At the Plug-In 2008 conference in San Jose CA this week General Motors will be on hand to announce a partnership with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to promote plug-in vehicles. GM VP for Global Program Management Jon Laukner will be delivering a keynote address at the Plug-in conference on Monday, and the EPRI partnership is expected to be part of the discussion. At this point GM doesn't have any production plug-in vehicles, but will debute two different models in the next two years. A plug-in version of the Saturn Vue Two-Mode hybrid is expected to debut in late 2009 while the Chevy Volt should appear a year later. The styling of the production car based on the Volt concept should be debuting in the next few months, possibly in September in conjunction with GM's centenial celebration. One possible key to the ultimate success of plug-in vehicles would be the installation of public charging stations allowing drivers to top up the battery as they go through their daily routines. Doing this will require the participation of local governments, businesses and electric utilities. Another factor that would help make plug-in vehicles financially viable for consumers would be the establishment of an aftermarket for lithium ion batteries that may not be useful for cars but could be used by utilities for buffering power supplies. EPRI previously announced a similar promotional partnership with Ford.

[Source: Reuters]

The National Governors Association is teaming up with General Motors to promote the expansion of E85 distribution around the country. While no one seriously expects the corn-based ethanol that we have today to be anything more than a very small piece of the fuel puzzle, GM is firmly committed to next-generation biofuels. Since the start of this year, GM has made equity investments in two different companies (Coskata and Maskoma) developing processes to produce low-cost cellulosic ethanol.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty announced the agreement at the NGA meeting in Philadelphia. Pawlenty has been a major proponent of biofuels in his own state, having recently proposed making all gasoline sold be a 20-percent ethanol blend. Under the agreement, GM will work with state governments to determine where best to locate E85 pumps to make them most accessible to drivers of flex-fuel vehicles. Currently there are just under 1,700 E85 pumps available nationwide out of the total of 170,000 filling stations. The intent of this partnership is to ensure that over the next few years as cellulosic ethanol gets commercialized, there will be easily-accessible locations where drivers of the millions of flex-fuel vehicles on the road can get biofuel. The GM press release is included after the jump.

[Source: General Motors]

"We have to build cars and trucks that people want to buy." So said Rick Wagoner, head of General Motors, at a recent conference in Dallas, Texas in response to why GM didn't begin offering hybrid cars earlier. Yeah, Rick, that's entirely true. But, your company also has to have at least a modicum of foresight in order to be successful in the tough American market these days. For instance, Toyota is just now reaping the benefits of its hybrid electric vehicles, despite the fact that the automaker has been building them since 1997. Did Toyota know something that GM didn't? Not really, as the entire world has been watching oil prices climb for the last few decades. It was bound to happen in the United States -- GM's own backyard -- as well, and now that it has indeed taken place, the three remaining American automakers have been caught with the wrong product at the wrong time sitting on dealer lots.

[Source: MSN Money Central]

With sales of full size pickup trucks and SUVs shrinking far faster than even the most pessimistic industry projections one year ago, GM has decided to delay the successor to the current GMT900 models. The current generation of large trucks debuted in 2007 and were scheduled to be replaced in 2013. However the combination of a 51 percent drop in SUV sales and 24 percent drop in pickup sales along with still uncertain fuel economy rules has prompted GM to suspend development. Until new fuel economy standards have been finalized and a clearer picture of where economic conditions are headed emerges it would be foolish for GM to continue work on the next-generation models. Instead the company will cut production of current models and tweak the current designs to improve efficiency until the situation stabilizes a bit. At that point they can re-evaluate what needs to be done with the new trucks. A re-focusing away from the consumer market back to the traditional commercial markets is likely. In that case much of the gadgetry and luxury features that have been added for personal use customers will likely be eliminated and models will probably be trimmed. Volumes will likely be cut sharply as well.

[Source: Detroit News]

While the issue of the nine-thousand recalled batteries from Cobasys remains a bit murky, General Motors may be inclined to just purchase the troubled battery-maker altogether. While we're not entirely sure that another money-losing operation is exactly what GM needs right about now, we can be sure that GM needs those nickel metal hydride batteries for its current range of mild hybrids. Right now, Cobasys is co-owned by Chevron and Energy Conversion Devices, though the two companies have been bickering a bit as of late regarding their joint-ownership responsibilities. It was revealed in court that some sort of offer to purchase Cobasys was being considered, which put an early end to those proceedings.

It's difficult to say what impact the purchase of Cobasys could have on future hybrid offerings from General Motors. We're certain, though, that fuel efficiency is on the minds of consumers these days, so we'd be surprised if GM didn't have big plans for the fuel-saving technology in the near future.

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

It's no secret that the pickup truck market is shrinking, with high gas prices as one obvious culprit. In fact, Toyota's ridiculously popular Camry midsize sedan is nipping at the heels of full-size truck stalwarts such as the Chevy Silverado and Ford F-Series. So far this year, General Motors has seen an 18.5 percent decrease in full-size truck sales and a huge 31.5 percent decrease in full-size SUV sales compared to last year. These sobering statistics are forcing GM to reconsider their future product plans. Already testing the waters with its upcoming Pontiac car-based truck and concepts such as the Denali XT, General Motors needs to know just how large of a market will be left and what external forces will continue to impact that dwindling market share.

Mike DiGiovanni, executive director of global market and industry analysis for GM, is leading a research team deep within GM which is "keeping a close eye on full-sized trucks and asking ourselves how much more aggressively we want to enter the crossover space, given where the world is going." So far, his team has figured that the market for big trucks, though shrinking, will still be sizable, though he adds that "all bets are off if oil skyrockets." Hmm, isn't that exactly what oil's been doing lately?

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

At a Powertrain technology event in Europe, General Motors has announced a pair of new small displacement turbocharged engines. The 1.4L turbo is gasoline fueled and will be used globally in cars like the Opel/Saturn Astra starting in 2010. Depending on the application, the engines will generate 120-140hp and use eight percent less fuel than a comparable output 1.8L normally aspirated engine. The turbocharger is integrated into the exhaust manifold and both the intake and exhaust valve timing can be fully varied. We drove an Astra with a prototype of this engine last summer and it felt stronger than the production 1.8L model thanks to better low end torque.

The other new engine is a 1.6L unit that will only be offered in Europe. A 1.6L turbo engine fueled with compressed natural gas will be added to the Opel Zafira lineup. This engine gets a similar manifold integrated turbocharger to the 1.4L engine. The intake manifold has dual fuel rails for gasoline and CNG and has an output of 150hp with 25 percent lower CO₂ emissions than a comparable gas engine.

[Source: General Motors]

General Motors today announced their second equity investment in a developer of cellulosic ethanol technology in recent months. The automaker is buying into Mascoma Corp. Mascoma has developed a single-step cellulose to ethanol process that apparently requires fewer enzymes and other additives. Mascoma has proprietary microbes that are used in its Consolidated Bioprocessing (CBP) technology. The CBP process can convert most forms of biomass such as straw, wood, paper pulp, and agricultural waste into liquid fuel. So far, Mascoma has received more than $60 million in federal and state grants for their work. To date Mascoma has been testing their technology in the lab with a demonstration plant due to come on line later this year in Rome, NY. GM President Fritz Henderson is not disclosing how much the automaker is investing. Earlier this year GM invested in Illinois-based Coskata. GM is holding a conference call later this afternoon where we will hopefully get more details. We do know that Mascoma has been trying for a while to have the first cellulosic ethanol plant up and running, with projects announced in Tennessee, New York state and Michigan.

[Source: General Motors]

You probably remember that back in January of this year, General Motors announced that it was partnering up with Coskata to make cheap cellulosic ethanol using a process developed by Coskata which includes the use of microorganisms developed by Oklahoma State University and Oklahoma University. Coskata has apparently broken ground on a new plant that is being built in Pennsylvania. While Coskata appears to be moving along at a fine pace, Auto Observer is reporting that Coskata is not the only cellulosic ethanol provider that the General is interested in being attached to. GM said back in January that Coskata would not be the company's only biofuel partner. So far, everything sounds very "hush-hush" about this new partnership, but GM president Fritz Henderson is expected to make an announcement tomorrow in Washington D.C. We don't have any information on who America's largest automakers is partnering with, but we know that there are plenty of other companies currently working on cheap cellulosic ethanol. You'll know more when we do, so stay tuned.

