Chrysler With Tesla-Like EV

A few months ago Chrysler were behind their competition in the EV stakes then they introduced us to the Dodge EV prototype which is now a reality and doing the show circuit.

Chrysler kind of cheated in the Tesla way by basically taking a Lotus Europa and replacing the engine with an electric powerplant. That said this little beasty with its 268 hp electric motor has a 0-100 time under 5 seconds and it will run for up to 200 miles (320 km) on a single charge.

Not quite the rocket that Tesla have but I reckon this thing will be half the price of the Tesla Roadster and being badged as a Doge will probably be within reach (geographically speaking) of many more people. To give the Chevy Volt a run for its money the word on the street says is it could be available as early as 2010. Of course it's still only a 2-seater so won't be in direct competition with the Volt. Looks like fun though!

Fuel Prices Have Dropped. Yay, Let's Buy SUVs!

Here we go again, the price of petrol ("gas" if you don't know the difference between liquids and solids) has dropped back to the price it was a few years ago and people have already forgotten how much money they were forking out only a few short weeks ago to fill their tanks.

Autoblog Green tells us the sad tale of a manufacturer kicking their SUV/Truck manufacturing plants back up a notch in anticipation of increased demand after almost shutting them down over the past year and people who went through a car downsizing are now feeling buyer's remorse.

All price and environmental issues aside, oil is a fossil fuel and therefore a finite resource. Why go burning through something we'll still need in the foreseeable future for the production of plastics and the like when there are alternatives already available. All the people who were bitching and moaning about the price of petrol, imagine if you drove up to the bowser and there was no petrol at all.

Now I'm not a big fan of hybrids as they don't really solve the problem, they just make people who would have driven a medium sized car use the fuel of a small car or a more efficient car. Ultimately you'll still need to stop and fill up with fuel which is a chore and plug in electric cars are still a few years away from being in my garage.

So while I wait for my Holden Volt or Mitsubishi iMiEV I've been trying to drive more efficiently using some basic hypermiling techniques (apparently it's the word of the year for 2008) and tracking my success with Fuel Frog. My last fill up shows I averaged 7.7 litres per 100km, not too shabby, and that's basically from accelerating and braking slowly and coasting when possible.

While I was stoked to pay only $1.19 AUD per litre for my tank of dead dinosaurs I still hate having to stop for petrol. At the weekend we drove to Marysville which has a lot of trees and not much else for half the trip and I was thinking how screwed we'd be if we ran out of fuel out there.

And if that's not enough, now we have ninja kittens driving around on our roads!

While I'm on the topic, take a look at these car ads from the 1970s during the "energy crisis", look familiar?

Holden Volt: Hard to Say, Easy to Charge

Sorry to harp on about the Chevy Volt again but today Autoblog Green confirmed that the Chevy Volt will be coming to the land of Oz around 2012 under the sneaky name of the "Holden Volt". While the guts of the car will remain the same it has yet to be confirmed if it'll have a face lift or not. I guess in this current economic climate they'll try to keep the costs down meaning they'll just whack a giant Holden logo on the front.

One good thing about the Volt here in Australia is our 230-240 volt AC power will be able to charge the car's battery pack in half the time the poor 110-120 volt North Americans can.

Looks like I'll be trading my old Nissan in for a Holden come 2012.

Volt Visits Down Under

Seeing as I didn't make it to the Australian International Motor Show (AIMS) in Sydney this year I have to settle for news coverage from CarAdvice.com.au, the only useful Australia-oriented motoring news site.

I was pleased to see amongst their thorough coverage of AIMS that the Chevy Volt has made the trip down to the Southern Hemisphere to give us a wave and a nod before heading back to the US. G'day Volt! *waves*

As mentioned previously we'll most likely be seeing the Volt in one way, shape or form here in the land of Oz by 2011 or thereabouts. It may be branded as a Holden, it may not even look like the Volt or GM might just give up and just move the steering column over to the right side and sell it on city corners.

Regardless of how it'll get here I still want one. More pics and plenty of coverage of the Volt (and AIMS in general) over at CarAdvice.com.au.

