GM to speed up development of electric vehicles (AFP news)

[TylerDurden]

GM to speed up development of electric vehicles
Tue Jun 5, 4:04 PM ET


WASHINGTON (AFP) - General Motors Corp., the top US auto maker, said Tuesday it will speed up development of electrically driven vehicles as part of a program to reduce gasoline usage.


Rick Wagoner, chairman and chief executive, said the company was moving forward on several fronts to develop alternative-fuel vehicles.

"Energy diversity means that we'll continue to improve the efficiency of the internal combustion engine, as we have for decades ... but importantly, we're also dramatically intensifying our efforts to displace traditional petroleum-based fuels ... by building a lot more vehicles that run on alternatives, such as E-85 ethanol," he said at the annual GM shareholders meeting in Wilmington, Delaware.

"We're ... significantly expanding and accelerating our commitment to electrically driven vehicles, like the Chevy Volt concept car we introduced in Detroit in January," he said, referring to the annual Detroit auto show.

Wagoner announced GM had awarded two contracts to companies that will help speed up development of the Volt.

The contracts to design and test lithium-ion batteries went to Michigan-based Compact Power Inc. and to Continental Automotive Systems.

"Given the huge potential that the Volt and its E-flex system offers to lower oil consumption, lower oil imports and reduce carbon gas emissions, this is for sure a top priority program for GM," he said.

The Volt packs a battery-powered electric motor that can run the car for up to 40 city miles (64 kilometers) on a single charge.

A gasoline-powered, one-liter, three-cylinder engine can generate electricity to replenish the battery, giving the car a range of up to 640 miles (1,030 kilometers), according to GM.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070605/ts_alt_afp/usautocompanygm_070605195350

http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/us/en/continentalteves/continentalteves/general/home/index_en.html

http://www.compactpower.com/


Looks like hot-air power to me... TD

 

[patrick_mahoney]

I want a Volt - at least based on the specs that I have seen. The sooner that they can give me one to buy, the happier that I will be.

 

[CGameProgrammer]

This is much better than their previous statement that they wanted to sit and wait until battery technology improves, despite the fact that other manufacturers are already creating hybrids and EVs using current technology. However, I remain highly skeptical that they'd actually have a mass-produced car for sale (not leased) in 2010. I just don't trust them.

 

[knightmb]

Same here, just like the fuel cell cars we will never see. It smells of a way to look enviro friendly for the stock market.

 

[jackatfsi]

I'll believe it when I can buy it...til then its just more GM b******t !

 

[xyster]

Update on battery developments for the GM Volt:

http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18833/

 

[patrick_mahoney]

I'm really not anywhere near as negative as you guys. GM's previous efforts were half-hearted attempts to comply with California air quality regulations - they were being effectively being coerced to produce an electric car. They were clearly of two minds about it - and you could see this both before and after the EV-1 was produced. None of the automakers were very excited about their electric efforts - they were clearly reluctantly complying with a law that they thought was unworkable.

Things have changed markedly since the last time. This time the company is clearly on the decline - they can look to the Prius which has had over 1 million cars sold and see that they are clearly missing the boat. There's a obviously a big market for a high-mileage, fun-to-drive, no compromises electric hybrid car - if 1 million people can be convinced to drive something that looks like a spaceship around, just imagine the sales if they make a real hybrid car that doesn't feel like driving an X-Wing in Star Wars.

They have a new CEO and all he seems to want to talk about the Volt and GM's hybrids - I've heard three speeches by him and they all centered around the Volt. I believe that they see a strong market in "green" technology. There is a rapidly growing movement worldwide for better efficiency and, despite US intransigence at the G8 summit, there will likely be a "carbon tax" or something similar, in the future. GM is banking on it.

I don't think this is a gimmick, or a game. I think they are completely serious about this and it appears to be exactly the car that I want to buy. Car development is slow and complex and involves coordinating multiple large teams at numerous companies. As a person who works on a product that similarly has multi-year lead times and involves coordinating thousands of engineers at dozens of companies, I have first-hand experience with what they are doing... and I don't know how well we'd handle a schedule pull-in like they are trying to pull off. I am more impressed with the whole thing - and I'm not at all disbelieving or disillusioned.

I won't be surprised at all if they slip schedule - what they are doing is Hard (with a capital "H") - but I will be extremely surprised if this is all "hot air".


I watched "Who killed the electric car". I was living in California at the time they were released and remember seeing a few on the road. But I wasn't at all impressed with the EV-1. I didn't want one. I still don't want one. But the Volt... if it matches what they are claiming, and they sell it for less than $30k then I will I'll be the first in line to buy one... and I've never owned an American car (I have a 2001 Honda Civic EX now).

 

[TylerDurden]

Excellent points Patrick_M. I hope they beat their predictions, but I doubt they will.

It boggles my mind to consider production of anything on the scale of a car, let alone a radically different car... but they do it on occassion.

On the other hand, I figure it would be faster (and more fun) to convert a car to electric, than to wait for a showroom model.

I just bought an 82 WV diesel for veggie-oil conversion. When that's done, it's on to an American sedan conversion to full electric.

:wink: