GM Increases Production of Volt in 2012

A pre-production Chevy Volt nears the end of the lineGM has decided to increase production from 30,000 to 45,000 on the Volt in its second year (2012). GM just opened up pre-orders a few days ago on the Chevy Volt. If they decided to up production by 15,000 units, to me, that means they are having very strong pre-sales.At $41,000, you would think the Volt was not going to be a high production vehicle. But at 45,000 units a year, you can't label...

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New York City Loses Bid to Force Hybrid Taxi... Again

New York City has lost again in its battle to create a hybrid taxi fleet in New York City. Cab owners have been fighting the city for years, claiming the city was attempting to mandate fuel economy and emissions, which only the federal government can do.Cab owners aren't really worried about federal lawgivers rights, however. They just don't want to spend more money on purchasing the vehicles. Cab drivers love driving hybrids, since they save so much money on gas over the Ford Victoria. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected...

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But Do You Want Them to Pick You Up?

Enterprise Rent-A-Car will be offering 500 Nissan Leafs for rent starting January 2011. The Nissan Leaf, an all electric vehicle (EV), has a range of about 100 miles (depends on your driving conditions). It can be recharged in a standard 110-volt home outlet. Although you do have the option of speeding things up if you have a 220-volt or even a 480-volt outlet available. Enterprise is offering the EV in eight different markets; Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; Knoxville and Nashville, Tenn.; San Diego; Los Angeles; Portland, Ore.; and Seattle. The...

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2011 Chevy Volt Price

2011 Chevy Volt, $41K for an E-REVAll the speculation is over as the Chevy Volt price has finally been revealed. And at $41,000, the E-REV from GM is not going to be a car for everyone.The price is not surprising, but it is a bit disappointing. I was hoping that with the lower than expected price tag on the Nissan Leaf, GM would be forced to bring it down to at least the mid $35,000 range. Keeping it under forty thousand would have been something....

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Volt Pricing to be Set on Tuesday... Will the Volt Flop Before it is Produced?

We'll finally have a clue as to whether or not the Chevy Volt; often cited, advertised, overexposed, etc....; will succeed or not. The MSRP will be announced Tuesday at 12 PM ET on July 27. Ever since the Volt was a prototype, this has been the biggest question on everyone's mind. It's all well and good to make a prototype that gets great reviews. It's even better when a plug-in hybrid is designed as a production vehicle. Even in bankruptcy, GM has promised the Volt for the fall of 2010 and has kept to that timetable. It's been pretty remarkable.And...

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Shocking Price Tag for Lincoln MKZ Hybrid

2011 Lincoln MKZ HybridI admit it, I'm shocked to see this. Ford has opted to price the hybrid MKZ at the same price as its gas-only version.  At $35,180, including destination and delivery, this is still not a cheap car.  But hybrid cars have always come with an increased price tag.In case you're wondering (and I was) the gas-only version is a V6.  So, if you were going to buy the V-6, why wouldn't you opt for the hybrid version?...

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Honda Gets Aggressive With Hybrids

Honda CEO Takanobu Ito has decided it will be more aggressive in the hybrid playing field.  Probably because Toyota has dominated in Japan with their new Prius sales (becoming the number one car sold in Japan), Honda has decided they need to be more aggressive in creating hybrid cars.  Ito laid out Honda's strategy in an address in Tokyo.Honda will introduce new advanced environmental technology vehicles, including a battery-electric vehicle and a new plug-in hybrid vehicle, to the U.S. market in 2012, the company announced today in the...

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Toyota Settles Lawsuit with Paice

Toyota has finally settled the lawsuit made by Paice LLC, which had a patent infringement case going for six years. The agreement was announced just before the hearing was set to begin in front of the US International Trade Commission.The agreement says that "Toyota invented, designed and developed the Prius and Toyota's hybrid technology independent of any inventions of Dr. Severinsky and Paice as part of Toyota's long history of innovation."But according to the news article, Toyota has agreed to license all 23 of Paice's patents.Toyota had already...

