General Motors
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The lithium-ion battery pack for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicles officially went into volume production today. The 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack, containing 220 lithium-ion cells made by Korea's LG Chem, will be assembled in a 160,000-square-foot factory in Brownstown Township, Michigan, newly renovated at a cost of $266 million. That plant will be the first in the U.S. in which a major carmaker assembles lithium-ion packs. Almost all current hybrid vehicles use nickel-metal-hydride cells, which contain less energy than the lithium cells. Fear of China Various...
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2011 Chevy Volt Dance: Hey GM, We Want Our Bailout Back, NowWe don't use a lot of profanity here at the global GreenCarReports.com headquarters. But there were a whole bunch of horrified OMFGs floating around once we finally got to see the notorious Volt Dance that was unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show. We write about the 2011 Chevrolet Volt...
John Voelcker -
2011 Chevy Volt Investment: How Does This Differ From the EV1?
Another day, another announcement in the series of carefully timed press releases on the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car. In this case, it's the news that GM's investment in the Detroit-Hamtramck plant where the Volt will be built totals $336 million. General Motors says that sum...
John Voelcker -
And Then There Were Three (Names For the Chevy Volt's Signature Paint Color)
On October 22, Chevy issued a challenge via the Chevrolet Voltage Blog: come up with the best name for the Volt's signature silvery-greenish color, and you'll get a free trip to the LA Auto Show, not to mention a test drive of the pre-production extended-range electric vehicle. Each name...
Robert Scardino -
GM To Produce Cadillac Converj
According to a report in the Detroit News today, General Motors will forge ahead with plans to produce the Cadillac Converj extended range electric vehicle (EREV). Though Cadillac would not confirm the story, a source close to the company's production plans says that the Converj was part of a...
Robert Scardino -
Fisker Buying Delaware Plant To Build Midsize 2012 Plug-In Hybrid
At 10 am tomorrow morning, Vice President Joe Biden is expected to announce that Fisker Automotive will buy the closed General Motors factory in Wilmington, Delaware, his home state. According to reports, company founder Henrik Fisker will join Delaware Governor Jack Markell and other dignitaries...
John Voelcker -
When you think of a brand-new, gleaming, 2010 model car rolling out of your driveway, what materials come to mind? Steel, chrome, soft-touch interior plastics, maybe even supple leather upholstery? Well, how about some old carpets, ground-up milk cartons, and shredded, faded, raggedy blue jeans? Recycled materials: feedstock Those materials, and more, are among the increasing amount of recycled materials that find their way into new cars these days. And the Detroit News has written a fascinating description on how the industry has--very quietly--become a lot greener in its materials choices...
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Flex-Fuel Future: Cars Are Coming, But Where's the Fuel?
We don't hear so much about ethanol these days, now that gasoline is back down to $2.50 a gallon. But we still get e-mails, so here's a post to answer the question: What's going on with flex-fuel cars? Short answer: Manufacturers are slowly increasing the number of vehicles they build that can...
John Voelcker -
Preview: 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6
We've known for a while that BMW would launch its first hybrid this year, and now we know when: The 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6 will reach dealers this December. We'll be driving the hybrid X6 in a couple of weeks, but meanwhile, here's our advance preview of BMW's hybrid-electric sport-activity...
John Voelcker -
MPG Follies, Or, Why Electric Cars Can't Get 367 MPG. Sheesh.
One of our most popular posts in August was a piece that broke down how General Motors projected a fuel efficiency of 230 miles per gallon in the city for its 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car. Soon after GM's elaborate press event, Nissan announced with a straight face that their...
John Voelcker -
GM's Electric Car Guru Resigns
Bob Kruse, who formulated General Motors' long-term electric vehicle plans and whose team helped develop the Chevy Volt, has resigned, ending his 31-year career with the company. The 50-year-old Rochester Hills, Michigan, resident has served as GM's executive director of global vehicle engineering...
Robert Scardino -
Final Aptera 2e Styling Leaked, We Drive the Electric 3-Wheeler
To green-car fans, the idea of an ultra-aerodynamic electric two-seater sounds pretty familiar, right? Think the late, lamented EV1 from General Motors, subject of the controversial documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car? But for more than 4,000 people who've put down deposits on the 2011 Aptera...
