Bob Lutz, GM Vice Chairman and Volt booster, told Edmunds AutoObserver today that the Volt is achieving its 40 mile all-electric target in initial on-road testing. "It is reliably meeting its objectives," Lutz confirmed. "Even with a rough calibration, even with the wrong drive unit, the wrong body, etc. etc., it has been hitting its 40 miles on electric power."

There was no word on which of the two battery suppliers' products was installed in these first drives on GM's proving grounds in Michigan. He did say the Volt's Battery Management System was successfully keeping temperature rises to a minimum and maintaining even heat distribution across the cells.

Lutz ever more enthusiastically says the Volt will debut for sale in Chevy showrooms in November 2010. And he went out of his way to underscore Chairman Rick Wagoner's interest and support for the Volt project.

[Source: Edmunds AutoObserver]

Recent comments by John Powell, the deputy director of the UN World Food Program, have drawn return fire from GM CEO Rick Wagoner at the Beijing Motor Show. Powell blamed biofuels in part for the recent run up in food prices around the world that has resulted in more poor people not being able to afford food. Speaking at the Beijing Motor Show Wagoner called critics "shockingly misinformed" saying that high fuel prices are a much bigger factor in food costs than the diversion of food stocks to fuel production. Wagoner acknowledged that a dramatic increase in corn ethanol production and use could ultimately increase food prices further. Currently ethanol availability in the US is limited anyway with only about 1,200-1,300 E85 stations nationwide. GM's focus is on helping to develop cellulosic E85 production through investments such as their stake in Coskata. To some extent, Wagoner is probably correct in blaming increasing fuel prices. However, part of the reason oil has gotten so expensive is huge increases in demand from China and sustained high demand from the U.S. Shifting energy consumption from petroleum to biofuels will not do anything to address this fundamental problem. Until we dramatically cut back our energy consumption prices will likely stay high for both food and fuel. One upside is that this might help address the over consumption of food in the U.S.

[Source: Green Fuels Forecast]

Wall Street Journal blogs about GM CEO Rick Wagoner recent talk to reporters in Washington about GM chairman Bob Lutz's recent comment that global warming is "a total crock of sh*t." Wagoner backed away from the comment, saying that "the comments weren't coming out of the company" and "I would have preferred to pass on the comment." Wagoner didn't back away from Lutz, though, calling him "the clear leader of GM's push to develop extended-range battery-powered hybrid vehicles."

So, what does Wagoner think about global warming? Wagoner says "the data is pretty clear that the temperature on the earth is rising." Saying the globe is warming is quite different than saying humans are a significant contributer to that warming. The "non-confrontational" Wagoner, as the Journal describes him, has never said he believes in global warming or not (see 37 minutes into the video below the fold).

What's GM doing about global warming? Wagoner says "it makes sense for us to put the business in a place where can respond productively." Wagoner also says that "a lot of things need to be done to address CO₂" and that GM is investing "a huge amount of money" to fulfill the company's responsibility as a big player in society. In the past Wagoner has said electric cars don't look like the answer but GM has come around to the idea.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

As mentioned, General Motors' CEO Rick Wagoner has urged his dealers to oppose states which want to set their own greenhouse gas emissions regulations, which would go above and beyond what U.S. government regulations already require. "We need to work together to educate policymakers at the state and local levels on the importance of tough but national standards," he said, adding that GM would not "be able to accomplish everything that we otherwise could," if states set regulations which were different than the rest of the country. The response from the NADA group seems to agree with the GM corporate stance. Wagoner also suggested that car dealers and automakers should work together to help create an alternative fuel infrastructure which would allow more consumers access to ethanol and, eventually, hydrogen.

These remarks were made at the 2008 National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) meeting in San Francisco. Dealers for huge automakers like GM are able to reach more local and state officials than GM is able to do itself, meaning that their lobbying efforts are very important. California has been setting their own regulations regarding fuel mileage for a while now, and it is true that meeting the state's regulations, along with those in the rest of the U.S., has been difficult at times.

[Source: The Detroit News]

Say hello to the newest government lobbying group: car salesmen! The AP is reporting that GM CEO Rick Wagoner asked car dealerships to lobby their state and local governments to not regulate tailpipe emissions. Here is exactly what Rick said in a speech at the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) meeting in San Francisco attended by about 10,000 dealers and their spouses:

We're not going to be able to accomplish everything that we otherwise could. ... We need to work together to educate policymakers at the state and local levels on the importance of tough but national standards. ... Dealers are very effective in the political process because we don't have a plant in every state. ... We have dealers in every state.

Last year, Congress passed a new CAFE standard but California was denied a waiver to regulate tailpipe emissions in its state. California and other states are still fighting to get the waiver to regulate tailpipe emissions and if that happens, Rick says automakers will have to focus on meeting state regulations and won't be able to focus as much on alternative fuel vehicles.

Seems this is not the first time car dealerships might impact policy making. After the speech, Rick said car dealers were a valuable help in the CAFE debate in Congress last year. What's he talking about? Last year, in the middle of the debate on CAFE, NADA launched a website listing the number of light trucks sold sorted by political districts.

Car salesman/government lobbyist? I guess it's not really a stretch ... especially for used car salesmen.

