Click above for a high-res gallery of the Opel Flextreme

The internal debate over whether the upcoming Volt will be badged as a Chevrolet or an Opel across the pond has been decided. The first Euro-bound EV's from the General will be Opels, though we are not sure how much in common the vehicle will share with the Flextreme concept. Carl-Peter Forster, president of GM Europe, indicates that a Vauxhall version is also in the works (this would be nothing more than a right hand drive variant for the British market) and that all three of the vehicles will be quite similar in design. A gasoline range-extending powerplant will see shared duty in the trio as well, though we would expect a diesel option in Europe at least at some point.

For the forseeable future, all three E-Flex variants will be built at the same factory in Detroit, and Europeans should expect to see the Opel in 2012. Of course, the extended-range electric car will carry a price premium, with a €10,000 bump over a comparable gas engined vehicle currently being thrown around. We hope that the Volt and its clones will prove popular enough to see that cost premium dwindle somewhat as the cost of batteries drops and allow the General to make a few bucks in the process.


[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

Like Indiana Jones and some sort of Ark or Tomb or Crystal Skull, today's automotive engineers are always looking for better ways to capture, store and release electrical energy for future hybrids and EVs. Green Car Congress says that GM is "actively exploring" at combining supercapacitors with li-ion batteries for the next generation of E-Flex vehicles (read: don't expect in the 2010 Volt). Speaking at the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference (AABC) this week in Tampa, Forida, GM's Mark Verbrugge - the materials and processes lab director - said that a supercap/li-ion combo might help not only with capturing excess power but also with the trouble li-ion batteries have in cold weather. What the battery gives up in power density might be made up for in a lower operating temperature. GCC quotes Verbrugge saying:

We're running the Volt power versus time profile through this combination with and without the supercaps. We wanted to show it [the early work], perhaps it will be compelling to those who want to provide ESS [energy storage system] to the automotive industry.

Compelling? Yes.

[Source: Green Car Congress, h/t to Paul]

Following his speech to the Commonwealth Club a few days ago, GM CEO Rick Wagoner apparently told reporters that a second E-Flex platform vehicle was also under development at the company's Warren MI technical center alongside the Chevy Volt. This second ER-EV is destined for the Opel (and presumably Saturn) brand. Following the debut of the Volt in January 2007, GM has shown two other E-Flex concepts, the Opel/Saturn Flextreme and the Cadillac Provoq. The Provoq is expected to make the production transition in 2009 as a conventionally-powered crossover.

The Flextreme, however, carries some of the design language of the new Opel Insignia that was recently revealed. The significantly more aerodynamic Flextreme also carries the hatchback/wagon type body shape that is more popular in Europe. An Opel-badged model would likely have an appearance similar to the Flextreme but with more conventional style body openings and without the pair of Segways in the back. It's unknown at this point what type of range extender would be used with the Opel although the concept used a diesel.

So far we've only found one source for this report of a second E-Flex vehicle and we're still waiting to hear back from GM for any confirmation or comments on any of this. As soon as we here back we'll provide updates.

[Source: Green Car Congress]

As I was recording the presentation in GM's mega-expensive Visualization Center, I wasn't sure if I would be able to use it. I mean, the whole point of the VC is to, well, see things. And, since GM prohibited video and still photography on this tour (audio was OK; I checked), what was going to be valuable to readers during this stop on the tour? While I can't hand you the nifty 3D glasses we wore to see the E-Flex structure on the giant screen, I was pretty fascinated by this presentation and think you might be, too.

The presenters in the VC were Sam Lute, the room lead, and Andrew Farah, the chief vehicle engineer of the Volt. Farah might be familiar to some readers for his work on the EV1 - and he was selected to work on the Volt because of his history with EV1. Listening to Farah speak (he takes up about 50 minutes of the 55-minute audio clip below) is a real lesson in what the Volt engineer are dealing with as they design the car. How can the dip in the battery's structure distribute energy in the case of a crash? How will they deal with gasoline (or E85) that sits in the fuel tank for a year? How about if there's no fuel in the tank at all? Are there any parts of the ICE, specifically durability components that are needed in a motor that runs all the time but will just weigh the car down if the engine only turns on twice a day for five miles, that can be removed? How often will you need to change the oil in a car like this? Will there need to be and "driver education" to explain the benefits of driving around with just a third of the tank full of gas? Should the computer be designed to run the engine even if the battery doesn't need to be charged, perhaps even as the car is sitting for weeks on end? Farah doesn't have all the answers, but there's a lot to learn in the clip below.



