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The Chevrolet Volt has been nominated for Best Upcoming Electric Car in the Cars & Transportation category of TreeHugger's Best of Green 2010 Readers' Choice Awards. Voting began this week and continues until April 2. You can vote in more than 40 prize categories across eight main topics once per day, but be sure to vo...te for the Volt in the Cars & Transportation category (http://www.treehugger.com/best-of-green/ cars-transportation). TreeHugger will announce the Readers' Choice winners the week of April 12.

What is it like to build a “green” car from scratch? How are student engineers from 16 competing universities progressing with the building of their advanced technology vehicles as part of the EcoCAR Challenge competition? How far can an EcoCAR drive on a tank of E85 or biodiesel? What decision did one EcoCAR team poll their entire campus about? These questions and many more will be answered on Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 3 p.m. ET right here on Fastlane during a live Web chat with the North Carolina State University and University of Wisconsin EcoCAR teams. These teams are part of the EcoCAR Challenge – a college engineering competition sponsored by GM and the U.S. Department of Energy. The students are now halfway through the three-year competition and are in the process of implementing the advanced propulsion systems they’ve designed into real vehicles donated by GM. Join them for a special Web chat to hear all about their experiences thus far in the competition and how they’re making their green designs a reality. For background on the competition prior to the chat visit www.ecocarchallenge.org.

On Wednesday, February 17 at 7:30 p.m. EDT, Andrew Farah, the Vehicle Chief Engineer of the Chevrolet Volt, and Pam Fletcher, Global Voltec and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Powertrain Chief Engineer will be holding a live chat from Kapuskasing, Ontario Canada.

Andrew and Pam are with the Volt development team in Kapuskasing testing the vehicle in freezing conditions. Unlike other electric vehicles, the Volt is engineered for all seasons and all climates.  We hope you can join us.  You can also follow along with our Volt cold weather activities this week at http://chevrolet.posterous.com/, http://facebook.com/chevroletvolt, and @philcolley, @chevyvoltage and @chevrolet on Twitter.

By Pam Fletcher, Global Voltec and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Powertrain Chief Engineer

Kapuskasing, Ontario Canada
Location:  Approx. 800 km/500 miles northwest of Toronto
Population:  8,509
Record Low Temp:  -47 degrees C
Today’s Forecasted High Temp:  -5 degrees C; Feels like -11 degrees C

This may not sound like your ideal winter vacation destination, but for GM’s vehicle development teams, Kapuskasing is perfect.  The colder, the windier, the snowier, the better.  A bad day up here is a heat wave - when the temperature exceeds -5 degrees Celsius.  And I can’t wait to get up there!

This little town, founded in the early 20th century, offers ideal conditions for hunting, fishing and cold weather vehicle testing, especially in vehicles like the 2011 Chevrolet Volt.  A few months ago we drove Volt development vehicles through 100+ degree temperatures in Death Valley and through the mountains of Tennessee.  Now the development team is up in Ontario to put the Volt through cold-weather testing paces.

We want to see how the vehicle responds in temperatures as low as -40 degrees C.  Basically, we try to simulate customer behavior to be sure the vehicle responds exactly as a customer would expect.  We spend hours opening and closing all hinges, including doors, trunk, glove box and interior consoles.  The vehicles are run through car washes.  We drive in the city and make frequent stops.  Highway routes allow us to test the vehicle at higher speeds for longer periods of time.

Despite the frigid temperatures, the Volt is engineered to handle extreme conditions.  The battery is warmed up during plug-in charging, which is recommended particularly in cold climates, but we realize not everyone will do this.  So at night, we plug-in some vehicles and some we don’t.  We want to ensure the vehicles start in the morning, or if the battery is too cold, we want to be certain the engine-generator starts first to protect the battery.  The engine-generator system will provide energy to heat battery if it was not plugged in or to supplement battery temperature.  By the time you remote start the car, or remote cabin conditioning as we refer to it in the Volt, pack up your things and get in, the car is ready to go.

And, there is little fear of driving through the frozen wilderness and becoming stranded due to limited EV range.  After up to 40 miles of electric driving, the same engine-generator that warmed up the battery kicks in to power the vehicle for several hundred more miles.  This enables us to spend hours each day testing the vehicle’s stability and performance on snowy, icy roads and at times in blizzard conditions.

We recently announced that California will be one of the first markets for the Volt, but this is a car for “anywhere” and that means for anyone, in any climate - from the beaches in Los Angeles to 17 inches of snow and single-digit temperatures in Detroit to 36 inches of snow in Washington D.C.

I’m heading up to Kapuskasing this afternoon with Volt vehicle chief engineer Andrew Farah and others, and we'll keep you posted on how things are going.  We'll even have a "civilian" with us as our advanced technology communications guy Phil Colley joins the crew for a couple days.  You can find all the latest details and behind the scenes activities on http://chevrolet.posterous.com and http://facebook.com/chevroletvolt, or by following @philcolley, @chevyvoltage or @chevrolet on Twitter.  We'll even try to mix in a live webchat on Wednesday evening, Feb. 17.  Stay tuned for more details and be sure to follow along with our activities the next couple days.

