Paul Scott test drives the GM Volt and loves it!

Monday, GM's Tony Posawatz, vehicle line director for the Volt, and Dave Barthmus, GM's communications director, invited a dozen Plug In America members to Dodger Stadium for what turned out to be an exciting test drive of the Chevy Volt. Coming hard on the heels of our Nissan trip, it's clear the leading car makers bringing back plug-in cars are serious about soliciting input from the people who have the most experience driving EVs. That's a good sign.

We started off with a thorough explanation of the car including the charge port and 120Volt cord set with the standard three pronged plug. Given that the battery pack holds 16 kWh, but only 8 kWh will be usable (this is to protect the longevity of the pack), Level one charging on a 120V should suffice for most folks. According to Dave Barthmus, Level two charging (240V) will be available, but it's not been decided whether this will come standard, or be an option.

To read the rest of this story go to Paul's Blog @ http://evsandenergy.blogspot.com/2010/04/chevy-volt-prius-killer.html

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The 2010 Washington Auto Show: Let a hundred (green) flowers bloom!

The main take-away The Solar and Wind Expo representatives got from attending the 2010 Washington (D.C.) Auto Show this week was how big, diverse – and exciting – the green vehicle world is getting. (Perhaps this is what it was like 100 years ago, when there was everything from gas to electric to steam vehicles at the start of the automotive age.)

The majority of the green vehicles at the show are clustered along what was called the “Advanced Technology Superhighway”, while some other renewable energy vehicles are sprinkled throughout other areas of the show.

The first thing we noticed is that everyone’s getting into the act, from Ford, Chevy, Nissan and Honda, to BMW and Fiat. A bevy of small car companies devoted solely to electrics (such as Wheego, Think, and Columbia) to automotive suppliers such as Magna Powertrain (which is making the powertrain for the all-electric Ford Focus, among other things) also have good representation.

The next item of note is the sheer variety of electric and other green vehicles and the many ways they can be used. Small, two-passenger full electric cars (Wheego Whip Life, Think City, Mini-E), 4- or 5-passenger full electrics (Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, BMW Active-E), fully electric vans (Boulder) and utility vehicles (Columbia), plug-in hybrids (including Bright Automotive’s van) and non-plug-in hybrids, fuel-cell vehicles (Honda), and a system for running a vehicle only on waste (Novozyme).

Another very interesting and innovative aspect of the show is the idea that green automotive technology can be applied to other forms of renewable energy. For example, Think’s Richard Canny suggested using batteries that are no longer strong enough to power electric vehicles but still have some life left to store energy from small solar or wind installations. And Magna’s John Zalewski said their gearboxes could be used in wind turbines or as a component of solar arrays. This kind of cross-fertilization of alternative energies represents an exciting, outside-the-box example of how different forms of renewable energy could complement each other as well as extend the life of supposedly used-up components.

Now that we’ve seen the exciting and varied display of green vehicles at an industry event as important as the Washington Auto Show, we think it’s even more fitting we’re including electric vehicles in The Solar and Wind Expo. Come and see our lineup in May.

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California first state to get a GM Volt

GM has just announced what we have all assumed, California will be the first US state to get the Chevy Volt late next year. The automaker has selected and will be selecting other markets as well. GM vice chairman Bob Lutz said in his keynote address, “some other lead markets will be announced in the next few weeks.”

GM is also parterning with three California utilities and EPRI to do a real world Volt demonstration project. They will be using a $30 million DOE grant for the study which will involve providing 100 Chevy Volts for a two year study fleet beginning in early 2011. The vehicles will use OnStar to provide perfromance usage and analytic data in real-time. 500 charging stations will also be installed in business, public, and residential locations.

The three utilities are Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison and Sacramento Municipal Utility District. The learning will be used to improve future driver’s ownership experiences with electric cars.

“It is natural that California is the lead market for Volt. Not only is it the largest automotive market, Californians are known to be leaders in adopting groundbreaking new technologies,” said Brent Dewar, GM vice president, Global Chevrolet Brand.

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