Chevy Volt On The Move

Sick of seeing photos of the Chevy Volt? Well, feast your eyes on these videos!

The first video shows the Volt driving around slowly to the anesthetic sounds of this year's greeny marketing band, Coldplay. You also get some more footage of the interior gadgets etc.

The second video is from My Ride which has a lot of the same footage but the voice over gives you plenty of information on how the E-Flex system works among other things. It also shows (finally!) how you plug this baby in and how, running 240 volt AC power like we do here in the land of Oz, you can charge the Lithium Ion battery pack in only 3 hours.

Still no video of someone using that giant gear shift thingy in the center console though and it would be nice to hear the car running (if that's possible).

Thanks for the tip Engadget.

Coldplay valium:


Informative video:

Concept vs Production: Chevy Volt

For those of you interested here are some side-by-side shots of the concept Volt vs the production Volt.









The shape is different due to the fact that the production vehicle needed to be as aerodynamic as possible to ensure good mileage but the GM designers did a good job in keeping the overall "feel" the same, especially in the hind quarters. Perhaps when we see some modded versions with larger rims etc. and in different colours the production Volt might look sportier.

It'll be interesting to see what GM do with rebranding the Volt internationally with it being confirmed recently that it'll go on sale in Europe as an Opel or Vauxhall depending on where you live and may be branded as a Holden in Australia, of course after shifting the steering column to the right side of the car. At least there's no gear box to worry about getting in the way.

Happy 100th Birthday GM: The 2011 Chevy Volt

Here it is, right on schedule. GM's saviour the Chevy Volt. I'm not going to say much except YAY! Finally! Here's a bunch of pictures and videos for you to look at but there are more over at Autoblog. I'd love to see it in another colour (black!) but I do like the view from above rear, the black roof looks great. Note the funky LED fog lamps and cool (although quite plasticy) touch-based interior controls. In the video you see the driver's console reporting on all sorts of things including the current tyre pressure!



Autoblog on location at the Reveal. (video below)
Intererior walkthrough. (video below)
Photos from Autoblog Shanghai.

Reveal:


Interior Walkthrough:

Production Chevy Volt Photos Leaked!

The moment we've all been waiting for has arrived. After months of spy shots and teaser photos we finally get to see shots of the production version of GM's wunderkind, the Chevy Volt.

Props to gm-volt.com for bringing us these leaked studio photos but I must say I am totally underwhelmed. I knew the Volt was going to look different to the out-there concept but they've managed to make it look boring. Then again, it could just be the weird angles most of the photos are taken from.

Understandably the production Volt is a lot more rounded than the concept which was just a tad un-aerodynamic and I have to admit it is a lot more attractive than the whale-like Prius. I don't mind the rear and the black (glass?) roof is a nice touch but the best thing about it is that this thing is real. Real full electric propulsion, real E-Flex system, real plug-in charging. W000T! I'd buy one.

By the way, if you're wondering who the guys in the suits are they're GM senior execs.

More photos and original story available here.

Edit: More (and higher res) photos available at Autoblog.

Video Of Production Volt

Further to my post last week about the spy shots of the production Chevy Volt that were taken on the set of Transformers 2 comes this video of the same thing. Here you can clearly see the "VOLT" logo on the back of the car and get an idea of how this EV moves.

The first half of the video shows more familiar Transformers driving up the road with Bumblebee and the new silver Corvette concept car (that has yet to be officially announced) in the lead but then it cuts to the purply blue Volt being unwrapped then driven off.

If the video below doesn't work try this link... and I'd still prefer it in black.

Production Volt Spied On Transformers 2 Set

Here it is folks! The first shots showing more than just a tease of GM's saviour, the Chevy Volt.

Autoblog alerted me to the spy shots taken on and around the set of the new Transformers movie today and I must say it's a relief to see the Volt dressed in something other than the silver we've seen so many times before although I'm not a huge fan of the purply blue either.