Related:

• Rick Wagoner weighs in on fuel prices and Washington's involvement in alternative fuels
• Washington Auto Show videos: Car makers on senators, state regulators and CAFE
• More and more eco-thoughtful car dealerships coming to America

[Source: Associated Press]

At its press conference this morning, GM made a bigger deal of the Coskata partnership than I expected. Not only were many of the people from the Chicago briefings at the show, but Mr. Ethanol Moneybags (by which I mean an investor who funds a lot of ethanol companies, including Coskata) Vinod Khosla himself was mingling with the Coskata and GM brass (Bob Lutz, Larry Burns, Mary Beth Stanek) right in front of the stage before the proceedings officially began. When things got going, a juggler performed a quite cool routine in time with the Beatle's "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Wieght/Ending" (see the above video for a few seconds of that).

After the juggler and an atrocious video intro (my skin crawls whenever there is a slick corporate movie playing), GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner dove headfirst into the alternative fuel issue, highlighting not only GM's recent green steps (the Volt, the Vue PHEV, the AUTOtonomy and more) but talked about just how much fuel we use, as Americans and as people around the world. Right now, we use roughly 1,000 barrels of oil a second. Also, the world will need 70 percent more energy in 2030 than it did in 2004. Yikes.

So, what's the good news? Well, from GM's perspective this morning, it's the Saab 9-4X BioPower, the biofuelable Hummer HX concept (pics coming soon) and the GM-Coskata partnership (Oh, and there will an announcement on the Chevy Volt's production status tomorrow Wagoner said). After Wagoner announced the Coskata partnership, Bill Roe and Vinod Khosla stepped onto the stage and said a few words.

The cars are cool and all, but GM is certainly going heavy on the cellolosic ethanol thing. The message I took away from the event is that the future is fuel. Wagoner said that nothing that a carmaker can do will reduce gasoline use as much and as quickly as running more vehicles on ethanol. EV, PHEVs, hybrids and hydrogen remain an important goal, but right now ethanol is vital. Wagoner repeated his call to increase the number of E85 stations in the U.S. and said automakers need to step up and build more E85-capable vehicles.

You can listen to the whole spiel here (23 min, 16 MB).

In his CES keynote, part of which you can watch above, General Motor's CEO Rick Wagoner hints that an announcement with the release date for GM's first plug-in hybrid is coming "very soon." GM told us the release date for Saturn Vue plug-in might be in the end of 2008 or "2009-ish" range. From what Rick says in his keynote, I get the feeling we might get news of a firm release date at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show. Here is exactly what he said (watch 5:30 into the video above):

We've already announced our intention to build a "plug-in" version of our Saturn VUE hybrid. Our team is hard at work to get this technology to market as soon as we can. Expect an announcement on the VUE plug-in hybrid very soon.

I guess we will find out next week when the 2008 Detroit Auto Show begins. If there is news of a release date in Detroit, the best I am hoping for is an October 2008 release and maybe a few details about possible MPG ratings for the vehicle. If anyone can buy and drive off with the Saturn Vue PHEV from the Detroit Show floor, that would be okay too, I guess.

[Source: YouTube]

In the wake of General Motors Chairman Richard Wagoner's comments last that the Chevy Volt may not make it to production by 2010, GM executives and communications staff are madly trying control the story. Here's what the boss said during the GMNext launch event:

Lyle Dennis-GM-Volt.com:
How important is the Chevy Volt E-Flex program to GM's future, and how confident are you that the car will hit the road in 2010?

Rick Wagoner:
The Chevy Volt, and the E-Flex system, are really important for GM's, and I think the whole industry's, future. With the growing demand for oil, we need to diversify the sources of power for autos, away from our traditional 98% reliance on oil. As to when the Volt will hit the road, we continue to put massive resources into production as soon as possible. 2010 would be great, but can't guarantee that at this time. We'll keep you posted regularly on our progress.

Read on after the jump for an explanation of all this.

[Source: General Motors]

While GM has never given a firm delivery date for the Chevy Volt, late 2010 has been when production was expected to start. In an online chat yesterday, GM CEO Rick Wagoner admitted that, while GM has been working hard on getting the Volt ready, "2010 would be great, but (we) can't guarantee that at this time." According to CNNMoney, Wagoner said that GM has "put massive resources [to get the Volt] into production as soon as possible" but that those resources might not be enough. As AutoblogGreen readers probably know, getting the PHEV Volt into production means overcoming all sorts of technology problems (see lithium ion batteries) and serious aerodynamic tweaks.

[Source: CNNMoney]

In an interview that should air soon tonight (Nov. 18) at 8 p.m. EST on CNBC's Beyond the Boardroom, GM CEO Rick Wagoner says General Motors will release a new hybrid every three months for the next four years. Three days ago, CNBC teased the interview with that quote and you can watch the tease here. This program highlights page says "the popular Cadillac brand and GM's plans to roll out a new hybrid every quarter for the next 4 years." That page also includes another tease of the interview where Rick says he really thinks things are going to change in the next 10 or 20 years. Here is exactly what Rick says in the video about hybrids;

We will have one new hybrid coming out every quarter for next four years. We've got four on the market right now. We are getting in the game with a range of technologies.

Doing some simple math and knowing that a quarter means three months and that there are four quarters in a year; this means there will be 16 new hybrids from GM by 2011. There are about 16 hybrids on the market currently. This release schedule easily puts GM ahead of any other car maker's announced hybrid release numbers and should make GM the car maker with the most hybrid brands for some time. Stay tuned, I will live blog the the interview as it airs. Feel free to hoot and howl in comments.

Related:

• Wagoner through the years - video interviews with the GM CEO, 1999-2006

[Source: CNBC]