[Source: Auto Observer]

When Saab debuted the 9-X BioHybrid concept at the recent Geneva Motor Show, aerodynamics was a big part of the equation. The compact 9-X has a smooth, rounded nose, a raked back wrap-around windshield and a downward sloping roof. To help reduce the drag at the back end of the short body, a spoiler that wraps around the roof extends backward up to four inches. A new video featuring some of the designers talking about the aero work that they did has just been posted on the GMnext web site. You can check out the video after the jump.


[Source: GMnext]

Like Toyota, General Motors has offered some additional information into their viewpoint regarding hydrogen and fuel cells. As we recently reported, Toyota's Irv Miller called out The Wall Street Journal for bad reporting practices when they quoted Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe as suggesting that fuel cells were falling off the alternative fuel roadmap. GM's Bob Lutz was also quoted in that WSJ article, and it seems that he may have been misunderstood as well. According to Robert Babik, director of emissions, environment, energy and safety policy at General Motors, the General still sees hydrogen as a possible solution to our energy woes. Maybe it'll take 50 years, but it seems that both Toyota and GM are committed to the technology.

[Source: CNN Money]

Some people use airport layovers to sleep, read, or get a meal. Sam and Sebastian took the opportunity to record AutoblogGreen Podcast #19. While waiting for a plane to whisk them back home from the Chicago Auto Show, we recapped a few things we saw at the show. It wasn't the greenest show we've seen, but they have the biggest building, by their own admission. A few things left impressions on us, first of which was the GMC Denali XT. The Zeta variant is the first use of GM's Two-mode hybrid system on a passenger car platform. Other exciting GM news is the announcement that ICM and Coskata will be working together to build a cellulosic ethanol plant. Ford came out with a couple of ideas aimed at truck customers that could boost CAFE numbers. The Transit Connect is a right-sized utility van, and their new Work Solutions system could be a stealthy way to improve economy. Honda has hybrids and diesels coming, and Toyota will be trying to add lightness to its fleet. Our interview this time around is with Bridgestone's Dan McDonald about their "One Team, One Planet" initiatives.

Thanks for listening!


SUBSCRIBE to the AutoblogGreen Podcast in iTunes
LISTEN to the show now
ADD the AutoblogGreen Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator

We're back for AutoblogGreen Podcast #14. In this installment, we recap the Santa Monica Alt Car Expo and many of the interesting things we saw at that show. Everything from converted Russian hatchbacks as NEVs to excessively fast electric drag racers. Sam is currently covering the LA Auto Show for us, and in this show we discuss details on the GM hybrid trucks and cars, as well as everything else with a green tint at the show. Finishing up this episode, Sam's also got an interview with Larry Nitz, executive director of hybrid powertrains at GM, part of the team that developed Allison's two-mode hybrid system. Thanks for listening to all 45 minutes, we'll see you again soon!

SUBSCRIBE to the AutoblogGreen Podcast in iTunes
LISTEN to the show now
ADD the AutoblogGreen Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator

Better late than never, right? It's totally my fault that AutoblogGreen Podcast #12 is so late in coming, but here it is! Episode 12 is a Frankfurt recap show, and John Neff from Autoblog.com joins Sebastian and Sam to talk about some of the highlights of the dual-personality (green and not so green) Frankfurt Motor Show. There's lots of discussion about the coming E-Flex versus Hybrid Synergy Drive smackdown, the 17 new models coming from Mercedes by 2010, many of them diesels, the Volvo C30 Efficiency kicks off discussion about plucking the low-hanging efficiency fruit, and the 'cast wraps up with further punditry about Diesel regs in the US versus the EU. It's a wide-ranging discussion clocking in at 41 minutes, enjoy!

SUBSCRIBE to the AutoblogGreen Podcast in iTunes
LISTEN to the show now
ADD the AutoblogGreen Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator

General Motors is installing a huge solar array on top of their 300,00 sq. ft. service parts warehouse in Fontana, CA that will be capable of generating 1.3 million kWh of electricity annually. The array will generate about half of the electricity requirements of the facility as well as providing enough power back to the grid to feed 300 homes.

The company already has a similar array in operation at another warehouse in Rancho Cucamonga. The installation will be done by Constellation Energy and Project Services. Constellation will own, operate and maintain the equipment and provide the power to GM under a long-term contract. The panels are being supplied by United Solar Ovonic.

Update: General Motors let us know that their was an error in the original press release. The total power output of the array is enough to power 200 homes for a year. Excess power will be fed back to the grid, but clearly it won't be enough for 300 homes.

[Source: General Motors]