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Driven: 2020 BMW X7 M50i, M760i and M340i | Autoblog Podcast #623

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by West Coast Editor James Riswick and Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. They discuss news about the Cadillac V Blackwing, as well as some interesting auction listings that we spied. They also talk about cars from the fleet including the BMW M760i, X7 M50i and M340i. Autoblog Podcast #623 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving 2020 BMW M760i xDrive 2020 BMW X7 M50i 2020 BMW M340i Impala auction listing Cadillac V Blackwing news Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: Nissan Frontier and a mid-engine Mustang | Autoblog Podcast #622

Chevy Bolt EV's battery shows big improvements over Spark's

Plug-in vehicle battery technology moves fast, and all you need to do to see this in action is to take a look at the new 60-kWh lithium-ion pack inside the 2017 Chevy Bolt EV. Well, you need to do that and then compare it to the battery packs inside of GM's other plug-in vehicles. And you don't even to go as far back as the EV1 to see progress. Let's start with what we know about the new Bolt's pack. It is supposed to drive the Bolt EV over 200 miles on a full charge. It weighs 960 pounds and is made up of 288 cells. Chevy's other all-electric car, the limited-availability Spark EV, had a 19-kWh pack and offered 82 miles of range. It had 192 cells and weighed 474 pounds. So, in the few years since the Spark EV was released, GM engineers have figured out how to get three times the energy capacity and almost two-and-a-half times more range out of a pack that weighs only about twice as much. And that doesn't even get to the price drops. GM has figured out how to get 3x the energy capacity and almost 2.5 times more range out of a pack that weighs only twice as much. Speaking of those 288 cells, that number might sound familiar to regular readers because that's exactly how many are in the new Chevy Volt. But the packs in the Volt and the Bolt are entirely different beasts. For one thing, while the Volt cells are made by LG Chem in Holland, MI, LG Chem will make the Bolt's cells in South Korea. The cell chemistries are also different. We spoke with GM engineer Tim Grewe (again) and while he declined to answer some of our Bolt battery pack questions until more details are unveiled at the SAE World Congress in April, he was able to explain a few things. "The cell inside the Chevy Bolt EV was specifically designed for EV range so it's up on energy," he said. "That's a different cell chemistry than on the extended range Chevy Volt, which is a smaller pack, smaller energy but more power per cell. We work with all of those vehicle requirements and customer demands and we say how do we meet this and we change the chemistry to make it all work." Comparing the 60 kWh in the Bolt and the 18.4-kWh pack in the Volt is really one of those apples to oranges issues, he said. "If you look at the Volt battery pack, how it went from where it was and where it's up to, from 38 miles to 50 miles, that was basic, overall industry improvement. Now, the 18 [kWh] to the 60 [kWh] is extended range vs. EV.

Watch a camo'ed next-gen Chevy Volt go ice driving

Teasers for the 2016 Chevy Volt continue, The Bowtie showing us in this latest outing how its range-extended hybrid dances on ice and snow. It will only take 42 seconds of your life so don't expect an Arctic challenge, but if you in the snow regions had any doubts about how it will handle the frozen goods, this should help assuage them. The bigger and better, more powerful and faster Volt - able to run regular fuel - will get out from under its camo at the North American International Auto Show next month. For now, enjoy the way it moves its hips in the video above. News Source: Chevrolet via YouTube, Facebook Detroit Auto Show Chevrolet Videos