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GM’s Volt Electric Said Still in Plans After Obama Orders Cuts
The Center for Auto Safety is the nation’s premier independent, member driven, non-profit consumer advocacy organization dedicated to improving vehicle safety, quality, and fuel economy on behalf of all drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.
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April 3, 2009
“There are a lot of vehicles that GM makes that are vastly idiotic,” said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, a group in Washington that works for environmentally “clean” cars. “The Volt makes a lot more sense than the Tahoe, Suburban and Tahoe hybrid.”
GM said in January it will open a lithium-ion battery factory in Michigan, the first for a large U.S. automaker, to assemble the power packs for the Volt. The plant will create the packs from battery cells supplied by Compact Power Inc., a unit of Seoul-based LG Chem Ltd.
The Volt may be produced in volumes of about 60,000 annually once it goes on sale, GM has said. It is scheduled to be built in Hamtramck, Michigan. Depending on how the fuel economy is measured, it may be the first car to exceed the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon of gasoline in the U.S.
“The Volt is certainly a very tiny step in the right direction,” Becker said.