Hello hybrid, this is your driver calling.

In a move that makes remote car starters seem so – well, last decade – Chevrolet will be giving owners of its new Volt hybrid a direct line to their new cars via their smartphones.

Chevrolet and OnStar announced the new smartphone application in Las Vegas, where the Consumer Electronics Show is getting underway.

The application lets drivers carry out of a range of tasks, using Motorola’s Droid, Apple’s iPhone or the Blackberry Storm. Besides the usual open doors remotely, it displays the charge status of the car, lets drivers start charging or schedule charge timing, shows the miles per gallon usage and other monitoring info.

OnStar features like unlocking doors and remote operation of the horn and lights, which have only been available by calling the OnStar call centre, will be available through the smartphone application.

While production of the Volt isn’t due to begin until late this year, demonstration applications for the Motorola Droid and Blackberry Storm and the iPhone are available now. A car that you plug in overnight to recharge, the Volt is an electric hybrid designed to drive up to 64 kilometres (40 miles) on electricity, after which an engine/generator kicks in to extend the driving range to about 480 kilometres or 300 miles.

SOURCE: Vancouver Sun

General Motors took a big step toward its reinvention as the “New G.M.” today when it opened what it calls the largest automotive battery laboratory in the United States, a move the struggling company believes will hasten the development of electric vehicles.

The GM battery lab is located at its sprawling Warren Technical Center campus outside Detroit, Michigan.

GM invested $25 million in the 33,000-square-foot Global Battery Systems Lab to develop and test the drivetrains underpinning the Chevrolet Volt and other hybrid, battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

The automaker believes the facility, at its sprawling Warren Technical Center campus outside Detroit, Michigan, will help make it a market leader in battery and EV technology.

“The new global GM battery lab will benefit consumers across America by helping us advance the development of battery technology in the United States and put cleaner, more efficient vehicles on the road more quickly and affordably,” CEO Fritz Henderson said in a statement.

“Our new lab improves GM’s competitiveness by speeding the development of our hybrid, plug-in and extended-range electric vehicles.”

The lab’s opening comes one week after General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and vowed to reinvent itself as a leaner, greener company focused on fuel efficiency.

It also comes as major automakers align themselves with battery manufacturers to bring cars with cords to market. Volkswagen, for example, recently signed a deal with Chinese auto- and battery-maker BYD, and Daimler bought nearly 10 percent of Tesla Motors last month.

The Global Battery Systems Lab is four times larger than the cramped quarters where engineers had been working on the lithium-ion battery pack used in the Volt. It employs more than 1,000 engineers.

The operation features 160 test channels and 42 thermal chambers that subject batteries to real-world driving conditions and temperarture variations. It also has 32 battery cyclers, “treadmills” used to deplete and charge the packs repeatedly.

“This facility is state-of-the-art and represents one of the largest and most capable battery test labs in the world,” said Jim Queen, vp of global engineering. The lab has a maximum power capacity of 6 megawatts.

The lab also features a thermal shaker table for testing the structural integrity of each pack and a battery tear-down workshop for failure analysis and reverse-engineering competitors’ batteries.

The Global Battery Systems Lab is the crown jewel in GM’s battery program, which includes labs in Mainz-Kastel, Germany and Honeoye Falls, New York.

General Motors is working with LG Chem on the battery that will provide the Volt with an all-electric range of 40 miles, and it has a joint deal with Compact Power and LG Chem to continue developing the technology.

GM also has joined the University of Michigan in creating a battery-specific engineering curriculum and a battery lab in Ann Arbor.

GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week and is radically scaling back its operations, but work on the battery lab started in December 2007 shortly after GM started developing the Volt. Construction started in August and engineers started testing batteries there in January.

The company plans to open a factory somewhere in Michigan to begin producing batteries by the end of 2010, at which point the Volt is slated to start rolling off an assembly line at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly factory.

SOURCE: CNN.com

General Motors offers an immense lineup of mainstream and performance-oriented models all across the globe. Cars like the Corvette, Camaro and CTS-V might make North American hearts go aflutter, but elsewhere VXR and SS V-Series stir the souls of young and old.

But a new day has dawned, when even young enthusiasts are more interested in a vehicles’ impact on the planet than they are about zero to sixty times, slalom speeds or skid pad results, which has resulted in a bevy of low and even zero-emissions vehicles that target an entirely different kind of performance enthusiast. GM is at the forefront of this new wave of performance, with vehicles like its new Chevy Volt, Opel Ampera and, now that it’s official, Converj.

