Doh! Battery leakage hurts GM hybrid production

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:28:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Green, Plants/Manufacturing, Recalls, Chevrolet, GM, Saturn

As much as General Motors would like to sell more hybrids, we'd imagine it would be pretty tough to do so without having the batteries on hand. It turns out that since December of last year, GM has had to recall some nine-thousand battery packs produced by its supplier, Cobasys, which were due for installation in mild hybrid versions of the Chevrolet Malibu, Saturn Vue and Saturn Aura. The culprit was reportedly an internal leak in the pack which caused the entire unit to be inoperable. This setback hurts even more in the face of record gasoline prices and the resultant record sales of hybrid vehicles.

Chevrolet plans to begin production of the 2009 Malibu hybrid on June 23. Cobasys says that it has resolved the leaky battery problem and that current units are shipping without defects. Unfortunately, some damage has already been done, especially for the Saturn brand, as sales of the hybrid version of the Vue have gone down from 2,683 units by this time last year to just 326 units thus far this year to go along with just 69 retail sales of the Aura hybrid.

[Source: Detroit News]

Doh! Battery leakage hurts GM hybrid production originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2008 Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid will be true 2-mode hybrid

John Neff — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 12:49:00 EST

Filed under: LA Auto Show, Hybrid, SUV, Green, GM, Saturn

UPDATE: Saturn will initially offer the new Vue Green Line with the current model's mild hybrid drivetrain, then offer both that drivetrain and the new FWD two-mode system together. See AutoblogGreen's coverage with more info here.

Here's some news we weren't expecting. The 2008 Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid will sport the first front-wheel drive version of the company's two-mode hybrid system first seen on the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid. The full hybrid drivetrain should return a 45-percent improvement in fuel economy over a non-hybrid Vue. That's a big bump over the 25-percent improvement in fuel economy that GM's claiming for vehicles saddled with its mild hybrid drivetrain, like the current Vue Green Line and upcoming 2008 Aura Green Line. The main difference between the two types of hybrid drivetrains is that the two-mode system allows for electric-only propulsion at low speeds while the mild system's battery backs can only assist the gas engine.

The Saturn Vue Green Line's transmission also sounds like a piece of trick hardware, with two electric continously variable modes and four fixed mechanical gear ratios. While details are scarce and we left our engineering degree back home, that tranny appears to be a combination of a CVT and traditional four-speed that's split between the electric drive and power provided by the gas engine, which is GM's own 3.6-liter VVT V6. Perhaps we're reading the press release wrong, but it's light on verbage and exposition so that's all we have to go on.

It's a very smart move by General Motors to upgrade the Vue Green Line to true hybrid status, especially considering that an even more frugal Vue Green Line Plug-In Hybrid is now being developed. While most shoppers aren't aware of the intricate differences between a mild and full hybrid setup, the cache that comes with running a full hybrid drivetrain has weight and the improvement in mileage can't be denied. The fact this is the first front-wheel drive application of GM's two-mode hybrid system means we should see it start being used in other passenger cars in the near future, as well.

Check out the full press release for yourself after the jump.

[Source: GM]

Continue reading 2008 Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid will be true 2-mode hybrid

2008 Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid will be true 2-mode hybrid originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 29 Nov 2006 12:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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