The Cadillac ELR has always been a bit of an odd duck. When it went on sale at the end of 2013, most of the media, including Charged, found it to be a fine vehicle, but some were skeptical that buyers would be interested in paying $75,000 for what is basically a luxury version of… Read more »
Although Volt sales haven’t been all they should be lately, GM is not discouraged – it is planning a range of new plug-in models, and some enticing details are beginning to trickle out. Cadillac’s new CEO, Johan de Nysschen, speaking with Reuters last week, confirmed that there will be a plug-in hybrid version of the… Read more »
General Motors has installed 401 electric vehicle charging stations at its US production and business locations, in response to employee demand. Most are located at GM’s large engineering and corporate facilities in Michigan, where employee EV ownership is growing steadily. Charging is available free to GM employees and visitors. More than 20 percent of the… Read more »
Nowadays, when the in-crowd thinks of the planet’s coolest car, a Model S or one of the European brands might come to mind, but there was a time when the unchallenged monarch of automotive luxury was the Cadillac. Surely no other car has been mentioned in as many classic movies and blues songs. And a… Read more »
We often hear automotive engineers talk about the need for a better understanding of the components of an EV. Some have said that there is an inherent inefficiency in many systems because the parts – like the battery cells, motors and inverters – have historically been developed independently of each other and then integrated together…. Read more »
Naturally, the 2014 Cadillac ELR’s interior is silent when running on battery power. The luxury coupe’s engineers went to great lengths to keep it that way when the range-extending generator kicks in. ELR uses active noise cancelling, a technology that samples noise and generates a sound wave with the same amplitude but with inverted phase,… Read more »
What’s built on the same platform as the Volt, has the same powertrain, and costs more than twice as much? The 2014 Cadillac ELR plug-in hybrid, which will go on sale in January with a sticker price of $75,995, including destination charges. GM plans to produce only a limited number of the luxury sedans, and… Read more »
The Cadillac ELR may be based on the same powertrain as the Chevy Volt, but it’s aimed at quite a different market segment, and it appears GM intends to keep production low and prices high. When GM unveiled the luxury PHEV in January, it indicated that the sticker price would reflect its exclusivity. But, with… Read more »
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 »
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 »