According to Motor Trend magazine, the upscale Cadillac Converj, a spinoff of the Volt, will be built in 2011, a year after the four-door Chevy bows. Will the production Cadillac look the same, or change as much as the Volt did from concept to reality? The Volt, initially shown in concept form with two doors and a very different overall shape, got a thorough redesign that included a more practical four-door configuration. Most applauded GM’s decision, and most like the looks of the new car. Such a move, especially considering Cadillac will bring the CTS Coupe to market the year prior, would be smart.

Whatever Cadillac finally shows for production, the Converj will ride on the same Voltec architecture as the Volt and Ampera, which is also a smart move by GM as it will need to recoup as much research and development costs from its unique plug-in series hybrid chassis as possible, and there’s no better way to do that than via a higher end, pricier model. It is also possible that, while the shared powertrain will be identical, it may be calibrated to offer a little more performance in the premium Cadillac offering.

While Cadillac may be celebrating this news, there is still the hurdle of funding the operation. Volt will be built, says GM’s executive team, which is currently lobbying the US Treasury and Energy Departments to allow access to ATVM loans and will no doubt drop another project in order to fund the series hybrid if necessary, but if money is tight it’s possible the Converj could be delayed. It would be unlikely to get cancelled altogether, however, as the money for Volt will have been spent and GM will need to take advantage of the economies of scale possible by a Cadillac version.

SOURCE: Canada.com

Toyota is recognized as one of the leaders in hybrid technology, so it may come as a surprise to some that the company is not terribly keen on selling hybrid plug-ins to consumers. Even though the company is planning to build 500 plug-in Prius cars for test fleets, there are no immediate plans to develop plug-in hybrid technology for consumers.

At first, it may seem counter-intuitive for Toyota to shun plug-in hybrids. After all, GM plans to release the Chevy Volt — its plug-in hybrid — next year. But it makes a little more sense after you read Toyota’s reasoning, reported by AutoMonster.ca:

Toyota estimates sales of hybrids that can be recharged at household outlets may be 50,000 units a year at most and could be as few as 3,500, Bill Reinert, U.S. national manager for advanced technology, told a National Academy of Sciences panel today in Washington. Sales of Toyota’s Prius, the best-selling gasoline-electric vehicle, were almost 159,000 last year.

A market for the plug-in electric hybrid vehicles “will emerge, but their success depends on advantages over existing hybrids,” Reinert said in prepared remarks. “There is a great deal of variation on how current PHEVs perform in real-world conditions.”

Clearly, Toyota think it already has a good think going with its current Prius — no plug needed. Plug-ins are considered somewhat inconvenient right now by many consumers. They have to be charged regularly, and there needs to be the proper infrastructure to support plug-ins so that commuters can charge up their cars while at work.

Of course, the fact that 75% of Americans live within 20 miles of their work means that the 40-mile range of the Volt may be sufficient. Besides, the Volt also has an electric-gasoline hybrid engine that can switch to gasoline when the battery runs down. So at least there isn’t the fear of being stuck. Current electric-gasoline hybrids don’t have the plug-in factor. They are desirable because they don’t require consumers to make any significant changes in their behavior. Although, technically, the Volt wouldn’t require a change, either. But its battery is more expensive (adding to the cost of the car).

Honda is also reluctant to introduce plug-in hybrids. The company says it’s studying the matter to determine whether it is worth the investment in plug-ins. The reluctance of the Japanese automakers to get involved may pave the way for American carmakers to lead the way for plug-ins. But with Honda and Toyota offering a product consumers are already comfortable with (and may prefer), does it even matter?

SOURCE: PhysOrg.com

The new 2010 automobiles will soon change the future in transportation as conventional vehicles make the switch to hybrid cars. The new cars also qualify for government incentives to use as a 2009 hybrid car tax credit. Hybrid cars can achieve better fuel efficiency and are led by car manufacturers including Ford Motor Company, Toyota, Honda, and General Motors.

If you’re in the market to buy a new eco-friendly car, you may want to check out the Ford Escape Hybrid, the Toyota Prius, or the Honda Insight. These hybrids are the ones we reviewed so far, and I’m sure the list will keep building as we test-drive and gather more information. Owning one of the environmental safe vehicles will also qualify for government incentives to obtain a 2009 hybrid car tax credit.

While GM might be heading for bankruptcy on June 1, 2009, it’s clear what direction the car manufacturer is heading. It has three prototypes of a new electric vehicle known as the Chevy Volt. The Volt can plugin to any 110 volt outlet to recharge.

Only time will tell if hybrid cars will reduce America’s dependency for foreign oil. However, one thing is for sure, that the battery electric cars are fuel efficient. The bottom line is, this will save time and the price at the pump for automobile owners. The other matters to consider are the distances and mileage a person drives each day.