John Voelcker -
Since it was launched in 1997 in Japan, and 2000 in the US, the Toyota Prius has only been sold as a single body style. From 1997 to 2003, it was a subcompact four-door sedan. Since then, it has been a midsize five-door hatchback, thoroughly redesigned for 2010. Now, Toyota executives told its dealers, the company plans to use the Prius name on two or three hybrid models in the U.S. market. The meeting, held last week in Las Vegas, was open to all Toyota and Lexus dealers and attended by Akio Toyoda, the company's new CEO. New cars, or new body styles? Two possibilities exist. The company...
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First Look: 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid
• What is it?: The first-ever hybrid version of the big Mercedes-Benz sedan • The basics: All the S-Class virtues, much better gas mileage • On sale: This fall • Price: $87,950 This weekend, GreenCarReports.com will be one of...
John Voelcker -
GreenCarReports: 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show Coverage
It's time: the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show is upon us, and High Gear Media is live at the biggest, hottest Messe in the world to bring you the latest on green cars, diesels, electric cars, hybrid electric vehicles, E-REVs, and NEVs right here at GreenCarReports.com. We've previewed the Frankfurt show...
John Voelcker -
August's Most Popular Green Car Posts: What About That 230 MPG?
We usually recap our five most popular posts on GreenCarReports.com at the end of every month. We're a bit late for August but, hey, we had a long Labor Day too ... now we're back in business. We replaced most of July's most popular posts, with three new winners in our Top Five. Here goes: # 1: How...
John Voelcker -
Suzuki Planning Hybrid Kizashi For 2011
According to the Japanese publication, Nikkei, Suzuki may be planning a hybrid version of their upcoming Kizashi sedan for 2011. The recently unveiled Kizashi will compete in the hotly contested midsize sedan market with the likes of the Toyota Camry, the Honda Accord, and the Ford Fusion, among...
Robert Scardino -
2011 Chevrolet Volt: Talk About Limited Production ...
If you're one of the tens of thousands of green car fans excited about the launch of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt electric car, start making nice to your local Chevy dealer. Because the number of Volts built is going to be very, very low for at least its first year of production. Despite excitement over...
John Voelcker -
Among the many vehicles shown, described, or teased at this morning's big General Motors press briefing was this unusual green concept from GM Labs, called 'Bare Necessities'. The two vehicles--a car and a truck--are meant to be maximally minimal. While the event itself focused on the next two years of vehicles from "the new GM," every car had a message to convey. Borrowing the famous motto adopted by Bauhaus architect Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe, the message of these two seems to be "Less Is More". The idea is to improve the efficiency--not just gas mileage but the efficiency of the entire...
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How Does The 2011 Chevy Volt Get 230 MPG? By Making Assumptions
UPDATE: GM confirms that the 2011 Chevrolet Volt will get 230 mpg city, and a composite fuel economy (city and highway) of more than 100 mpg according to draft regulations being developed at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). If the rumors are correct, this morning General Motors CEO Fritz...
John Voelcker -
Surprise, Surprise: That GM Plug-In Hybrid Is a Buick After All
Well, the other shoe finally dropped. General Motors said today that the plug-in version of its Two-Mode Hybrid system would be fitted to a Buick crossover to be introduced next year, with the plug-in arriving in 2011. That'll be at least a few months after the arrival of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt...
John Voelcker -
Why $2.4 Billion of Battery Grants? To Get US Competitive in Electric Cars
It's now clearer than ever: Electric cars are coming to showrooms near you. They will be fully competitive, their makers are deadly serious, and they will be "real cars" rather than the golf carts people seem to worry about. At GreenCarReports.com, we've experienced the 2011 Chevrolet Volt mule...
John Voelcker -
Five Questions: GM's New R-and-D Leader, Alan Taub
Alan Taub, 54, is currently Executive Director in charge of Research & Development at General Motors. He joined GM R+D as executive director in 2001, and on October 1, he will replace Larry Burns as the company's Vice President of R+D. GreenCarReports.com interviewed Dr. Taub directly after his...
John Voelcker -
The Few, The Proud...The Green? Marines Clean Up Camp Pendleton Wheels
Every time we make a joke involving the US Marine Corps, first we check it with our friend Cap'n Connors, a former Marine. With multiple deployments under his belt, and much multicolored art under his skin, the cap'n is our source for all things having to do with the most profane of the armed...
John Voelcker
