Here's a sampling of early coverage, from the
non-technical to the technical. The Los Angeles
Times contains hints of a similar serial hybrid
from Ford, but to start only with hydrogen as the
range extender, and of a next-generation Prius
with much higher MPG. We'll find out more tomorrow!


GM unveils electric car
Ray Hutton
London, The Sunday Times - Business January 07, 2007
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2095-2534362,00.html>

GENERAL MOTORS, criticised by environmentalists
and accused of conspiring with American oil
companies when it abandoned the EV1 electric car
in the 1990s, plans to introduce a new generation of electric vehicles.

At lunchtime today at the preview of the North
American International Auto Show in Detroit, GM
will unveil the Chevrolet Volt, a prototype for a
new electric car that should be on sale at the end of the decade.

The Volt is a family hatchback built on the
platform to be used for the next Vauxhall Astra.
It is technically a hybrid, because it has a
one-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine as well
as an electric motor. But unlike the Toyota Prius
and other hybrid production cars, the petrol
engine does not drive the vehicle; it is there
simply to recharge the batteries.

This, GM claims, eliminates the disadvantages of
the EV1, which had a limited range because of the
capacity of its batteries, which also took a long time to recharge.

The Volt, which has a top speed of 120mph and
accelerates from 0-60mph in 8.5 seconds, can run
for 40 miles on electric power. Thereafter the
petrol engine is started automatically and runs
at a constant speed to recharge the batteries.

For a 60-mile trip, fully charged after being
plugged in overnight, GM estimates the fuel
consumption at 180mpg — although that does not
include the cost of the electricity. As most car
journeys are short, GM expects “most people will use little or no petrol”.

The Volt will be cheaper to make than the EV1 —
which was a hand-built, lightweight two-seater
coupé. It is intended as a forerunner of a series
of new electric vehicles. Its E-Flex propulsion
system can be adapted to use bioethanol fuel or
have a diesel engine or a hydrogen fuel cell as the generator of electricity.

Rick Wagoner, GM chairman and chief executive,
said recently: “We believe that tomorrow’s
automobiles must be flexible enough to
accommodate many different energy sources, and a
key part of that flexibility will be enabled by
the development of electrically-driven cars.”

The scrapping of the EV1, the brainchild of Roger
Smith, one of Wagoner’s predecessors, led to the
2006 documentary Who Killed The Electric Car?
which alleged that pressure from American oil
companies and other industry interests had forced GM to stop the programme.


Detroit News Online
Volt takes full-electric car concept to next level
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070106/UPDATE/701060441
January 6, 2007 [includes large photo]
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. will show off a
concept plug-in hybrid today called the Chevrolet
Volt that can travel 40 miles on battery power alone.

The unveiling will take place at the North
American International Auto Show at Cobo Center,
marking a dramatic return to the company's belief
in the viability of an electric car.

But before the Volt -- essentially a modified
Chevy Cobalt with a powerful battery -- will
arrive in showrooms, there must be significant
improvements in battery technology, which is not likely until 2010 or 2012.

The concept car is part of the automaker's
commitment to the "electrification of the car."
GM wants to develop vehicles that can be powered
by electricity developed from a variety of
renewable energy sources, allowing drivers to
move away from gasoline-dependence. Energy
Department officials will be on hand today for the unveiling.

The Volt is also a bid to get away from the image
of selling gas-guzzling SUVs -- such as the
Hummer -- that have turned off many potential buyers.

Plug-in hybrids are gas-electric vehicles that
can recharge their batteries with an extension cord and a normal wall outlet.

Like conventional gas-electric hybrids, which
have two drivetrains, a plug-in hybrid also can
recharge its batteries through a regenerative
brake system while on the road. The range on
plug-in cars has typically been no more than
20-30 miles on battery alone. The Volt would have a range of 40 miles.