America experienced the worst gas crises in 2008. Prices soared to nearly $5.00 per gallon in some states, while the national average was about $4.50. Small cars were costing drivers as much as $80 to fill up at the pump. Skeptics argue that the automakers are 20 years behind while foreign countries are price gauging.

Some people have often wondered how hybrid cars work. This would be another topic of discussion, but one that is very fascinating. Most people believe that running a cord between the electrical outlet to the vehicle will do the trick. However, some car manufacturers are coming up with some new techniques.

Some car makers are using the brake pedal as a way to power accessories such as air conditioning by sending the energy directly to the battery to store a recharge. This method is utilizing all possible ways to produce energy from the driver without taxing comfort ability and the driving experience.

SOURCE: NewsOxy

The automobile has improved in many ways since Henry Ford trotted out the first Model T’s 100 years ago. Fuel economy, however, is not one of them.

The original horseless carriage got about 20 miles on the gallon, the same on-the-road fuel-burning efficiency that the nation’s fleet has hovered around since 1980, according to Jeff Alson, a senior engineer with U.S. EPA’s transportation and climate division.

But climate change and oil supply concerns are signaling an end to the era of incremental technological change and an about-face of priorities, he said, speaking at an event at George Washington University. “The future is unlikely to be like the past,” Alson said.

With automakers clinging on for their lives and President Obama pledging to remake them in a more fuel-sipping image, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are one sign of hope in that future. Obama has said he wants 1 million on the road by 2015.

General Motors Corp.’s Chevrolet Volt, scheduled for production in limited numbers for 2010, will be one of the first major plug-in models to test the market. “Everything else is up for grabs in the current restructuring except for this,” said GM’s Keith Cole, director of legislative and regulatory affairs, last week.

But companies are also becoming antsy about the high expectations that will greet the initial release of these models. “The one thing we can’t have is disappointment with a new technology. That will doom the technology,” said Tom Stricker, a director at Toyota Motor North America Inc.

Toyota is planning a limited introduction of a plug-in version of its Prius model to commercial fleet owners, with 150 coming to the United States by next year. Stricker is wary of repeating the company’s experience with its conventional hybrid Prius.

Toyota’s initial sticker shock

Originally, EPA gave the Prius hybrid a 55 miles per gallon rating on its window sticker. But when, for the 2008 model year, the agency adopted new methods to account for more real-world driving factors, such as cold weather and faster accelerations, hybrids got hit the hardest; the Prius’ rating dropped to 46 mpg, for example. Class action lawsuits from angry customers followed.

Putting a fuel economy estimate on the plug-in hybrids will be an even more complicated process. That’s largely because, with plug-ins, even more depends on drivers’ individual behavior. How much and how often the car is charged, how far it is driven between charges, and the weather’s effect on the battery all contribute to individual variations in the degree to which a particular plug-in relies on its electric mode.

Although various automakers, also including Ford and Saturn, are taking different technological approaches, all plug-in hybrids rely on burning backup fuel eventually.

Earlier this year, using one of several available conversion kits marketed by outside companies that void the manufacturer’s warranty, Consumer Reports turned a Toyota Prius hybrid into a plug-in model.

For the first 35 miles of driving, the testers found that the converted Prius jumped from 42 to 67 mpg, a major gain but much lower than the 100 mpg that the conversion company had claimed. Meanwhile, Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google Inc., in its own tests of a Prius conversion, has gotten an average of 94 mpg.

Stricker, of Toyota, said he has seen a wide range of numbers thrown around, anywhere from 65 to 110 mpg.

“We have to be very careful to manage expectations of what the consumers perceive going in,” he said. “If you look at current real-world data, albeit on conversions, it’s not what we hope it will eventually be.”

EPA at work, using 2 different formulas

Electricity is not free, either, and some fuel-use estimates attempt to weight the energy cost of the juice the battery takes from the wall socket. Gabriel Shenhar, program manager for Consumer Reports’ auto testing center, said that in its test model, it calculated that the fuel economy dropped to the equivalent of 53 miles per gallon when electric consumption was taken into account.

The Volt, by contrast, is an extended-range vehicle designed to run solely on its battery for the first 40 miles of use, enough to satisfy three-quarters of Americans’ daily driving needs — but EPA will still need to evaluate these claims and somehow translate them into a fuel usage number.

Employees at EPA’s National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich., are now working on the problem of how to accurately gauge these vehicles’ fuel use, said Alson.

