GM Expanding Into In-House Design and Development of Electric Motors

Betting on a growing eco-conscious consumer market, General Motors is continuing to diversify its business operations with an increasing emphasis on greener technologies. In the latest move in this direction, the company plans to expand its in-house vehicle development capabilities to include the design and manufacture of electric motors.

GM two-mode hybrid technology for the 2010 Chevrolet Tahoe. Image courtesy of automobilemag.com.

GM was selected last August by the U.S. Department of Energy for a $105 million grant for the construction of U.S. manufacturing initiatives to produce electric motors and related drive components.

GM plans to invest approximately $246 million in electric motor and electric drive manufacturing, including the construction of a high volume electric drive production facility at its Baltimore Transmission plant.

“The expansion of the Baltimore plant will generate a significant influx of money and jobs into the greater Baltimore area,” said Tom Stephens, GM vice chairman of global product operations. The company projects that this new initiative will allow it to create approximately 200 new jobs.

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New York on the Leading Edge of Hydrogen Fuel Station Infrastructure

Hydrogen fuel station at JFK Airport. Photo courtesy of Reuters.

For people in the New York City area that think about buying a hydrogen fuel vehicle, but don’t because of deterrents like limited places to refuel, here’s some news that might interest you.

Working on providing more fueling infrastructure for these vehicles, Shell Hydrogen in its continuing partnership with General Motors just opened up a hydrogen fuel station at the JFK Airport, and is planning to open up one more in the Bronx this month.

With the opening of another station in White Plans last year, Shell announced that this creates “the first metropolitan cluster of stations anywhere in the world to power hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.” These three stations will be about 30 miles from each other.

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Michelin Reaches Initial Prototype Development Stage For New Tires Geared Toward Reducing Rolling Resistance

All of the Audi Mileage Marathon vehicles were outfitted with Michelin Green X low rolling resistance tires. Low rolling resistance tires help improve fuel economy. Photo courtesy of About.com.

GREENVILLE, S.C.- Michelin - at the one-year marker of its three-year partnership plan with Clemson University - has begun testing the first of a series of tire prototypes being developed to reduce rolling resistance and increase fuel economy in next generation vehicles.

“We have been doing a lot of computer simulation work. We are getting some results that are helping us in our path toward the goals that we have for the project. We learned a lot about aerodynamic losses in this first loop that we weren’t expecting,” said Jim Anderson, research director for passenger car and light truck tires of Michelin America’s research and development company.

“When you work on a long-term project like this, new approaches are tried, which also bring up new challenges. Our ambition is quite high for this project in terms of being able to significantly reduce rolling tire resistance and reduce the energy contribution that tires make in operating a vehicle,” added Mr. Anderson.

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New Prototype Technology Expected to Use Road Bumps to Regenerate Battery

GREENWICH, Conn.- A new prototype technology that can use the bumps in a road to regenerate power to the batteries of hybrid and electric vehicles has been exclusively optioned to Electric Truck, a privately held licensing and technology firm.

The commercial rights were optioned to the company by Tufts University, Boston, which originally developed and patented the technology through its Office for Technology Licensing and Industry Collaboration.

Drivers of hybrid cars could increase their miles per gallon by 20 to 70 percent through the use of this new technology, according to Martin Son, associate director of the OTL&IC at Tufts.

The new technology was illustrated as “one that can be implemented as a shock absorber and instead of having the energy as heat and dissipating, it can be converted into a usable electrical energy which can then be used to recharge the battery,” said Mr. Son.

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