GM has been behind in the hybrid game. U.S.
hybrid sales were around 200,000 in 2006 and are
expected to hit 300,000 in 2007. GM just
introduced its first hybrid, the Saturn Vue Green
Line, while Ford Motor Co. is using Toyota
technology in its hybrids. DaimlerChrysler AG's
Chrysler Group has not yet unveiled a hybrid.

Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing
Research, an automotive research firm in Oregon,
said that if the battery technology can be
developed, a fully electric car makes more sense
than the more complex gas-electric hybrids now on the market.

"If (GM) can pull it off, every hybrid on the
road right now becomes obsolete," said Spinella.

The Volt would get 50 miles per gallon on
gasoline alone and with battery power could get
as much as 150 mpg. It can be fully recharged by
plugging it into a 110-volt outlet for six hours
and will have a one-liter, three-cylinder
gasoline engine that can generate electricity to
power the vehicle and replenish the battery, or for trips longer than 40 miles.

Larry Burns, GM's vice president for research,
said there are more than 800 million cars and
trucks in the world, which is expected to jump to 1.1 billion by 2020.

"We can't continue to be 98-percent dependent on
oil to meet our transportation needs. Something
has to give," Burns said. "The DNA of the
automobile has not changed in more than 100 years."

GM spent $1 billion on its EV1 program in the
1990s that ended when the company demanded the
return of its leased vehicles, a move heavily
criticized by environmental groups and EV1
drivers. GM chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner has
said his greatest mistake was killing the EV1 program.

"The EV1 was the benchmark in battery technology
and was a tremendous achievement," GM Vice
Chairman Bob 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."

GM officials said the Volt's electric-only mode
would be beneficial for many drivers, citing
research that found 78 percent of daily work
commuters travel 40 miles or less. About half of
U.S. households travel under 30 miles per day.

The Detroit News reported in November that GM
would show off its prototype plug-in in Detroit.
In a speech later that month at the Los Angeles
Auto Show, Wagoner said electricity was the key to "energy security."

"Electricity offers outstanding benefits
beginning with the opportunity to diversify fuel
sources," Wagoner said. "The electricity that is
used to drive the vehicle can be made from the
best local fuel sources -- natural gas, coal,
nuclear, wind, hydroelectric, and so on. So,
before you even start your vehicle, you're working toward energy diversity."

Such vehicles are also emission free and have
"extraordinary acceleration, instant torque,
improved driving dynamics, and so on," Wagoner said.

GM has quietly been making significant
investments in battery technology, working with
its suppliers and battery manufacturers.

Last week, it awarded contracts to two suppliers
to develop a lithium-ion battery for its upcoming
Saturn Vue Green Line plug-in hybrid. The
lithium-ion battery is expected to replace the
nickel-metal hydride battery, allowing the
vehicle to rely more heavily on electric power than on gasoline-based energy.

Lutz has said it will take three to four years
"to convert from 'power' lithium batteries to
'energy storage' lithium cells," which would
allow vehicles to travel farther distances.

Ultimately, GM sees hydrogen fuel cells as the
likely solution to ending the country's reliance on oil.

GM has made strides in hydrogen technology. It
hopes to have 1,000 hydrogen vehicles on the road
by 2010, including 100 Chevy Equinox fuel cell
SUVs next year. Its most advanced hydrogen
vehicle, the concept Chevy Sequel, can travel 300 miles before refueling.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
You can reach David Shepardson at (202) 662 - 8735 or dshepardson@....


The New York Times January 7, 2007[
NOTE: this story mis-identifies us as Calcars.com; we hope for a correction]
Detroit Auto Show
All the Technology Needed for 100 M.P.G. (Batteries Not Included)
By LINDSAY BROOKE
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/automobiles/07VOLT.html

WHEN General Motors unwraps the Chevrolet Volt
for the press today at the North American
International Auto Show, it will be revealing
much more than the latest fantasy from its styling studios.

Beyond its striking coupelike lines, the Volt is
also a declaration of G.M.’s intent to
mass-produce a new type of hybrid-electric
vehicle, one that can drive up to 40 miles on
batteries alone and recharge itself with an
onboard generator — or by plugging into a standard 110-volt household outlet.