The facility does fuel economy testing and verification using two different formulas: one for the window sticker that consumers see, and one to report to the Transportation Department to calculate a manufacturer’s fleetwide fuel economy average — the basis for federal corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, standards.

Mark Duvall, director of electric transportation at the Electric Power Research Institute, noted that how the agency calculates the contribution of plug-in hybrids to CAFE standards is probably the decision of larger consequence.

When averaging fuel economy across a manufacturer’s entire fleet, relatively few plug-in hybrids could potentially skew the average considerably, agreed Matt Mattila, a consultant for the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Project Get Ready, which helps cities prepare to adopt electric vehicle technologies.

Mattila said that it is up to the automakers to educate consumers that the plug-in hybrid will not be the right option for everyone, and that whether it is right for them would depend on their driving patterns.

The car companies are blunter: “The real question is, can we get anyone to buy it?” asked Stricker. If the fuel saved with a plug-in hybrid compared to a conventional hybrid doesn’t outweigh the added cost — and with the price of batteries, that added cost is significant — then no one will buy the car.

They also fear being held hostage to volatile oil prices. “If gas is below $2 a gallon, we ask why anyone would do this,” said GM’s Cole.

SOURCE: New York Times

The United States is pushing the use of plug-in hybrids but these cars, which sip gasoline and are low in greenhouse gas emissions, face cost and infrastructure hurdles that will keep them out of the mainstream for years.

The cars have large batteries which can be recharged at home with an extension cord, unlike conventional gasoline-electric hybrid cars which have batteries that are only powered when the driver hits the brake.

The big batteries allow plug-ins to depend more on electricity, the use of which emits less carbon dioxide per unit of energy than petroleum products do, even if the power comes from coal, said Dan Santini, an expert at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.

If the electricity comes from nuclear, or perhaps in the future from wind power, the greenhouse gas emissions reduction for plug-ins would be even greater.

The federal government, which is hoping to soon regulate greenhouse gases, is pushing development of plug-ins and President Barack Obama has set a goal for the United States to put 1 million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015. Obama’s stimulus plan had $2 billion for development of batteries.

Several car companies like General Motors plan to launch plug-ins and its Chevrolet Volt is expected to go on sale late next year.

Unfortunately, bigger batteries are expensive, which means the price for the Volt will run about $40,000, about double the price of a gasoline-electric hybrid like Toyota’s Prius.

“Plug-ins are not the perfect solution, they are not going to be the cheapest,” said Ewan Pritchard, who manages North Carolina State University’s Advanced Transportation Energy Center and who has converted conventional buses to run as plug-in hybrids.

In addition, plug-ins take about four to eight hours to recharge and have limited range, so many owners will want to charge them both at home and at work.

That means a network of charging stations would have to be built for the cars to catch on.

Richard Lowenthal, founder and chief executive of California-based Coulomb Technologies, Inc, which sells charging stations, said only 50 million homes in the United States have a place like a garage to charge a plug-in, while there are 250 million cars in the country.

In addition, the best and cheapest batteries are currently being manufactured in Asia, which has led to criticism that the cars simply swap an addiction on foreign oil for a need for foreign batteries.

“Let’s say we switch over to batteries. I don’t know that we’ve helped ourselves,” Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens told the Alternative Fuels & Vehicles conference in Orlando this week. “We’d go from being dependent on Saudi Arabia for oil to China for batteries,” said Pickens, who has invested in companies to convert cars to run on domestic natural gas.

The good news is that the United States should have plenty of electricity capacity to power the cars. Britta Gross, an electrical infrastructure expert for GM, said power plants have enough spare capacity to charge plug-ins on all but about the dozen hottest days of the year when air conditioning demand soars.

Mike Waters, an efficiency expert at Progress Energy said a “smart grid,” or power transmission system that can send information from power plants to customers, could soon send pricing signals to plug-in owners that would encourage them to stop charging when peak power demand nears.

And though the hurdles are high, some companies could clear them as more of the cars are built. “The point is to get these vehicles on the road so we can see where the problems are and move from there,” Pritchard said.

SOURCE: Reuters

General Motors offers an immense lineup of mainstream and performance-oriented models all across the globe. Cars like the Corvette, Camaro and CTS-V might make North American hearts go aflutter, but elsewhere VXR and SS V-Series stir the souls of young and old.

But a new day has dawned, when even young enthusiasts are more interested in a vehicles’ impact on the planet than they are about zero to sixty times, slalom speeds or skid pad results, which has resulted in a bevy of low and even zero-emissions vehicles that target an entirely different kind of performance enthusiast. GM is at the forefront of this new wave of performance, with vehicles like its new Chevy Volt, Opel Ampera and, now that it’s official, Converj.

