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Filed under: Coupes , Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Paris Motor Show , Chevrolet , GM Bob Lutz has come out and said it again: " I would say there's almost no reasonable doubt in our minds anymore that this is going to work. " And that isn't just that the Chevy Volt will work -- it's that it will work on time and as promised. In spite of the difficulties GM has had getting Volt technology up-to-speed within its timeframes, the man upstairs is apparently as confident as ever. Lutz said that engineers have driven the car to and above its 40-mile pure electric range already. Two companies are still trying to win the lithium-ion battery pack contract, although LG Chem says it has a 3rd-gen unit that's ready to go. Another hurdle is the car's internal combustion range extender starting up, which Lutz described as "noisy and still a little rough." And of course, it wouldn't be a Lutz piece without him taking a shot at something. Speaking of Toyota's...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Chevrolet Bob Lutz has gotten behind the wheel of a Chevy Volt mule, and he seems rather impressed -- both by the performance of its electric drivetrain's instant torque capabilities and the far-reaching impact that the electric vehicle could have on the marketplace. Of course, we are all familiar by now with the wallet-killing gas prices that are commonplace at our nation's stations, and Lutz was struck with just how important the Volt project truly is as he drove around and saw gas hovering around (and over) $4 bucks a gallon. Although the vehicle that Lutz drove is still very much an engineering mule , the battery pack installed in the electric car was a lithium ion unit which has already been tested in the lab. Apparently, this first test-pack was delivered back in April, which marks a bit of a watershed moment in the development of the Volt. It's way too early in the development of the E-Flex platform to get your checkbooks out...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Chevrolet , GM According to Bob Lutz, the first Chevy Volt powertrain mule has just passed a major milestone. After several weeks of testing in the lab with a battery pack installed, the Malibu based pre-prototype has rolled out into the fresh air. In fact, according to Lutz, the car has even rolled passed past the security gates of the Milford Proving Ground to drive around on public roads. Even in this early, very rough, form, Lutz says the car is meeting and exceeding the goal of 40 miles of driving without running the engine. With this, the E-Flex engineers have demonstrated the performance viability of this concept. However, they still have a long way to go in validating the robustness of the system in different operating environments as well as the long-term durability of the powertrain as a whole. Perhaps the biggest issue to address is the cost of the system, particularly the battery pack. For GM to sell the Volt at an affordable price...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Tech , Chevrolet , GM The hopes and dreams of electric car aficionados for a purely battery powered successor to the late, lamented EV1 may soon be satisfied. Or not. It all depends on ... you guessed it, the battery. However, the latest utterings from Maximum Bob have people buzzing again. Mr. Lutz spoke to EV site PetroZero the other day and intimated that a purely battery-powered variant of the upcoming Volt is a possibility, leaving the range extender on the cutting room floor. This is actually not a new idea and dates back to the earliest dates of the Volt program. During a media briefing back in December 2006 several weeks before the Volt's public release, the Volt team showed us images like the one above that included several different powertrain configurations. The premise was to demonstrate the flexibility part of E-Flex. This included a variant with a larger battery and no engine to charge it . This pure EV was described as something...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Chevrolet , GM You might recall a quote exchange that took place last November between Toyota exec Kazuo Okamoto and the General's own Bob "Maximus" Lutz. The verbal barbs began with Okamoto calling the Volt "completely wacky" and "nonsense," to which Mr. Lutz responded, "Let's wait until the Easter Bunny. Somebody's going to have egg on their face. And I don't like having egg on my face." Hey Bob, you've got a little something yellow on your cheek. During a recent interview with Reuters, Lutz revealed that road tests of the Chevy Volt wouldn't be happening until sometime in July, versus the expected test dates we were expecting later this month. Lutz didn't expand on the reason behind the delay, but he did confirm that GM wouldn't name a battery supplier until the second half of the year, saying, "That may also be a little bit longer now, as we need a better handle on...
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Filed under: Detroit Auto Show , Coupes , Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Chevrolet , GM Wired magazine got in the queue for some face time with Bob Lutz at the Detroit Auto Show, and came back with a quote that's raised a few brows. When asked what the target market for the car would be, Lutz said "I don't know. You'd like to have it at about $30,000 for the customer, but what I'm hearing from the team is we're not going to get there.... f it costs closer to 40 than 30, well, that's too bad." The issue is the timeline. His engineering team said that if they had more time they could cost-optimize the car, but Lutz doesn't want to wait for that. As for the recent go-round about when the Volt would appear , November 2010 is such a firm deadline in his mind that when it comes to the internal team, his only question is: "What is there about November 2010 that you don't understand?" Lutz must know how important it will be to price this car competitively...
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Filed under: Concept Cars , Coupes , Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Chevrolet Bob Lutz has staked a fair amount of his and GM's reputation on the Volt. Even though he has said since the beginning that the Volt needs battery technology that isn't ready for the mass market yet, he also said that the Volt would go on sale by the end of 2010 . Rick Wagoner, though, in a 50-minute Q&A session with journos and bloggers, said that the Volt launch date is "fluid." Citing, again, the lack of battery technology that the Volt would need, he said, "We continue to put massive resources into production as soon as possible. 2010 would be great, but (we) can't guarantee that at this time. We'll keep you posted regularly on our progress." GM critics -- like the Toyota rep who called the Volt "vaporware" -- will take this as a sign that GM is waffling. GM supporters will say, correctly, that this doesn't mean the Volt won't come out in 2010 -- it simply...
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