After a little over three years on the market, is the Chevy Volt a hit or a miss? With 58,000 units sold, it’s one of the world’s top-selling plug-ins to date. However, its sales are still minuscule compared to its legacy gas-powered cousins. CNET’s Brooke Crothers recently spoke with Volt Marketing Manager Dora Norwicki and… Read more »
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GM invests $449 million to upgrade Volt and battery plants
General Motors has announced that it will invest $449 million to upgrade manufacturing processes at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly and Brownstown Battery Assembly plants. “These investments will help the next-generation Chevrolet Volt build on its position as the leader in electrified propulsion,” said Gerald Johnson, GM North America Manufacturing Vice President. The Hamtramck facility (affectionately known… Read more »
Echo Automotive offers aftermarket PHEV powertrains for Ford and GM vans
Echo Automotive, a developer of aftermarket plug-in hybrid powertrains, plans to extend its EchoDrive system to GM 2500 and 3500 vans, including the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana, model years 2010-2014. EchoDrive is already available for Ford E-Series vans – orders are currently being accepted and production is scheduled to begin later this year. Production… Read more »
GM invests $121 million to expand Volt plant
GM has announced plans to invest $121 million to improve its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant, where the Volt, Ampera and the new 2014 Cadillac ELR are built. The company will expand the 3.6 million-square-foot plant, adding an additional 450,000 square feet to give it more space to store parts on-site. “We basically started busting at the… Read more »
Envia bungles battery breakthrough as former CEO sues and GM jumps ship
Back in 2012, battery startup Envia was the toast of Silicon Valley. Its innovative battery technology had achieved the highest energy density ever recorded for a lithium-ion cell – a breakthrough that could halve the costs of EV batteries – and the company already had a deal to supply cells to GM. Today, the company… Read more »
Look out Elon, GM has got your number
We’re not sure if it’s a David and Goliath epic or a Coyote and Roadrunner farce, but Tesla’s recent run of success has caught GM’s attention in a big way (not for the first time – it was Tesla that inspired Bob Lutz to override the skeptics and produce the Volt). CEO Dan Akerson and… Read more »
GM bulks up its Global Battery Systems Lab
General Motors has greatly increased the size of its Global Battery Systems Laboratory, North America’s largest OEM-owned battery lab. The 85,000-square-foot lab now has 112 pack-level test channels and 120 cell-level test channels. The added space will let the company test batteries and computer controls much faster than before. It took GM about four years… Read more »
GM uses ultrasonic welding to build ELR battery packs
Ultrasonic welding is one of many high-tech manufacturing processes that GM uses to produce its EVs, including the Chevy Volt and the new Cadillac ELR electric luxury coupe. The technique employs a pair of tools called an anvil and horn to apply rapid mechanical vibrations to the battery’s copper and aluminum electrodes. This creates heat… Read more »
GM offers a range of electrified vehicles – but don’t call them hybrids!
When is a hybrid not a hybrid? When it’s made by GM. In a recent blog post, Pam Fletcher, one of GM’s chief engineers, claims to be trying to clear up the confusion about the terms used to describe the various categories of electrified vehicles (and of course, to explain why you want to buy… Read more »
GM and BMW Engineers team up to test SAE Combo Fast Charging
Engineers from GM and BMW have jointly tested several charging stations that use the new SAE Combo standard, charging pre-production versions of the BMW i3 and Chevrolet Spark EV. Equipment suppliers who participated in the testing include ABB, Aker Wade, Eaton and IES. “Our goal with this cooperation was to ensure that DC fast charging… Read more »