I also got to speak with Farah a bit more about the potential of using the Volt sans gasoline. His take? Yes, it'd be possible. If you don't have 55 minutes for the full presentation, perhaps this five-minute interview will be more your style:

• Next: designing the Volt interior and exterior

The thing that strikes you when you enter GM's Battery Systems Lab (BSL) is the EV1. On the hallway walls are the promo images of the Chevy Volt. For our visit, GM also set up two of the T-shaped batteries that powered these vehicles. The older one that moved the EV1 weighed around 1,200 kg lbs. whereas the Volt's powerpack will weigh "just" 400 kg lbs. Standing side-by-side, the batteries are impressive. It's as true to GM today as it was in the '90s that the T-shape is the best way to have a lot of room for the cells without eating into the trunk space.

Micky Bly, director of Global Hybrid Vehicle Integration and Controls, spoke to us for a little bit (sorry for the background noise in the recording, but he was speaking in the BSL while testing was going on) about the tests that GM is running on the batteries - from A123 Systems and Compact Power Inc. - in the lab and on the road.

In the BSL, GM can simulate any possible condition that the batteries might encounter when they're plugged into the grid - high loads, brownouts, etc. While these tests provide good information, the real challenge comes on the road. This month, the li-ion batteries will move out of the lab and into a 2005 Chevy Malibu mule vehicles for runs out at the Milford Proving Grounds. The Malibu has been running on the proving grounds since about October with a lot of the E-Flex control software, including the regen-braking, the small ICE and so on. One thing that the battery tests have discovered already is that at least 20 percent of the 40-mile electric-only range that the Volt will have will come from capturing the braking energy.

Listen to Micky Bly:



A big challenge for the Volt team is figuring out how to pack two years of testing so full they will yield ten years of data. This is being done, in part, by Lance Turner, engineering specialist-battery integration and test, and his team in the BSL. Turner explained that the packs are being tested 24/7 in a way that simulates how they will be used in real life. Some packs are being tested in large thermal chambers that simulate different ambient temperatures and seasons. The heat also accelerates battery aging. Turner would not tell us how many cells are in the packs, just that we'd find out soon enough. If you're hoping for insight into which supplier GM is leaning towards, all Turner would say is that both packs are performing quite similarly right now. As I wrote in my initial post, the Volt will only use half (that is, 8 kWH) of the 16 kWh of power in the pack. The operating range will probably be between 80 and 30 percent or 90 and 40 percent, with the latter being preferred. Roland Matthe, GM's engineering group manager, E-Flex rechargeable energy storage system, was also on hand. Listen to Turner and Matthe:

• Next: Wicked 3D Volt in the Visualisation Center

New York is the place to be this week for all things automotive and amongst the throngs that have journeyed to the Big Apple to gawk at the latest offerings were a group of hard-core Chevy Volt fans. They came from all across the country to gather together under the banner of "Volt Nation" for a chance to see the concept version of the object of their affection up close and ask questions of some of the GM executives responsible for the E-Flex development program.

Organized by Dr. Lyle Dennis (pictured above on the left), creator of the popular GM-Volt fan website, the group of about 300 souls converged on the Jacob Javitz Center for an event that, for probably the first time, brought car company officials and consumers together to ask questions of each other. Our favorite GM exec, Bob Lutz, was on hand as was design chief, Frank Weber.

So what was learned about the upcoming Volt? From scouring the posts of attendees we hear that the battery should begin life with a 50 mile range, that's 10 miles more than originaly thought and it can be plugged into regular 110V outlet or 220V. It is being designed as a "global" vehicle so it could sport either right hand and left hand drive and will comply with emissions regulations world-wide.

We'll have a video of the event in a bit. Video after the jump.

[Source: GM-Volt]

There are hundreds of engineers and technicians at both General Motors and its suppliers working feverishly to try and get the Volt into Chevrolet dealerships by late 2010 or early 2011. The company's senior management all seem to be firmly committed to the project. Everyone I've spoken to at GM seems to believe that the carmaker's long-term survival may hinge on the success of the Volt. But even with so many people behind it, this is in many ways just like any other new car program. There are time-lines and budgets to meet and a market must be shown to exist. Plenty of car programs have been killed when they were a lot further along than this one.

