Hi friends,
I just posted our latest video, ORN#7 GM and the Chevy Volt.
GM has been developing a variety of alternative fuel vehicles, seeing the writing on the wall when it comes to the future of gasoline. They are working on developing hybrids, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, E-85 ethanol, and plug-in hybrids like the upcoming Chevy Volt. Our video features Carrick’s interview with Beth Lowery, Vice President of the Environment, Energy and Safety at GM, plus a tour of their battery development lab where they are testing the battery system for the Volt.
Getting into GM was an unlikely opportunity, to say the least. Months before we left on our cross-country journey, I had been, er…plugging away at trying to get an interview there about the Volt. I didn’t figure it was a good idea to just show up with a camera ala Michael Moore, so I researched the contacts there and tried everything I could but didn’t get anywhere. While we were interviewing Chelsea Sexton in Los Angeles I mentioned that I didn’t have any luck and sure enough, she had the connections to get us in. There is great irony there if you’ve seen the documentary, ‘Who Killed the Electric Car?’. So, as we were coming through Detroit on the way back home we got the red carpet treatment at GM and were fortunate enough to get the interviews we needed for a video about the Volt.
The Chevy Volt is a plug-in hybrid car that is very different technology that what we’re seen so far. The car has a 40-mile range on electric-only, then instead of a motor an on-board gasoline-powered generator produces the electricity to provide power. Unlike a combustion engine that is constantly under different demands for power, i.e. going up hills, changing speed, etc., the generator runs at a single, optimum speed for better fuel economy. The average commute to work and back is about 40 miles, so for many people the Volt would have enough range to get around without using any gasoline, but has the extended range with the generator if people need to drive further. The Volt is due out this November and I can assure you there will be great publicity and fanfare when that time comes!
Carrick’s interview with VP Beth Lowery was in downtown Detroit at GM’s Renaissance Center, which is the big skyscraper with the GM logo. The lobby of the building is a showcase of GM vehicles – it’s a busy, noisy place as you’ll see. One part that I did not include in the video is where Carrick tells Beth that when he grows up his first car is going to be a Tesla Roadster – she was a good sport and had a big smile at that one. Way to tell the vice president of one of the world’s largest automakers that you want to buy a competitor’s car….It was great to hear about the variety of alt fuel technologies they are working on, giving people a lot of choices in the future about how they want to power their cars.
We then traveled over to the battery development lab that is working on testing the battery system for the Chevy Volt. Carrick interviewed Doug Drauch, lead developer at the lab, about the technology that goes into the battery pack on the Volt. Outside the lab we also got to see GM’s earlier electric car, the EV1 (we actually saw the first EV1 made). The EV1’s were leased but never sold to customers, and that program certainly came to a controversial end about a decade ago. The Chevy Volt, however, will be for sale and they are projecting 10,000 vehicles off the line in the first year.
In the past, we’ve had our bit of fun with GM but it has all been in fun. Back in 2007 Carrick and I made a video about the Volt called ‘Darth Vader and the Chevy Volt’ which took some pokes but ultimately was a fun way to spread the word about the Volt.
My guess is GM probably hadn’t seen that one before they agreed to let us in. Considering their previous history with electric cars I think they deserve some ribbing, but beyond that I think what they’re doing with the Chevy Volt is great and I hope they are successful. GM is very much in the public about their strong commitment to the Volt. You can keep updated on their progress at the Volt website, www.ChevroletVoltage.com.
Be well,
Colin
Showing posts with label volt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volt. Show all posts
Friday, May 28, 2010
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Our Big Day in Detroit
Hi friends,
What an exciting day we had in Detroit – a real treat!
I was hoping to make a video about GM’s efforts in developing alternative fuel vehicles, specifically the Chevy Volt, which is their next-generation electric hybrid. GM is a massive company and I never had any luck reaching anyone there about coming in for some interview time. When we interviewed Chelsea Sexton in Los Angeles I mentioned that we wanted to make a video about the Volt but never got anywhere with contacts, and she offered to put in a call to her contacts at GM for us! I was just hoping for a chance to see a Volt (slated for release in November 2010) and any interview we could get would be a bonus.