The official coming-out isn't far off but it's still exciting to see what could herald in a new era for the US car market, if not the world car market. Remember, the Volt uses only the electric motor for propulsion with the secondary internal combustion engine kicking in to recharge batteries when they dip below a certain limit. Other, older hybrids rely on their internal combustion engines for propulsion and only use the electric motor when idling or driving slowly around carparks etc. This means if you only drive 50-odd miles between charges you may never use petroleum again. It's also based on the E-Flex architecture where the secondary "recharge" motor can be swapped out at a later date for something completely different.

Here's another shot of the Volt where you can actually read the word "VOLT" just next to the side mirror (click for a higher res image).

More photos are available over at AutoblogGreen but they're mostly fuzzy mobile phone camera shots.

GM Teases With Partial Photo Of Production Volt

Feast your eyes on this lovely close up of the production Chevy Volt. So far all we've had to go on is the concept vehicle photos of the car that will hopefully bring the US car industry into the future but GM just released a couple of teaser shots of the actual production Volt.

While looking vastly different to the concept car this new design still bears some resemblance as though it is its brother or cousin from interstate. The front grille appears to be enclosed, most likely due to aerodynamic issues and I'm not entirely sure what the series of funky blue and red LEDs at the front do other than look cool. You can get a gander at it's rear flanks over at Autoblog but you'll just have to wait a bit longer to see any more of this beasty.

Lightning GT, An EV For The Aston Martin Lovers

You may have heard that at the British International MotorShow another performance EV was announced, the Lightning GT. With a range of between 150 and 180 miles per charge and a 0-100 time of "under 4 seconds" this Aston Martin-esque car is squarely set to compete with the Tesla Roadster.

While the Tesla Roadster looks more like a Lotus this new entrant has taken design cues from Aston Martin setting itself up for the upper class.

More photos and video of the enveiling over at Autoblog Green.

iMiEV Ain't Gonna Be Cheap

Here I was thinking that a smaller EV would be cheaper than a larger EV but apparently the Mitsubishi iMiEV is going to go on sale in Japan in 2009 for the handy price of only 4 million yen ($38,899 AUD / $37,496 USD). Fair enough, you might say, but that means it'll be around the same price as the larger and cooler looking Chevy Volt.

If I was judging on looks alone the Volt wins hands down but if I was judging on the mechanics of the vehicle the iMiEV wins as it's purely electric. Decisions, decisions!

Who Rose The Electric Car From The Dead?

Chris Paine, the director of the controversial documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car" is back again with a sequel and this time the electric car wins!

Autoblog Green is reporting that Chris has tentatively scheduled this revenge film for a 2009 release and titled it "Revenge of the Electric Car". Interestingly there's no mention of it (yet) on IMDb.

I guess with the Telsa Roadster, Chevy Volt and others all making big noises in the media it makes sense to bring the topic up again.

Queenslanders Wake Up, Invent New Engine

Revetec, a Gold Coast, Australia-based company has created a new type of internal combustion engine, dubbed the "controlled combustion engine", which uses half as much fossil fuels, is half the weight and is cheaper to make than a similarly sized modern engine.

If that's not enough, because the engine delivers higher torque, and can perform and operate well at much lower revs than a conventional engine, the noise levels are lower.

gas2.org reports that Revetec have a prototype which has been attached to an actual vehicle and independently tested to substantiate their claims.

Even in the foreseeable future we'll be needing secondary engines to give battery powered cars extended range by charging batteries on the go. Platforms like GM's E-Flex system, to be used first in the Chevy Volt, are designed in such a way that the secondary motor can be replaced with pretty much anything that can generate electricity. GM should talk to Revetec.

Thanks for the tip Ottey!

Gen 1 Chevy Volt To Cost $40K USD

So now Bob Lutz, GM's Vice President, tells us that the Chevy Volt which was pretty much promised to be sold in the US at around $30K is more likely to be $40K. $40K at a loss to GM. But that's the price you pay to innovate.

Seen by many as the saviour of the (US) car industry, the 2010 Volt promises so much and the almost daily news we get on its progress toward release helps. Personally I'd buy one if I had the cash and it was released and it was available in Australia. At least there's some good news ahead.