By Christopher Barger
Director, GM Global Communications Technology
We’ve certainly noticed the attention paid by readers of this blog and FYI to the Chevrolet Volt. Obviously, we’re thrilled with the enthusiasm around the vehicle and the many questions we continue to get about it. I also know that you’d like those questions answered, especially right here. In the spirit of making this as much of a dialogue as we can, we asked Nick Zielinski, Vehicle Chief Engineer for the Volt, to take a look at some of the most frequent questions on FastLane about the car — and to give the best answers he could to them at this time.
Can we answer everything in detail right now? No — for reasons I think Nick addresses in this session. And since there’s still a lot of work to be done, there’s probably a lot more questions to ask as well. But the team is very ready to answer everything we can right now and engage your questions — and we hope to be as open as humanly possible about our work on this vehicle. So here’s a next step in that process: Nick Zielinski answers some of your questions about the Volt.
I knew it wouldn’t be long before the naysayers came out.
We’re not unplugging anything. We revealed the Chevrolet Volt, our electrically driven concept vehicle, to much praise at the Detroit show in January. We said we knew we had a tough challenge to see it through, but that we’re committed to the program. We said, both then and recently here on FastLane, that we plan to keep everyone up to speed on our progress and to discuss openly and transparently the technological, engineering and design hurdles we face. Just a couple of weeks ago we had more than 100 journalists and interested parties join our team, including outside battery experts, to learn more about what is happening behind our lab doors.
I’ve said before that this is not a publicity stunt, but it’s as if people don’t want to believe it if we give them anything short of a guarantee of Volt delivery… with an exact date, time and sticker price.
I will say it here and I know I will have to say it again many times: We are 100 percent committed to making this happen. We are invigorated by the challenge. We are going to continue to be as transparent as we can in this process, knowing that there are some proprietary technology issues we will have to keep veiled. And we understand there are numerous obstacles ahead of us, but our team has set out on a clearly defined mission to develop technology that will transform the automobile. This is probably the toughest and most exciting effort GM has undertaken. There is no turning back.
By Beth Lowery
Vice President, GM Environment and Energy
Rollercoaster-like gas prices, regional conflicts and global climate change have put energy security and environmental issues front and center of the national debate. Reducing gasoline consumption as well as our collective impact on the earth’s climate should be national priorities. These, too, are our priorities at GM and we recently told Congress what we’re doing to lessen our dependence on petroleum and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Last week, Rick Wagoner, GM Chairman and CEO, testified before the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. He was not alone. Other key leaders of the world’s larger auto manufacturers and from the UAW also provided testimony ranging from product plans centered on advanced technology, biofuels, and the effectiveness of the three-decade old Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program (CAFE).
GM Vice President Environment and Energy Beth Lowery and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Steve Johnson listen to Chevrolet Volt Chief Engineer Nick Zielinski explain the inner workings of the Volt at the NAIAS earlier this year.
By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman
The introduction of our Chevrolet Volt concept car and E-Flex electric propulsion system at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last month created quite a stir, garnering twice the media coverage as the runner up for us, our Chevrolet Camaro convertible.
The Volt came on the heels of our announcement at the Los Angeles show that we’ve begun work on a Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid, and puts a face on our efforts to diversify the energy sources we use to power automobiles.
However, some cynics accused us of pulling a PR stunt, saying the Volt is simply an attempt by GM to “greenwash” the public and would never be a real vehicle. The truth is just the opposite – we are treating Volt just like any other vehicle we do, giving it a dedicated development team and designating resources for it. With that in mind, I thought I’d take a moment to update you on the program so far.
The Chevrolet Volt “…is not hype…we’re going to get there…,” says Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper at the Chicago Auto Show. Peper talks optimistically about plans to develop the Volt concept vehicle into a production vehicle during an interview with Matt Kelly of Podtech.net. Peper also explains why he thinks customers are going to be surprised by the affordability of the stylish next generation Chevrolet Camaro. Check out his site to listen in.
The Chevy Volt is a new electric concept car from General Motors. It’s designed to go up to 40 miles on a home plug-in electric charge. Since many people drive less than 40 miles a day, it’s possible they would never need to buy gas for this car. Beyond 40 miles, an on-board electric generator charges the battery for up to 650 miles of driving on a single fuel fill-up. General Electric’s OEM Director Kelly Wesmer and Volt engineer Tony Posawatz talk about their contributions to the Volt’s innovative concept. GM’s Vice President of Environment and Energy Beth Lowery talks about her excitement over the new technology. —Bill Betts, Manager, GM Blogs
By Beth Lowery
GM Vice President, Environment and Energy
Wow — what a great response!
I’ve been really happy to see all the comments generated by my recent post about the new Chevy Volt. What makes it even better for me is that the conversation across the blogosphere has been overall pretty positive, even among groups that have typically been very critical of GM.
In addition to the great blog discussions, I was thrilled to see that traditional media really ran with the Volt’s story, too. In fact, among traditional media, the Volt generated more than twice as many stories as the wildly popular Camaro concept did when we revealed it a few years ago.
GM Director of Advanced Design Bob Boniface and GM Executive Director of Advanced Design Anne Asensio accept the AutoWeek Editor’s Choice Most Significant Vehicle award for the Chevy Volt
By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman
Media preview week of Detroit’s North American International Auto Show has come to a close, and as you probably know, it was a very good week for General Motors.
So what does that mean? Well, let me start by saying what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean we’re going to trumpet our success and then rest on our laurels. It doesn’t mean the turnaround is complete. It doesn’t mean we’re exactly where we want to be — yet.
We’re going to continue doing exactly what we’re doing, and do it even better. We’re going to enjoy the success we had this week, use it as validation that we’re headed in the right direction, and consider it a motivator to do more.
We couldn’t have asked for a better official start to the week, with Sunday’s clean sweep of the prestigious North American Car of the Year and Truck of the Year awards. These awards are voted on by a broad jury of the continent’s top automotive journalists. For them to select the Saturn Aura and Chevy Silverado for top honors among a field of extremely tough competition is gratifying, to say the least. Our reaction was one of joy, and yes, a bit of vindication, but mostly gratitude, because it’s really a testament to the hard work and talent of the entire GM team that created, built and marketed those two vehicles.
For those of you looking for more photos of the Chevy Volt, please check out our Flickr galleries for a special album on the concept vehicle’s interior.
By Beth Lowery
GM Vice President, Environment and Energy
I was proud to participate in the unveiling of the Chevy Volt electric car concept today. What a cool-looking car! As you may know, GM has worked on electric cars for years. We’ve taken a lot of heat for some of our past decisions on that front, and we’ve been paying attention to our critics. We get it – we’re not perfect, but we’ve learned a lot. The Volt incorporates many of those lessons and represents a giant leap forward.
For instance, we’ve added a range extender using a system we call E-Flex. Basically, it works by using the onboard engine to generate additional energy for the battery. On a long trip, this system would continually charge the batteries, even after the initial battery range is passed.