Does that mean that the Volt could still get killed before it lives? Of course it does. Is it likely to get killed? Probably not. A column in Automotive News outlines three of the possible culprits in the potential cancellation of the Volt. Physics is the obvious one, and perhaps least likely to be a factor. The technological challenges in guaranteeing the robustness of the battery pack are tough but appear to be surmountable. The other two are potentially more problematic. OPEC is one. At this point no one can say with any certainty what the price of oil will be in 2010. It could be $300/barrel or it could be $30/barrel. If our political "leaders" had the backbone to set a minimum price for petroleum that would help ensure a demand for efficient vehicles, this could easily be removed as a factor. Fat chance of that happening though. Perhaps the most troubling possibility is the owners of the company. As a public corporation GM has a fiduciary responsibility to earn a profit for its shareholders. If the new vehicle market in the U.S. tanks in the next few years, there is certainly a possibility that GM will not be able to afford the subsidies that will almost certainly be needed to make the Volt an affordable mainstream proposition in its early years of production. If that happens the Volt could either be priced out of the market or euthanised entirely. Any of these three scenarios are possible. All the fans of the Volt certainly hope they don't come to pass.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. req'd]

When GM gave the media background information on the Chevy Volt in the weeks leading up to its introduction at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show, they made it clear that the intent was for the architecture to spread to other vehicles of various configurations. The E-Flex platform was always intended to be a mainstream powertrain system for the mass market. Anyone who expresses surprise at the thought of non-Chevrolet branded E-flex vehicles clearly hasn't been paying attention for the past 13 months. With E-Flex concepts now having debuted with Cadillac, Saturn and Opel badging in addition to Chevrolet and three distinct body styles, it's apparent that GM wants to capture economies of scale for this hardware as quickly as possible. This past weekend in San Francisco, GM Chairman Rick Wagoner said it yet again. During a meeting with dealers at the annual National Automobile Dealers Association meeting Wagoner mentioned that other brands were likely to get E-Flex vehicles. Given that every platform the company makes is shared (such as Chevy, Saturn, GMC and Buick variants of the Lambda CUVs) this much is obvious. The only real question is when?

[Source: Automotive News]

General Motors has been working aggressively toward electrifying the power-trains in their future vehicles and toward that end they are making some changes in their engineering organization. Robert Kruse has been put in charge of a new global vehicle engineering organization responsible for all hybrid and electrically-driven vehicles. Under Kruse's direction there will be a North American team operating out the Warren Tech Center and Milford Proving Ground, a European Team from Mainz-Kastel, Germany and an Asian team in Shanghai, China. Work on both the mild and two-mode hybrid systems as well as E-flex applications will be coordinated through the new organization. It's not entirely clear how this changes anything but we'll be following up with GM.

[Source: General Motors]

Click the Flextreme for high-res images

Back in September 2007 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, General Motors main European brand Opel unveiled the second body style and third power-train variant of their E-Flex architecture. Since the product lines of Opel and Saturn have been converging over the past few years it makes sense to display the Flextreme at U.S. auto shows with Saturn badging. Aside from the badge changes, the Flextreme is still the same vehicle that was on the Opel stand in Germany.

To refresh you memories, the Flextreme carries on the power-train concept of the original Chevy Volt as a range extended electric vehicle. Drive to the wheels is provided by a 53kW electric motor which gets electrons from a 16kWh lithium ion battery. Where the Flextreme differs from the Volt is the range extender. The Volt uses a 1.0L three cylinder, gasoline/E85 flex-fuel engine to drive the generator. The Flextreme uses a 1.3L four cylinder diesel engine.

Aside from the diesel E-Flex setup, the other important aspects of the Flextreme are the two on-board Segway scooters mounted in a compartment in the back and the vehicle and the styling. The design of the Flextreme gives a strong preview of the design language of the next generation of Opel and Saturn vehicles starting with the upcoming Opel Insignia which will replace the Vectra and Aura. Check out the coverage of the Flextreme from Frankfurt for more details on the powertrain.