The Volt is also less than it appears. The
batteries to make it roadworthy do not yet exist,
a shortcoming G.M. acknowledges.

This squat four-seat hybrid sedan previews a new
family of plug-in electric drive systems that
G.M. calls E-Flex. The system, which the company
plans to begin installing globally when the
battery technology is mature, will be capable of
delivering the equivalent of 100 miles a gallon
or more in urban driving, G.M. officials said.
The Volt’s total range is 640 miles using the
combined capacity of fully charged batteries and
a built-in gasoline-powered generator.

Plug-in hybrids have drawn a great deal of
attention recently, and several automakers have
built prototypes to test their feasibility. G.M.
announced last fall that it was developing a
plug-in version of the Saturn Vue hybrid and last
week awarded contracts for advanced lithium-ion batteries.

But the E-Flex design goes further, and it
differs from any gasoline-electric hybrid in
showrooms. While hybrids like the Toyota Prius
can drive short distances on battery power and
make longer trips using a thrifty gasoline engine
— and if needed, draw on both power sources — the
Volt’s gas engine is not connected to the wheels.
It turns only a generator to charge the battery
pack, a design typically called a series hybrid,
and operates in a narrow r.p.m range for maximum efficiency.

In the Volt, the E-Flex drive system consists of
a small three-cylinder gas engine, a 53-kilowatt
generator and a long lithium-ion battery pack
that forms a spine down the center of the car’s
floor. The battery supplies electricity for the
120-kilowatt (160 horsepower) motor that drives the car’s front wheels.

To maximize battery life, the engine that drives
the generator automatically kicks in when the
battery’s charge falls below 30 percent of
capacity and shuts off when the battery charge
reaches 80 percent of maximum; at that point
E-Flex reverts to pure electric mode.

“We’ve dubbed this feature a ‘range extender,’ ”
said Robert A. Lutz, G.M.’s vice chairman for
product development. “It also provides a steady
flow of electricity to get the vehicle home or to
the nearest charging plug,” he said, as long as
there is fuel in the Volt’s twin six-gallon tanks.

Mr. Lutz added that for the 78 percent of
commuters in the United States whose daily round
trip to work is 40 miles or less, according to
the Department of Transportation, a Volt-size
vehicle with E-Flex would make the commute using
only the battery, “without burning a drop of
petroleum.” Some type of fuel will be consumed to
generate the electricity, of course.

For a 60-mile round trip, Mr. Lutz reasoned that
the Volt would get the equivalent of 150 m.p.g.
over all; the first 40 miles in pure-electric
mode and the last 20 miles with the gas engine
sipping fuel at a rate of 50 m.p.g. as it charges the battery.

G.M. engineers, who estimated the Volt’s
performance using computer simulations, said
charging the battery from a 30 percent level
would take about a half-hour while under way and
up to 6.5 hours when plugged into a standard 15-amp household outlet.

Similar overall ratings of more than 100 m.p.g.
are claimed by advocates of plug-in hybrids.
According to Calcars.com, the Web site of the
California Cars Initiative and an independent
advocate of plug-ins, 30 miles of battery-only
driving at the average cost of 9 cents a
kilowatt-hour in the United States would cost 81
cents, compared with the average $2.40 gallon of
regular gasoline required to propel a relatively
miserly conventional car the same distance.

The Volt’s estimated annual fuel savings of about
500 gallons, compared with a similar size
30-m.p.g. vehicle driving 15,000 miles a year,
equate to $900, even considering the cost of the
electricity, said Tony Posawatz, an engineering manager in the Volt program.

He added that while switching the United States
to plug-in hybrids over time would increase
overall electricity use and that rates would
increase, the price of powering vehicles from the
grid during off-peak hours would be roughly
one-third the equivalent price of gasoline.

