GM's Volt electric car 'ahead of schedule' - lithium ion battery pack

Bob Lutz believes that the electric power of a car is inevitable. The 76-year-old vice-
General Motors's chairman and head of global product development also believes the auto giant will lead the world to this low. Future emissions.
On Tuesday, Lutz and GM chairman and chief executive Richard Wagoner jointly released the much-anticipated mass-production version of the plug in Detroit.
Analysts say hybrid cars could save or sink the struggling United States further. S. automaker.
GM says it is equipped with a powerful 16-
Kilowatt grade lithium
The ion battery pack can travel 65 kilometers at a single charge.
Apart from that, a range
After the generator running on gasoline started, the mileage of the vehicle increased by hundreds of kilometers.
The Company believes that North Americans drive less than 65 kilometers a day, making Volt an attractive option against the backdrop of soaring fuel prices. About 50 pre-
Volt cars will be produced this year and more than 100 will be produced next year.
By the fall of 2010, when GM is expected to launch the Volt commercially, hundreds of cars will be on the road --
Test in all seasons, under all conditions.
GM is betting that Volt will help it surpass Toyota and its successful Prius ).
Lutz flew to Toronto on Tuesday after the Detroit launch, saying everything has been planned so far.
Despite doubts from Japanese rivals, he added that lithium
The core technology of Volt is to meet the expectations of all.
"Everything we have now is actually a lot ahead of schedule because we haven't had any problems," Lutz said . "
The star and Lutz attended the dinner that night.
Here's how he answers some of the questions raised in the form: Q: The initial cost of Volt is reported to be within the $30,000 rangeS. ) to $40,000.
Is GM satisfied with the price?
A: It is clear that this will cost thousands more than we expect for the first generation of technology.
So what should we do?
At first, the rich have enough demand, so don't worry for the first year or two.
But if we want to promote the technology, the price will have to come down.
Q: It is reported that GM has often put the farm on the success of Volt.
Will you describe it like this? A: Yes and No.
It's not fatal if it doesn't work.
But if it doesn't work, it's also a serious blow to our image. . .
It tends to erode the image of our technical leadership rather than build our image because people will say they hype it up and it doesn't work in the end.
It will be a terrible thing.
I don't think it will ruin the company, but it will be a big setback.
But if it goes well, I'm 99 years old.
It will, for sure, produce the exact opposite effect.
It will have a transformative impact on GM's reputation in terms of technology leadership and environmental awareness.
Q: What is the challenge? -
Beyond price, performance and range-do plug-
Vehicles must be overcome before gaining mainstream recognition?
A: We are really trying to solve the problem of people who don't have a house and garage, such as apartment residents, people who park on the street.
Now they don't have a (charging) solution.
Part of the solution is to encourage parking platform owners to place one or half of the layers reserved for electric vehicles, and if there are metering parking spaces, you can plug in your credit card and swipe your card.
Q: What about stealing electricity? People hi-
Raise your socket so they can charge it with your dime?
A: The way the parking meter works is to have a slot where you plug the plug in and when you swipe the card the slot crosses the wire and locks so no one can pull your plug out, put their plugs in. When you re-
Sliding it will open again and you can withdraw your plug.
Q: Volt itself is a sexy proposal, but what is GM still thinking about?
A: We will have a photovoltaic roof next year (which will be launched at the Detroit Auto Show ).
Because the state of photovoltaic is not at that time, it cannot make a great contribution.
But what it can do is: if you leave your car, say, take it to the airport, the car is sitting at the airport in the hot sun for a few days, you can get the cost from one quarter to the third . . . . . . And what it can do every day, in the summer, when it leaves in the sun, it can power the air conditioning system, so when you get on the bus, it has cooled down, this will save you mileage as now you don't need to consume that much energy to cool the car.
In winter, we can reasonably do the opposite thing, which is to heat the car with solar energy.
Q: What is the next step for GM in terms of plug
Electronic Technology?
A: There is no plan for other vehicles at present.
I'm already excited and I'm already thinking about a variety of other ways to use Volt technology and Rick Wagner is always annoyed with me and says, "Bob, can we concentrate on bringing Volt to market? ’. . .
The key is that the technology is portable.
We can also change the balance of the range by performance.
So if we want to be a different brand and want more performance, we can adjust it a little bit to get more performance and sacrifice range.
Q: With the introduction of the plug, is there a power facility on board
In a car like Volt?
There is something wrong with today's utilities.
The demand during the day is almost beyond their capacity and at night they have spare capacity and they cannot turn on the generator.
Anything that fills up spare capacity at night, like an electric car like Volt, has the potential to store and resell some when needed the next day, and utilities are very happy with that.
Q: It's cold in winter in Canada.
How does the car-battery-perform when the thermometer drops below zero?
The computer will know how cold it is outside.
If the computer determines that the battery is too cold to work, the car will start on the gasoline engine.
It will run on the gasoline engine before the battery is ready, at which point the gasoline engine will fail and you will use the battery again.
This is something that pure electric cars will not do.
Q: assuming Volt is in line with expectations and good
Popular with consumers, what else can undermine GM's efforts?
Let's say that over the next 18 months, the world has fallen into a Great Depression, a sharp decline in car sales and fuel use, a reduction in steel produced by steel companies, and a decrease in energy consumption, china's main export markets are drying up, so they shrink and use less steel, aluminum and plastic.
At the same time, Canada's tar sand flows up, coalto-
The liquid flows up.
All of a sudden, there was a decrease in primary demand for oil, coupled with all these additional new sources of supply, which started at $140 a barrel and suddenly began to flow.
Oil prices have fallen to $25 a barrel and we are considering a $1 gas station price. 25 a gallon.
I personally don't think this will happen, but it will be a dramatic event for Volt because everyone will say, "Ha!
Why am I in trouble?