By Micky Bly, Global Hybrid, EV and Battery Engineering Executive Director

This week marks Engineers’ Week, a non-profit program launched by the National Engineers Week Foundation to raise awareness and appreciation of engineers' contributions to society.

Let’s face it - engineering is such a huge part of our everyday lives, but it can largely go unnoticed. From aircrafts and automobiles to computers and cell phones to sports equipment and roller coasters, engineering has played a huge role in changing the way we work, travel, play and, quite simply, the way we live.

And it’s a field that’s constantly evolving. The rapid advancement of technology in many industries is providing new opportunities in engineering such as nanotechnology, tribology, mechatronics and molecular, environmental and electrical engineering. Students graduating with an engineering degree today are working in jobs that perhaps didn’t even exist five years ago.  New curriculum also is being created to prepare engineers for emerging trends, such as battery technology in the auto industry.  The DNA of the automobile is changing, from petroleum-dependent internal combustion engines to batteries and electric motors, which means the composition of the workforce has to change.

In fact, Popular Mechanics named battery engineering one of the 10 Future-Proof Jobs You Can Get Right Now.

So we’re working with academia, including the University of Michigan, to encourage students to study these new fields as they are critical to the future of the auto industry. Last year, U of M began offering a master’s degree in energy systems engineering that is designed to provide critical engineering skills in interlocking energy disciplines. We currently employ dozens of graduates from that program. In addition, we’re also working with several other universities to develop engineering talent through our EcoCAR program. EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge is an annual advanced vehicle technology engineering competition. Each year, we donate a GM vehicle to dozens of universities across the country and challenge them to reduce the environmental impact of the vehicles by modifying fuel consumption and reducing emissions all while maintaining the safety and performance of the vehicle. It’s a fun competition, providing students with valuable, real-world engineering practices.

As technology and engineering drive transformation, GM is at the helm. Vehicle electrification is poised to revolutionize the auto industry. The high-tech nature of hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Volt, requires finding the best and brightest engineering talent. We have numerous engineers from multiple specialties working fast and furious to ensure the Volt will be produced on time without sacrificing safety, performance and efficiency.

Take Lance Turner, for example. He’s a lead systems engineer for the Volt’s battery development. Lance studied electrical engineering and is now comparing models of the battery to the performance of the actual hardware in order to continue to improve the product, model accuracy, and specifications for future battery packs.

Then there’s Trent Warnke, development and validation engineer for the Chevy Volt. Trent studied mechatronics, which is really just a fancy word for studying mechanical electronic devices, and now is ensuring that the vehicle meets all performance and safety requirements. This includes overseeing the Volt’s cold- and hot-weather testing.

And we can’t forget Marisol McCormick, operations manager at our Brownstown battery assembly plant, where the batteries for the Volt are being produced. Marisol, an industrial engineering major, maintains the safety of the plant while streamlining operations so that our customers get a quality product, on time.

Our engineers are the backbone of our company, continuously working on advanced technologies and quality to create the world’s best vehicles. 
 

By Marc Comeau, Vice President, Chevrolet in Canada

There are some exciting things happening with Chevrolet in Canada, especially in Vancouver as the world focuses its attention on the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Chevrolet is proud to be part of this iconic event, along with the entire General Motors of Canada family, through our partnership with the Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC) as the Official Vehicle Partner of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games and Paralympic Games.

First, the Chevrolet Volt just arrived in Vancouver and is creating quite the buzz.  Launching in Canada in 2011, the Volt offers up to 64 km of pure electric, emissions-free driving and is the only electric vehicle that won't leave you stranded when the battery's charge is depleted. Our official Volt activities kick off today and the Volt is already drawing crowds wherever it goes in the city. 

Monday is the opening of BC Hydro’s Power Smart Village and the Volt will be part of their “Home of the Future” display. In fact, the Volt will be on display at the “Home of the Future” daily in the late afternoon, so please come out to take a look.

In other Chevrolet activities at the Olympics, the Olympic torch relay is in the final stage of its journey across Canada and the Olympic opening ceremonies are just around the corner. We’ve been part of that journey from day one, as many of you know from following our very own @GM_ArtandSerge via Twitter and their blog (http://chevrolet2010roadtrip.ca/) as they made sure the torch kept moving safely and efficiently across this great nation of ours. 

Chevrolet’s goals for sustainable transportation solutions, from gas-friendly to gas-free vehicles, are directly aligned with VANOC’s sustainability goals. In fact, we are supplying 750 hybrid vehicles, over 1000 bio fuel capable vehicles, 1,100 trucks with Active Fuel Management and 2,400 vehicles with Direct Injection engine technology to be used by organizers and volunteers leading up to, and during, the 2010 Winter Games.

We’ve also provided gas-free vehicles from Chevrolet, with eight Equinox fuel cell vehicles on the ground since October transporting media, bloggers, athletes, government officials, VANOC representatives and everyday Vancouver-ites to experience the benefits of hydrogen fuel cells and to witness firsthand just how far Chevrolet’s fuel cell research has advanced.