G.M. is planning to offer E-Flex power systems in
all major world markets, according to Jonathan J.
Lauckner, vice president for global vehicle
programs. He said the company’s next-generation
compact-car platform, due in 2009, had been
designed to accept an E-Flex battery pack, generator and related hardware.

For some applications, E-Flex would not require
any range-extending engine. Instead, it could be
a pure-electric vehicle used for local deliveries
and charged directly from the power grid. G.M. is
also developing a hydrogen version, with a small
fuel-cell stack replacing the combustion engine for electricity generation.

While development of the new electric drive
system has already begun, the company cannot set
a production schedule until the proper batteries
are ready, said Nick Zielinski, the Volt’s chief engineer.

“We believe lithium-ion will begin replacing
today’s nickel-metal hydride as the battery
chemistry for hybrid use around 2010,” he
explained. Lithium-ion offers two to three times
the energy storage and power density of
nickel-metal hydride, said Martin Klein,
engineering director of Compact Power, a division
of LG Chemical of South Korea that is developing lithium-ion batteries.

He said achieving the Volt’s goal of 40 miles of
pure-electric operation was feasible. But Mr.
Klein said he believed the challenge would be in
developing small, light batteries that still met
the target for driving distance between charges.

Battery weight, the Achilles’ heel of hybrids,
hurts vehicle performance, so G.M. is keen to
trim some of Volt’s hefty 3,200 pounds. Mr.
Zielinski winced as he noted that early
projections for Volt included a 400-pound battery
pack, though that is still less than half the
weight of the nickel-metal hydride batteries used
in G.M.’s EV1. G.M.’s cancellation of its EV1
electric car stirred up environmentalists, but
Mr. Lutz said the project’s results were paying off.

“The EV1 was a great engineering achievement, but
it was severely limited in operating range by its
battery,” he said. “We learned that customers did
not want to plan their lives around the next battery charge.”

Battery development and production costs are
likely to add thousands to the price of the early
E-Flex vehicles, G.M. admitted. But the company
was optimistic that incentives offered by local
governments and electric utilities would help drive sales.

Skeptics include John German, environmental
analysis manager for Honda in the United States.
In Congressional testimony last year, he said
that a business case for plug-in hybrids would
not exist unless fuel prices were above $3 a
gallon, shortages had occurred, technology was
subsidized or a breakthrough in energy storage emerged.

None of that deters Mr. Lauckner, the G.M. vice
president. “This program is not a public
relations ploy,” he said. “We are dead serious
about taking this technology into high-volume production.”


Los Angeles Times Business News
Return trip for electric vehicles
Carmakers are set to unveil plans this week. A GM
model owes much to the pioneering EV1.
By John O'Dell, Times Staff Writer john.odell@...
January 7, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-electric7jan07,0,2190358.story?coll=la-hom\
e-headlines

The electric car, derided as impractical by
automakers since General Motors Corp. pulled the
plug on its revolutionary EV1, is staging a
comeback amid lofty fuel prices and persistent
worries about the nation's dependence on imported oil.

GM, the chief villain in the recent documentary
"Who Killed the Electric Car?" intends to
announce plans for a new family of electric
vehicles as the annual North American
International Auto Show in Detroit begins a four-day media preview today.

In addition, Ford Motor Co. will unveil a
hydrogen-powered electric car concept of its own
and Toyota Motor Corp. is ready to announce major
improvements in the batteries used in its popular
Prius gasoline-electric hybrid. The enhancements
could extend the five-seat sedan's all-electric
range and boost overall fuel economy to as much as 90 miles per gallon.

Toyota won't comment on its plans, but GM
executives said last month that they believed
electric power — from onboard generators,
hydrogen fuel cells and even household current —
would drive most vehicles of the future.

"The world has changed" since the EV1 project was
killed in 2002, said Beth Lowery, GM's vice
president for energy and environmental issues.

