GM responds to Carnegie Mellon study
Click above for a high res gallery of the 2011 Chevy Volt After reading through the recent study from Carnegie Mellon University that suggested the best compromise between price, performance and environmental benefit would put a 3kWh battery in plug-in hybrids – enough for about 7 miles of electric-only travel – Jon Lauckner, GM’s Vice President Global Program Management, decided that he should weigh in with his own analysis of the situation. The big problems that GM has with CMU’s study are its suppositions on the cost of large-scale battery packs and the omission of the federal tax credits that plug-in hybrids like the Volt will be eligible for. A vehicle that only allows for a 7-mile EV range would not qualify for any credits while the Volt would earn the full $7,500 allotment due to the capacity of its lithium ion battery. What’s more, GM says that CMU is overestimating the cost of the pack that GM will be using for its Voltec powertrain. The Chevy Volt’s 16 kWh of capacity should provide an electric range of about 40 miles, which GM believes will be sufficient for nearly 80 percent of the population to get to work and back on an average day. If the Volt were primarily driven under this 40-mile limit, GM says drivers could recharge the car at night when electricity is cheap and plentiful. After already holding back on hybrid technology once due to cost considerations, GM’s not about to make that mistake again. Gallery: 2011 Chevy Volt [Source: GM Fastlane ] Auto Blog: EV/Plug-in , Hybrid , Chevrolet , GM , Green Daily GM responds to Carnegie Mellon study originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green
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GM responds to Carnegie Mellon study
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Leave a commentProject Get Ready gets ready to get plug-in cars going
Want to help the country meet or beat President Obama’s goal of 1 million plug-in cars by 2015? Perhaps, by working with like-minded folks at the community level to knock down barriers and help set up infrastructure, you can. Project Get Ready is a non-profit initiative that has emerged from the Rocky Mountain Institute’s (RMI) Smart Garage Summit to help accomplish just that. They’ve already signed up three cities and are looking for more. To help guide interested individuals, their freshly launched website not only offers a menu of strategic actions that should be taken to speed plug-in adoption but also a database of readiness activities presently underway. Although brand new, there is already a wealth of information that could keep one reading (and thinking) for many hours. But don’t just think about it, get involved and help make a greener tomorrow a reality. Press release after the break. [Source: Project Get Ready ] Continue reading Project Get Ready gets ready to get plug-in cars going Auto Blog: Etc. , EV/Plug-in , Legislation and Policy , Green Daily , USA Project Get Ready gets ready to get plug-in cars going originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green
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Project Get Ready gets ready to get plug-in cars going
Toyota VP says no Prius Plug-In MPG is available yet
Auto Blog: EV/Plug-in , Hybrid , MPG , Toyota Toyota’s Vice President of communications Irv Miller has published a post on the company blog refuting a recent report that the small fleet of plug-in Priuses is averaging 65 mpg . The small group of converted PHEV Priuses that currently exist in the U.S. are mostly being used for demonstration purposes at auto shows and other events. A few of the cars are being used in university studies including one at University of California-Davis . The current cars all use doubled up nickel metal hydride batteries rather than the lithium ion units that will go into the larger test fleet of 2010 Priuses coming late this year. Miller acknowledges that mileage data is being recorded from the demonstration cars but the results vary too much to be statistically significant. The mileage results of plug-in hybrids are highly dependent on driving cycles and styles. If the driving is kept within the plug-in charge range, the mileage is substantially higher than what can be expected after the charge is depleted. Any meaningful comparisons will require defining some representative test cycles. [Source: Toyota ] Toyota VP says no Prius Plug-In MPG is available yet originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green
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Toyota VP says no Prius Plug-In MPG is available yet
Posted in Auto Green, Hybrids | a-recent-report, cars, demonstration, entry, EV Plug in, into-the-larger, irvmiller, plug in, plug in hybrids, plug in prius, prius, prius-plug-, priuses | Leave a commentNancy Gioia explains why Ford isn’t doing an ER-EV
