Tuesday, October 3, 2017

GENERAL MOTORS WILL ADD 20 MORE EV'S BY 2023 AND OFFER FUEL CELLS







General Motors announced how it is executing on a major element of its vision of a world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion, recently announced by GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra.

“General Motors believes in an all-electric future,” said Mark Reuss, General Motors executive vice president of Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain. “Although that future won't happen overnight, GM is committed to driving increased usage and acceptance of electric vehicles through no-compromise solutions that meet our customers' needs.”

In the next 18 months, GM will introduce two new all-electric vehicles based off learnings from the Chevrolet Bolt EV. They will be the first of at least 20 new all-electric vehicles that will launch by 2023.

Given customers' various needs, getting to a zero emissions future will require more than just battery electric technology. It will require a two-pronged approach to electrification — battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric depending on the unique requirements.

Reuss did not state wheteher GM will consider conventional hybrids and plug-in hybrids or move over to BEV’s and hydrogen- powered vehicles exclusively.

Honda, Toyota and Hyundai offer fuel-cell vehicles that are extremely efficient, use less parts, and are reliable. The problem is no infrastructure for refueling.

The fuel cell industry has faced and continues to face challenges as it comes through a period of recession and completes the transition from R&D to commercialization. On the whole, it has survived extremely difficult circumstances. Although many fuel cell companies are still far from being profitable, the opportunities for growth in the future are very promising. The success of certain application segments in recent years means that there has been a move to consolidate particular technologies into a standard reference design for a particular type of fuel cell. This has led to fuel cells increasingly being developed as scalable energy solutions capable of serving several different market segments, be they APU or to power devices such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

Over the last eight years growth in shipments of fuel cells has accelerated rapidly as various applications have become commercial. Portable fuel cells saw the most rapid rate of growth over the period since 2009 as increasing numbers of fuel cell educational kits were sold to consumers. This genuine commercial market generated much-needed revenue for several key players and has allowed those companies to invest in research into larger stationary and transport applications. The portable sector has also been boosted by shipments of APU products for the leisure market, in particular camping and boating. Shipments in the portable sector were also augmented by the launch of Toshiba's Dynario fuel cell battery charger in 2009. On a limited production run of 3,000, demand for the Dynario far outstripped supply. Stationary fuel cell adoption has increased rapidly as the roll-out of the Japanese Ene-Farm project took place and fuel cells for uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) were adopted in North America.

The supply chain has also been steadily growing alongside the increase in the number of fuel cell system manufacturers. There has been an expansion of the component supply chain and related services, from the manufacturers of MEA to fuel and infrastructure providers. Manufacturing capacity has tended to increase more rapidly than output. This is particularly true in North America, one of the leading regions for fuel cell manufacturing.

GM has one of the many alternatives  introduced in the SURUS — the Silent Utility Rover Universal Superstructure — a fuel cell powered, four-wheel steer concept vehicle on a heavy-duty truck frame that’s driven by two electric motors. With its capability and flexible architecture, SURUS could be used as a delivery vehicle, truck or even an ambulance — all emissions free.

China looks as if will be the worlds largest user of electric powered vehicles in part because of their government restrictions.  If they follow Norway and India banning internal combustion engines manufacturers would have to follow the rules or abandon a large market.

Every week it seems as if China is changing the rules on joint manufacturing.

One thing that China needs to do is get away from coal usage in their power plants. The pollution alone from those plants add heavily to the pollution.




General Motors has two successful vehicles presently. The Chevy Volt that was first introduced in 2010 was redesigned and updated in 2016. The current version can get more than 50 miles on battery power alone before firing up its internal combustion engine for longer journeys. Potentially 420 miles total driving range.  The Volt has a two-motor drive unit that is up to 12 percent more efficient and 100 pounds lighter than the previous generation Volt.  I like vehicles that allow for regeneration and the Volt offers that in the newer Volt  Regen on Demand™ feature enables driver control of energy regeneration via a convenient paddle on the back of the steering wheel.

The 1.5L range extender, designed to use regular unleaded fuel, offers  combined EPA-estimated fuel efficiency of 42 mpg



GM introduced their long-range EV, the Chevy Bolt, in December 2015. Now in October 2017 they have a new BOLT.  Our staff has seen it but no real details on range or it abilities has been verified by our team. The 2015 BOLT was rated at 238 miles per charge. The vehicle, which competes against the new Tesla Model 3. Tesla and other EV manufacturers offer extended battery packs in 2017.  Software developers and battery manufacturers are moving forward with lighter, more powerful battery solutions to run the EVs of today and tomorrow.

Joint venturers by battery builders are exploding in this emerging market. Mercedes and others have their own factories to produce batteries to run their new EVs.

GM has not released any  plans for switching to an all-electric powertrain strategy. GM said they will start with the addition of two new BEVs over the next 18 months which “will be the first of at least 20 new all-electric vehicles that will launch by 2023.”

BRUCE HUBBARD
BONNIE LYNCH
BRADLEY HUBBARD
AUTO ADVISOR GROUP


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