Opel / Vauxhall will unveil ecoFLEX models at the fast approaching Frankfurt motor show, to include the premier model (shown above), a Corsa 1.3 CDTI (which I think means Common-rail Diesel Turbo-charged direct Injection). In a Corsa the CDTI engine emitts an average of 119 g/km of CO2. GM Europe wants to make these available in 2008.
GM said this month that it will jointly develop the lithium- ion battery needed for the Volt with A123Systems Inc. As Jim Fraser relayed:
Jeff Green of Bloomberg reported that General Motors Corp. may build as many as 60,000 of its Volt electric cars for their inaugural year on the market, four times the sales of Toyota Motor Corp.’s hybrid Prius on its U.S. debut, people with knowledge of GM’s plans said.
Production at that level may allow GM to sell the plug-in Volt for less than $30,000, said the people, who didn’t want to be identified because the plans are confidential.
GM product chief Bob Lutz has said he wants to sell the first Volt by late 2010, and expects to have prototypes ready for testing early next year.
In Oregon House, California, an industry consultant, Menahem Anderman, observed that “creating a high-volume, plug-in electric car with a lithium- ion battery within three years may be impossible” and to talk about a 60,000-unit target is “totally ridiculous at this point.”
“To reach that level by 2010, they’d need to be placing the orders right now.” If GM proceeds with A123 as the main battery supplier, “they would be doing it with a company that has no experience in high-volume manufacturing on such a scale,” Anderman said.
“To offer 40 miles of all-electric range, he estimates GM would need a battery pack that would weigh about 400 pounds. That would be seven times heavier than the nickel-metal-hydride pack in the current Prius. Added weight reduces fuel efficiency.
“Higher production would let GM get volume discounts from auto-parts suppliers … The Prius, which doesn’t come in a plug-in version and uses less-expensive batteries than those planned for the Volt, costs $22,175 to $23,070.
The price comparison was interesting since Toyota recently knocked GM out of its top seat. For those AG readers that have seen commentary from Doug Korthof relayed to this cozy corner of cyberspace, the hype about the Chevy Volt is nothing new. Unfortunately, the green shell game is anything but new for the Detroit Two.
The Detroit Two was formerly doing business as the Big Three before Chrysler was sold to Mercedes. With Daimler-Chrysler partially an American company, some pundits then referred to them as the Big 2.5. Mercedes recently sold Chrysler to Cerberus. With Chrysler in receivership, and bets on which of the other two is closest to bankruptcy, it seem timely to drop “Big” from the moniker.
And, while speaking of hype and the ad game, Autoblog Green, which, with a straight face, previously quoted a senior GM executive stating, “General Motors is proving that advanced technology can remove the automobile from the environmental debate and reduce our dependence on petroleum,” recently carried news from the Frankfurt show.
Where the term “E-Flex” is used to designate the electric drive skateboard platform from which the Chevy Volt concept was derived, GM ad Ave has decided to promote something called “eco-Flex”. Since green is the new black, GM Europe obviously decided to go with an already well-worn term.
While mentioning the E-Flex architecture in nearly the same breath, Green Car Congress relays information about eco-Flex from briefing stud and GM Vice Chairman, “Maximum” Bob Lutz. GME (GM Europe) in June launched a broad environmental initiative under the eco-Flex banner.
Since they now have to scrap older technology that no longer meets more stringent EU emissions standards, which they had vigorously resisted, GME is putting a spin on it (read more dollars for advertising rather than the technology to save the Planet… possibly).
The Saturn Sky Red Line has a two liter turbocharged Ecotec engine that generates 260 hp and 260 lb.-ft. (353 Nm) of torque. This high performance engine from General Motors features gasoline direct injection and variable valve timing. Its twin-scroll turbocharger also has an air-to-air intercooling system.
As previously noted, a concern has been that GM was putting efficiency gains into yet more useless power rather than downsizing and fuel economy. Perhaps, GM has seen the writing on the wall in Europe and is making efforts to update their technology and marketing plans.
EcoFlex… serves as the umbrella for GM’s shorter-term initiatives on improving fuel consumption and reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the use of downsized, turbo-charged engines and the optimization of a number of other vehicle systems.
Downsized Eco-Turbo and CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) engines are at the core of Opel / Vauxhall’s ecoFLEX models. Engines with larger displacements are being replaced by new Eco-Turbo units with smaller displacement.
The new engines operate at higher efficiency than the naturally aspirated units, leading to a significant reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. This reduction is achieved through less friction and increased thermal efficiency by shifting the operating points to higher loads.
Turbo-charging, or more specifically, TDI (Turbo-charged, Direct Injection) is nothing new to Europeans, although in Europe, as in North America, the greater efficiency afforded by turbo-charging has been associated with going faster / quicker rather than cleaner and with less gas. (Our Big Oil masters want us to use more gas, not less.)
The Eco-Turbo concept is used in both gasoline and diesel engines. For example, the 1.6 turbo gasoline-fueled ECOTEC in the Opel Astra (132 kW/180 hp) replaces the older 2.0-liter turbo (125 kW/170 hp), reducing fuel consumption by 14%. The new 1.7 CDTI turbo-diesel (81 kW/110 hp and 92 kW/125 hp) consumes 7% less fuel than the 1.9-liter diesel engines (74 kW/100 hp and 88 kW/120 hp) it replaces. There is no penalty in acceleration or top speed; the three new engines deliver slightly higher performance.
GM Europe (GME) is also successively adapting gasoline engines with larger displacements to direct injection. Current offers are the 2.2 DIRECT ECOTEC in the Opel / Vauxhall range, and the 2.0 turbo ECOTEC unit from the new Opel GT, which boasts a power output of 132 hp per liter. This engine also features “Cam-Phase” variable camshaft phasing, which together with other measures reduces fuel consumption by a further 3 to 10 percent. The 1.6 and 1.8 TwinPort ECOTEC engines also feature this technology.
Critiques and advocates alike do seem to agree on the advantage of such technology. This blog previously relayed suggestions from The Union of Concerned Scientists on how automobile manufacturers could build cleaner vehicles. In regards to the internal combustion engine, the UCS Clean Vehicle Design included:
- Cylinder Deactivation for large displacement engines to improve cruise mileage
- Variable Valve Lift and Timing
- Direct Fuel Injection
- Turbo charging
- Flex Fuel technology.
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Green Car Congress notes that, in addition to five new Small Displacement Engines, GM is introducing other incremental improvements in fuel efficiency across power train line-up (somewhere in the world by companies affiliated with GM):
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[...] “Ever since the Chevy Volt Concept debuted at NAIAS,” writes Dahcredyns, “many auto journalists have called it a Prius killer, claiming the technology was so much more advanced than the Prius, or at least claiming that the Volt’s technology was so much more advanced than Toyota’s hybrid technology.” The problem is that Toyota already has embarked on testing a plug-in hybrid on Japanese roads, whereas General Motors has yet to demonstrate a prototype. [...]
[...] battery packs for plug-in conversion kits, GM contracted with A123 (and CPI) for batteries in their supposedly forthcoming E-Flex [...]