Chevy Volt News

Remember the story last fall about workers at battery maker LG Chem's Holland, MI-based plant who were sitting idle? Well, the feds have investigated and the news isn't good. The US Department of Energy (DOE) released an audit earlier this month (PDF) that revealed that not a single production lithium-ion battery has been built at the plant and employees ...

Right after being displayed and winning an award at the cozy confines of the Detroit Auto Show, the Cadillac ELR plug-in hybrid went into the snow for some real-world extreme driving conditions. Cadillac engineers recently completed chassis testing on pre-production ELR models, evaluating the car's handling in winter weather conditions. GM's goal is to ...

Chevrolet's "Runs Deep" tagline has finally been run into the ground, replaced with the Bowtie brand's "Find New Roads" slogan that's part of parent General Motors' plan to unify its everyday brand's marketing efforts worldwide. The new Chevrolet campaign was ushered in on prime time last night during the Grammy Awards on CBS, and the first spot, a ...

Let's Face It, We're Just Plain Lazy Recent news about the price cuts on the Ford Focus EV and Nissan Leaf are proof positive that despite all their eco-goodness, pure electrics as well as plug-in hybrids remain a tough sell to the American mass market. There's no doubt automakers are committed to electrifying an increasing portion of their product ...

It may have a sliver of Chevrolet muscle car heritage, but the plug-in hybrid Volt didn't stand a chance of beating the Tesla Model S in a recent quarter-mile race. As you can see in the video below, shown recently on That Racing Channel, the Model S took the lead in the race right away, hitting the finish line in 12.562 seconds at 108.34 miles per hour. ...

The 2014 Cadillac ELR plug-in hybrid got a lot of buzz at the Detroit Auto Show, and was awarded the Eyes on Design honor as Best Production Vehicle. It's taken four years for the original concept car – the 2009 Converj based on the Chevrolet Volt powertrain – to make the next step forward. Tim Kozub, Cadillac exterior design manager, said ...

Sales of the Chevrolet Volt have fluctuating wildly recently between record months (October 2012, when 2,961 were sold or December 2012 with 2,633) and noticeable slumps (1,519 Volt sales in November). Last month, January 2013, was one of the down months, with just 1,140 Volts sold across the US. Still, this is better than the 603 Volts sold in January ...

There are already official QR code stickers on 2013 model cars, thanks to a rule from the US Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation. Chevrolet Volt owner Kevin Tofel thinks it's a smart move to address misconceptions about the car, its large battery and gasoline generator by adding some promotional QR stickers. Tofel bought his ...

Following the news of the massive price drop for the Nissan Leaf, hearing GM North America President Mark Reuss tell the media that GM will take out "thousands of dollars" from the next-generation Chevrolet Volt isn't exactly a surprise. In fact, we've known for a long time that plug-in cars will get cheaper and cheaper as the technology evolved. It's ...

Now he tells us. Bob Lutz, who helped spearhead the development of the Chevrolet Volt at General Motors, told UK's Autocar that the Volt's extended-range plug-in powertrain would've been better developed for full-size SUV than a smaller-sized car because of the greater opportunity to cut fuel use compared to gas-guzzling models like the Cadillac ...

Give Bob Lutz a little bit of time and a big idea, and he will create for the world "the kind of vehicle I would like to own." That's what he called the X-Truck concept – from the Lutz-affiliated Via Motors – which debuted at the Detroit Auto Show. If you're thinking that the X-Truck (and Via's other offerings, the Presidential SUV and the ...

It shouldn't be surprising that a company with the word electric in its name would want to plug into the growth of EVs. Even so, when General Electric announced in 2010 that it would buy 25,000 electric vehicles by 2015, the sheer size of the bulk buy made headlines, for the size of the commitment and because half that number would be from General Motors, ...

Echo Automotive, Inc., a start-up company that converts fleet vehicles to hybrids and plug-in hybrids, has announced an impressive Technical Advisory Board. Plug-in electric vehicle expert Chelsea Sexton and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk are two of the seven board members who met in early December to discuss the company's initial product, ...

The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid was the top selling plug-in hybrid vehicle in the United Kingdom, with 470 sold since being introduced to the market in July 2012. That means the Prius Plug-in Hybrid outsold the Vauxhall Ampera plug-in hybrid, Toyota says. The sales lead happened even though the Ampera was launched in the UK market three months earlier ...

December 2012 alt-fuel vehicle sales continued to trend well ahead of 2011 figures and pushed 2012's sales of hybrids, diesels and plug-ins past the half-million vehicle threshold. Plug-in vehicle sales totaled 6,769 units for December, which was more than twice as high as a year earlier and just 15 units shy of October's monthly record of 6,784. Last ...

As we continue to put together all the data for the year-end edition of By The Numbers, General Motors has announced that it sold more than a million vehicles in the US last year that achieved at least 30 miles per gallon on the highway. More impressively, GM managed this feat using multiple strategies including small vehicle size, turbocharged engines ...

It wasn't the best Chevrolet Volt sales month ever, but GM's plug-in hybrid climbed out of the November slump of 1,519 sales back up to 2,633 sales in December. The record for most Volt sales in a month thus remains with October 2012 and 2,961 sold. For the year, Chevy sold a total of 23,461 Volts, way up from the 7,671 sold in 2011. The other long-timer ...

Automotive dealerships are accustomed to training sales and service professionals when new models arrive, but the plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt – and its pricey additional tool and equipment costs – is frustrating some low-volume retailers to the point of dropping the model from the showroom. A recent report says that a few discontented ...

General Motors' Vauxhall division in the UK is looking to spur sales of the Chevrolet Volt sister vehicle by giving prospective buyers a chance to drive the extended-range plug-in for 30 days – then return it if they don't like it. Vauxhall is offering a 30-day holiday-themed "satisfaction guarantee" on the Ampera. Within that time period, drivers ...

The Detroit Free Press reports electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt aren't maintaining the same residual values as their internal combustion counterparts. Kelly Blue Book says the 2012 Nissan Leaf will hold around 20 percent of its value after five years while the Nissan Sentra will retain around 30 percent of its value. KBB predicts ...