It was hinted earlier that Tesla might join NUMMI in GMs absense.  Tesla needs a manufacturing plant somewhere in California to produce their Model S and the partnership with Toyota would make sense.  So would Tesla like to buy NUMMI and keep the lights on? That would mimic a move announced today, in which Tesla [...]

General Motors Co unveiled plans to launch a plug-in SUV for its Buick brand in 2011, its latest move away from gas-guzzling vehicles in response to higher fuel-economy standards. The new five-passenger Buick crossover is expected to be the first commercially available plug-in hybrid sport-utility vehicle by a major automaker, and would follow GM’s heavily [...]

Today Gm announced the EPA rating of the Volt at an astonishing 230 miles per gallon.  Now we all know what that 23 followed by an outlet ad campaign was for (particularly crafty subtle for GM) this past week. We talked earlier about how the EPA didn’t have a concrete plan for testing this new [...]

NUMMI stands for New United Motor Manufacturing Inc, it’s joint venture between Toyota and the old GM.  The partnership is over 25 years old.  Currently NUMMI produces the Toyota Matrix and the Pontiac Vibe.  But with Pontiac going away and GM going through bankruptcy the contract was up for grabs. GM could not find another [...]

GM is planning on opening an assembly plant for the battery packs that will be used in the Volt just south of Detroit.  The plant will create about 100 jobs for the town and will probably add more as more vehicles go to battery powered.  The plant will cost GM about $43 million. GM is [...]

The European version of the Volt will be delivered under GMs Opel brand. It’s name will be Ampera, and it’ll go on sale close to the same time that the Volt does in the US. As you can see from the pictures the EuroVolt will have almost the same exact styling as the US version [...]

Electric cars sound great until you realize that turning on the stereo costs you mileage. So Bose is hopping on the bandwagon with low-power speaker systems early. Their new Energy Efficient Series, debuting in the 2011 Chevy Volt, promises to be 30% smaller, 40% lighter, and use 50% less energy than “conventional Bose sound systems.” [...]

General Motors has outlined a comprehensive plan of action to help communities get ready for plug-in electric vehicles, such as the upcoming Chevrolet Volt.  GM announced the plan at the Washington Auto Show. “Collaborating with communities such as San Francisco and metropolitan areas such as Washington, D.C., where there’s already an interest in plug-in vehicles, [...]

GM has released pictures of the Volt’s powertrain.  You can see the neck of the T shaped battery pack, the plugin for the batteries, and the motor among various other things.  It’s interesting to see how it all fits together under the hood.

The battery pack for the Volt is possibly the most important part of the car.  It’s the most expensive component, and if it malfunctions the car loses almost all of it’s appeal (assuming it doesn’t cause a fire in which case the car loses all of its appeal). LG Chem is going to be the [...]