GM Plans Gas-Electric Car to Catch Up to Toyota, People Say
06-23-06, 10:35 AM
#1
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GM Plans Gas-Electric Car to Catch Up to Toyota, People Say
June 23 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., losing sales to fuel-efficient cars from Toyota Motor Corp., is developing a hybrid-electric vehicle with a battery that recharges at any outlet, said GM officials familiar with the plan.
The so-called plug-in hybrid would travel more than 60 miles on a gallon of gasoline, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the research is secret. GM, which had the first modern electric car in 1996, lags behind Toyota in hybrids, which combine electric motors and gasoline engines.
A 28 percent rise in U.S. gasoline prices this year helped boost sales of Toyota's gasoline-electric models 37 percent, giving the Japanese automaker almost three-fourths of U.S. retail hybrid sales. GM doesn't make competing vehicles now. Automakers are trying to raise fuel efficiency as U.S. lawmakers consider tougher requirements for cars and trucks.
``There is rising regulatory demand and consumer demand for improved fuel economy and lower emissions,'' said John Casesa, an auto analyst at New York-based Casesa Shapiro Group LLC. ``There's a lot of pressure to show you're responsive.''
The plug-in designs GM is testing may be ready in time for the Detroit auto show in January, the people said. Any commercial production is at least a year away, they said. The people declined to say how much the company is investing.
Chris Preuss, a spokesman for Detroit-based GM, declined to comment on any plans for a plug-in hybrid.
Battery Power
Plug-in hybrids recharge when the vehicle isn't in use and switch to the gasoline engine when the batteries are drained. Automakers quit making cars powered solely by batteries in the late 1990s because they were expensive and needed recharging for as long as six hours to travel 75 miles.
``Range is not an issue with a plug-in hybrid because you always have the engine if you need it,'' said Bruce Belzowski, assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.
Regular hybrids use friction from braking and power from the engine to recharge the battery for the electric motor. The motor is used at start-up and lower speeds, and the engine powers the vehicle at higher speeds.
Higher Mileage Than Prius
Fuel economy will significantly exceed 60 miles per gallon, the people said, declining to be specific. Toyota's Prius, the best-selling hybrid, is rated at 55 mpg in combined city and highway driving. The Prius doesn't use plug-in technology.
DaimlerChrysler AG already is testing a plug-in hybrid version of its Sprinter commercial van in the U.S. The automaker said in March that it would test 40 of the Sprinters, which can go as far as 20 miles on electric power only.
GM has a hard choice on ``hybrid and fuel-cell research versus current product development,'' said Brian Bruce, who helps manage about $18 billion at PanAgora Asset Management in Boston, including the automaker's shares. ``If they spend too little on current development, there might not be much of a company going forward. If they spend too little on future development, they could arrive in the future with nothing competitive.''
Toyota, which is second to GM in vehicle sales, is spending a record 920 billion yen ($7.9 billion) on research and development this year. GM spent $6.7 billion last year and hasn't released a 2006 figure.
Toyota Plans
The Japanese automaker said it's studying plug-in technology. The Toyota City-based company has no immediate plans for a plug-in vehicle because of the much larger battery needed, President Katsuaki Watanabe said last week.
Toyota said June 13 that it plans to double its hybrid models to 14 by early in the next decade and sell 1 million of the vehicles annually as early as 2010. The company began hybrid sales in 1997 and sold 235,000 worldwide last year.
Toyota earned $12.1 billion in the year ended in March, its fourth straight annual record. GM lost $10.6 billion last year. The Japanese automaker's U.S. shares rose 39 percent in the past 12 months, as GM's fell 22 percent. Toyota increased U.S. sales 8.8 percent this year through May, while GM's dropped 8 percent.
GM's first hybrid SUV, the Saturn Vue sport-utility vehicle, debuts this year. It won't have plug-in technology and will average 32 miles a gallon on the highway, five miles more than a non-hybrid Vue.
The automaker's most fuel-efficient model is the Chevrolet Aveo small car, at 35 miles a gallon.