I heard back last night from Chelsea’s GM contacts and we got quite a welcome! First we went downtown to GM’s Renaissance Center (GM Headquarters) and interviewed Beth Lowery, Vice President of Environment & Energy. She told Carrick about GM’s efforts on a number of green fronts, including ethanol (that’s what those ‘Flex-Fuel’ badges are on the back of some GM cars and trucks you may see), hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cells, and electric vehicles. Cars of the future may be a mix of these technologies so they are developing a variety of technologies.
We then drove to GM’s battery development lab for a personal tour, which is a rare thing and we were very fortunate to get this time! There we saw the battery packs for the Volt being tested in all kinds of simulated temperatures and humidity. They are being continuously charged and discharged to make certain that the lithium ion battery packs will last for 150,000 miles of driving conditions, at least. They showed us the battery pack that they used in the EV1, GM’s electric car from the 90’s and feature of the documentary ‘Who Killed the Electric Car?’ and put that battery pack next to the Volt pack, which is 1/3 the size and weight with more storage capacity. We also saw the first EV1 GM produced, which was on display (there are only a handful left in existence, see the documentary to find out why). All in all, the folks at GM really gave us a lot of time for video and interviewing and answered all of our questions.
Here’s a quick description of the Chevy Volt if you don’t already know: the Volt is a 4-door electric hybrid, but fundamentally different than a Prius. The Volt plugs into any electric outlet to charge and the first 40 miles of driving is electric-only; after that a small gas (or ethanol) powered onboard generator makes electricity to keep the car going. There is no gasoline engine, and the small generator runs at a continuous speed to produce electricity, so it’s much more efficient than a traditional engine. Since the batteries are expensive, GM’s strategy is to build in enough electric-only range to get people to work and back every day, plugging in at home or work, and for most people they could commute each day without using any fuel. For any driving over the 40-mile electric-only range, the generator is there so people can drive as much as they need to. There is a lot of controversy surrounding their previous EV1 program but during our tour they insisted that they used much of the technology from that program in the Volt, and many of the Volt team is from the EV1 program. They look at the Volt as the next generation of technology from the EV1. The Volt is projected to be priced somewhere under $40,000 and they are committed to the program no matter what state the company may be in financially.
In our tour at GM they also told us about the upcoming sequel to ‘Who Killed the Electric Car?’ which is going to be called ‘Revenge of the Electric Car’. The sequel is going to focus primarily on GM and Tesla’s electric car developments. Tesla has shown how exciting an electric car can be with the Roadster (let me say from first-hand experience, it’s very exciting!) but they are a startup company and building cars in large numbers will be a challenge. GM is focusing on technology like the Volt that will give a limited electric-only range (40 miles) but they have the ability to produce cars in huge numbers, and a dealership network to sell them in. They are different visions of what an electric car should be, and it will be exciting to see which one the public embraces.
We traveled over to visit Enviro-Energies, which makes vertical-axis wind turbines. The big wind turbines we’re used to seeing are horizontal-axis machines but Enviro-Energies makes wind turbines that mount to rooftops and capture wind energy in a different ‘twist’. Instead of the usual propeller-type these look more like soft-serve ice cream cones turning on the rooftop on a vertical axis, able to capture wind from any direction. They don’t have the same issues with height that traditional wind turbines have for residential use – for many towns the laws make it difficult for the majority of homeowners to put up a wind turbine on a pole 60 feet in the air, unless people have many acres of land. Also, vertical axis wind turbines (called VAWTs) need less wind to produce electricity, they’re very quiet, of course no problem with birds or bats, and they would stick out less than a pole-mounted wind turbine. We saw several sizes of their turbines including a 6-foot wide model going on Ed Begley Jr.’s house, and a 20-foot wide model that will be installed on Jay Leno’s huge garage of collected cars. They have designed and are planning to install some much larger-scale turbines on the tops of skyscrapers, which would be impossible with traditional propeller-type wind turbines (or very difficult anyway). It was a great opportunity for us to see a kind of renewable energy technology that hasn’t really become widely known yet but has a lot of potential.
Be well,
Colin
--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org
What an exciting day we had in Detroit – a real treat!
I was hoping to make a video about GM’s efforts in developing alternative fuel vehicles, specifically the Chevy Volt, which is their next-generation electric hybrid. GM is a massive company and I never had any luck reaching anyone there about coming in for some interview time. When we interviewed Chelsea Sexton in Los Angeles I mentioned that we wanted to make a video about the Volt but never got anywhere with contacts, and she offered to put in a call to her contacts at GM for us! I was just hoping for a chance to see a Volt (slated for release in November 2010) and any interview we could get would be a bonus.
