The Chevrolet Volt was at Columbia University last Thursday and Friday for a series of events and our team was there to chronicle the event on our Volt lifestream. The Columbia University event featured a discussion with engineering students on Thursday, and a panel on Friday titled "Is New York Ready for Electric Cars?" The discussion was moderated by Kathleen Deveny from Newsweek and the five panelists included Volt Vehicle Line Director Tony Posawatz and Larry Burns, the former VP for R&D at General Motors. Topics ranged from infrastructure needs to battery recycling to range anxiety issues.

Today I had the opportunity to award the winners for Year Two of the EcoCAR Challenge, a three-year engineering competition where we asked 16 university teams to design, develop and implement powertrains that minimize fuel consumption and emissions.  This is certainly not an easy task, and luckily, these students were eager to roll up their sleeves and dive into this complicated challenge.

Over the past two years, they’ve spent countless hours developing innovative technologies that were recently judged in more than a dozen technical events at the GM Desert Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona and San Diego, California.  These tests are the very same ones that any GM launch vehicle would undergo.  GM believes in developing advanced powertrains that reduce dependency on petroleum, improve fuel economy and lower emissions - which is why the students could explore a variety of solutions including electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cells.

It’s an exciting time for Chevrolet. The Volt is on-time for production to start late this year, the world’s first electric vehicle with extended-range capability. No doubt this is an important time for us. But, we still have work to do.

You may remember that Chevrolet and OnStar recently announced a program to educate and train our nation’s first responders and to launch a series of electric vehicle emergency response safety programs in key Volt launch markets. Over the last year, we have been working closely with several key first responder organizations such as the International Association of Fire Fighters, the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Emergency Number Association to develop nationwide training materials to educate first responders about electric vehicle technology. This program is just one way Chevrolet is taking the lead to help public safety personnel become as comfortable and confident working around electric vehicles as they are with conventional vehicles today.

Today was a historic day for the Volt, as the first drivable Chevrolet Volts arrived in China. Two Volts were delivered to the Shanghai Expo Bureau for use as part of its VIP transportation fleet at World Expo 2010 Shanghai.

The technology for the Volt in China is the same as the United States version. Drivers in China will drive gas- and tailpipe-emissions-free for up to the first 60 kilometers (or 40 miles) using electricity stored in its 16-kWh lithium-ion battery. When the Volt’s battery runs low, a gasoline-powered range-extending engine/generator seamlessly operates to extend the driving range another 450 kilometers (or 300 miles) on a full tank.

China is one of the initial markets outside the United States to receive the Volt and Chevrolet will begin selling Volts in China in the latter half of 2011. This is just another step in bringing electric vehicles to all parts of the world, so stay tuned for more information.