Posted on 02/08/2015 1:46:55 PM PST by LogicDesigner
Conventional Chevy Silverados being transformed into plug-in hybrid trucks at VIA Motors’ high volume assembly plant.
Think of it as a Volt with a flat bed.
Via Motors’ “electrified” 4WD Chevy Silverado entered commercial production last month. That’s a first for the company — founded in 2010 — that retrofits GM pickups and vans and turns them into $85,000-plus plug-in hybrids that can also function as roving generators. (More on pricing below.)
It’s no coincidence that the concept is similar to the Volt. The chairman of Via Motors is Bob Lutz, father of the Chevy plug-in hybrid. It’s also no coincidence that Alan Perriton, who is a longtime colleague and friend of Lutz’s from GM, is president of Via Motors. Perriton spent 34 years at GM.
Perriton’s background includes “pulling together” the GM-Toyota NUMMI plant in Fremont, Calif. (which was later taken over by Tesla) and a stint as vice president of the GM Saturn project in Tennessee. He has also held executive positions for GM in Asia.
How did Perriton and Via Motors get Lutz on board? “We took a pickup to Bob’s place in Ann Arbor,” Perriton said in a phone interview. “And that was enough” to convince him. (Lutz was appointed chairman in February 2014.)
Perriton echoes Lutz’s belief that the light-duty vehicle market has been in dire need of a fuel-efficient vehicle.
“[The pickup] is the workhorse of America, this is where the most gasoline gets consumed in the vehicle sector…[Via] takes a vehicle from 12 – 15 mpg and moves it up to the range 80 – 100 mpg [in some use cases],” Perriton said, echoing Lutz’s sentiment.
Via trucks can also be ‘mobile generators.’
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
my first questions as a “long timer” myself are:
who’s going to make the replacement battery and replacement engine and who’s going to sell them to me?
So...do they make electric cars with a V8 or Hemi?
;D
I don’t think you cam anywhere close to answering what was being asked by that poster, instead you ignored it.
Exploding batteries that emergency teams don’t even want to be anywhere near is better?
Alright then, it will come from the same place that the electricity for the 500,000 new homes a year will come from. It is not like the grid was built 100 years ago and we haven't expanded it since.
As to the specific energy source, as long as it isn't foreign oil (and it isn't) then it is an improvement, regardless if it is coal, natural gas, nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, whatever.
So how many hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars did this operation receive?
Drop a pallet of bricks in the back and you’ll be switching over to gas before the end of the block.
While there is a market for light duty pickups, many pickups in this area are on farms and ranches and need to haul trailers of livestock, transport feed and seed and generally haul moderate loads. I doubt any pure electric could manage and I am skeptical about hybrids.
I own a Leaf—best damn auto I’ve ever owned. I don’t care what anybody says.
I work in this industry. Infiniti is coming out with a car that will partner with Tesla and have a battery range of over 300 MPC (miles per charge).
It’s inevitable that a truck will be out soon enough with battery technology.
What’s not to like? While you pump gas weekly several times, change the oil, change spark plugs, maintain your rusty old transmission—I’m just plugging up and rotating tires.
For the foreseeable future, leasing would be the best option. The batter is like a cellphone battery and as it ages loses serious charge past two years. They’re working on this and I think a good solution will present itself soon enough.
I'm pretty sure you don't need a truck of any sort to pick up a lockwasher. You could even do it in one of these. =)
As long as the Government isn’t involved with Tax Credits and Rebates, I’m all for any Technology that works.
The idea of Taxpayers paying the freight for my choice to drive an Electric / Hybrid Car is ridiculous.
If I had the bucks, my Wife would be driving a Tesla. I would be driving a 2015 Corvette Z06, when I’m not driving a 2015 Mustang GT 350 or a 2015 Dodge Challenger Hellcat, but that’s another issue.
No thank you. I would rather have a Ford F-150 Raptor.
No thanks.
Less than a billion a year for about ten years for the chance at one day saving us the $50 billion a year we spend policing the Persian Gulf oil lanes? Seems like a smart taxpayer investment to me.
“If I had the bucks, my Wife would be driving a Tesla. I would be driving a 2015 Corvette Z06, when I’m not driving a 2015 Mustang GT 350 or a 2015 Dodge Challenger Hellcat, but that’s another issue.”
Are you sure you wouldn't want the Tesla? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpaLgF1uLB8
Put a camper on them and the coyotes will use them to bring in some more Mexicans.
What happens *after* 300 miles?
If you’re far from home, do you just sit there and wait for it to charge up again?
Pitiful.
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