GM Exec: “Better In Every Way” 2nd Gen Chevrolet Volt “Media Encounters” Coming Soon – Video

 Last month GM teased us with a photo of the upcoming 2nd generation of Chevrolet Volt - a car that won’t be fully revealed until the 2015 Detroit Auto Show NAIAS.  However, a few new details on the road to that reveal came recently from Larry Nitz, who is GM’s Powertrain Executive Director, as well as “electrification” boss.

Larry Nitz Talks All Thing Chevy Volt In Recent Interview

More specifically, Mr. Nitz says that GM won’t be running fully darkon information pertaining to the next gen Volt in the short term, but that there “will be some specific media encounters along the way between now and January.”

Past these future-teasers, GM’s Powertrain exec says the Volt will be “better in everyway”, but qualifies that statement by also saying that pertains just to the “meaningful things that we think the customers really like”. 

Mr. Nitz prefaces this bold statement by highlighting things like range, performance and efficiency, but also notes later that charging times aren’t really a concern.

Reading the tea leaves presented to us, we take this to mean significantly more AER, but no fast charging on Volt 2.0.

Checkout the full Autoline After Hours interview with Mr. Nitz (from 15:15 for Volt-related topics), as it is interesting to get a first person account of the project from a GM exec directly…something of a rarity this past 2-3 years.

In case you don’t feel like sifting through the whole video, InsideEVs tipster Eric H provides a nice bullet-list of the tidbits to be had:

More 2nd Gen Volt Teasing Coming Soon

• Today’s volt is GM’s highest customer satisfaction vehicle.
• GM has collected anonymous data on about 2/3 of all volts or about 50,000 units.
• About 65% of overall driving is electric.
• About 82% of energy during commuting is from the electric plug.
• 81% of all trips have no engine start at all.  Some other plugins: only 10% of trips did not have an engine start
• The promises made are the promised that will be delivered to customers regarding Volt 2.0.  What people want will be delivered and we’ll hit it out of the park and sell in the numbers we want to sell.
• 60% of volt customers only charge on 110v rather than 240v.
• 50% of all volts are at home at any one particular time.
• 8 hour charge is perfectly acceptable for a majority of customers.
• Regarding customer education, we are going to do more to help the customer understand the proposition of the volt.  If someone can drive the volt for a couple weeks then they get it.
• There is a customer who drove 10,000 miles and only used 33 gallons of gasoline.
• “Volts plug in on average 10 times per week, not 7.  That surprised us.  We figured a once a day charge but customers charge more”

Audi A2Q BEV With 300-Mile Range To Launch In 2018?

According to Auto Bild, Audi is reportedly working on a tiny city carcalled the A2Q with range of some 300 miles!!!

We’re not so sure we believe that Auto Bild report, but here it is (via Google Translate):

“In the booming SUV segment, there will be with A2Q and Q6 soon purely electric-powered Audi with thick battery packs. We expect 2017/2018 with the idea. Then the lords of the rings want to give correct flow. If the expected advances in battery technology are true to the compact A2Q from 2018 sparkle with 500 km E-reach, a year earlier-starting Q6 to create even 700 km between the socket stops. Great prospects.”

The A2Q isn’t what we’d call a SUV, but rather more like a small BMW i3 (tall city car).

Auto Bild continues:

“The A2Q – the name Q2 and Q4 also has can be protected Alfa – it goes completely against the BMW i3. Unlike the Bavarian neighbors but Audi does not develop completely new electric platform, but uses the familiar MQB modular architecture of Golf/A3.”

The translation gets a bit rough, but here’s the rest of it:

“In the Ingolstadt then every but deliberately a unique silhouette in the style of earlier A2 – after all is not the electric Audi may be confused about how the e-Golf with its conventional brethren. One of the identifying features of all future electric novelties include a smaller single-frame grille with chrome and the great aerodynamics package in which you want to replace the mirrors with cameras as soon as this technology is qualified for admission to the major markets.”

Again, we don’t believe that Audi will have ready this A2Q with 300 miles of range in 2018, but perhaps we’ll be proven wrong.

Source: Auto Bild

Nissan Unveils LEAF Truck (Images + Video)

 The future of electric trucking has arrived in the form of this Nissan LEAF pickup:

“If necessity is the mother of invention, engineers fuel that fire at Nissan’s Technical Center in Stanfield, Arizona. Here engineers are plentiful. They love to build things, test things and tinker with things. This team thinks a lot about “why not?” Recently they created a one-of-a-kind electric vehicle to haul supplies and people around on the tech center property. This is Sparky as he’s known around the campus. It is a Nissan LEAF crossed with a Nissan Frontier, brought to life by Nissan’s Roland Schellenberg and Arnold Moulinet.”

Now it’s time to convince Nissan to put this electric truck into production.

Nissan LEAF Truck

Nissan LEAF Truck

LEAF Truck

LEAF Truck

LEAF Truck

LEAF Truck

LEAF Truck

LEAF Truck

Press release below:

Nissan engineers marry a LEAF to a Frontier for use around the shop

STANFIELD, Ariz. – If necessity is the mother of invention, engineers fuel that fire at Nissan’s Technical Center in Stanfield, Arizona. Here engineers are plentiful. They love to build things, test things and tinker with things. This team thinks a lot about “why not?” Recently they created a one-of-a-kind electric vehicle to haul supplies and people around on the tech center property.

“We tried to keep it a secret and be exciting for everybody. But we have visitors and they come and they see that truck and they go straight to ‘what is it?’ and they start looking at it, and it makes great conversation,” said Roland Schellenberg, Nissan Durability & Reliability.

This is Sparky, as he’s known around the campus. It is a Nissan LEAF crossed with a Nissan Frontier, brought to life by Nissan’s Roland Schellenberg and Arnold Moulinet. Sparky is a one-of-a-kind creation with a specific mission in life. He supports operations at Nissan’s proving grounds located on 3,050 acres in Stanfield, Arizona.

“I needed a project for a team building activity so we can bring the team together. We had a need for a truck. Something to drive around, a shop truck,” said Schellenberg.

It was months in the making, and there were many considerations, but Arnold Moulinet, Schellenberg’s colleague in the Durability & Reliability group, had the right tool-set to fabricate the vehicle into reality.

“After he (Schellenberg) told us it was going to be the LEAF that we would redo, I went home and stayed up till like four in the morning making all kinds of designs for what would work. We basically got the stock LEAF, and after reviewing a bunch of designs of pickup trucks that we have here at Nissan, we decided to go with a Frontier bed. My main job here is working on rough-road vehicles, rough-road testing. I’m pretty good at taking cars completely apart to the bare frame and putting them back together again to resume testing,” said Moulinet.

The low-desert terrain at Nissan’s technical center provides an ideal environment to test vehicles for hot weather, heat durability, engine cooling and air conditioner performance. There is also a 5.7-mile high-speed oval and four individual road courses designed to test vehicle durability, reliability and ride comfort. Sparky now is part of the support team to help operations run smoothly.

“Being a slick truck, and not so tough, I see it as a boy – but a boy with a heart. It’s something that we all put together. We all share. So it has a little bit of everybody in there,” said Schellenberg.