Opel Flextreme through the blog of GM's Lutz
AutoblogGreen has written quite a few posts about last week's unveiling of the Opel Flextreme (see below), but what does GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz think about the European version of the E-Flex system? His recent post on the GM FastLane blog lets us know.
Lutz writes that the Chevy Volt still gets his pulse racing, but the Flextreme's design still makes it a "great-looking car." The rear-hinged passenger door, which GM calls FlexDoor (because suicide door just sounds wrong), that's on the Flextreme will be moving into production on GM cars.
Back in January, Lutz said that, the Chevy Volt could be gas-free for more than half of all Americans, because that's how many live within around 30 km of their work, and the Volt can go 60 km on its batteries. The Flextreme has a similar electric-only range, 55 km, but that means almost 75 percent of Europeans could drive gas-free to work and back. Just goes to show one difference between lifestyles in Europe and America.
You can read the rest of Lutz's thoughts on the Flextreme here.
Gallery: 2007 Opel Flextreme concept
Related:
[Source: GM FastLane blog]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
opel verkopen 8:09AM (6/17/2008)
Is dit opeltje al te koop in holland.
Denk het niet he jammer hoor
http://www.autoinkoopdeventer.nl/opelverkopen.htm
Reply
fd 11:15AM (9/17/2007)
I'd take those commute numbers for the US with a grain of salt.
Yes, many Europeans live close to work and family, live and work their whole life in one community, which even enables them to just bike or use public transportation to work.
But, " Chevy Volt ... gas-free for > half of Americans, because that's how many live within around 30 km of their work, and the Volt can go 60 km on its batteries. " ?
Do, over half of Americans really live closer than 20mi from work? I tend to think not. Granted many people have a long commute time due to congestion. But, I think it is common knowledge that Americans spend more time in their cars and travel longer distances to and from work, than any other nation and that they therefore would need a longer range than Europeans, even for less population %.
Reply
Mia 12:20PM (9/17/2007)
I agree and as a New Yorker I can honestly tell you I only know one person who lives close enough to work that this would be an option and they car pool so I really feel it to be irrelevant in NY.
http://www.thenaturalsapphirecompany.com/
Reply
Tony Belding 12:26PM (9/17/2007)
There should be some government statistics online, somewhere, to settle the question about commuting distances. . .
I'm not sure if this is a critical question anyhow. Gasoline isn't going to disappear from the face of the Earth tomorrow, leaving everyone stranded. Even in a "Peak Oil" scenario, that doesn't happen. So whether you can completely eliminate gasoline from your commute is probably not the best question to emphasize.
Regardless of whether your commute is short or long, you are getting up to 40 miles per day of driving on grid power instead of gasoline (or up to 80 miles if you also can charge at work). Do that every day, and it'll add up to significant amounts of fuel and money saved. If millions of people do that, it could make a real dent in the country's energy problems.
Reply
Dave 10:46AM (9/18/2007)
I'm not sure that millions of people recharging their cars at work during peak hours would help the country's energy problems.
Reply