Auto Blog: EV/Plug-in , Hybrid , Chevrolet , Ford , GM Click the plug-in hybrid Escape for a high res gallery So far, the market for extended range electric vehicles in North America seems to be the exclusive province of General Motors, Chrysler and Fisker with Ford sticking to the parallel hybrid route – both with and without plugs. It’s not that Ford hasn’t investigated the concept of ER-EVs, they actually had a working example before GM did with the HySeries drive Edge in early 2007. For now, though, they are putting their focus elsewhere. Nancy Gioia, the director of sustainable mobility technologies at Ford explained that her engineers didn’t feel that an ER-EV (or series hybrid or whatever else you choose to call it) could provide the necessary sustained performance levels required for mainstream use. Because of the limitations of current battery density and the inability to predict what power demand might be five minutes down the road, the vehicle could end up in a situation where it has insufficient power. Toyota officials have cited the same issue with ER-EVs as reason for not going in that direction. GM clearly believes it has enough reserve power to meet the demands of the average driver with the Volt powertrain . We’ll just have to wait and see. Related : ABG First Impression: Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid w/Video AutoblogGreen Drives the HySeries Ford Edge and fuel cell Explorer Ford’s Nancy Gioia discusses hybrids and plug-ins GM’s Larry Nitz discusses Volt, Vue PHEV, 2nd Gen Two-Mode powertrains Gallery: ABG First Drive: Ford Escape PHEV Gallery: Washington 2009: Ford Escape PHEV [Source: GM-Volt.com ] Photos Copyright (C)2009 Sebastian Blanco, Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc. Nancy Gioia explains why Ford isn’t doing an ER-EV originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green
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Nancy Gioia explains why Ford isn’t doing an ER-EV
Posted in Auto Green, Hybrids | a-explains-why, a-friend-via, er-ev, escape, escape-plug-in, explorer, extender, phev, plug in, plug-in-hybrid, plug-inhybrid | Leave a commenteBay Find of the Day: Electrified 1984 Honda Civic wagon
Auto Blog: EV/Plug-in , Green Culture , Honda Click above for a gallery of the electric Honda Civic on eBay Tired of waiting for a major automaker to offer an electric vehicle ? We feel your pain. In the meantime, there are quite a few outlets that would be happy to build one for you using an existing vehicle as a platform to start with. Such is the case with this 1984 Honda Civic wagon . The car has been completely restored and it appears exactly as you’d expect a model of its vintage to look, on the outside at least. A quick glance under the hood, though, will reveal that it’s got no engine. Instead of a gasoline-burning four cylinder powerplant, this Civic has been converted to electric drive using a 6.7″ electric motor from Advanced DC, an 800 amp controller and 12 Energizer GC8 8-volt lead acid batteries. According to the team that performed the conversion, this electrified Civic can safely travel over 40 miles under decent conditions. The transmission is still hooked up, though it’s not really necessary to use all the gears. Judging from the images, everything looks like it’s been done extremely well, and it’s nice to see small shops like this jumping into the EV game. Gallery: Electric Honda Civic conversion on eBay [Source: eBay ] eBay Find of the Day: Electrified 1984 Honda Civic wagon originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green
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eBay Find of the Day: Electrified 1984 Honda Civic wagon
Ford picks Johnson Controls Saft for PHEV batteries, adds 7 utility partners to test program
Auto Blog: EV/Plug-in , Hybrid , Ford Click the plug-in hybrid Escape for a high res gallery Ford has announced that when it starts building its first series production plug-in hybrid in 2012, the lithium ion battery packs will be supplied by Johnson Controls-Saft. JCS has already been supplying the prototype packs for current test fleet of PHEV Ford Escapes as well as packs for some of Ford’s experimental vehicles such as the HySeries drive Ford Edge. Johnson Controls-Saft is also one of the two development battery suppliers for GM’s Saturn Vue PHEV program which has been delayed to 2011. JCS will supply complete battery systems including the cooling and management electronics. Ford has committed to building a minimum of 5,000 plug-in hybrids annually for five years starting in 2012. Until production launches, Ford will continue its field test program that started last year with EPRI and Southern California Edison. As Nancy Gioia told us last November at the LA Auto Show , eight additional utility and government partners are joining the test program. The broadened testing will allow Ford and its partners to further evaluate smart charging and vehicle to infrastructure communications. Related: ABG First Impression: Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid w/Video AutoblogGreen Drives the HySeries Ford Edge and fuel cell Explorer Ford’s Nancy Gioia discusses hybrids and plug-ins Gallery: ABG First Drive: Ford Escape PHEV [Source: Ford] Photos Copyright (C)2009 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc. Continue reading Ford picks Johnson Controls Saft for PHEV batteries, adds 7 utility partners to test program Ford picks Johnson Controls Saft for PHEV batteries, adds 7 utility partners to test program originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 09:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green
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Ford picks Johnson Controls Saft for PHEV batteries, adds 7 utility partners to test program
Mitsubishi shifts future focus to eco-friendly auto development
