This compendium presents the most complete design and engineering story available anywhere about this groundbreaking new vehicle. It also introduces you to the engineering team and how they made the world’s first production extended-range electric vehicle a reality. Combining articles from SAE International’s Vehicle Electrification and Automotive Engineering International magazines, new SAE technical papers, and all-new content, this full-color book is the only one of its kind that lifts the veil on how the GM team and key supplier partners met the difficult engineering challenges faced in developing the Volt. Topics include the Volt’s systems, components, and model-based design; a behind-the-wheel look at a Volt prototype; and how the Volt’s engineering team used OnStar to collect test drive data from preproduction Volt vehicles. There is also an interview with GM’s Micky Bly in which the executive explains how the Volt program enabled GM to take new approaches to vehicle electrical architectures.

The Chevrolet Volt was introduced to the motoring public with great fanfare in autumn 2008. Clean styling and creative engineering have created a tremendous buzz around the Volt, which is unlike any electric car to date. Chevrolet Volt takes you behind the scenes of the car's development from concept to finished product. With unprecedented access to the people that made the car happen, author Larry Edsall brings you behind the scenes with exclusive photography from General Motors. In-depth interviews of the designers, engineers, aerodynamicists, and other key figures reveal the hurdles and setbacks, advances and victories in the car's evolution. No other book offers the unrestricted access to the development of one of the most important cars from Detroit--ever!

In November, GM CEO Rick Wagoner appeared before Congress to ask for $25 billion to bail out the struggling Big Three automakers. To critics like Thomas Freidman and Mitt Romney, it was a sign that the American auto industry should be led out to pasture; if the Japanese are better at making cars, they said, then we should let them do it. To defenders, the loss of the country's largest manufacturing sector would be an incomprehensible disaster. Nearly every day, the debate rages on the op-ed pages. Billions of dollars and millions of jobs hang in the balance. In Why GM Matters, William Holstein goes deep inside GM to show what's really happening at the country's most iconic corporation. Where critics say that GM has sat on its hands while the market changed, Holstein demonstrates that GM has already radically retooled its entire operation, from manufacturing and cost structure to design. Where pundits say we'd be better off without GM, he shows how inextricably linked GM and the nation's economy still are: The country's largest private buyer of IT, the world's largest buyer of steel, the holder of pensions for 780,000 Americans, GM accounts for a full 1 percent of our country's GDP. A dollar spent on GM has profoundly different consequences from a dollar spent on Toyota. Following a diverse cast of characters-from Rick Wagoner, the controversial CEO, to design director Bob Boniface, to Linda Flowers, a team leader on the line in Kansas City-Holstein examines the state of GM's health and builds a persuasive argument that GM is essential to our nation's well-being and, with the right economic climate, ready to compete with Toyota as one of the biggest global automakers.

"The full illustrated history of Chevrolet, from the Series 490 to today's Silverado and Colorado"--

No President in living memory has entered office with a greater amount of goodwill and broad, bi-partisan support than Barack Obama. And few Presidents in living memory had arrived in Washington proclaiming such dramatically articulated vows to change the tone of politics, to usher in an era of post-partisanship in an effort to rally the nation behind his plan of enacting an ambitious program of social and economic change. He vowed to enact a broad bi-partisan agenda for health care reform, energy transformation, economic revitalization, job growth and restoration of America's standing in the world. And no President in living memory has more quickly and more completely abandoned his promises. He enacted a health care plan that far more resembled plans he had bitterly criticized his opponents for supporting rather than the one his campaign outlined His promised job growth through economic stimulus measures drove up the unemployment rate to double digits leading to millions of job losses His vows to restore fiscal probity resulted in the most ruinous deficits and public debt in U.S. history He 'green energy' program collapsed into a cesspool of crony political favoritism His vows to restore relations with hostile nations like Iran and North Korea had only deepened those nations' disdain for America Despite his harsh criticisms, Obama adopted nearly every plank in the Bush-era anti-terror policy His promise to restore science to its rightful place resulted in the most rigidly inflexible program of ideological extremism in modern memory Even more noteworthy was the fact that the new era of post-partisanship he had vowed to create in Washington resulted in the worst political gridlock in living memory. This book examines in detail hundreds of campaign promises Obama made while running for President, contrasting those with the record of failure and broken promises left in his wake. It is a story that has received too little attention - until now."

Hybrid Powered Vehicles, 2nd Edition builds on the original edition’s exploration of hybrid components, system engineering, design constraints, challenges, and opportunities of hybrid vehicles. Since the first edition was published in 2003, hybrid vehicles have seen major technical developments and have gained significant market share. This book provides the reader with a thorough yet accessible understanding of the latest hybrid technology developments, along with keen insight into the market forces shaping the technology and a look at what lies ahead. Author John German reviews the development history of hybrid vehicles and the current state of hybrid technology, including battery types and chemistries. He also highlights the cycles of fuel availability, fuel economy, and concern for environmental issues, and profiles government efforts to spur development of more efficient vehicles. Future enhancements, including more sophisticated hybrid control strategies and integrating additional electrical components to improve efficiency, are also featured. Cost reduction, being a major barrier to mass market adoption, is also discussed. Finally, future sales and market forecasts are offered, including the belief that hybrid sales will rapidly increase after approximately 2020 and will capture about 75% of the market by about 2030. Topics include: Transitional Technology or Ultimate Solution Design Components Design Constraints Plug-In Hybrid Design Hybrid System Optimization Customer Acceptance Future Development Future Conventional Hybrid and PHEV Markets

A legend in the car industry reveals the philosophy that's starting to turn General Motors around. In 2001, General Motors hired Bob Lutz out of retirement with a mandate to save the company by making great cars again. He launched a war against penny pinching, office politics, turf wars, and risk avoidance. After declaring bankruptcy during the recession of 2008, GM is back on track thanks to its embrace of Lutz's philosophy. When Lutz got into the auto business in the early sixties, CEOs knew that if you captured the public's imagination with great cars, the money would follow. The car guys held sway, and GM dominated with bold, creative leadership and iconic brands like Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, GMC, and Chevrolet. But then GM's leadership began to put their faith in analysis, determined to eliminate the "waste" and "personality worship" of the bygone creative leaders. Management got too smart for its own good. With the bean counters firmly in charge, carmakers (and much of American industry) lost their single-minded focus on product excellence. Decline followed. Lutz's commonsense lessons (with a generous helping of fascinating anecdotes) will inspire readers at any company facing the bean counter analysis-paralysis menace.