According to Motor Trend magazine, the upscale Cadillac Converj, a spinoff of the Volt, will be built in 2011, a year after the four-door Chevy bows. Will the production Cadillac look the same, or change as much as the Volt did from concept to reality? The Volt, initially shown in concept form with two doors and a very different overall shape, got a thorough redesign that included a more practical four-door configuration. Most applauded GM’s decision, and most like the looks of the new car. Such a move, especially considering Cadillac will bring the CTS Coupe to market the year prior, would be smart.

Whatever Cadillac finally shows for production, the Converj will ride on the same Voltec architecture as the Volt and Ampera, which is also a smart move by GM as it will need to recoup as much research and development costs from its unique plug-in series hybrid chassis as possible, and there’s no better way to do that than via a higher end, pricier model. It is also possible that, while the shared powertrain will be identical, it may be calibrated to offer a little more performance in the premium Cadillac offering.

While Cadillac may be celebrating this news, there is still the hurdle of funding the operation. Volt will be built, says GM’s executive team, which is currently lobbying the US Treasury and Energy Departments to allow access to ATVM loans and will no doubt drop another project in order to fund the series hybrid if necessary, but if money is tight it’s possible the Converj could be delayed. It would be unlikely to get cancelled altogether, however, as the money for Volt will have been spent and GM will need to take advantage of the economies of scale possible by a Cadillac version.

SOURCE: Canada.com

Electric car supporters are rising to defend General Motors’ development of the Chevy Volt after the Obama Administration’s automotive task force proclaimed that the car was probably too expensive to be commercially successful in the near future.

G.M. is hoping to launch the Volt in late 2010 with a price tag of about $40,000.

“While the Volt holds promise, it is currently projected to be much more expensive than its gasoline-fueled peers and will likely need substantial reductions in manufacturing cost in order to become commercially viable,” the task force noted in its recent assessment of GM’s restructuring plans. About $750 million is needed for near-term Volt development, according to the company.

Advocacy groups argue the task force’s assessment is shortsighted and worry that the Volt project may land in the scrap heap as G.M. rolls toward bankruptcy. Financial aid for such projects has been put on hold as G.M. and Chrysler struggle to come up with business plans that regulators will embrace.

“Any new technology like the Chevy Volt takes time to become profitable,” said Jay Friedland, the legislative director for Plug-In America, an electric-car advocacy group. “The Toyota Prius took over five years to reach break-even and has gone on to be a wild success.”

Electric car proponents at The California Cars Initiative believe the task force was unduly influenced by “plug-in skeptics” at the Boston Consulting Group, which is under government contract to provide input on the prospects for G.M. and Chrysler.

“Whatever B.C.G.’s expertise on the auto industry in general, we are concerned that in its understanding of future pathways, it offers a flawed analysis and predictions based on business-as-usual,” notes a posting on the California Car Initiative’s Web site.

The group pointed to a B.C.G. report titled, “The Comeback of the Electric Car? How Real, How Soon, and What Must Happen Next,” which concludes the costs of creating an automotive market dominated by electric and hybrid cars are prohibitively high for the foreseeable future – as high as $49 billion for Europe alone (along with another $21 billion for battery-charging infrastructure).

Still, the word from on high is that the Volt will make it to the finish line.

“Volt will survive and prosper,” G.M.’s vice chairman of product development, Robert Lutz, reportedly told Volt enthusiasts at the Web site GM-Volt.com. “We know the numbers better than the Government … we furnished them! First-generation technology is expensive, but you can’t have a second generation without a first generation.”

During his campaign, President Obama said he would work to put one million plug-in hybrids on American roads by 2015. Currently there are only about 1,500 500 plug-in hybrids and 500 1,500 pure electric cars, according to Plug-In America.

SOURCE: New York Times

Several automakers are developing plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric cars that could help meet President Barack Obama’s goal of putting 1 million plug-in hybrids on the road by 2015. Many industry officials say the goal is a worthy one but will be difficult to meet. A look at the work by some auto manufacturers:

GENERAL MOTORS CORP.: General Motors is set to produce the Chevrolet Volt, an extended range electric plug-in, in late 2010 in limited numbers. The Volt is the centerpiece of GM’s attempt to take the lead in electric vehicles and will have a lithium-ion battery and electric motor that can take the car 40 miles on a single charge. A gasoline engine will kick in to power a generator to extend the Volt’s range beyond the 40 miles. GM has not yet announced the price of the car, but the cost is expected to be $30,000 to $40,000.