I heard back last night from Chelsea’s GM contacts and we got quite a welcome! First we went downtown to GM’s Renaissance Center (GM Headquarters) and interviewed Beth Lowery, Vice President of Environment & Energy. She told Carrick about GM’s efforts on a number of green fronts, including ethanol (that’s what those ‘Flex-Fuel’ badges are on the back of some GM cars and trucks you may see), hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cells, and electric vehicles. Cars of the future may be a mix of these technologies so they are developing a variety of technologies.
We then drove to GM’s battery development lab for a personal tour, which is a rare thing and we were very fortunate to get this time! There we saw the battery packs for the Volt being tested in all kinds of simulated temperatures and humidity. They are being continuously charged and discharged to make certain that the lithium ion battery packs will last for 150,000 miles of driving conditions, at least. They showed us the battery pack that they used in the EV1, GM’s electric car from the 90’s and feature of the documentary ‘Who Killed the Electric Car?’ and put that battery pack next to the Volt pack, which is 1/3 the size and weight with more storage capacity. We also saw the first EV1 GM produced, which was on display (there are only a handful left in existence, see the documentary to find out why). All in all, the folks at GM really gave us a lot of time for video and interviewing and answered all of our questions.
Here’s a quick description of the Chevy Volt if you don’t already know: the Volt is a 4-door electric hybrid, but fundamentally different than a Prius. The Volt plugs into any electric outlet to charge and the first 40 miles of driving is electric-only; after that a small gas (or ethanol) powered onboard generator makes electricity to keep the car going. There is no gasoline engine, and the small generator runs at a continuous speed to produce electricity, so it’s much more efficient than a traditional engine. Since the batteries are expensive, GM’s strategy is to build in enough electric-only range to get people to work and back every day, plugging in at home or work, and for most people they could commute each day without using any fuel. For any driving over the 40-mile electric-only range, the generator is there so people can drive as much as they need to. There is a lot of controversy surrounding their previous EV1 program but during our tour they insisted that they used much of the technology from that program in the Volt, and many of the Volt team is from the EV1 program. They look at the Volt as the next generation of technology from the EV1. The Volt is projected to be priced somewhere under $40,000 and they are committed to the program no matter what state the company may be in financially.
In our tour at GM they also told us about the upcoming sequel to ‘Who Killed the Electric Car?’ which is going to be called ‘Revenge of the Electric Car’. The sequel is going to focus primarily on GM and Tesla’s electric car developments. Tesla has shown how exciting an electric car can be with the Roadster (let me say from first-hand experience, it’s very exciting!) but they are a startup company and building cars in large numbers will be a challenge. GM is focusing on technology like the Volt that will give a limited electric-only range (40 miles) but they have the ability to produce cars in huge numbers, and a dealership network to sell them in. They are different visions of what an electric car should be, and it will be exciting to see which one the public embraces.
We traveled over to visit Enviro-Energies, which makes vertical-axis wind turbines. The big wind turbines we’re used to seeing are horizontal-axis machines but Enviro-Energies makes wind turbines that mount to rooftops and capture wind energy in a different ‘twist’. Instead of the usual propeller-type these look more like soft-serve ice cream cones turning on the rooftop on a vertical axis, able to capture wind from any direction. They don’t have the same issues with height that traditional wind turbines have for residential use – for many towns the laws make it difficult for the majority of homeowners to put up a wind turbine on a pole 60 feet in the air, unless people have many acres of land. Also, vertical axis wind turbines (called VAWTs) need less wind to produce electricity, they’re very quiet, of course no problem with birds or bats, and they would stick out less than a pole-mounted wind turbine. We saw several sizes of their turbines including a 6-foot wide model going on Ed Begley Jr.’s house, and a 20-foot wide model that will be installed on Jay Leno’s huge garage of collected cars. They have designed and are planning to install some much larger-scale turbines on the tops of skyscrapers, which would be impossible with traditional propeller-type wind turbines (or very difficult anyway). It was a great opportunity for us to see a kind of renewable energy technology that hasn’t really become widely known yet but has a lot of potential.
Be well,
Colin
--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org
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