GM CEO Calls the Prius a Geek-Mobile, Wouldn’t be Caught Dead in One

In the grand scheme of things, General Motors is a little late in the purpose-built hybrid range extended electric vehicle game. Toyota has recently launched its third generation Prius and Honda its second generation Insight. At worst, the soon-to-be-released Chevy Volt is a logical move from a marketing perspective; if the consumer wants frumpily styled eco-cars then who are we, the automakers, to say otherwise?

So it’s a little hard to swallow when GM’s current CEO, Dan Akerson, describes the Volt’s major competitor – some may even say raison d’être – as a geek-mobile. Here are his exact words:

“We commonly refer to the geek-mobile as the Prius. And I wouldn't be caught dead in a Prius."

If the Prius is a geek-mobile, what does that make the Volt? Is it a me-too-mobile? And the word “geek” is so muddied in our 21^st century world. In the United States, 74% of the population use the internet, 27% own an Apple iPhone and almost half are on Facebook or MySpace. And Avatar, film widely considered to be the most successful film ever made, is a member of that classic geek genre: science fiction.

Is it any wonder that more than two million Priora have been sold since the nameplate came into existence? In a way, there’s a little geek in all of us. We buy organic, we tune into Lost and we use our Smartphones to text our friends what we’re eating for lunch.

It seems to me that GM wants to distance the Volt as much as possible from its Japanese stablemate. Have you noticed how no one at GM, Chevrolet or in the press calls it a hybrid? It’s a range extended electric vehicle. If that isn’t a geeky euphemism I don’t know what is.

The Volt, which according to Akerson "actually looks good,” compared to the Prius, goes on sale before the end of this year. With a starting price of US$41,000 (€31,016), the Volt will be more expensive than its main rival, though some buyers will be entitled to a US$7,500 (€5,674) federal tax credit.

Chevy Volt's Granddaddy: GM's 1969 Gasoline-Electric Hybrid Kadett Stir-Lec 1

More often than not, people tend o believe that technologies like hybrid or all electric drivetrains are a recent discovery, something which is entirely wrong. Among the many examples throughout automotive history is GM's own Stir-Lec 1 concept. Seen here in an advertisement from 1969, the Opel Kadett based study used a hybrid drivetrain that worked in a similar way to the one found in the modern Chevrolet Volt. In particular, the Stir-Lec 1 was equipped with a small capacity Stirling engine mounted at the rear that recharged a pack of 14 conventional lead acid batteries which in turn powered the electric motor that drove the rear wheels.

General Motors claimed in the print advert that the experimental hybrid vehicle was capable of reaching a top speed of 55mph or about 88km/h.

And while there's no doubt that modern hybrid gasoline-electric drivetrains are far more advance and reliable enough for everyday use than their experimental predecessors, one cannot but wonder what today's world would have been like if GM or any other automaker for that matter, had focused on the development of these type of alternative powertrains.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

Chevy Volt Rated at 93mpg on Electric, 60mpg in Hybrid Mode and 37mpg on Gasoline

The official fuel economy numbers for GM's long-awaited Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid are in. Given that the Volt uses two energy sources, electricity from the grid, and gasoline from the pump, with the mix depending on how far you drive and how often you charge the battery, the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) released three mileage ratings.

When driven in pure electric mode, the Volt has an MPG equivalent (MPGe) equivalent of 93 miles per gallon [equal to 2.5 lt/100km]. The EPA determined this figure by using a standardized formula that converts kilowatt-hours of electricity to gallons of gas.

According to the EPA, with a fully charged battery, the Volt has a driving range of 35 miles, which is less than the 40 mile range GM had previously announced.

Once the battery is drained and the 1.4-liter gasoline fueled engine / generator kicks in to motivate the Volt, the car is rated at 37 miles per gallon [6.4 lt/100km]. Finally, the government agency determined that when using both its batteries and gasoline engine, the Volt will get 60 miles per gallon [3.92 lt/100km].

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

Saab Elektrisk: An Artist's Take on the Swedish Volt

Even if Saab remained under the umbrella of General Motors, we seriously doubt that there would ever be a rebadged, remasked -call it whatever suits your fancy- Saab version of the Chevy Volt. Maybe in a perfect world Saab could have built a Volt spin-off with an entirely different body but with the Opel Ampera covering the European market, a remasked Saab wouldn't make much sense. Still, it's interesting to see an artist's take on a fictional proposal for a Saab Volt. Created by photoshop wiz Theophilus Chin, the rendered Swedish Volt has been baptized for apparent reasons 'Elektrisk'.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

GM: Volt to hit the Market as Scheduled in November 2010, One More Brand to get Plug-in Hybrid

Despite the looming bankruptcy and the other serious issues facing the company, General Motors' global product development chief, Tom Stephens told journalists on the sidelines of an event at the University of Michigan that the American automaker is on plan with the development of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid. "At this point in time, I know of no reason why we can't be in production by November of 2010," Stephens said.

Stephens, who replaced Bob Lutz as GM's vice chairman of global product development on April 1st, 2009, also told reporters that the automaker has not made a decision yet on which of the remaining three brands (Cadillac, Buick and GMC) after the axing of Pontiac and the sale of Saturn and Saab would get a vehicle based on the Volt's plug-in hybrid drivetrain.

"It's best utilized in urban vehicles," said Stephens. "We have to consider what is the usage of the person buying the vehicle. For a commuter who drives 40 miles a day and takes it shopping on weekend, it's the perfect application.".

That said, we reckon that that one of the most obvious and less inexpensive options in terms of development costs would be a Buick model based on the small sedan that the company is currently working on as it uses the same Delta platform as the Volt (as well as the new Astra and Chevy Cruze).

Carscoop's spy photographers recently captured a camouflaged prototype of the Astra/Cruze/Volt-based small sedan during testing in Germany, however it's not clear if the sedan is designed only for the Chinese market or if it will also head to the States.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com