TOYOTA MOTOR CORP.: Toyota will start global delivery of 500 Toyota Prius plug-in hybrids powered by lithium-ion batteries later this year. Of those, 150 will go to U.S. lease and fleet customers. The plug-in is expected to operate in a similar fashion to the current Prius model by using both gasoline and electricity to propel the vehicle. Toyota is also developing the FT-EV, an all-electric vehicle that is expected to have a range of 50 miles and be on U.S. roads by 2012.

CHRYSLER LLC: Chrysler has shown off five different electric-drive vehicles developed by its high-tech ENVI unit and said it plans to start selling one of the five models next year. The electric car prototypes include a Dodge sports car, a Jeep Wrangler and Patriot, a Chrysler minivan, and a concept version of an electric-powered sedan. The automaker is testing the vehicles simultaneously and recently announced that Massachusetts-based A123Systems will supply the lithium-ion batteries for the company’s extended range gas-electric cars and its all-electric cars.

FORD MOTOR CO.: Ford is planning to produce a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle beginning in 2012 and has been testing a fleet of vehicles through partnerships with several utilities around the nation. Ford has said it intends to bring a battery-electric van to market in 2010 for commercial use, a small battery-electric sedan developed with Magna International by 2011 and a plug-in electric car by 2012. Ford has said Johnson Controls-Saft will supply the battery system for their first production plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

NISSAN MOTOR CO.: Nissan has outlined plans to mass-market electric vehicles by 2012, and to make the cars available on a wide scale in Israel and Denmark in 2011. Nissan’s all-electric car will be sold in late 2010 and have 100 miles of pure battery range. Nissan has developed partnerships with states and utilities to promote and develop electric vehicle charging networks.

TESLA MOTORS INC.: Tesla is selling the Roadster, an electric sports car which starts at $109,000 and can travel 244 miles on a 3.5-hour charge. The California automaker is developing the all-electric Model S sedan, which is expected to sell for $60,000 by mid-2011.

FISKER AUTOMOTIVE: The California automaker is releasing its $87,900 Karma plug-in luxury sports sedan, a four-seater with solar panels, in October. The plug-in can drive gas-free for 50 miles. Fisker is also developing the Karma S, a convertible expected in 2011.

SOURCE: The Associated Press

General Motors offers an immense lineup of mainstream and performance-oriented models all across the globe. Cars like the Corvette, Camaro and CTS-V might make North American hearts go aflutter, but elsewhere VXR and SS V-Series stir the souls of young and old.

But a new day has dawned, when even young enthusiasts are more interested in a vehicles’ impact on the planet than they are about zero to sixty times, slalom speeds or skid pad results, which has resulted in a bevy of low and even zero-emissions vehicles that target an entirely different kind of performance enthusiast. GM is at the forefront of this new wave of performance, with vehicles like its new Chevy Volt, Opel Ampera and, now that it’s official, Converj.

According to Motor Trend magazine, the upscale Cadillac Converj, a spinoff of the Volt, will be built in 2011, a year after the four-door Chevy bows. Will the production Cadillac look the same, or change as much as the Volt did from concept to reality? The Volt, initially shown in concept form with two doors and a very different overall shape, got a thorough redesign that included a more practical four-door configuration. Most applauded GM’s decision, and most like the looks of the new car. Such a move, especially considering Cadillac will bring the CTS Coupe to market the year prior, would be smart.

Whatever Cadillac finally shows for production, the Converj will ride on the same Voltec architecture as the Volt and Ampera, which is also a smart move by GM as it will need to recoup as much research and development costs from its unique plug-in series hybrid chassis as possible, and there’s no better way to do that than via a higher end, pricier model. It is also possible that, while the shared powertrain will be identical, it may be calibrated to offer a little more performance in the premium Cadillac offering.

While Cadillac may be celebrating this news, there is still the hurdle of funding the operation. Volt will be built, says GM’s executive team, which is currently lobbying the US Treasury and Energy Departments to allow access to ATVM loans and will no doubt drop another project in order to fund the series hybrid if necessary, but if money is tight it’s possible the Converj could be delayed. It would be unlikely to get cancelled altogether, however, as the money for Volt will have been spent and GM will need to take advantage of the economies of scale possible by a Cadillac version.

SOURCE: Vancouver Sun

Amidst all the criticism of General Motors and the perception that it trails in the development and production of technologies and vehicles that meet current needs one fact has gone unnoticed.

GM produces the only volume-production, full-size hybrid light truck available anywhere in the world — state-of-the-art technology where it matters. It makes for good press to brag about 5-litre/100 km fuel economy in a class and size of vehicle where 6-litres/100 is the average.

