post subject: "Chevy Volt" electrical car to be launched in 2010 |
|
|
| Quote: | The Volt is emerging as one of the most crucial vehicles in GM’s history. Failure would be a deep embarrassment after the fanfare surrounding its development. But success could propel GM past Toyota as a pioneer in alternative energy vehicles. GM has assigned 150 engineers to the project.
The Detroit carmaker aims to launch the Volt by 2010. The battery would give a range of 40 miles and maintain full performance for at least 10 years. It would be recharged either by the car’s small combustion engine or from a normal electrical point.
|
Financial Times
| Quote: | General Motors may reportedly allow buyers of its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid car to rent the vehicle’s expensive battery as a way of pricing the vehicle at a comparable level to a similar size vehicle with a conventional powertrain when it is launched in 2010. The lithium-ion nanophosphate battery system being developed by GM with A123Systems is planned to give a battery-only range of around 40 miles and last for at least 10 years. The gasoline saved by the vehicle would release funds for battery rental, giving a similar overall running cost.
Repeated rumours suggest that Toyota is delaying the launch of its own plug-in hybrid technology with lithium-ion batteries, and a Toyota engineer, Justin Ward, is reported to have confirmed at last week’s Michigan Management Briefings that the company does not consider the technology ready for the automotive market.
|
http://www.autoindustry.co.uk/news/
_________________
"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time."
- Abraham Lincoln |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Eli
Fusion
Joined: Jun 18, 2005
Posts: 3886
Location: In a van down by the river
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:47 am Post subject: Re: GM Volt Updates |
|
|
a123 I think will have batteries that will perform better in the end, that is what GM is betting as well.
Their Iron Phosphate batteries use cheaper materials and are more easily constructed. I think GM has to look at the big picture they need a car that will preform as well in Vegas in 110 degree heat as well as -32 in Duluth, that is a very tall order for an electric car.
{threads merged by Bas} |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Starvid
Fission
Joined: Feb 20, 2005
Posts: 2778
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 2:30 pm Post subject: Re: GM Volt Updates |
|
|
Why would renting the battery make the Volt cheaper?
The only way this would work is if GM would in effect be providing a credit subsidy - that is, the battery rent would be lower than the interest the consumer had to pay on a loan covering the capital cost of the battery.
Because the consumers can't be so simple that they don't calculate by how much the higher price tag is offset by less fuel use, are they?
_________________
Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
joe1347
Heavy Crude
Joined: Sep 05, 2005
Posts: 153
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:02 pm Post subject: Re: GM Volt Updates |
|
|
| Eli wrote: | a123 I think will have batteries that will perform better in the end, that is what GM is betting as well.
Their Iron Phosphate batteries use cheaper materials and are more easily constructed. I think GM has to look at the big picture they need a car that will preform as well in Vegas in 110 degree heat as well as -32 in Duluth, that is a very tall order for an electric car.
{threads merged by Bas} |
From the A123 website, it looks like their 'new' Lithium Iron Phosphate battery is not susceptible to thermal runaway (fires) - unlike conventional lithium batteries.
http://www.a123systems.com/newsite/index.php#/technology/
_________________
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." Homer Simpson |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Eli
Fusion
Joined: Jun 18, 2005
Posts: 3886
Location: In a van down by the river
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:30 pm Post subject: Re: GM Volt Updates |
|
|
That is a neat link, the nice thing too is the batteries are easier to dispose of and do not contain the harmful metals of traditional lion batteries.
A better application for these batteries would be for an electric bicycle. That is all I would need to get to work and you could build one for probably 1500 bucks.
We do not need to reinvent the car we need to reinvent transportation. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Eli
Fusion
Joined: Jun 18, 2005
Posts: 3886
Location: In a van down by the river
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:19 pm Post subject: Re: GM Volt Updates |
|
|
Well fine then I will just take my flying car to work, it runs on hydrogen so there is no problem. People need to start investing in hydrogen wells, these flying cars are going to be big.  lol |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Omnitir
Light Sweet Crude
Joined: Apr 02, 2005
Posts: 1001
Location: Down Under
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:54 pm Post subject: Re: GM Volt Updates |
|
|
It's great that GM is doing this, but not because they are going to change America with it.
Just like the early US development of hybrid technology, GM posturing about developing EV's for the masses is fuelling high levels of investment into EV's in the Japanese auto industry.
It doesn't matter if the Volt is a success or not. The project's existence is what matters, because it's nudging Japan further in the right direction.
_________________
"Mother Nature is a psychopathic bitch, and she is out to get you. You have to adapt, change or die." - Tihamer Toth-Fejel, nanotech researcher/engineer. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
perdition79
Heavy Crude
Joined: Apr 21, 2006
Posts: 445
Location: Babylon
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 11:18 pm Post subject: Re: GM Volt Updates |
|
|
| joe1347 wrote: | | From the A123 website, it looks like their 'new' Lithium Iron Phosphate battery is not susceptible to thermal runaway (fires) - unlike conventional lithium batteries. |
Phosphate, huh? So the price of fertilizer goes up upon increased demand of Florida phosphate, which raises the price of corn, which raises the price of food even more. We can't win, can we?
_________________
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/
"We are building a religion; we are building it bigger. We are widening the corridors and adding more lanes."
Cake - Comfort Eagle |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Honbrid
Coal
Joined: Aug 17, 2007
Posts: 3
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:18 pm Post subject: Re: GM Volt Updates |
|
|
I still go for Honda and besides oil economy will not be so big an issue with them...They've gone hybrid,too...Here's a little update on Honda...
The new, 2007 Honda CR-V is more powerful, more stylish and more comfortable than the previous-generation 2006 models. Its new suspension geometry delivers an improved ride and better, more responsive handling.
Buyers choose from three models, the LX, the EX and the EX-L. The latter comes trimmed in leather and can be fitted with an optional navigation system that incorporates a rearview video camera for safe and easy backing. All have four doors and seat five.
The engine, still an inline four cylinder, employs variable intake valve timing to optimize horsepower and torque for acceleration and cruising speeds. The transmission is a new, five-speed automatic. Real Time all-wheel drive is offered on all three models. The U.S. EPA rates the front-wheel drive CR-V at 23/30 city/highway miles per gallon and the all-wheel drive at 22/28.
Thus, buyers looking for peppy performance, snazzy styling and easier financing have better choices. They could also add a Honda brake caliper in it for better protection.. But for Honda loyalists looking for something better than their current CR-V or an SUV to step up into from their Civic, the '07 is the logical way to go. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
small_steps
Heavy Crude
Joined: Jul 03, 2004
Posts: 261
Location: wisconsin
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 10:15 am Post subject: Re: GM Volt Updates |
|
|
| Cabrone wrote: | Here's a YouTube video talking to a GM representative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgTcdfkihE4
I find his line about there not being a big enough battery out there to drive this thing.
May I suggest he takes a trip to Altair Nanotechnologies? If I'm correct isn't their battery good enough to drive a Tesla for a couple of hundred miles. Also he should ask what Zap are using in their Zap-X car as they are quoting 350 miles (I suspect it's Altair too).
Then again Zap are using PML flightlink's in hub motors which GM aren't so maybe that's why they will beat this car's performance hands down. |
Remember that the Tesla thing is a high end product:
http://www.teslamotors.com/buy/buyPage1.php
GM is looking to mass market the EV1, so the statement about not being a battery big enough for the EV1 has everything to do with cost, not pure technology. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
News
Discussions
Resources
Members
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