GM's U.S. vehicles lag behind competitors such as Toyota and Honda Motor Co. in fuel economy, according to data compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The average U.S. retail price for regular gasoline is $2.87 a gallon this week and has risen 28 percent this year, according to Energy Department figures. The record was $3.07 in September.
The plug-in research isn't directly tied to GM's hybrid project with DaimlerChrysler and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the people said. The first GM model from that effort, a version of the Chevrolet Tahoe SUV, is scheduled to go on sale next year. It won't plug in.
source : bloomberg
The so-called plug-in hybrid would travel more than 60 miles on a gallon of gasoline, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the research is secret. GM, which had the first modern electric car in 1996, lags behind Toyota in hybrids, which combine electric motors and gasoline engines.
A 28 percent rise in U.S. gasoline prices this year helped boost sales of Toyota's gasoline-electric models 37 percent, giving the Japanese automaker almost three-fourths of U.S. retail hybrid sales. GM doesn't make competing vehicles now. Automakers are trying to raise fuel efficiency as U.S. lawmakers consider tougher requirements for cars and trucks.
``There is rising regulatory demand and consumer demand for improved fuel economy and lower emissions,'' said John Casesa, an auto analyst at New York-based Casesa Shapiro Group LLC. ``There's a lot of pressure to show you're responsive.''
The plug-in designs GM is testing may be ready in time for the Detroit auto show in January, the people said. Any commercial production is at least a year away, they said. The people declined to say how much the company is investing.
Chris Preuss, a spokesman for Detroit-based GM, declined to comment on any plans for a plug-in hybrid.
Battery Power
Plug-in hybrids recharge when the vehicle isn't in use and switch to the gasoline engine when the batteries are drained. Automakers quit making cars powered solely by batteries in the late 1990s because they were expensive and needed recharging for as long as six hours to travel 75 miles.
``Range is not an issue with a plug-in hybrid because you always have the engine if you need it,'' said Bruce Belzowski, assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.
Regular hybrids use friction from braking and power from the engine to recharge the battery for the electric motor. The motor is used at start-up and lower speeds, and the engine powers the vehicle at higher speeds.
Higher Mileage Than Prius
Fuel economy will significantly exceed 60 miles per gallon, the people said, declining to be specific. Toyota's Prius, the best-selling hybrid, is rated at 55 mpg in combined city and highway driving. The Prius doesn't use plug-in technology.
DaimlerChrysler AG already is testing a plug-in hybrid version of its Sprinter commercial van in the U.S. The automaker said in March that it would test 40 of the Sprinters, which can go as far as 20 miles on electric power only.
GM has a hard choice on ``hybrid and fuel-cell research versus current product development,'' said Brian Bruce, who helps manage about $18 billion at PanAgora Asset Management in Boston, including the automaker's shares. ``If they spend too little on current development, there might not be much of a company going forward. If they spend too little on future development, they could arrive in the future with nothing competitive.''
Toyota, which is second to GM in vehicle sales, is spending a record 920 billion yen ($7.9 billion) on research and development this year. GM spent $6.7 billion last year and hasn't released a 2006 figure.
Toyota Plans
The Japanese automaker said it's studying plug-in technology. The Toyota City-based company has no immediate plans for a plug-in vehicle because of the much larger battery needed, President Katsuaki Watanabe said last week.
Toyota said June 13 that it plans to double its hybrid models to 14 by early in the next decade and sell 1 million of the vehicles annually as early as 2010. The company began hybrid sales in 1997 and sold 235,000 worldwide last year.
Toyota earned $12.1 billion in the year ended in March, its fourth straight annual record. GM lost $10.6 billion last year. The Japanese automaker's U.S. shares rose 39 percent in the past 12 months, as GM's fell 22 percent. Toyota increased U.S. sales 8.8 percent this year through May, while GM's dropped 8 percent.
GM's first hybrid SUV, the Saturn Vue sport-utility vehicle, debuts this year. It won't have plug-in technology and will average 32 miles a gallon on the highway, five miles more than a non-hybrid Vue.
The automaker's most fuel-efficient model is the Chevrolet Aveo small car, at 35 miles a gallon.
