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 ...
If someone wants to invest their own money in a Venture and he Markets his product for a Price that makes him money, I'm there if it's something I want to buy.
I don't Elect Politicians to pick winners and losers. Remember Solyndra? Wow, “free” power that only cost the Taxpayers half a Billion Dollars. Didn't work out that way.
Why are we giving someone who is buying a $100,000 PLUS Automobile a $7,500 Tax Credit? Even a $40,000 Volt Driver?
Generally speaking, you want the latest and greatest Technology, go for it but not on my dime.
Now, don't get me wrong, but when I hear Politicians using the word “investment” as a reason to raise our Taxes, I get very nervous. Government produces NOTHING, so you are investing in nothing. You are just enriching others, the Manufacturers or their preferred Clientele.
My Wife lets me drive her car.
Unfortunately, it’s a Kia at the moment.
That had what?
Something like a whopping 55 cubic inches?
Still beats the toy bike.
:D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_(motorcycle)
Why did you tell me it was a real Harley, then?
LOL
What are you talking about?? From the hole thing on the wall there! For free!!
This is a map of Tesla SuperCharger locations. Red are current locations and gray are planned locations. They can give you 170 miles of charge in 30 minutes and are generally located near restaurants. They are upgrading the stations from 120 kW to 135 kW and have talked about 150 kW in the not-to-distant future. I think once they get it to 240 kW with batteries that can take it without tapering at the end of the charge, they will be able to do about 150 miles in 10 minutes.
The claim we would reduce our military if we were energy indep3nt is naive and silly.
President Wilson didn't give them any guaranteed loans or give any rebates to their customers!
No fleet purchases or other subsidies by governments, no mandated purchases- no wonder they never succeeded...
If they exist, their prices are stratospheric. My rule for them is to price a car with an engine that’s one tier above the regular combustion engine. For a 4, price a hybrid like a 6, for a 6, price an 8, and for an 8, price it like the manufacturer’s flagship/exotic (for GM, think Corvette territory). It’s a very rough estimate for cost, but it works well enough.
For now, I’ll skip the electric bits and take a minimal-frills, turboless, high-displacement V8 car. So far, that leaves Chrysler (of all places) as the only one willing to do that in the US.
I’ll be happy when Ford returns to making American-sized cars like the Crown Vic, and not the CAFE-mandated, fake-audio generating golfcarts they make today.
“Electric cars have a long way to go to give us the safety margin of gasoline, I don’t want my life depending on an electric engine when driving through blizzards in the mountains, at sub zero temperatures.”
We had a low of 34 so far this winter ...
There may come a day when you drive somewhere else.
” I don’t want my life depending on an electric engine when driving through blizzards in the mountains, at sub zero temperatures.”
This one can function as an emergency generator to keep you and the family warm if power goes out.
“There may come a day when you drive somewhere else.”
So I should buy a car on the off chance that I might drive somewhere I never intend to drive?
That’s nice, but when traveling in rough and dangerous conditions I need a stronger vehicle, not an electric generator.
As it is, my present car can do that when I plug in my inverter.
“As it is, my present car can do that when I plug in my inverter.”
What is the rating on your inverter?
All the driving is on I-75
Ever heard of charging stations? There are at least 100 of them within 30 miles of my home (fast charge). There will only be more in a few years time as the technology will not go away this time.
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