GM's plan "is very aggressive, and if they really
go forward it gives them the potential to
leapfrog the competition," said Roland Hwang,
senior auto technology analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Ford's concept is similar to the vehicle GM will
unveil, an electric car that powers its drive system with a generator.

But Ford has started with an advanced
emission-free system. It produces power by
converting hydrogen and oxygen into electricity
in a small fuel cell mounted under the passenger
compartment. GM's system, though it can be
adapted to run on fuel cells, uses a
gasoline-burning internal combustion engine to
generate energy for the electric drive.

Production of the cars for the retail market
depends on advances in battery technology to
increase the amount of energy they can store.
And, in Ford's case, further work in fuel cells
as well as the development of a nationwide
hydrogen fuel distribution system would be
needed. A Ford insider said its fuel cell could
be replaced with a gasoline or diesel generator to get to market earlier.

On Thursday GM announced a battery development
deal with Johnson Controls Inc. and Chevron Corp.
The companies hope to produce advanced batteries
capable of storing enough energy to allow a
gasoline-electric hybrid to be recharged from a
residential power outlet and run at highway
speeds in all-electric mode for 30 miles or more.

Rick Wagoner, GM's chief executive, said in late
November that the automaker was committed to
producing a so-called plug-in hybrid version of
its Saturn Vue sport utility vehicle when battery technology permitted.

GM executives said they expected the first of
their electric cars to be brought to market as
early as 2010. GM will show that car, the
Chevrolet Volt, at the Detroit show as a concept
vehicle that would use a small, 1-liter gasoline
engine to generate power for the electric drive system.

The five-seat car would be able to travel as fast
as 120 mph, and run at 70 mph for up to 640 miles
while consuming only 12.8 gallons of gas to fuel
the generator, said Jon Lauckner, vice president
of global programs for GM. That's 50 miles per
gallon, with the gasoline-powered generator
running about half the time, he said. On shorter
trips at lower speeds, its fuel economy would be even better.

The car's batteries initially would be recharged
overnight at an owner's home, and the generator
would not start operating until the storage
batteries had been depleted. For a driver with a
20-mile round-trip commute, the car might use
gasoline only on longer weekend and vacation trips.

Although still a prototype, the Volt "is in
serious engineering development," said Tony
Posawatz, head of GM's new variable, or flexible,
electric power source project, known as E-flex.

He said the Volt wouldn't be an expensive car but
instead was intended to be a "competitively
priced, high-volume Chevrolet model."

It would be the first of a family of
electric-powered cars and trucks that would use
onboard generators fueled with diesel, pure
ethanol or bio-diesel produced from vegetable
matter, he said. Ultimately, such a vehicle would
use a fuel cell that converts hydrogen and oxygen to electricity.

The cars' electric drive system is a "direct
descendant" of the system developed for the EV1,
said Nick Zielinski, chief engineer for the E-flex project.

Toyota, considered the industry leader in hybrid
technology, has kept mum about plans for the
Prius but will show a hybrid sports car concept
in Detroit today. That vehicle, called the FT-HS,
uses a V-6 gasoline engine and a powerful
battery-powered electric motor to achieve the equivalent of 400 horsepower.

Toyota's concept is called parallel hybrid
because it uses two types of drive motors that
can operate separately or in tandem. The electric
vehicle concepts shown by Ford and GM are known
as series hybrids and use one type of motor or
generator to produce power for the electric drive that propels the vehicle.

The scant details from GM and Toyota "have us
very excited about the prospects of a return to
batteries" said Paul Scott, co-founder of Santa
Monica-based Plug In America. Scott's group
supports and lobbies for hybrids and other
alternative-fuel vehicles that would use
rechargeable batteries to power their electric drive systems.

The organization wants to see automakers improve
today's hybrids by enlarging battery systems to
extend the vehicles' all-electric range and
adding home-recharging capabilities — thus the term "plug-in."

Hybrids today generate their own electric power
from braking energy and some of the gasoline
engine's output but can't be charged from the commercial power grid.

