Items tagged with chevy bolt
Things just went from bad to worse for General Motors and its battery partner LG Chem. The company's Chevrolet Bolt EV has been plagued with a growing number of vehicle fires (over a dozen and counting), which in some cases has resulted in the partial or complete destruction of the owners' homes. When the first fires were reported, GM issued a recall with an alleged software fix to address the battery fires. This covered Bolts from the 2017 through 2019 model years. Late last month, GM issued a second recall for those same vehicles, adding that LG Chem had identified two defects with its battery packs that were the culprit behind the fires. At the time, the defects weren't publicized, but GM...
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Today is a rather sad day for fans of General Motors. The company announced that it is laying off 15 percent of its workforce in North America, and will close a total of five manufacturing plants on the continent. With regards to its workforce, a total of 14,000 contract and salaried workers will be out of a job in 2019. As for its manufacturing plants, the following will all be closed within the next year: Oshawa Assembly in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly in Detroit Lordstown Assembly in Warren, Ohio Baltimore Operations in White Marsh, Maryland Warren Transmission Operations in Warren, Michigan General Motors says that this represents the latest step in its efforts to "accelerate...
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Tesla’s Model 3 might be the new hotness when it comes to electric vehicles, but Nissan is looking to take away some of that spotlight. The original Leaf brought customers a relatively affordable electric vehicle with a drive range of around 100 miles. However, the second-generation Leaf has some stiffer competition not only from the Model 3, but also the Chevrolet Bolt. Although the second-generation Leaf isn’t supposed to make its debut until early September, the car has already been spied roaming the streets. As you can see from the images, the Leaf borrows styling cues from current Nissan vehicles like the Murano and Maxima; especially where the roof meets the rear doors. You can also...
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While Volkswagen is in the midst of Dieselgate and is preparing to begin vehicle buybacks in the United States, the German automaker is betting its future on electric vehicles. Although American customers only have one Volkswagen EV to choose from today, the e-Golf, the company is forecasting that 20 to 25 percent of its sales volume will comprise of EVs by the year 2025. One vehicle that is expected to headline Volkswagen’s EV push is the I.D. The compact EV is built on Volkswagen’s Modular Electric Drive (MEB) platform and is roughly the same size as today’s MK7 Golf. The I.D. is slightly shorter than the Golf, but its wheelbase is comparable to that of the midsize Passat sedan. That will translate...
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It looks as though Tesla Motors and General Motors are about to get some competition in the 200-mile electric vehicle (EV) arena from an unlikely competitor: Ford. We say “unlikely” because just last week when announcing that the 2017 Ford Focus Electric will get a range boost from 76 miles to even 100 miles, Kevin Layden, Ford's director of electrification programs and engineering, shot down the notion that the company would produce a 200-mile EV. "I think right now with the launch of the Focus Electric at 100 miles, it is going to satisfy a big chunk of the population," said Layden. He went on to say that the 100-mile range allowed Ford to hit targets for weight (by using lighter batteries)...
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There is no love lost between General Motors and Tesla Motors. If the companies aren’t battling it out over the merits of the dealership model, the two are throwing barbs at one another over the emergence of electric vehicles. When GM CEO Mary Barra revealed the production version of the Chevrolet Bolt EV earlier this year at CES, she took thinly veiled swipes at Tesla, touring GM’s vast dealership network, its support of CarPlay and Android Auto, and the fact that GM was beating Tesla to the punch with a mass-market 200-mile EV. Rather than lash out at Barra with equally dismissive barbs, Tesla at the time issued the following statement: Commitments from traditional car makers to build electric...
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General Motors is no stranger to electric vehicles, having given America one of the first somewhat “modern” entries into the sector with the GM EV1 (later called the Saturn EV1). We won’t get into the politics that resulted in the untimely death of that vehicle, but GM has had greater success with its first generation Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid electric vehicle and looks to advance the case with the second generation model. But what about the folks that want a true electric vehicle that has no reliance on gasoline engines? GM gave us the unloved Spark EV, but there’s definitely a market out there for an EV that can travel more than 82 miles per charge. That’s where the Chevrolet Bolt comes...
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It’s on now! Companies like Ford, Chevrolet, and Nissan have been shoving electric vehicles down our throats for the past few years. However, the Focus Electric, Spark EV, and Nissan Leaf can only travel 80 to 90 miles on a charge before they run out of juice. While that may be enough for those that simply commute to work or putter around town, many people with “range anxiety” want a bit more reserve power for longer trips, and vehicles like the Tesla Model S are simply way out of the price range of average Americans. That’s where the Chevrolet Bolt comes in, which is the next logical step past the Chevrolet Volt (even the second generation model) and Spark EV. Shown today in concept form, the...
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