General Motors wants everyone to know, that in their opinion the future is going to be electrified.
While visions of Buick LeSabre, Pontiac Aztek and yes…even the infamous EV1 will always be around providing a painful memory of the corporate and esthetic flaws that took the company to the very edge of viability, it seems that there is a new belief that the future of autombiles at GM will be leaner, greener and to a large extent, electrified.
2014 Chevrolet Spark EV with camoflauge in front of Golden Gate Bridge. Photo taken Nov 14, 2012
Automakers the world over are pumping huge sums of R&D into green technologies. Be it, electric, hybrid, fuel cell or just more efficient combustion engines, they are all working to build a fleet of vehicles that will meet or exceed the looming legislative requirements regarding fuel consumption that will take place over the next several years in the United States, Europe and in parts of Asia. For General Motors, they are making it known that their strategy will increasingly and specifically focus on the full or partial electrification of their vehicles.
The Chevrolet Volt has become a relative success as the first electrified vehicle in the regular GM line up since the catastrophe of the EV1 in the 1990’s. The Volt has a significant sales lead over competitors such as the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi MiEV in the electrified vehicle market. However the Volt was not a full EV as it was an electric vehicle that came with a back up generator that could create more energy for the batteries using a small gas-fueled motor. The absence of a full EV will soon be no longer as GM is set to launch its all new, fully electric 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV.
The Spark EV is set to be launched at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show in late November. However, GM decided to give about 50 journalists from the US, Canada and Europe a chance to see it, drive it and learn more about their overall electrification strategy 2 weeks early, at a special event held near San Francisco, California called The Electrification Experience.
Over 2 days, journalists not only could drive Spark EV’s – which incidentally were still partially camoflauged – but also were able to learn about the design of the new and powerful electric motors (400 lb/ft of torque) and even see how GM plans to deal with the problem of what to do with EV batteries when their normal life span runs out.
I was fortunate enough to be among the group of journalists invited as electrified vehicles are often featured in the Enviro Dad Test Drive and in doing so, prepared the following video recap and overview of not only my first ride in the Spark EV but other aspects of the event as well:
While the Chevy Spark EV was an enjoyable ride, and likely will be a strong candidate in the growing number of full EV’s available, perhaps the most impressive aspect of GM’s Electrification strategy to
5 used Chevy Volt batteries are housed inside to produce a prototype back-up power storage units.
me had to deal with its usage of Volt and likely other EV batteries as back up electrical storage units. This concept not only addresses a huge environmental concern with the potential damage associated with placing them in landfill, but also offers the potential to store renewable energy for later use and even provide a back up energy source for utilities to rely upon in cases of short term blackouts.
I found the Electrification Experience to be highly informative and, speaking as an environmentalists, one that provided a reasonable amount of hope and optimism that automakers see the opportunity in being a vital part of the solution regarding dealing with issues such as climate change, instead of being one of the problems.
NOTE: All costs related to travel and accomodation were provided by the automaker.
Leave a Reply