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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