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Chevy gets cracking on Cruze EV fleet testing

Chevrolet Cruze EV - Click above for high-res image gallery
The Chevrolet Volt hasn't yet gone on sale, but General Motors is looking at ways of expanding its electric vehicle lineup. Chevy, along with partner LG, is employing a group of all-electric cars in the form of the Cruze. The sedans are part of a demonstration fleet which is located in Seoul, South Korea and is being used to provide data in an electric vehicle research project. The goal is to gather information on driving patterns and charging behavior in addition to consumer acceptance.
The Cruze EVs, along with some Daewoo Lacetti Premieres EVs, are the first fleet of full-size electric vehicles and should provide invaluable information for The General. Staying full-size means not sacrificing cargo space, so the battery pack is mounted to the underbody, leaving the trunk area open for plenty recyclable, canvas grocery bags.

2016 Chevrolet Camaro: Notes from the reveal

The 2016 Chevrolet Camaro debuted Saturday evening in Detroit at an enthusiast-oriented event near the city's IndyCar course. While the big news was the Camaro's 200-pound weight loss, tighter chassis, and a snorting new V8, plenty of other morsels of Camaro info came out. Here's some of the more interesting stuff we heard. • The 2.0-liter inline four-cylinder is the first turbocharged engine in a Camaro. • The LT1 borrowed from the Corvette Stingray marks the third time a Camaro has used an engine with that badge. It was previously used in 1970-72 (Z/28), 1993-97 (Z/28), and 1996-97 (SS). • The Camaro was revealed in a tent before nearly 1,000 enthusiasts, General Motors executives (including CEO Mary Barra) and mere feet from the Grand Prix course where IndyCars will run in two weeks. • Chevy hopes to continue to attract new customers with the Camaro and said 63 percent of the fifth-generation buyers were new to the brand. • GM product boss Mark Reuss neatly summed up the Camaro's handling character. "It's wicked fast and extremely nimble." • Reuss on the design goal: make it "look like a car for tomorrow instead of a car from yesterday." • Reuss' first car was a 1967 Camaro, and he's reiterated his passion for the car. "People want to be seen in a Camaro, and that never goes away." • Chevy North America president Alan Batey said he plans to line up a red Camaro as soon as the order bank opens. We assume he'll have early access to that. • Though the appearance is similar, the sixth generation of the Camaro appears a little sleeker and is more aerodynamic thanks to 350 hours in the wind tunnel. Only two parts, the SS badge and the rear bow-tie emblem, are carryover. • Al Oppenheiser, the Camaro's chief engineer, said most of the options (except Magnetic Ride Control, which is SS exclusive), will be offered on the inline four. The engine will be capable of propelling the Camaro to a sprint to 60 miles per hour in well under six seconds. "We don't want to ... make it feel like an excuse car," he said. • Without revealing specifics, Oppenheiser said every Camaro variant will be faster than the model it replaces. •The interior is vastly improved. We got an up-close look in the cabin of one of the cars revealed with a red and white layout, and the materials are much better. The setting is more colorful, and 24 different ambient lighting shades are available. Related Video:

2016 Chevy Volt powertrain technical details

The last time General Motors launched a Chevy Volt, it was operating without really knowing how people would use the plug-in hybrid. Sure, it had experience with the EV1, but the Volt was a new kind of car, and you can see in the archives just how much time GM spent explaining this fresh, new powertrain to potential customers. Then, once the vehicle was released, the company collected voluntary data from a large number of owners to learn about their driving and charging habits. The company also asked them what they wanted most in the new version. There's got to be an algorithm buried somewhere in GM headquarters that was used to take all of the numbers GM collected and spat out the headline figures for the 2016 Volt: 50 miles of EV range and 41 miles per gallon. Another important number – price – is something GM isn't talking about yet (expect it in April or May), but the company is sharing some powertrain details about the upcoming car. At a preview lunch in Detroit last week for the SAE 2015 Hybrid & Electric Vehicles Technologies Symposium that's happening now in California, GM engineers Peter Savagian (who is presenting a paper on the new inverter used in the updated Volt) and Tim Grewe (talking about the entire second-generation powertrain) sat down with AutoblogGreen to tell us about the Volt's all-new propulsion system: The overall gist is that the new Voltec 5ET50 drive unit is lighter, smaller and more powerful thanks to a redesigned two-motor traction drive. As previously reported, the new engine is a 1.5-liter DOHC four-cylinder that offers 101-horsepower (at 5,600 RPM). Grewe said it's "great for range extension." The electric motor side of the powertrain offers 149 motoring horsepower from a two-motor, continuously variable transaxle. Initially, the new engine will be made in Mexico. GM will move production to Flint, MI during the first year it makes the 2016 Volt. The battery is slightly bigger in the new Volt – 18.4 kWh compared to 16.5 in the current-gen – and will have less range variation in the cold. GM is also using more of the overall capacity in the pack in the 2016 Volt than in previous versions, but is not saying how much more. GM is not ready to publish acceleration times just yet, but the 2016 Volt has improved numbers, especially when going from 30-60 miles per hour. Most everything on the new powertrain has become more efficient compared to the first-gen Volt.