While that 20 per cent improvement is worthy, the argument could be made that in a market where half of the vehicles purchased and driven are fuel-thirsty trucks, a similar reduction would save a great deal more fuel.

Put more directly, if you drive a compact hybrid 20,000 km a year you might save 200 litres of fuel. If on the other hand you drive a full-size SUV that savings would be in the order of 800 litres, conservatively. And there are more of these large vehicles on the road — making the impact even more significant.

I speak from personal experience with a 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe equipped with GM’s new Two-Mode Hybrid system. Conventional big SUVs powered by V8 engines, including both a Tahoe and a Yukon, driven over a particular 350-km test route involving both city and highway driving have averaged 16.3 litres/100 km. No attempt was made to save fuel. The vehicles were driven at legal speeds and the route included dozens of hills and long inclines.

I think of it as ‘real world’ mileage as compared to numbers generated in the laboratory of Saskatchewan-flat roads. The 2009 Yukon Hybrid averaged 12.1 litres/100 km over this same route despite string winds and cold temperatures. That is a real world saving of more than 25 per cent.

GM claims the two-mode Hybrid system can improve urban fuel consumption by as much as 50 per cent. While this may be possible under certain circumstances where the electric motors are used more often, the constant elevation changes in our area make that all but impossible.

But the 25 per cent improvement I witnessed is likely a worst-case scenario and if driven primarily and conservatively in the city, this big truck — and its GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade siblings would do much better than that. Like any hybrid, the big gains come in urban driving, with much of that from shutting the engine off when sitting at a light or stopped in traffic.

The Tahoe is the first vehicle to offer this new system, developed by GM in conjunction with BMW and Daimler-Benz. This cutting-edge two-mode hybrid system lets the Tahoe run on a big 6.0-litre V8 engine, electric motors or both. The V8 boasts variable valve timing and the ability to shut down four cylinders under low-load conditions. It also shuts down completely when the Tahoe comes to rest for more than a few seconds, restarted instantly and seamlessly by the 300-volt battery pack beneath the rear seats. Two electric motors inside the casing house the four-speed automatic transmission allowing the big truck to operate in two different modes — thus the Two-Mode Hybrid moniker.

In low-speed, gentle driving around town the Tahoe acts like other hybrids, shutting down at lights and drawing power from the battery pack and initial motivation from the electric motors, when crawling along in traffic or in the initial stages of accelerating away from a stop. The engine then kicks into life and, at higher speed or when more oomph is required, one or both electric motors go to work as well.

The Tahoe Hybrid gets a power-conserving air conditioning system and a deep front valance which may restrict off-road activity but it also cleans up airflow around the vehicle for improved aerodynamics. The 332-horse- power V8 and rugged chassis allow it to tow up to 6,000 pounds — well beyond the capability of any other hybrid on the planet.

While the Tahoe Two-Mode Hybrid offers welcome and measurable improvements in fuel consumption and exhaust emissions, it is restricted to a high-trim level putting it out of reach of the average buyer at a base price of $70,000.

The standard equipment list is extensive: heated seats, power adjustable pedals, power windows, seats and locks, OnStar, rear-view back-up system, navigation system, Bose audio, tri-zone climate control, on-demand four-wheel-drive and three rows of seats. The third row is best left for little or athletic people and there isn’t much room for cargo with all seats in position.

The Tahoe Hybrid breaks new ground. It is a big truck capable of towing heavy loads or carrying up to eight people. And it does this with technology that offers a considerable reduction in fuel consumption and exhaust emissions.

SOURCE: Chronicle Herald

General Motors Corp. has raised its request for loans from a federal energy program by $2.6 billion to $10.3 billion to help build three fuel-efficient vehicles, according to a government filing.

The loans GM is seeking from the U.S. Department of Energy is in addition to its request for up to $30 billion in loans from the Treasury Department to sustain its turnaround effort.

The latest request was disclosed by GM in a report earlier this week. It comes as the Detroit automaker is racing to restructure its operations and extract concessions from stakeholders, including its and bondholders.

The Energy Department has set aside $25 billion in low-cost loans designed to help automakers retool plants and develop fuel-efficient technology. Although the department has received dozens of applicants, it has not yet disbursed any of the funds set aside.

GM said that it will use the $10.3 billion in energy loans to develop and introduce three hybrid vehicles, two of which will be modeled on the Chevrolet Volt, the extended-range hybrid the automaker hopes to introduce next year.

GM said that despite its financial troubles, it still remains committed to developing next-generation vehicle technologies. The most touted of its plans to do so is the Volt, which is expected to be able to run 40 miles on a single charge, at which point a small gasoline engine kicks in to help power the car.