Auto Blog: EV/Plug-in , Hybrid , Mitsubishi Click above to view a high-res gallery of the Mitsubishi i MiEV For an automaker such as Mitsubishi , which makes most of its profits from the sales of four-wheel drive SUVs, times are especially tough. Market realities have forced the Japanese automaker to reprioritize its research and development spending; anything without a decidedly green tint has got to go. Taking the place of large gas-guzzling SUVs will be plug-in hybrids, small cars and fully-electric machinery. Unfortunately, such sweeping changes will take until 2013 to really take effect, so don’t expect to see Mitsubishi drop SUVs and large cars entirely from its lineup any time soon. Instead, the automaker seems likely to add fuel-saving features to its existing models as quickly as possible. Mitsubishi’s first foray into electric vehicles will be the production version of the i MiEV , which should be ready for sale in Japan and various European countries in 2010. Sales in the United States should begin in 2011. Gallery: Mitsubishi i MiEV – LIVE [Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd] Mitsubishi shifts future focus to eco-friendly auto development originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green
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Posted in Auto Green, Hybrids | a-top-speed, a-walk-around, electric mitsubishi, entry, green-daily, plug in, plug-inhybrid, pontiac-fiero | Leave a commenttests 2-wheelers for the first time since ’81
Auto Blog: On Two Wheels Click above for a gallery of the Vespa S 150 In the wake of record high gas prices last summer, sales of scooters and small-bore motorcycles shot through the roof as consumers who were unable to unload their gas-guzzlers looked for any possible way to save a few bucks on their commuting needs. In order to serve this new segment of the market properly, Consumer Reports announced that it would study the market and look into new testing procedures for 2-wheelers, which the popular magazine stopped testing way back in 1981. As promised, the first in what we hope will be a series of tests will be included in CR’s March ’09 edition and will also be available to online subscribers tomorrow. The subjects for this installment include popular small displacement machines, including the Vespa LX, which took top honors in the smallest 50cc class and tied with the Kymco People in the 150cc class, and the Kawasaki Ninja 250 , which won a victory over the Honda Rebel in the larger 250cc class. Testing procedures included a new 5.2 mile testing route that included multiple stops and starts along with a full battery of acceleration, handling and braking tests. Fuel economy scores were also calculated and factored into the overall results. Click past the break for the full press release. Gallery: Vespa S150 [Source: Consumer Reports] Continue reading Consumer Reports tests 2-wheelers for the first time since ’81 Consumer Reports tests 2-wheelers for the first time since ’81 originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green
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tests 2-wheelers for the first time since ’81
GM confirms Orlando for U.S., looking at making it a Voltec PHEV
Auto Blog: EV/Plug-in , Hybrid , Chevrolet , Green Daily Click above for a high-res gallery of the Chevrolet Orlando In many ways, the future of the Voltec drivetrain is the future of GM. A big success with this plug-in architecture will go a long way to giving the company enough money to pay the American citizens back for that loan we gave them. The big question is how many vehicles will end up with the big battery pack and the plug? With a production Cadillac Converj not a guarantee , the recent confirmation that the Chevy Orlando will be coming to the U.S. as a 2011 model (after those plans were scrapped in September) got us wondering if the Orlando will go plug. According to Motor Authority , GM vice president of global program management, Jon Lauckner, said that since, “the Chevrolet Orlando is built on the same basic vehicle architecture and component set as the Chevrolet Volt” … adding the Voltec powertrain is “certainly something we can take a look at.” Would be nice to see, no? Gallery: Chevrolet Orlando [Source: Motor Authority ] GM confirms Orlando for U.S., looking at making it a Voltec PHEV originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green
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GM confirms Orlando for U.S., looking at making it a Voltec PHEV
Almost 70 plug-in vehicles will take part in Inaugural Parade West
Auto Blog: EV/Plug-in , Green Culture , Green Daily When Plug In America first announced their ” Inaugural Parade West: Plug In, America! ” that’s taking place in Santa Monica this weekend, they were hoping about 30 vehicles would take part. They underestimated interest. An update PIA sent out this week says that 68 vehicles are now confirmed to roll through Santa Monica on Saturday, all broadcasting the message that there are a lot of people out there who want plug-in vehicles. The vehicle line-up is pretty much a who’s who of currently (and previously) available electric cars: RAV4 EVs, Tesla Roadsters, an eBox, an iMiEV, a PHEV Escape, and a Porsche and a Geo Metro converted to run on battery power, plus more. Surprises include SUTs from Phoenix (we don’t see these out and about much) and an electric Chevy S-10. Celebrity guests/speakers include “Who Killed the Electric Car?” director Chris Paine and California State Senator Fran Pavley. Click past the jump for details. [Source: Plug In America] Continue reading Almost 70 plug-in vehicles will take part in Inaugural Parade West Almost 70 plug-in vehicles will take part in Inaugural Parade West originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green
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Almost 70 plug-in vehicles will take part in Inaugural Parade West
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