SlowHands
04-29-2009, 06:43 AM
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg “This car is 80-plus percent of what you’ll see in the production Volt,” (http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/04/billion-dollar-baby-we-drive-the-chevrolet-volt/)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2011_Chevrolet_Volt1.jpgby Chuck Squatriglia – Wired.com - April 28, 2009
It looks like GM might well be on track to getting this car on the road for real. -- Ed.
WARREN, MICHIGAN — It’s no secret that General Motors is betting on the Chevrolet Volt to lead it to a brighter, cleaner, not to mention more solvent future—or any future at all. To prove the range-extended electric vehicle is on schedule for its debut next year, the beleaguered automaker finally succumbed to our charms and let us take one for a spin.
We did a few laps around GM’s sprawling Technical Center on a cold, rainy Tuesday morning that was an apt analogy for the company’s current situation. We were behind the wheel of an engineering prototype – a Chevrolet Cruze gussied up with a Volt drivetrain - but GM says it’s very close to what we’ll see roll off a Michigan assembly line in November 2010.
“This car is 80-plus percent of what you’ll see in the production Volt,” said Tony Posawatz, vehicle line director for the Volt, said. “We’re on track.”
They’d better be.
Most major automakers are racing to put electric vehicles on the road between 2010 and 2012. GM wants to establish itself as a leader in that emerging market, and it is expected to spend around $1 billion bringing the car to market. But the company’s future is far from certain, and rests on an aggressive restructuring plan that would make taxpayers majority shareholders.
We drove one of the 33 development mules built to road test the Volt’s drivetrain. Though impressive on paper, it isn’t much to look at. Open the hood and you’ll see a 1.4-liter gasoline engine mated to a 100-kilowatt electric motor. If it weren’t for the bright orange high-voltage cables, you wouldn’t know it was at an electric car.
And the Volt is an electric car. Electricity is the only thing that drives the wheels. The engine’s only job is to run the 53-kilowatt generator that charges the battery as it approaches depletion. General Motors calls it “charge sustaining mode” because the battery maintains only enough reserve to keep the car going....http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/04/billion-dollar-baby-we-drive-the-chevrolet-volt/
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2011_Chevrolet_Volt1.jpgby Chuck Squatriglia – Wired.com - April 28, 2009
It looks like GM might well be on track to getting this car on the road for real. -- Ed.
WARREN, MICHIGAN — It’s no secret that General Motors is betting on the Chevrolet Volt to lead it to a brighter, cleaner, not to mention more solvent future—or any future at all. To prove the range-extended electric vehicle is on schedule for its debut next year, the beleaguered automaker finally succumbed to our charms and let us take one for a spin.
We did a few laps around GM’s sprawling Technical Center on a cold, rainy Tuesday morning that was an apt analogy for the company’s current situation. We were behind the wheel of an engineering prototype – a Chevrolet Cruze gussied up with a Volt drivetrain - but GM says it’s very close to what we’ll see roll off a Michigan assembly line in November 2010.
“This car is 80-plus percent of what you’ll see in the production Volt,” said Tony Posawatz, vehicle line director for the Volt, said. “We’re on track.”
They’d better be.
Most major automakers are racing to put electric vehicles on the road between 2010 and 2012. GM wants to establish itself as a leader in that emerging market, and it is expected to spend around $1 billion bringing the car to market. But the company’s future is far from certain, and rests on an aggressive restructuring plan that would make taxpayers majority shareholders.
We drove one of the 33 development mules built to road test the Volt’s drivetrain. Though impressive on paper, it isn’t much to look at. Open the hood and you’ll see a 1.4-liter gasoline engine mated to a 100-kilowatt electric motor. If it weren’t for the bright orange high-voltage cables, you wouldn’t know it was at an electric car.
And the Volt is an electric car. Electricity is the only thing that drives the wheels. The engine’s only job is to run the 53-kilowatt generator that charges the battery as it approaches depletion. General Motors calls it “charge sustaining mode” because the battery maintains only enough reserve to keep the car going....http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/04/billion-dollar-baby-we-drive-the-chevrolet-volt/