Earlier this week, the Obama administration gave GM 60 days to continue its restructuring effort before it grants its request for additional funds. It also said a quick bankruptcy may be necessary, and ousted its former chief executive, Rick Wagoner, leaving former Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson in charge.

Shares of GM gained 3 cents to $2.12 in afternoon trading on Friday.

SOURCE: Business Week

PayPal founder Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla Motors.  Recently he unveiled the Model S 4 door all-electric sedan shown above to much fanfare.  The car exists only as a prototype but the company hopes to mass produce it if it can obtain a $350 million dollar government loan to build the assembly plant.

Tesla has already been producing the 2-seat electric Roadster and has plans to eventually build inexpensive electric cars and partner with automakers.  GM vice chairman Bob Lutz has even credited the company with inspiring him to develop the Volt.

But one thing that stands out is Tesla has no plans to build an extended range electric car like the Volt.

GM-Volt.com had the chance to ask Elon Musk why.

What is your feelings about the range-extender concept of the Chevy Volt and why have you not considered it it any of your products?

We looked closely at a range extender architecture for Model S. It ends up costing about the same in vehicle unit cost, a lot more in R&D and a lot more in servicing. Also, although performance is ok when both battery and engine are active at the same time, it turns really bad when the battery runs out and an undersized engine is carrying all the dead weight of the pack. Essentially, a REV is neither fish nor fowl and ends up being worse (in our opinion) than either a gasoline or pure electric vehicle.

An important consideration that people without a technical background don’t understand is that you can either have a high power or a high energy cell chemistry, but not both. Since the battery pack in a plug in hybrid like the Volt has to generate the same *power* as a much larger battery pack in a pure electric vehicle, it has to use a low energy cell chemistry.

That means a 40 mile REV pack is not 1/5 the size of a 200 mile pure EV pack, as simple proportionality would suggest. Another factor is that the REV pack is forced to do three to four times more cycles that a pure EV pack and is (obviously) hit with five times the current per cell during acceleration and regen braking, which forces the REV pack to be derated considerably.

The net result is that a 40 mile REV pack is roughly half the size of a 200 mile EV pack. On top of that, you have to add the engine, generator and all the interconnects between engine and battery. It ends up having about the same mass and worse packing efficiency than a pure EV, plus you still have to deal with all the environmental issues of a gasoline engine.

SOURCE: GM-Volt.com

The White House may have sounded a bit bleak on the Chevrolet Volt last week, but both the company and the Obama administration say don’t read that as early news of the much-advertised electric car’s demise.

President Barack Obama’s auto task force last week said in an assessment of General Motors’ viability that it was a full generation behind Toyota in “green powertrain development” and that “while the Volt holds promise, it is currently projected to be much more expensive than its gasoline-fueled peers and will likely need substantial reductions in manufacturing cost in order to become commercially viable.”

A White House official who worked on the assessment said Wednesday, however, that the statements had been simply another way of saying what GM has said all along – it will be a challenge to bring the new technology up to scale and make it cost-competitive.

GM will have to make its own decisions about the pace of its advanced technology, said the official, who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

“You should not expect the task force will say GM should discontinue the Volt,” he said.

GM spokesman Dave Darovitz said there was nothing new in the government statement on high costs. New technology is always expensive, he said.

The company has added money to building the Volt, and it’s still the “No. 1 product development program here at GM,” he said.

“We will make it happen,” Darovitz said. “There is no deviation in our focus and intent to bring the car to market in late 2010.”

Darovitz said the government report made an unfair comparison with Toyota because it was dealing with two different technologies – the Prius gas-electric hybrid and the battery-powered, plug-in electric Volt.

Obama last week rejected GM’s restructuring plan and gave the automaker until June 1 to explain how it would reshape itself as a healthy company. GM seeks more than $16 billion in additional taxpayer funds.

GM reported in its five-year restructuring plan that it’s investing in hybrid and plug-in cars and trucks, including the Volt and two other models that will use its technology.

“With a majority of Americans driving their vehicles less than 40 miles per day, the Chevrolet Volt – providing up to 40 miles on a single electrical charge – should be attractive to those seeking to use little if any gasoline,” the GM plan said. “The development costs of high-technology vehicles like the Volt are significant, but so are the long-term benefits that come from increased energy efficiency and independence.”

Darovitz said the company expects state and federal incentives will help boost demand for the Volt, particularly a $7,500 federal tax credit. The Volt is expected to sell for around $40,000 because of the high cost of its batteries. The Energy Department has been helping with battery research to bring costs down.

SOURCE: Miami Herald