The Chevy Volt is the third development from
General Motors we've been expecting. (The first
was the Saturn Vue PHEV
<http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/585.html>,
the second that Vue prototypes using lithium
batteries from two suppliers are expected this
year <http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/633.html>.)

The Volt is a "serial" plug-in hybrid -- a type
of PHEV in which only the electric motor powers
the wheels. A small, efficient, liquid-fuel
engine runs at constant speed to recharge the
batteries when their grid-charge is depleted. In
a "parallel" hybrid, both the electric motor and
the fuel engine power the wheels. Engineers would
see serial systems as simpler, but say parallel
architecture can better optimize the
energy/weight/power relationships of the
different components. Both can be great PHEVs!

Though this is a concept car awaiting GM's
determination that batteries are ready, at a
conference call briefing Friday, GM insisted that
the Volt, like the Vue, is headed for production, but offer no timetables.

We'll have more to say soon, but here's our first reaction:

"We commend GM for being the first out of the
starting gate in the Great Plug-In Car Race of
2007. GM's announcements are the biggest
victories yet for CalCars.org and other PHEV
advocates. Now our campaign is in third gear.
We'll work with the auto industry, government,
fleet buyers and advocates to get to the day --
soon, not in a decade -- when customers can buy
PHEVs as easily as any other car."
-- Felix Kramer, Founder of CalCars.org.

Below is the GM press release. If you want to
sample the wide coverage that went online as soon
as the news embargo ended, go to
<http://news.google.com/news?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficia\
l&client=firefox-a&tab=wn&q=chevrolet+volt&btnG=Search+News>
(or search Google News for Chevrolet Volt).

FOR RELEASE: 2007-01-07 (see small photo at URL)
http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.com/gm\
news/viewmonthlyreleasedetail.do?domain=74&docid=31656

Chevrolet Volt - GM's Concept Electric Vehicle -
Could Nearly Eliminate Trips To The Gas Station

The Chevrolet Volt concept sedan, powered by the
E-flex System – GM’s next-generation electric
propulsion system – could nearly eliminate trips to the gas station.

The Chevrolet Volt is a battery-powered,
four-passenger electric vehicle that uses a gas
engine to create additional electricity to extend
its range. The Volt draws from GM’s previous
experience in starting the modern electric
vehicle market when it launched the EV1 in 1996,
according to GM Vice Chairman Robert A. Lutz.

“The EV1 was the benchmark in battery technology
and was a tremendous achievement,” Lutz said.
“Even so, electric vehicles, in general, had
limitations. They had limited range, limited room
for passengers or luggage, couldn’t climb a hill
or run the air conditioning without depleting the
battery, and had no device to get you home when the battery’s charge ran low.

“The Chevrolet Volt is a new type of electric
vehicle. It addresses the range problem and has
room for passengers and their stuff. You can
climb a hill or turn on the air conditioning and not worry about it.”

The Volt can be fully charged by plugging it into
a 110-volt outlet for approximately six hours a
day. When the lithium-ion battery is fully
charged, the Volt can deliver 40 city miles of
pure electric vehicle range. When the battery is
depleted, a 1L, three-cylinder turbocharged
engine spins at a constant speed, or revolutions
per minute (rpm), to create electricity and
replenish the battery. According to Lutz, this
increases the fuel economy and range.

“If you lived within 30 miles from work (60 miles
round trip) and charged your vehicle every night
when you came home or during the day at work, you
would get 150 miles per gallon,” Lutz said. “More
than half of all Americans live within 20 miles
of where they work (40 miles round trip). In that
case, you might never burn a drop of gas during the life of the car.”

In addition, the Chevrolet Volt is designed to
run on E85, a fuel blend of 85 percent ethanol
and 15 percent gasoline. Using E85, fuel economy
of 150 mpg would translate into more than 525 miles per petroleum gallon.

In the event a driver forgets to charge the
vehicle or goes on a vacation far away, the Volt
would still get 50 mpg by using the engine to
convert gasoline into electricity and extending
its range up to 640 miles, more than double that
of today’s conventional vehicles.

A technological breakthrough required to make
this concept a reality is a large lithium-ion
battery. This type of electric car, which the
technical community calls an “EV range-extender,”
would require a battery pack that weighs nearly
400 pounds (181 kg). Some experts predict that
such a battery – or a similar battery – could be
production-ready by 2010 to 2012.

Jon Lauckner, GM vice president of Global Program
Management, said the Volt is uniquely built to
accommodate a number of advanced technology
propulsion solutions that can give GM a competitive advantage.

"Today's vehicles were designed around mechanical
propulsion systems that use petroleum as their
primary source of fuel." Lauckner said.
Tomorrow's vehicles need to be developed around a
new propulsion architecture with electricity in
mind. The Volt is the first vehicle designed around GM's E-flex System.