GM launched the first modern electric car offered
by a major company in 1996 in response to a
California mandate, since modified, for
automakers to produce zero-emission vehicles.

The company's initial EV1 was a futuristic
two-seat roadster that used a heavy pack of
lead-acid batteries. It took eight hours to
charge and provided less than 80 miles of travel
in most circumstances. Later models used more
advanced batteries and many drivers boasted of
driving 120 to 150 miles on a single charge.

Other automakers, including Ford, Toyota, Honda
Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., followed suit
with limited numbers of their own electric vehicles.

The vehicles gained a wide following among
environmentalists and early adopters of advanced
technology. Despite proponents' claims that the
world was ready for EVs, automakers complained
that short ranges and long recharging times made the vehicles impractical.

That, combined with the industry's reluctance to
consider the electric vehicle anything more than
experimental, kept production low. Eventually the
carmakers concluded that they couldn't profitably
sell battery-powered electrics that would compete
with standard passenger vehicles.

In the meantime, Japan's Toyota and Honda
developed hybrids that used electric motors with
relatively small battery systems to augment
gasoline engines. Honda's two-seat Insight came
to the U.S. in late 1999 and Toyota's
five-passenger Prius arrived in 2000, both rated
at upward of 60 miles a gallon in city driving.
As more models were introduced and gasoline
prices climbed, they caught on with buyers seeking greater fuel efficiency.

For many, the gas-electric hybrid wiped out the idea of all-electric power.

With the Volt project, said GM's Posawatz, "we hope to change that."


Autopia Topic: Electric Vehicles [blog: you can comment!]
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2007/01/chevy_volt_coul.html
by John Gartner
Saturday, 6 January 2007
Chevy Volt Redefines EV

On Sunday GM will introduce the Chevrolet Volt,
an "electric" passenger vehicle that uses a
gasoline-powered generator to increase the range
of the vehicle. An article detailing this concept
car that is destined for future production will be available on Wired Sunday.

Chevy_volt
I spent a looong time on the phone with GM
getting the advance skinny on the Volt, and got
way too much information for one article, so here
is my analysis, along with more info from GM,
analyst Dan Edmunds, and actor Ed Begley, Jr.

Think of this as the "bonus DVD" to accompany the article.

GM's new direction:

Per GM's PR:

The Chevy Volt concept electric vehicle is
the first variant off GM's E-flex system, a
family of electric vehicle propulsion systems
built into a common chassis to create electricity
and extend the range of the vehicle.

I'm not one for hyperbole, but if done right in
parallel with the plug-in hybrid and standard
hybrid platform, GM's sliding fortunes could be
reversed. GM could quickly churn out a variety of
flex fuel, diesel and gasoline models that are
compatible with this battery system. GM execs
repeatedly told me "there is no single bullet,"
to reducing petroleum use, so watch out for as
made vehicle types as Baskin Robbins has flavors.
It was odd hearing GM people saying 100 years of
running vehicles on petroleum is too long, we
need change now." Have pod people taken over GM?

Toyota and Honda, watch out, you can't take beating GM for granted any more.

Comparing the Volt to the EV1

“The EV1 ‘died’ because it had limited range,
limited room for passengers or luggage, couldn’t
climb a hill or run the air conditioning without
depleting the battery and no device to get you
home when your battery charge ran low," -- GM's Bob Lutz.

While the Volt is bigger than the EV1, the fact
that you can still only get 40 miles on a charge
is a sad reflection of how little battery
technology has improved in more than a decade. EV
purists will jump all over this factoid.

Lithium ion batteries

The lithium ion batteries are managed to not be
charged more than 80 percent or less than 30
percent so that they will last the lifetime of
the vehicle, according to GM's Tony Posawatz.

Lithium ion is the better bet than nickel metal
hydride to provide more range, according to Dan
Edmunds, of automotive website Edmunds.com. If
only they could be managed to go closer to 100
percent utilization while retaining their
lifetime, we'd see a car that would get an
effective efficiency of 200 mpg. Edmunds agrees
that on hybrids and EVs, it all starts and ends with the battery.

