VIDEO: Chevy Volt Chief Engineer answers questions
Thousands of people have expressed interest in the Chevy Volt since it was introduced during the Detroit Auto Show in January, and many of those questions have been posted on the GM FastLane blog. In response to all those questions they've picked out the most common ones and posed them Volt Chief Engineer Nick Zielinski. GM has posted a video of Nick's responses to queries of When? Where? How much? SUVs? and more. As you might expect for a program at this stage, Nick has to be non-committal in many of his answers but he does address questions like What about solar panels? Watch the video for all of Nick's responses.
[Source: General Motors]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mikeinBuilding7 4:53PM (6/02/2007)
- So, a guy want's a Volt Corvette, how about plans for a Volt Convertible for that guy?
- I'd like to see a Volt StationWagon, like Subaru's Legacy, with a Solar Panel on the Roof. ( Free Miles from the Sun )
- Why can't Li batteries wait till version 2.0? Build it now.
With the ability to upgrade the battery.
Reply
Tim 5:19PM (6/02/2007)
I takes about 2 years to bring any new vehicle to market. The Nanotech batteries will also take about 2 years to develop, test and certify. Altair has already had 3rd. party confirmation of their 10 minute recharge with zero strain. A123 has not been so forthcoming with info. GM is running parallel development programs with the intention of marring the battery and car technologies together in the e-Flex platform for sale in the Volt around 2010. The average car lifespan is over 10 years now and the nanotech batteries will have the same life. 2 years is not a long time to wait. The average consumer would be very unhappy if GM put in substandard batteries and asked them to spend another $5K to "upgrade" their batteries after only a couple of years of service. I've never seen a manufacturer of anything give these kinds of progress reports. This is indeed encouraging. GM knows it’s a horse race, but this horse must be pretty, functional, safe and affordable if they are to tap into the mass market and stamp out and sell hundreds of thousands of e-Flex cars every year. Only time will tell and yes, we will have options and yes, there will be competition.
Reply
Joseph 6:45PM (6/02/2007)
GM has been telling us so many times that, "Oh, we're going to build it! Really!" and has been presenting us "evidence" of their hardwork so many times (battery developement at GM and now this) that I cannot possibly imaagine that they do not build the Volt.
I know that peopel say that they've show cars like this before e.g. the Precept. However, I do not believe that GM ever announced that the Precept would make it to production, at least so adamantly. Now, I don't know since I haven't been in the green-car world for so long, so I don't know much about the Precept way back then.
Reply
Joseph M. 7:49PM (6/02/2007)
Dear Nick Zielinski,
This is the most important move GM could possibly make. But my advice, Be a little more open minded when it comes to how you approach the packaging and selling of this car. Everyone wants this car now, And they don't care if you put the 100 year old proven Lead acid batteries in Your Volt. Even if you could only achieve 10 miles of all electric driving, People would be very happy to be driving this technology. You said people would be unhappy with upgrading the batteries in a few years. Come on Nick, Include the upgrade in the price of the sale of the car, Sell the car now, when the newer batteries are ready, people bring their cars in, and a day or two, bingo new batteries(and programing .ect), Newer technology. Start with Lead acid, or Nickel Metal Hydride(like the Rav-4 electric vehicle still on roads today with more than 100,000 miles and those are full electric vehicles, much harder on battery life compared to your Volt car). Put these cars on the roads of America and you will rise to the number one automaker position in the world(people will love and respect you as well, right now everyone hates GM for what GM did to the EV-1, for starters). If you really wanted to put these cars on the road, You would not wait for the perfect battery, The perfect battery will never exist. A good battery will get better and better over time, As your research and development team develops better and better batteries over time. And with Ultracapacitors getting smaller and smaller, the future may not even be a better or perfect battery. Ultracapacitors take a charge instantly and last millions of charging cycles. This is very very good. Nick, if you really wanted to put the E-Flex Volt car on the road today, you would do it. This is why knowone believes that General Motors has any intention of actually bringing this car into production. When I called GM yesterday, They(several different departments) told me they have no intention of making this car a Production Vehicle and that this car is "strictly a concept car"(And I even have messages on my answering machine stating this as well). That again is a conflict of information. This is all so common with General Motors. Mixed messages. So what is this hope to have these on the road by 2010? Don't answer that. Please just build the car. My next car will, I hope, be a full Electric car. And I will buy this car, from the first Manufacturer that builds one, for under $30,000. Will it be you? I've already lost hope for/in General Motors. I'm Sorry, I wish I still believed in you. Your EV-1 was the most Advanced and Amazing Technology Vehicle I've ever seen, Ever studied in my life. And just because the batteries were not "Perfect", You Took the cars from happy customers, and crushed them. Furthermore GM charged hundreds of dollars for scratches and damage to the cars;to owners, before smashing the cars in crushers. I don't believe GM cares about it's customers satisfaction, but rather is greedy for money at all cost. even the cost of your own survival as a business/Corporation/Automaker. So, do I trust you will build the Volt. No, I do not. The Volt, like the EV-1, Is To Good To Be In The Hands Of The Public. It will not break enough, and thus GM will lose money on Repairs, Just Like The EV-1.
Sincerely Joseph M.
PS. I Double Dare You, To Prove Me And America- Wrong!
PPS. Lots of Important, Relevant Information and Links:
http://pluginamerica.com/
Reply
John Spradley 9:44PM (6/02/2007)
The Lockheed P80, the first jet fighter, took 90 days from design to first flight. Come on, GM, enter the jet age. Give us the Volt without batteries, and us electric vehicle drivers will do the rest.
Reply
Turbofrog 9:53PM (6/02/2007)
Actually, Joseph, plug-in hybrids are more stressful on battery technology than fully electric vehicles. Because their battery packs have less capacity, they go through more charge/discharge cycles than full EVs, and that's the killer in terms of battery longevity (as well as more complete discharge cycles, which PHEVs also do much more of).
Read the Tesla Motors blog posts, they're quite interesting.
Reply
jcwinnie 10:03AM (6/03/2007)
Uh, Sam, that would be hundreds of thousands have expressed interest.
Reply