GM and LG to Jointly Develop Electric Vehicles

General Motors and LG Group will jointly design and engineer future electric vehicles, expanding a relationship built on LG’s work as the battery cell supplier for the Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera extended-range EVs.

The definitive agreement signed Wednesday will help GM expand the number and types of electric vehicles it makes and sells by using LG’s proven expertise in batteries and other systems. For LG, the arrangement represents a widening of its portfolio as an automotive solution provider.

“Many solutions for tomorrow’s transportation needs may be available more quickly by building on our partnership strategy,” said GM Vice Chairman Steve Girsky. ”Consumers benefit by getting the latest fuel-saving technology faster if we work with the best suppliers and we save time and money in the development process.”

The success of the extended-range propulsion system in the Volt and Ampera led to exploring other collaborations in the electrification of the automobile. Teams of LG and GM engineers will work on key components, as well as vehicle structures and architectures. Vehicles resulting from the partnership will be sold in many countries.

The GM-LG relationship that began with LG delivering the cells for the battery pack of the Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera expanded last year with work on a demonstration fleet of Chevrolet Cruze electric vehicles. These vehicles were used as official vehicles of the G20 summit in Seoul are now in the phase of market-testing to learn more about capabilities and requirements.

“This is a strategic development for LG and we fully support GM’s goal to lead the industry in the electrification of the automobile,” said Juno Cho, president and chief operating officer of LG Corp.

Accelerating the pace of roadworthy technology is more important than ever with the announcement of a number of more stringent emission and fuel consumption regulations around the world, including the recent agreement calling for a U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) of 54.5 mpg (23.2km/l) by the end of the 2025 model year. Electric vehicles, which have no tailpipe emissions and require no gasoline, are expected to play a major role in reaching the CAFE goal.

Timing of the launch of the first vehicles resulting from the partnership will be announced closer to market readiness. The agreement does not involve an exchange of equity between the companies.

GM and LG have been running a Chevy Cruz EV demo fleet in Korea for at least the last year!

TRANSLOGIC: AC Propulsion's Electric Car Technologies [video]

The Translogic web TV series take Tom Gage CEO of AC Propulsion for a drive to talk about how ACP are driving the commercialization of electric vehicles worldwide.

Disassembling a Toyota RAV4 EV battery pack [video]

We recently found a Youtube based TV series called ElectricThrust that focuses on EVs.

The RAV4 EV is an all-electric version of the popular RAV4 SUV produced by Toyota. With only 800 left on the road today, they were quickly dying off; That is, until Toyota teamed up with Tesla to mass produce these vehicles by 2012.

Clint, along with battery guru Derek Barger from Click High Tech Systems LLC, Broke into this EV to find out why it is starting to lose its "pep" With over 130,000 miles tacked onto it's battery pack the Rav4 is still running considerably well!

The most recent 'episode' was uploaded 8 months ago and their URL is dead so this series may be DOA but we will keep you posted on any new episodes.

VW to unveil Single-Seat Electric Car

Volkswagen is poised to unveil a single-seat, ultra-frugal, zero-emission electric car. The German carmaker also plans to offer a “full-service package” for customers of its electric cars by selling them power from renewable sources, Jürgen Leohold, head of research, told the Financial Times.

VW’s one-seat concept or experimental car will showcase the carmaker’s ambition to build vehicles that generate no carbon dioxide, even on a “well-to-wheel” calculation that takes into account the carbon dioxide generated by power plants.

“It’s a new kind of mobility – a new vehicle concept,” Mr Leohold said. “Also, it’s physics. If you limit a car to one person, you can make it smaller, less weight, you need less energy to transport the person, and then obviously … it can be better on CO2 and fuel efficiency”.

Mr Leohold said that the single-seater concept car, to be unveiled within weeks, was designed for limited purposes, such as commuting, and that most drivers would want a larger vehicle for longer trips.

He declined to reveal the car’s range, top speed or other details ahead of its unveiling.

VW’s research head said that the one-seater would be “even better” than the XL1 Super Efficient Vehicle, a diesel-electric plug-in hybrid capable of 313 miles per gallon which the company unveiled in January.

Mr Leohold said that the car’s CO2 count “depends on what kind of electricity you put in the battery”, but if powered from renewable sources it would be “zero”.

Single-passenger vehicles are a rarity in the car industry apart from niche products such as the Segway scooter – which is prohibited from roads in many countries – or the ill-fated Sinclair C5, a British-designed electric tricycle launched in 1985 that flopped because of safety and other concerns.

Toyota unveil EV racing prototype

Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) has revealed further details of its plan to make Nürburgring history on 29 August by setting a new electric vehicle (EV) lap record on the demanding 20.832km Nordschleife.

TMG's high-performance electric powertrain will power the car as it aims to significantly improve on the current lap EV record of 9min 1.338secs. Based on unofficial testing and depending on weather conditions, TMG expects to hit lap-record pace immediately, with additional days scheduled as back-up.

The TMG electric powertrain uses two electric motors to deliver peak power of 280kW and a top speed of 260km/h with zero emissions. That makes it ideal to power any future single-make electric motorsport series and TMG will begin commercial sales of its electric powertrain technology in 2012.

Total weight of the two-seater sports car is just 970kg, including the lithium-ceramic battery which allows for nimble handling around the demanding Nordschleife, essential for setting a competitive lap record.

TMG General Manager Electric & Electronics Ludwig Zeller said: "We want to demonstrate the high level of performance which can now be reached with an electric powertrain, not only in motorsport terms but as part of TMG's existing development work on road car EV technology. There is no more evocative place to illustrate this performance than on the Nordschleife. Our target is to beat the existing record by more than just a few seconds because that will demonstrate just how far our technology has developed since TMG began working on KERS systems in 2007. Many people are still dreaming of an electric future for motorsport; at TMG we believe this is much closer than some think and we intend to show what can be achieved with a high-performance electric powertrain."

TMG today revealed the first images of its electric vehicle, with a modern, dynamic livery from Aguti which captures a sense of electrifying speed. These images can be seen by clicking here.

TMG is also proud to announce its partners in this lap record attempt, all of whom enjoy visible branding on the electric vehicle. Aguti created and implemented the livery concept while rational motion integrated the electric powertrain, traction battery and control strategies. EVO Electric motor technology delivers the power and Yokohama is the tyre supplier.

Official timers will be present to authenticate the lap record while video and a photography crew will record a milestone achievement in EV development. These materials will be made available to all media immediately after any successful record attempts.

BMW i3 EV caught being filmed for a commercial [video]

Youtuber jprothe saw the BMW i3 Electric Vehicle being filmed today on Wacker Drive in Chicago.

The i3 is built around a new chassis concept called LifeDrive, which divides the vehicle into sections for Life, the passenger compartment, and Drive, the powertrain and battery. For the i3, the bottom half of the car is the Drive section, and is made mostly of lightweight aluminum; the Life passenger compartment sits on top and is built from carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP). Employing these lightweight materials keeps the i3's weight down to just 2750 pounds. The Nissan Leaf, for comparison, tips the scales at 3366 pounds.

Nissan LEAF battery technology Explained [video]

Nissan Corporate Vice-President Simon Sproule gives a detailed explanation about the Nissan LEAF battery technology.