GM would consider adding more battery packs if
customers desire a vehicle that can run on
batteries only for greater distances. Pickups or SUVS are good bet here.

GM has development deals with battery makers
Cobasys/A123Systems and Johnson Controls/Saft,
but Posawatz said that one of the reasons they
are making a big splash in Detroit is to get
other battery makers excited, and that they would
welcome more lithium ion competitors. They want
the battery cost to get down to $2,000-$3,000, compared to $10,000 today.

ICE versus generator

The turbocharged 3-cylinder engine on the Volt
hasn't been tested for emissions, and Posawatz
thinks the EPA might have to develop new testing
mechanism for this new technology. The EPA tests
hybrids in battery saving mode, but the Volt's
system tries to burn the battery as much as
possible to limit fuel use. Will it pollute more
than an equivalent plug-in hybrid? That probably
depends on the battery/gasoline usage mix.

The engine on this generator will generally
operate between 1500 and 1800 rpms because the
amount of electricity needed will be constant,
and will be more efficient than an ICE which revs
way up or down depending on the power needed.

GM's pull
GM is using a common battery platform (lithium
ion) for both its plug-in hybrid Saturn Vue Green
Line, and Edmunds says the company will broaden
the audience for vehicles that can run on battery
or petrol power. "GM's involvement (in hybrid
cars) will attract a subset of car buying public
who would prefer to buy domestics. It will bring
in another layer of people to that market," according to Edmunds.

Toyota may have to watch out for a GM comeback
fueled by its hybrid/electric vehicles. "GM is a
huge company with resources, and if (CEO)
Mr.Wagoner decides to turn some people lose on
(plug-in hybrids), they could do it."

Confusing marketing
So thanks to GM, the "electric vehicle" category
will soon include fuel cell vehicles,
battery-only, and battery plus
fossil-fuel-powered electric generator. As it was
explained to me the two technologies make sense
in addressing different types of drivers, but it
is still way too confusing for most people.

I can't wait to see GM's marketing campaign in
differentiating the Volt from its plug-in
hybrids. "Well yes, they both get power from
batteries that plug-in as well as liquid fuels,
but one is for the city, and one is for the
highway." What a marketing nightmare.

Ed Begley Jr., EV1 owner

I also spoke with actor/environmentalist and
former EV1 owner Ed Begley, Jr. about the
prospect of GM re-entering the electric car market.

He drives an electric Toyota RAV4, but he'd be
happy to buy from GM again. "I'd love to be able
to buy a domestic car!" He said he loved his EV1,
but turned it in early because he had an infant
daughter at the time and needed a back seat to tote her around.

There will be many folks who would prefer to buy
from GM than Toyota or Honda, so if GM gets it
right, they could substantially broaden the EV and hybrid audience.

Green Car Congress 7 January 2007
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/01/gm_introduces_e.html
GM Introduces E-Flex Electric Vehicle System;
Chevrolet Volt the First Application

GM has introduced a new family of electric
vehicle propulsion systems—the E-Flex Systems—and
is showing the first concept application of
E-Flex at the North American International Auto
Show: the Chevrolet Volt, a 40-mile all-electric range (AER) plug-in hybrid.

E-Flex initially uses a plug-in capable,
battery-dominant series hybrid architecture. The
E-Flex vehicles are all electrically-driven,
feature common drivetrain components, and will be
able to create electricity on board (either
through a genset or a fuel cell). Regenerative
braking will also contribute to the on-board
electricity generation. (“E” stands for electric
drive and “Flex” for the different sources of electricity.)

