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GM developing new E-Flex vehicles


GRDadof3

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In today's Business Journal Street Talk, they're talking about GM's new E-Flex platform vehicles, that the first ones out on the market will be able to travel 40 miles between charges on their electric power alone, without the engine kicking in!! 40 miles is less of a drive than 78% of Americans' commutes. I'd say in GR, it's more like 95% of commuters drive less than 40 miles to work and back.

Has anyone heard anything more about this?

http://www.grbj.com/GRBJ/ArticleArchive/20...onfidential.htm

The Chevy Volt was at the Detroit Auto Show, and can also run on E-85 and other alternative fuels.

If this is something GM is pursuing seriously, as the Biz Journal states, this could unbelievable.

With the eventual adoption of lithium-ion batteries, E-Flex should remove the vehicle from the energy grid entirely; eliminating internal combustion entirely and any need to plug the vehicle into municipal electricity.

When this happens, GM expects the change in the automotive industry will be massive. Supplying and reclaiming batteries will provide an entirely new industry, while the position of petroleum suppliers and traditional automotive suppliers will decrease dramatically. The E-Flex platform does not have a transmission, for example, removing a large segment of the supplier base.

For that to occur, Zimmerman said that the automotive industry will likely take uncharacteristic political stances, positioning itself against Big Oil on issues of alternative fuel and taxation — possibly even lobbying for higher taxes on gasoline.

- Business Journal Street Talk

More info here:

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/01/07/de...is-the-chevy-v/

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Sounds like a cool idea. Plus the car doesn't come off cartoony looking like most other "environmentally friendly/efficient" cars. However being this is just a concept car from GM, I'm taking the Volt with a grain of salt until I see something very similar to it in showrooms. If this where Chrysler which had concept cars make it to the show room with little modifications or dumbed down for ease of manufacturing then I would take this vehicle more seriously.

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The Volt is just one concept car for the E-flex powertrain platform that they are looking at. It sounds like production is planned for 2010 at the earliest. The one difference between E-flex and the EV1 is that the E-flex can be a four seater, whereas the EV1 was a two-seater. In addition, the E-Flex can travel much further on a charge than the EV1, and the "flex" feature allows the car to run in any fuel environment, be it E-85 here in the U.S. to hydrogen in China, to other exotic fuels in Europe. It sounds pretty fascinating. They say the big challenge is getting a lightweight powerful Lithium Battery to go along with it to make it production-worthy and economical, but they are working with several supplier-partners to develop the technology (I'm sure Johnson Controls is one).

GM says they are willing to make the development process as transparent as possible to the media and the blogger world, which has given GM quite the flogging over "Who killed the electric car".

If you want to research some more, here ya go:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=g...amp;btnG=Search

Always with GM, you take this kind of news with a grain of salt. Fool me once, shame on you....

And yes Voloise, we don't want to provide any more parking, no matter how green it is. :thumbsup:

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The Volt is just one concept car for the E-flex powertrain platform that they are looking at. It sounds like production is planned for 2010 at the earliest. The one difference between E-flex and the EV1 is that the E-flex can be a four seater, whereas the EV1 was a two-seater. In addition, the E-Flex can travel much further on a charge than the EV1, and the "flex" feature allows the car to run in any fuel environment, be it E-85 here in the U.S. to hydrogen in China, to other exotic fuels in Europe. ...
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