For more on what we’re doing with the Chevrolet Volt in Vancouver, stay tuned to Twitter (@GMCanada, @Chevrolet, @ChevyVoltage, @George_S, @AdriaMackenzie and @philcolley). You can also follow us on the Chevrolet and Chevrolet Volt Facebook pages, on the Chevrolet Volt Posterous page and ChevroletVoltage.com for all the latest updates on where we are and what we’re doing – and feel free to come on out and join our Volt team whenever you can.

By Jim Campbell, General Manager, Chevrolet

The first month of 2010 isn’t over yet, but has been filled with plenty of activity for Chevrolet. With so many announcements and products on the horizon, I felt it would be good to recap our recent news.

We kicked-off 2010 at the Consumer Electronic Show, where we showed the industry’s first working smartphone application designed to give Volt owners 24/7 control of their car. The application allows owners to set battery charge time, check battery level, review vehicle data such as odometer readings and miles driven in pure electric mode. Volt can even be remotely heated or cooled using electricity, instead of burning gas.

A few weeks ago, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, we showcased our upcoming fuel-efficient, lineup of small and compact cars. The latest entry in that lineup is the all-new Chevrolet Aveo RS show car. The Aveo RS is aimed at young drivers, with a European-inspired hot-hatch design. It is powered by the same 1.4L  turbocharged Ecotec engine that will be available in the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze.

The all-new Spark five-door mini car joins the Aveo RS and Cruze as the foundation of our small-car lineup. Cruze offers mid-size roominess in the compact segment and will be available in the U.S. later this year, while the Aveo production car comes to the U.S. in 2011, and U.S. sales of the Spark begin in early 2012. These cars represent cornerstones of Chevrolet’s “gas-friendly to gas-free” approach.

Speaking of gas-free, I also want to mention the latest news on the Chevrolet Volt, our electric vehicle with extended range capability. Production for the Volt is on schedule and begins at the end of this year. We recently announced that the lead retail markets for the Volt will be Michigan and California, and that we are partnering with key electric utilities in these states to collect data under every-day driving conditions and to establish vehicle charging programs.

The Volt news doesn’t stop there. Today, we announced that Washington D.C. is another lead retail market for the Volt. We’re also partnering with local D.C. utilities PEPCO and Dominion.

This summarizes just the first month of the new year. 2010 is shaping up to be a great year for Chevrolet.  We’ll have more news as the year goes on, and we’re excited to share it all with you. Thanks for being a part of our journey!

By Jon Lauckner, Global Product Planning Vice President

I can’t think of a better way to start the New Year than with a historic milestone for GM, the state of Michigan, the automotive industry and most importantly, the United States.

Three years ago today, I was part of the team that revealed the Volt to the world. While many lauded our efforts to resurrect the electric vehicle, there were also a number of skeptics who challenged the concept because "batteries weren't included.”  However that was simply because the battery pack for the Volt wasn't designed and developed yet.  Of course that changed quickly –  today, the first advanced lithium-ion battery for a mass-marketed electric vehicle rolled off the line at our new Brownstown Battery Pack Assembly Plant. Challenge met – batteries included!

This morning I stood in a building that just five short months ago, was an empty warehouse. Now this state-of-the-art, 160,000-square-foot landfill-free facility is buzzing with some of the most talented men and women in the industry and cutting edge technology ready to make history. And once again, we’re leading the way with the first lithium-ion battery pack manufacturing plant operated by a major U.S. automaker.

As part of our next steps to bring the Volt to market, we’re driving investments, creating jobs and accelerating technology development here in Michigan and across the country. That’s why today’s start of battery production in Brownstown is a momentous occasion on many levels.

First, it’s good for Michigan.  The $43 million investment in this plant brings GM’s total investment to $700 million in eight Volt-related facilities across Michigan.

Most importantly, this is an enormous step that will help take America from a petroleum-filled past to a potentially gas-free future.

The first batteries produced will be used to validate the plant’s equipment and processes before being sent to our Global Battery Systems lab in Warren for further testing.  Once validation and testing is complete, the next batch of batteries will be delivered to the Detroit Hamtramck Assembly Center for integration into production-validation Volts later this spring.  This will get us prepped and ready to have these vehicles on the road later this year.

Today’s event goes beyond just batteries.  The development of electric vehicles, like the Volt, create many unique business opportunities for the auto industry.  A whole “ecosystem” is needed to bring these vehicles to mass market – home and public charging stations, a strong, capable grid, “clean” energy access, utility company and municipality collaboration, electric motor suppliers, recyclers, and many other emerging sectors.

These new businesses are creating jobs – green jobs.  They’re doing it by developing technologies, establishing manufacturing capabilities, and strengthening America's long-term competitiveness.  And, these new businesses are just waiting to be tapped.

With all this great news for our company and our industry, we definitely have an exciting  2010 ahead of us.  Like I said; great way to start the New Year.