We are focused on reducing our dependence on
petroleum—today we are 98% dependent [and] we
don’t think that is a good business strategy at all.
—Beth Lowery, GM VP Energy and Environment

There has been some speculation in the press
that perhaps this is a publicity stunt on our
part. This is not a publicity stunt, nor is it a
science fair project. This is something that we
have been working on for close to a year.
—Jon Lauckner, GM VP Global Program Management

GM is developing the E-Flex System in parallel to
its mechanical hybrid efforts—including the
development of the Saturn VUE Green Line two-mode
plug-in hybrid (earlier post), for which GM just
awarded lithium-ion battery contracts (earlier
post)—as well as its ongoing fuel-cell vehicle development efforts.

In its evolving taxonomy of offerings, GM refers
to its existing portfolio of hybrids as
“mechanical hybrids”—i.e., the engine provides
mechanical drive power in addition to the electric drive power.

There is tremendous synergy between the fuel cell
vehicle program and the E-Flex program—Nick
Zielinski is the chief engineer for the fuel cell
program and the Volt Concept, as one example.

Furthermore, GM leveraged its experience with the
EV1 in the design of both the E-Flex System and
the Volt. The use of the range extender in the
Volt design, for example, originated with
feedback from EV1 customers about not wanting to
have to plan their lives around the next charge,
according to Tony Posawatz, GM Vehicle Line Director.

GM envisions a range of genset options for the
E-Flex vehicles, including engines optimized to
run on E85 or E100 and biodiesel.

The Chevy Volt. GM chose its Global Compact
vehicle architecture (Cobalt-sized) for its first
E-Flex application, the Chevrolet Volt.

The Volt uses the same electric motor as used in
the Equinox Fuel Cell vehicle in its electric
powertrain: a 120 kW peak machine that develops 320 Nm (236 lb-ft) of torque.

The Volt will use a 16 kWh lithium-ion battery
pack that delivers 136 kW of peak power. Plug-in
charging is designed for the home (110V, 15 amps)
and will take between 6 to 6.5 hours.

The Volt can support all-electric mode from 0 to
its top speed of 100 mph (with bursts to 120
mph). Acceleration from 0 to 60 mph takes 8 to
8.5 seconds. The basic operating strategy is to
run the vehicle in all-electric mode until the
state-of-charge (SOC) of the battery reaches
30%—that strategy delivers approximately a 40-mile range.

The 53 kW motor generator set (genset) allows the
on-the-fly recharging of the battery. The genset
in the current Volt concept uses a 1-liter, 3-cylinder, turbocharged engine.

You can drive at a continuous 70 mph, and
the generator will not be on continuously. At 100
mph,the genset can maintain the charge in the
battery and the speed of the vehicle. There are
no compromises for the customers in the vehicle.
—Nick Zielinski, chief engineer

The Volt concept configuration features a
12-gallon fuel capacity, giving the vehicle a
total driving range of around 640 miles—which
works out to a nominal gasoline fuel efficiency
of about 50 miles per gallon. (Presumably range
would increase with a diesel variant.)

The less one drives before plugging in to
recharge, however, the higher the experienced
fuel efficiency. A daily drive of 60 miles,
combined with a nightly recharge to support the
first 40 all-electric miles, would yield an
effective 150 mpg according to GM’s calculations, for example.

For comparable performance with a fuel-cell
version of the Volt, GM anticipates needing 4 kg of hydrogen on-board.

The Volt also features some advanced materials
contributions from GE Automotive Plastics,
including weight reductions of up to 50% on the
hood and doors through the use of high-performance composites.

Actual production of the vehicle is dependent on
further battery development, and GM made no
announcements about partners involved in the
development of the battery pack for the Volt. The
profile for the battery in the Volt is different
than that of the pack being developed for the VUE plug-in.

GM would like to minimize the different battery
packs within the E-Flex family of vehicles. One
notable exception to this would in a fuel-cell
configuration. In that case, the battery would be
smaller, and more focused as power battery first
and energy battery second (due to the ability of
the fuel cell to produce the electricity on-board.)

However, GM is also clear that it wants to use
common systems and controls wherever possible
across applications. To that end, elements such
as the charging systems will likely be common
across mechanical-hybrid plug-ins and E-Flex plug-ins.

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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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