The plug-in technology used in the Volt will not be restricted to the small car segment, or even the Chevrolet brand, as GM is keen to capitalize on its investment in the technology by implementing it in a number of vehicles that span its brand range.
But its first implementation will be the Volt, and both that car and the Chevrolet Cruze will be built around the company's new global compact platform. Previous development mules had been built around the last-generation Malibu, but now the Volt is moving forward on the global architecture. Lutz noted that the platform itself is remarkable, feeling, as he put it on the GM Fastlane blog, "several price classes higher than what it actually is" thanks to its quietness and refined ride.
During a 30mi (48km) jaunt in the new car, Lutz got to feel the combustion engine kick and described it as "quiet and non-jarring." The algorithm that controls the engine's start-up and shut-down during low-speed driving was apparently tuned a bit aggressively for Lutz's taste, but the head of GM's product development assures us that it will be worked out as part of the ongoing process of bringing the Volt to market by 2010.
A GM spokesman signaled that while GM was keeping tight lipped about any other possible plug-in hybrids for now, the plug-in hybrid technology itself is "not a niche product" and that "the architecture is flexible", reports Reuters.
Earlier we reported on Cadillac considering a plug-in hybrid, and the fact that the Chevrolet Volt will be sold as an Opel car in Europe and now sources close to GM are saying that the plug-in hybrid for Cadillac is in fact under development, along with other Opel plug-in models and even a possible plug-in hybrid SUV for the Chevrolet brand.
Currently, the Volt is scheduled for release in 2010, but any other GM branded plug-ins would likely come to market around 2012 or later.
Reader Comments
Fri Nov 7 2008 4:45 PM
NoNameDenton says
So basically be like the Lambda platform being over used, more diesels dern it.
Sun Nov 9 2008 11:31 AM
Chris says
Noname:
to call it a platform instead of an architecture is a bit unfair. a platform in the automotive sense is based in the physical world with dimensions that have to be maintained. the Lambdas all look the same because at the base, they are all the same, with some suspension and steering variances to give a "buick" feel or a "saturn" feel.
this "architecture" is more flexible.. its a redefinition of how the automobile works. the battery pack is T shaped so that it takes up some room in the engine compartment but also some room in the center stack. but unlike a normal car where the drive train has to maintain a certain shape, they could in essence make the battery a flat slate in the floor, freeing up the normal constraints of the passenger cabin. so long as you can hook up wires to it, it will work.
it's much more general engineering. they can put any engine in this car, diesel, gasoline, E85, hydrogen, etc. so long as something is spinny and something else has electricity, this thing will work. the details are left up to the actual vehicle.
its the same way that gm and chrysler can put a 2 mode hybrid system into a pickup or SUV and then merc goes and puts that exact same system into their S class.
think of a "platform" as being like a new generation of Pentium processor.... the "architecture" is common from P1 all the way to our current P4 processors.
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