The Chevy Volt races to market. (Credit:GM) For the price of the Volt, you could buy almost two hybrids from competitors. But in these early days of electric vehicles, a cold economic analysis doesn’t really apply. Ending years of speculation, General Motors on Tuesday said the Chevy Volt will cost $41,000 or can be leased for $350 a month over three years with a $2,500 payment. The price tag appeared to have surprised many people who wondered how a car with that price can be aimed at mainstream consumers, which is GM’s intention in making an electric-gas hybrid with a longer[....]
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Three and a half years after introducing the concept Chevy Volt electriccar, General Motors is finally answering the question of its price: $41,000 before a federal tax credit. GM disclosed the pricing and touted the 340-mile range of the Chevy Volt on Tuesday at a conference on plug-in vehicles in San Jose, Calif. The cost of a lease is $350 a month for 36 months with a $2,500 down payment. The Volt, which has an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty, qualifies for a $7,500 federal tax credit, which brings the net purchase price to $33,500 after receiving the credit. The Chevy[....]
CNET’s Caroline McCarthy test-drives a Chevy Volt this spring in Austin, Texas–one of the first cities where GM is expected to sell its plug-in EV. Austin, Texas, and New York will be among the first cities in the U.S. where the Chevy Volt plug-in electric vehicle will hit the road. General Motors is expected Thursday to announce that a first run of 8,000cars will be made available in a handful of cities, The Detroit News reported Thursday. The announcement is expected to come from GM CEO Edward Whitacre, who is set to address the Austin Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. The[....]
General Motors has created a venture capital subsidiary to be headed by Jon Lauckner, one of the key executives behind the Chevy Volt, the company said Friday. General Motors Ventures will initially be funded with $100 million and seek to find and develop innovative auto technologies, according to GM. Lauckner will start July 1 as president of the venture capital subsidiary. An example of tech developed for the Volt: a lithium ion battery pack. (Credit:Martin LaMonica/CNET) Creation of the subsidiary will allow the company to establish partnerships with venture capital companies investing[....]
A rescue worker practices where to cut on a Chevy Volt chassis should someone need to be extricated from the vehicle post-crash. (Credit:General Motors) Chevrolet and OnStar are sponsoring a series of training courses for first responders across the U.S. specifically geared toward electric-vehicle crash rescues. The training has the endorsement of a myriad of rescue organizations including the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), according to a joint statement from all[....]
Concerned that drivers will suffer performance on the steepest of grades, General Motors engineers have included a “Mountain” mode in the Chevy Volt to boost the available power. Mountain mode, which will be selected by the driver, is essentially a cue to thecar to start storing up extra energy in the battery. Once in place, it means that the car will have all the available power from the gasoline engine and batteries, explained Larry Nitz, GM’s executive director of hybrid and electric powertrain engineering, during an update with the media on Tuesday. The Chevy Volt is[....]
Robonaut 2 is dexterous enough to work human hand tools. (Credit:NASA) Robonaut 2, the humanoid working robot that’s been under development with NASA and General Motors, is finally ready to show its stuff in outer space, GM announced Wednesday. The Robonaut 2, aka R2, will take up residence at the International Space Station, with a voyage to its new home planned for this September as part of the STS-133 mission on the space shuttle Discovery. The Canadian Space Agency already has a humanoid robot residing at the International Space Station for spacewalk. Like the R2, it also has two[....]
Artist's rendering of GM's new EN-V concept car in the Jiao (Pride) model (Credit:General Motors) General Motors on Wednesday unveiled its Electric Networked-Vehicle (EN-V), a two-seater urban transport concept vehicle it’s developing in conjunction with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC). The EN-V is not intended for highway driving, but for what GE refers to as “personal urban transport,” an idea already taken up by several companies and academic research groups. Many feel there’s a need for “last mile” transport or gap transport, a[....]