GM's U.S. vehicles lag behind competitors such as Toyota and Honda Motor Co. in fuel economy, according to data compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The average U.S. retail price for regular gasoline is $2.87 a gallon this week and has risen 28 percent this year, according to Energy Department figures. The record was $3.07 in September.
The plug-in research isn't directly tied to GM's hybrid project with DaimlerChrysler and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the people said. The first GM model from that effort, a version of the Chevrolet Tahoe SUV, is scheduled to go on sale next year. It won't plug in.
source : bloomberg
06-23-06, 03:52 PM
#3
Lexus Fanatic
Originally Posted by TRDFantasy
"Fuel economy will significantly exceed 60 miles per gallon"
---
I highly doubt that, but this isn't exactly accurate information, so we'll see.
---
I highly doubt that, but this isn't exactly accurate information, so we'll see.
Once the battery is drained, however, the mileage will become just like normal hybrids.
The next Prius is said to be a plug-in hybrid too. More options is always a good thing.
06-24-06, 01:19 AM
#6
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Originally Posted by 4TehNguyen
they cant even make a decent conventional car, much less a hybrid
06-24-06, 04:40 AM
#7
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Originally Posted by PhilipMSPT
A plug in hybrid? Yeah, it will get 60 mpg, but only for the first 60 minutes. When the juice runs out, you'll be driving a regular 4-cylinder engine.
Time to plug the car again for four hours...
Time to plug the car again for four hours...
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06-24-06, 09:32 AM
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Originally Posted by XeroK00L
I don't doubt it, if the figure is measured when the battery is fully charged through a plug-in before the test.
Once the battery is drained, however, the mileage will become just like normal hybrids.
The next Prius is said to be a plug-in hybrid too. More options is always a good thing.
Once the battery is drained, however, the mileage will become just like normal hybrids.
The next Prius is said to be a plug-in hybrid too. More options is always a good thing.
I doubt it, because GM has never excelled in making really frugal or super fuel efficient vehicles. The Japanese have always led in that regard.
If you are to believe this from "anonymous sources" within GM, then this new vehicle will supposedly get similar mileage to the new Prius, which again I find hard to believe. For it's size and weight, the Prius is already one of, if not the most fuel efficient and emissions friendly vehicle. The next Prius will only get better.
But we'll see what GM comes up with it, and we'll see if this is simply another case of GM promising a lot, but delivering little.
06-24-06, 05:16 PM
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suppose that even if they do achieve their goal of 60mpg
toyota is working on plug ins for their next gen prius as well
and reducing weight and more capacity means 90mpg is likely to happen by 2008 as well
so no matter what GM does, they are still a few years behind and trying to play the catch up game
toyota is working on plug ins for their next gen prius as well
and reducing weight and more capacity means 90mpg is likely to happen by 2008 as well
so no matter what GM does, they are still a few years behind and trying to play the catch up game
06-24-06, 07:43 PM
#10
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Originally Posted by TRDFantasy
Well, "significantly" higher than 60mpg, I would assume would be 70+ mpg, which is really high, even if its EPA tested mileage.
I doubt it, because GM has never excelled in making really frugal or super fuel efficient vehicles. The Japanese have always led in that regard.
If you are to believe this from "anonymous sources" within GM, then this new vehicle will supposedly get similar mileage to the new Prius, which again I find hard to believe. For it's size and weight, the Prius is already one of, if not the most fuel efficient and emissions friendly vehicle. The next Prius will only get better.
But we'll see what GM comes up with it, and we'll see if this is simply another case of GM promising a lot, but delivering little.
I doubt it, because GM has never excelled in making really frugal or super fuel efficient vehicles. The Japanese have always led in that regard.
If you are to believe this from "anonymous sources" within GM, then this new vehicle will supposedly get similar mileage to the new Prius, which again I find hard to believe. For it's size and weight, the Prius is already one of, if not the most fuel efficient and emissions friendly vehicle. The next Prius will only get better.
But we'll see what GM comes up with it, and we'll see if this is simply another case of GM promising a lot, but delivering little.
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