“That’s why we are also showing a variant of the
Chevrolet Volt with a hydrogen-powered fuel cell,
instead of a gasoline engine EV range-extender,”
said Lauckner. “Or, you might have a diesel
engine driving the generator to create
electricity, using bio-diesel. Finally, an engine
using 100-percent ethanol might be factored into
the mix. The point is, all of these alternatives
are possible with the E-Flex System.”

The Volt concept car is built on a modified
future architecture, Lauckner said, similar to
the one GM uses for current small cars, such as the Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR.

According to Larry Burns, GM vice president for
research and development and strategic planning,
the world’s growing demand for energy and its
dependence on oil for transportation is the
common theme behind today’s headlines.

“Whether your concern is energy security, global
climate change, natural disasters, the high price
of gas, the volatile pricing of a barrel of oil
and the effect that unpredictability has on Wall
Street – all of these issues point to a need for
energy diversity,” said Burns. “Today, there are
more than 800 million cars and trucks in the
world. In 15 years, that will grow to 1.1 billion
vehicles. We can’t continue to be 98-percent
dependent on oil to meet our transportation
needs. Something has to give. We think the
Chevrolet Volt helps bring about the diversity
that is needed. If electricity met only 10
percent of the world’s transportation needs, the impact would be huge.”

GM’s E-flex System moves automobile toward new electric age

GM’s E-flex System enables multiple propulsion
systems to fit into a common chassis, using
electric drive to help the world diversify energy
sources and establish electricity from the grid as one of those sources.

“The DNA of the automobile has not changed in
more than 100 years,” said Burns. “Vehicles still
operate in pretty much the same fashion as when
Karl Benz introduced the ‘horseless carriage’ in 1886.

“While mechanical propulsion will be with us for
many decades to come, GM sees a market for
various forms of electric vehicles, including
fuel cells and electric vehicles using gas and
diesel engines to extend the range. With our new
E-flex concept, we can produce electricity from
gasoline, ethanol, bio-diesel or hydrogen.

“We can tailor the propulsion to meet the
specific needs and infrastructure of a given
market. For example, somebody in Brazil might use
100-percent ethanol (E100) to power an engine
generator and battery. A customer in Shanghai
might get hydrogen from the sun and create
electricity in a fuel cell. Meanwhile, a customer
in Sweden might use wood to create bio-diesel.”

The Chevrolet Volt is just the first variant of
the E-flex System. The Volt uses a large battery
and a small, 1L turbocharged gasoline engine to
produce enough electricity to go up to 640 miles
and provide triple-digit fuel economy. GM will
show other variations of the propulsion systems at future auto shows.

“GM is building a fuel cell variant that mirrors
the propulsion system in the Chevrolet Sequel
(fuel cell concept),” Burns said. “Instead of a
big battery and a small engine generator used in
the Volt, we would use a fuel cell propulsion
system with a small battery to capture energy
when the vehicle brakes. Because the Volt is so
small and lightweight, we would need only about
half of the hydrogen storage as the Sequel to get 300 miles of range.”

Future concepts might incorporate diesel generators, bio-diesel and E-100.

Environmentally conscious vehicles can be aesthetically appealing

With exterior proportions associated more with
classic sports cars, the Chevrolet Volt conveys
an immediate message of agility and
sophistication. Twenty-one-inch wheels and sheer,
taut surface relationships reiterate the
statement. The Volt’s athletic design challenges
the notion that an environmentally conscious
vehicle can’t be beautiful and possess an
aesthetic spirit that matches its driving characteristics.

“We leveraged our resources around the globe to
develop the design aesthetic for the Volt,” said
Ed Welburn, vice president, GM Global Design. “It
was important that the design capture the face of
the Chevrolet as it’s recognized around the world.”

True to the heritage of its Chevrolet bowtie, the
Volt’s exterior design suggests spirited
performance and is wrapped in a stylish package,
with classic Chevrolet performance cues that hint
at both Camaro and Corvette. On the inside,
near-term technologies and innovative materials
combine with ingenious use of ambient light for
an interior environment that’s light, airy and thoughtful.

“First and foremost, this is an advanced
technology vehicle that uses little to no fuel at
all. But we didn’t see any reason why that should
compromise its design,” said Anne Asensio,
executive director, GM Design. Asensio led the
design team that created the Volt concept, with
designs solicited from GM’s studios around the world.

“We wanted a size that connected with everyone,
so we designed a small car,” said Asensio. “In
the end, the interior design team from England
inspired the final interior execution, and the
exterior is the work of the Michigan advanced design team.

“Our job was to design a vehicle people could
easily imagine,” said Asensio. “It couldn’t be a
‘science project,’ because that’s not what this
car is all about. It had to be realistic,
executable and carry the essence of the Chevrolet brand.”


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Felix Kramer fkramer@...
Founder California Cars Initiative
http://www.calcars.org
http://www.calcars.org/news-archive.html
http://www.hybridcars.com/blogs/power
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