According to British magazine Autocar, the second generation of the Opel / Vauxhall Ampera is scheduled for release in 2015 and, if sources from within the company are reliable, it feature a more radical design and a lower starting price than the current model.
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The new units will generate enough electricity to fully-charge 12 Chevrolet Volts a day, while excess electricity created will be used to power the dealership, supplementing their power needs. According to the Detroit automaker, each canopy generates enough electricity for up to 4,500 charges per vehicle annually.
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Having introduced five new cars in the past 18 months and on the verge of launching a major TV, print and digital campaign this summer to celebrate its centennial anniversary, Chevrolet is trying to become more premium.
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However, their owners must not forget to charge them, usually overnight, or they’ll wake up next morning and discover they’ve run out of electric juice. In addition, they need to know their way around with the charging cords –not an easy task as any computer geek knows very well.
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Visitors are encouraged to share stories and photos about the roles that Chevrolets played in their lives through social media channels like Facebook, as well as to cast their vote on their most favorite model using a list of 16 celebrated vehicles, starting with the 1912 Six and concluding with the 2011 Volt.
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Year-to-date sales are up some 32% across the range, though only 567 of the 80,000 plus cars the Detroit automaker sold in June were Volts. The remainder were cars like the Cruze, which has earned the crown of Chevy’s biggest seller.
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This will enable the carmaker to track the charging habits of the vehicle’s drivers so as to better manage the car’s energy supply.
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A total of 34 hybrid vehicles from the 2011 to 2012 model year were tested for their fuel efficiency, environmental impact, value-for-money and their so-called “forced-feature premium”. The latter is features that don’t improve fuel efficiency but probably make the cars more appealing to money-conscious consumers.
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To quote Motorworld senior editor Alex Taylor III: “[The Prius Plug-in is] more efficient and less expensive than the Volt, and Toyota actually stands the possibility of making a profit on it -- something General Motors concedes it can't do with the Volt.”
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From January through May, the Volt was only 17 cars behind the Leaf, but in the following month, sales of the Volt plunged to just 561 cars, while those of the LEAF took off with a record 1,708 units, giving Nissan’s EV the lead. The LEAF costs $33,000 before a $7,500 federal tax credit, while the Volt costs $41,000 before government incentives.
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And while GM is betting on the introduction of a slightly lower priced base model as well as the extended availability of the Volt in all 50 states to win this battle, Nissan is counting on increasing output to ease customer delays after production was disrupted by the Japan’s earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
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Believe it or not, it’s a fierce neck-to-neck sales battle so far in 2011 with only 17 cars separating the Leaf from the Volt. Nissan has delivered 2,184 examples of the pure-electric Leaf from January to the end of May, while GM has sold 2,167 units of Chevrolet’s extended range electric vehicle in the same period.
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Since both cars are fitted as standard with electronic stability control systems, they also qualified as winners of Top Safety Pick, the Institute's award for state-of-the-art crash protection.
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Weber will be in control of EfficientDynamics (the green stuff), driver safety/assistance tech, and "full vehicle concepts and architecture", as well as bringing a whole bunch of electrical wizardry and know-how to BMW's nascent electric future.
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However, the official driving range of the Volt, measured by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is much smaller than the GM executive's claims. The Volt's electric-only driving range is 35 miles (56.3 km), with another 344 miles (553.6 km) possible as the gasoline generator kicks in. The combined range therefore sits at 379 miles (610 km), way below the claimed 1,000 miles.
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Given that the styling changes over the Chevrolet Volt would be limited to a Buick-specific grille and bumper designs, one of the most significant problems GM faces is how to justify the car and its higher price tag which would be in excess of the Volt’s base MSRP of US$41,000 not including a $7,500 federal tax credit.