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President Obama Praises the Chevy Volt

President Obama Next to Chevy VoltPresident Obama, even as BP finally cuts off the flow of oil into the Gulf (maybe!), was visiting the ground breaking of a battery plant in Holland, MI. The Compact Power (Compact Power is a subsidiary of LG Chem) battery plant will make the battery cells for the Chevy Volt. The Chevy Volt will be the first of it's kind, an Extended Range Electric Vehicle (E-REV). The battery plant was partially built using federal...

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Toyota Electric RAV4 Will be Built by Tesla

Tesla and Toyota announced today they will partner to build an electric RAV4. The prototypes will be made combing the RAV4 with a Tesla electric powertrain. One prototype has already been built. Tesla will produce and deliver the fleet of prototypes this year.The electric RAV4 will used Tesla's liquid cooled lithium-ion battery configuration. The configuration ties together thousands of commodity cells that you would normally find in a laptop.In...

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GM Warranty for 100,000 Miles on the Volt Battery

GM is guaranteeing their Volt battery for eight years, 100,000 miles. That's a pretty good guarantee. And GM hopes it will be enough to alleviate the worries new Volt buyers may have about the new battery types.The 16kWh lithium-ion battery found in the Volt isn't based off of new technology, but it is expensive. If it failed (and there was no guarantee), it would cost thousands to replace. Used Volt buyers a decade from now... they may have something to worry about. But that's the risk people take when they buy used. If you bought a used...

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Honda Building a New Hybrid Plant in Japan

There's a Nikkei report Honda will be building a new hybrid plant by 2013. They will drop their plans to build a minivehicle factory in order to make room in Saitama.They hope to meet the 'rebounding demands' in Japan and in North America.Source: Marketwat...

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GM Will Have a Warranty on the Lithium-Ion Battery Pack in Volt

I can't say that the warranty Toyota and Honda put on their battery and hybrid engines was the key to their successful launch of hybrid cars in the US. But I can say this, without them, they would have failed.Even though we know now battery failure occurs at an extremely low rate, people still ask about it and worry about it a decade later.Customers would not have lined up to make the Prius one of the top ten vehicles sold in the US if they were worried the battery, which cost thousands to replace, didn't have the warranty.So, it's no surprise...

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LG Chem to Supply Batteries for Ford Focus Electric

Ford will be using battery packs made by Compact Power, a subsidiary of LG Chem in their Ford Focus Electric due out in 2011. The lithium-ion battery cell production will be built in Holland, MI. The Ford Electric will be built at the Michigan Assembly Plant along with a next-generation hybrid and a plug-in hybrid in 2012. Press Release Follows:Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) today announced it has selected Compact Power, Inc. (CPI), a subsidiary of LG Chem, to build lithium-ion battery packs for the Ford Focus Electric, which will go on sale in...

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2010 Infiniti M Hybrid Engine

Nissan's new hybrid system will be better than Toyotas.  That's a big deal, since Toyota has the most efficient hybrid motor on the road today.Powered by a lithium-ion battery pack, the newly developed hybrid motor may be the "most efficient 1-motor, 2-clutch parallel full hybrid system."  It's important to keep in mind when comparing to the Toyota hybrid engine is a good part of what makes it the most efficient is its use of lithium-ion...

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Lexus Hybrids Included in List of Vehicles Affected by Possible Engine Stalling, Possible Recall

The Lexus hybrids are included in the possible recall list by Toyota. The LS 600h, 600hl and the GS 450h are three of the eight models included in the list of vehicles affected by the engine stalling problem affecting Toyota cars worldwide.Overall, 270,000 vehicles may be recalled as Toyota considers its options (Source: Reuters).Other vehicles affected the Toyota Crown and Lexus LS 460, GS 460, GS 350, and IS 350.The vehicles may have excessive noise coming from the engine as the 4.6-liter and 3.6-liter have an issue with the valve spring. That...

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