Joe Thompson asked:



General Motors is currently working on the production of the Chevrolet Volt so that the vehicle would be ready by the year 2010. The Volt is an all-electric car which will be the answer of the world’s largest car manufacturer to the growing demand for cleaner cars. Reuters reported that GM is already working on plans to produce a working prototype by the end of this year. Bob Lutz, the product chief and Vice Chairman for GM, said that the car maker has already set a target for production of the Chevrolet Volt in 2010.

The soon to be mass produced electric car will be based on the concept vehicle that General Motors unveiled in January of this year. While the auto maker has already set a target for the production of the vehicle, there are still some problems in the design that they need to work on. Lutz said that they are more corned about whether lithium-ion batteries can be developed while keeping the cost of production down so as to make it affordable for car buyers. Another concern that Lutz pointed out is whether these lithium-ion batteries can power a vehicle safely. The car maker is already taking steps to address the said issues. General Motors will take an unusual step with regards to the development process of the Volt – they will open the development process to the media.

Aside from the aforementioned issue that needs to be addressed, Lutz is still not certain that the company will be able to attain their goal. “We’ve set an integral target production in 2010. Whether we can make that or not, this is still kind of an unpredictable program for us”, Lutz said.

It can be remembered that the concept car was showcased in the Detroit Auto Show last January this year. At the said event, General Motors made known to the public their plans for the all-electric vehicle. During that motor show though, GM did not announce a set production timeline. As a result, critics questioned the effort of GM to produce an electric car. Some went on to say that General Motors is not really going to mass produce the vehicle and is only interested in the amount of attention that the concept vehicle has generated.

In response to these allegations, Lutz said that: “Competitors who writes this of as a PR exercise are going to be brutally surprised.” It is well documented that cleaner cars have had strong acceptance and support from the public, and that is reason enough for an auto maker to produce an all-electric vehicle. If and when the Volt hit showrooms, we can only expect that it will have the same high quality performance of other GM cars. After all, the Volt will also be using the same high quality GM parts like auto gaskets, under chassis parts, and body panels to name just a few.

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Gregg Hall asked:


I bet you had to read that headline twice! I know, I couldn’t believe it myself. One of the biggest deterrents to buying an electric car for me has always been performance. Now we finally have someone with a vision for revolutionizing the industry that is doing what no one else has done to date, introduce an electric car that performs like a sports car.

The development of this cutting edge vehicle by Martin Eberhard is being bankrolled by high profile internet billionaires like the founders of Google and Paypal. This should tell you right away that this car is serious business.

The new batter powered car will be one of the quickest production cars available on the planet holding its own with the likes of Ferraris and Lamborghinis that cost five times what the new roadster will sell for. The name of the company is Tesla Motors, named for the Serbian inventor of the first AC powered motor.

The Tesla roadster gets its power from nearly 7,000 lithium-ion batteries, rechargeable of course. There is nothing special about the batteries either, they are the exact same batteries we use in our laptops. Besides going from 0 to sixty in under 4 seconds the vehicle has a top speed of over 130 mph and a range before recharging of 250 miles. The first model to be built will be a two seater roadster but they already have plans for a sedan as well. So what does it cost to run this car? You won’t believe it, less than two cents a mile! Say goodbye to high gas prices because this car uses ZERO gas.

Eberhard’s electrical engineering background is what has given him the knowledge used to build the first performance electric car. He says he got his inspiration to create the car from reading about other revolutionaries in the automotive industry, John DeLorean and Preston Tucker.

Tesla Motors has gone from a concept to a car that will be built in less than three years. The first cars are being built in a factory in England and will be available by summer of 2007. The price of the first cars is expected to be around $80,000. Considering the price of gas, that may soon be considered a bargain.

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Glady Reign asked:

General Motors Corp has set a target for production of an all-electric car in 2010. The information was divulged by Bob Lutz, GM’s product chief and Vice Chairman.

Lutz said the major uncertainty facing the Chevrolet Volt, a concept vehicle GM unveiled in January, was whether lithium-ion batteries can be developed to power it economically and safely. “A running Volt prototype is expected by the end of 2007. GM would take the unusual step of opening much of its development process to the media,” he explains.

“We have set an internal target of production in 2010. Whether we can make that or not, this is still kind of an unpredictable program for us,” Lutz told reporters on the sidelines of the Geneva auto show. He added, “We’re sort of outside our comfort zone.”

The automaker detailed its plans for the all-electric Volt at the North American Auto Show. GM is aiming for Volt to be able to run on pure electric power for 40 miles. This means that a commuter could be able to get through a day without the use of gasoline. However, GM did not disclose the production timeline of the said all-electric vehicle. Critics and rivals have expressed their doubts as to whether the automaker would produce the Chevrolet Volt or might just rely on the popularity of its concept car. “Competitors who write this off as a PR exercise are going to be brutally surprised,” Lutz said.

Electric cars like the Chevrolet Volt have drawn considerable attention and support from environmental groups from the United States. These groups perceive the cars’ potentials in curbing foreign oil dependence and limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

Lutz said GM’s initial work had shown that the production version of the Volt would have to shed some of the bold styling cues of the concept, including the extreme front placement of the wheels. These styling follows the auto trend these days that is aimed at producing bolder and more efficient designs.

Nowadays, most of the automakers are acknowledging change as its growth factor. Even the most simple auto parts like Volvo control arms and other accessories are now designed with tough competition on the mind. “I know we cannot make the production car look like the concept,” Lutz said. “The whole shape of the car is going to have to be a little more traditional.” Lutz also said there was still a chance that the concept could prove unworkable. “I would say there is still a 10 percent chance this will fail,” he added.

Separately, Lutz said that the automaker’s 11-percent increase in America’s retail sales in February suggested that GM was starting to find traction with new products after a wrenching restructuring that cut over 34,000 factory jobs. “One swallow does not a summer make, but I think it’s turning,” he said.

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Lauren Woods asked:



The Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and NEC, a leading electronics maker, announced last Friday that they will produce ecologically friendly batteries for automobiles. The move is anchored on the automaker’s desire to catch up with rivals in the industry that have already started in green technology.

Japan’s third largest automaker and NEC are investing 490 million yen ($4.1 million; 3 million euros) to set up a joint venture by the end of this month so as to produce lithium-ion batteries for green vehicles, including electric cars and hybrids by 2009. The information was divulged by the companies Friday.

Evidently, Nissan has fallen behind Japanese rivals the Toyota Motor Corp. and the Honda Motor Co. in developing hybrids and other ecologically friendly technologies that slash gas emissions blamed for global warming. Tokyo-based Nissan has started selling hybrid cars like the Altima. Nonetheless, the automaker licenses the technology from Toyota. Hybrids switch between an electric motor and a gas engine to deliver reduced CO2 emissions and better mileage.

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