Related Posts:

• Chevy Volt goes to Europe: Opel Flextreme Concept has ultra-low emissions of 40g/km of CO2 (!) and two on-board Segways
• Frankfurt 2007: Opel Flextreme live shots, unloading the Segways

Gallery: Detroit 2008: Saturn Flextreme Concept

Gallery: 2007 Opel Flextreme concept

[Source: General Motors]

Click To Play

The video above is a look at GM's fuel cell E-Flex model on display at CES 2008. The model is a "cut-away" which allows you to get a close look at E-Flex's lithium-ion battery, the hydrogen containers, and the electric motors. It doesn't look like much has changed since the last time we showed you the concept from the Shanghai Auto Show. The video does include a good close up of the "quick start" button which lets the car drive the motors directly from the fuel cell tanks instead of the batteries. GM's fuel cell mode button kinda reminds me of Toyota's EV mode button. Except Toyota's button changes the type of motor driving the car while GM's FC button just changes the fuel. Who mighy care? I guess all those hydrogen purists in the next decade. I hate them already.

[Source: Scientific American]

The video above is an exclusive look at the Cadillac Provoq concept. It was taken just before Rick Wagoner showed off the concept in his keynote at CES yesterday. As you probably know by now, the Provoq is based on GM'e E-Flex platform and has a 300-mile range, in wheel electric "hub" motors, hydrogen fuel cells and a top speed of over 100 MPH. At the end, some questions about sources of hydrogen and regulation were sneaked in but they were skillfully dodged. Apparently, "production of hydrogen" is not a problem and "sooner the better" for more regulations so GM "can do the right thing." Where's Bob Lutz when you need him?

Related:

• CES 2008: Cadillac Provoq concept debuts during Wagoner keynote!
• Detroit 2008: Cadillac Provoq E-Flex fuel cell concept
• "Petroleum-free" Cadillac Provoq will be unveiled at CES tomorrow

[Source: Market Watch]

Click the Cadillac Provoq for a high-res gallery

Almost a year to the day after we first showed you the Chevrolet Volt, General Motors is unveiling the third body style (the second was the Opel Flextreme) based on the E-Flex platform that forms the basis of the Volt. This time around they are moving the architecture to a more up-market vehicle. The Cadillac Provoq concept is a luxury mid-size crossover built on a variant of the fuel cell drive-train that GM first showed in the Volt at the 2007 Shanghai Motor Show.

A few months ago some stories started circulating that Volt would get badged as a Cadillac instead of a Chevrolet so that they could justify a higher price to cover the high cost of the battery pack. Subsequently, the story evolved so that the fuel cell powered E-Flex variant would be the vehicle with a Caddie badge. Based on what we saw at the E-Flex design studio a couple of weeks ago and this new concept, it now appears that this latter story may turn out to be reality. Read on after the jump to find out all about the Cadillac Provoq advanced technology concept.

[Source: General Motors]

At the General Motors Technical Center on Monday, the company provided another in a series of updates on development of the Chevrolet Volt as it approaches a production launch in late 2010. This time around the subject was aerodynamics and styling, both inside and out.

When the Volt concept was revealed almost a year ago, one of the big questions from readers here and elsewhere was about the aerodynamics. The exterior design team led by Bob Boniface had created a very striking design that looked absolutely nothing like the legendary EV1 teardrop. Judging from the first teaser shot we saw of the production design (above, and read more here), some things were going to have to change.

Read on past the jump to find out more.

[Source: General Motors]

During the Electric Drive Vehicle Symposium (EVS23) held this past week in Anaheim CA, attendees got the first public glimpse at the first prototype battery pack for the Chevy Volt. GM's Jon Lauckner, VP for Global Program Management gave a presentation at the conference that Matt Kelly from NextGear captured on video. Most of the presentation was a repeat of the standard one GM executives have been giving for the past year on how much energy the world uses and how much that amount will increase over the next two decades as well as explaining the basic premise behind the E-Flex architecture. If you haven't seen the presentation before, it's worth watching. However, the last five minutes include the latest updates on the Volt development program. As we know the first prototype pack arrived at GM's labs about six weeks ago and a couple of Lauckner's slides show photos of the pack on the bench being tested. AutoblogGreen has spoken to Jon Lauckner on numerous occasions over the past year, such as the conversation we had the Management Briefing Seminar last August. You can watch the whole EVS23 presentation after the jump.

[Source: NextGear]