| CONTENTS: | | | | and no device to get you home when your battery |
| - GM will show that car, the Chevrolet Volt, at the | | | | charge ran low," -- GM's Bob Lutz. (MORE...) |
| Detroit show as a concept vehicle that would use a | | | | - When the lithium-ion battery is fully charged,the |
| small, 1-liter gasoline engine to generate power for | | | | Volt can deliver more than 60 city kilometers of pure |
| the electric drive system. (MORE...) | | | | electric vehiclerange. (MORE...) |
| - An engine using 100-percent ethanol might be | | | | - GM calls the generator a "range extender" in an |
| factored into the mix. (MORE...) | | | | effort to eliminate the biggest drawback to the |
| - The Chevrolet Volt is designed to run on E85, a fuel | | | | automaker's early efforts at electric vehicles--a range |
| blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. | | | | of 80 miles or so. (MORE...) |
| (MORE...) | | | | - The generator could even be a hydrogen fuel cell. |
| - The enhancements could extend the five-seat | | | | (MORE...) |
| sedan's all-electric range and boost overall fuel | | | | - You can plug the car into a home outlet and fully |
| economy to as much as 90 miles per gallon. (MORE...) | | | | charge it in about six hours. (MORE...) |
| - The Volt can carry up to five passengers and is | | | | - According to GM, more than half of Americans live |
| adept at climbing hills or running a cooling system, GM | | | | within 20 miles of work. (MORE...) |
| said. (MORE...) | | | | - General Motors, which developed and later killed an |
| - 'If you lived within 50 km from work and charged | | | | electric car in the 1990s, has pulled electric-drive |
| your vehicle every night when you came home or | | | | technology out of cryogenic storage, at least for the |
| during the day at work, you would get fuel | | | | moment. (MORE...) |
| consumption of 1.6 liters per 100 km,' Lutz said. | | | | - GE Plastics ' energy absorbers allow the Volt to |
| (MORE...) | | | | maintain aggressive vehicle styling architecture, and |
| - Before you even start your vehicle, you're working | | | | meet bothNorth American and European Union |
| toward energy diversity." (MORE...) | | | | bumper impact legislations. (MORE...) |
| - Thanks to GM, the "electric vehicle" category will | | | | - The Volt will be outfitted with new lithium-ion |
| soon include fuel cell vehicles, battery-only, and | | | | battery packs, which hold a charge longer than the |
| battery plus fossil-fuel-powered electric generator. | | | | nickel metal hydride batteries now used widely in |
| (MORE...) | | | | automobiles. (MORE...) |
| - DETROIT - Struggling auto giant General Motors | | | | - Once the battery is depleted, the vehicle gets 50 |
| Corp. on Sunday revived its once-failed idea of a | | | | miles to the gallon as the generator kicks in to charge |
| mass-market electric car, unveiling a new "concept" | | | | the battery while driving. (MORE...) |
| car called the Volt designed to use little or no | | | | - Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 327,000 |
| gasoline. (MORE...) | | | | people around the world. (MORE...) |
| - Pickups or SUVS are good bet here. (MORE...) | | | | - Twenty-one-inch wheels and sheer, taut surface |
| - A GM model owes much to the pioneering EV1. | | | | relationships reiterate the statement. (MORE...) |
| (MORE...) | | | | - "We believe very deeply in the principle of energy |
| - Unlike current gas-electric hybrids, which use a | | | | diversity," declared GM's septuagenarian car czar, Bob |
| parallel system twinning battery power and a | | | | Lutz, during a recent sneak peek provided and a |
| combustion engine, the Volt will be driven entirely by | | | | handful of other automotive journalists. (MORE...) |
| electric power. (MORE...) | | | | - Ford has started with an advanced emission-free |
| - Plug-in hybrids, a favorite among many | | | | system. (MORE...) |
| environmentalists, are capable of being charged with | | | | - Company officials have said it represents an |
| a standard electric outlet. (MORE...) | | | | ambitious effort to change the paradigm in the auto |
| - The car can be fully recharged by plugging it in to a | | | | industry. (MORE...) |
| 110-volt outlet for about six hours, and the gasoline | | | | - I got that consistently in the 2004 Priuses that I |
| engine can get about 50 miles per gallon when | | | | used to rent. (MORE...) |
| producing electricity to run the car, GM said. (MORE...) | | | | - "The electricity that is used to drive the vehicle can |
| - If electricity met only10 percent of the world's | | | | be made from the best local fuel sources -- natural |
| transportation needs, the impact would be huge." | | | | gas, coal, nuclear, wind, hydroelectric, and so on. |
| (MORE...) | | | | (MORE...) |
| - The SUV's next generation, a so-called plug-in | | | | - The Volt, as conceived, could travel 40 miles on |
| model, is expected to replace the current nickel-metal | | | | electricity alone, but 640 miles before it needed a trip |
| hydride battery with a lithium-ion battery, which | | | | to a gas station. (MORE...) |
| would allow the vehicle to rely more heavily on | | | | - GM envisions several different variants of the IC |
| electric power than on gasoline-based energy. | | | | engine including one that will run on pure ethanol or |
| (MORE...) | | | | E100. (MORE...) |
| - The Volt uses a large battery and a small, 1.0-liter | | | | - TheVolt uses a large battery and a small, 1.0-liter |
| turbocharged gasoline engine to produce enough | | | | turbocharged gasoline engineto produce enough |
| electricity to go up to 1030 km and provide triple-digit | | | | electricity to go up to 1030 km and provide |
| fuel economy. (MORE...) | | | | triple-digitfuel economy. (MORE...) |
| - GM has been stung by criticism that it conspired to | | | | - I'm not going to let my long-standing resentment of |
| kill the EV1, an experimental electric vehicle program it | | | | GM get in the way of a rational car-buying decision. |
| launched in 1996 and killed by 2003. (MORE...) | | | | (MORE...) |
| - " The overall solid shape, open-air roof, high beltline, | | | | - "Our job was to design a vehicle people could easily |
| and powerful, crisp fender forms of the Volt are | | | | imagine," saidAsensio. (MORE...) |
| made possible only with GE design-enabling materials," | | | | - Tomorrow's vehicles need to be developed around |
| said Bob Boniface, director of GM ' s Warren | | | | a new propulsion architecture with electricity in mind. |
| Advanced Design Studio. (MORE...) | | | | (MORE...) |
| - When accelerating, the vehicle uses that energy to | | | | - For a driver with a 20-mile round-trip commute, the |
| power one or more electric motors, improving | | | | car might use gasoline only on longer weekend and |
| performance and reducing fuel consumption. (MORE...) | | | | vacation trips. (MORE...) |
| - " The distinctive styling of the Volt was the result | | | | - While the company remains committed to the |
| of allowing the GM design team to explore unique | | | | long-term use of hydrogen power, Lutz insisted, in |
| and elegant new possibilities made possible by GE's | | | | the short-term "There is not going to be a single |
| alternative materials, " states Robert Butterfield, | | | | solution" to the environmental problems posed by the |
| global market director for Design Innovation at GE | | | | automobile. (MORE...) |
| Plastics ' Automotive business. (MORE...) | | | | - Compared to latter versions of the old EV1, which |
| - "The EV1 "died' because it had limited range, limited | | | | could run for more than 100 miles between charges, |
| room for passengers or luggage, couldn't climb a hill or | | | | that might seem a step backwards. (MORE... |
| run the air conditioning without depleting the battery | | | | |