General Motors is not in the solar game just so we can tout it on our environmental blog.

There are very real benefits to using solar to power parts of our facilities, not the least of which is the fact that it’s better for the environment.

It can save money, too. (more…)

GM is already the maker of the Chevrolet Volt, the first wide-selling domestic plug-in hybrid electric vehicle to hit the market. With new CAFE standards put in place by the US Government, and with growing public demand for cleaner vehicles, GM has decided to expand its electric vehicle inventory. According to GM’s product development chief, by (more…)

General Motors aims to build as many as 500,000 vehicles that utilize some sort of electric technology by 2017.

Speaking to reporters this week, GM’s product development chief, Mary Barra, said the company’s fleet of cleaner vehicles will include the plug-in Chevrolet Volt; the all-electric Spark EV, which will go (more…)

Back in February, Envia Systems made an announcement regarding tests of its electric vehicle battery technology, and said it had achieved an energy density of 400 Watt-hours/kilogram (Wh/g) with battery technology for electric vehicles. Last week, General Motors, (more…)

The car company is dead, long live the car company!

No, I’m not trying to pour cold water on the notion of the “rebirth” of Detroit, as effectively marketed by Chrysler and Clint Eastwood in the recent Super Bowl ad. Chrysler, Ford and GM have all done impressive phoenix impersonations, arising from the ashes of the (more…)

The year 2015 is the deadline that a number of automakers have set for themselves to introduce commercially viable fuel cell cars. The leaders in this effort are Daimler, Hyundai, Honda and Toyota, with GM continuing to push forward as well. While 2015 may seem a long way off – and indeed battery and plug-in (more…)

Since childhood, Lynn Gantt has had a deep seeded passion for cars and the mechanics that drive them. The Virginia native spent his weekends rebuilding antique tractors with his dad to race at tractor pulls across the state, and now the Virginia Tech graduate student is the (more…)

Less than a month after emerging from bankruptcy and relaunching with a $20 billion IPO, GM (NYSE: GM) is continuing to position itself as a company that is lean, green and efficient. Concurrent with this week’s announcement that the company had shipped its first Chevy Volt, GM announced it now has 76 landfill-free facilities, meeting its commitment to convert (more…)

Just as your mileage varies by where and how you drive, so might the performance of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid’s batteries.

The batteries in the GM vehicle due out in a year (November 2010) will have at least 10 years of life, according to company representatives who briefed the media on Tuesday. But vehicle owners who live in temperate climates are likely to see their batteries last much longer.

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By all accounts the cash for clunkers incentive program has exceeded all expectations in both volume of sales, as well as answering skeptics by getting fuel inefficient vehicles off the road.

The new vehicles being purchased average nearly 10 mpg higher, saving nearly 4 million barrels of oil per year and eliminating the production of tons of greenhouse gases.

More importantly, the program and its surrounding attention seems to have driven consumers towards hybrids and fuel efficient vehicles even more than a 50 cent spike in the price of gasoline. According to Brian Benstock, the VP and GM of Paragon Honda and Acura, the program is also introducing new customers to imports. Benstock said the program has reversed the ratio of domestic/import trade-ins at his dealership. Previously about 70 percent of his customers were trading one import (mostly Hondas) for another. Now it’s the opposite: 70 percent of people walking in the door are swapping American made autos for Hondas.

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