General Motors Going Green to 2010
During a presentation in Paul Springs, California, GM’s chief engineer on the fuel cell project, Mohsen Shabana has stated that the hydrogen infrastructure would not be in place by then, but technicians are already working to make sure that car production is ready by 2010.
The Sequel is purely a research vehicle of GM. The automaker has built only two units of this vehicle. To hasten the transition towards a hydrogen age, the automaker is planning to increase the test fleet to 100 vehicles and using the Chevrolet Equinox as its basis.
Saturn General Manager, Jill Lajdziak said, “The Aura Green Line is a great value among the hybrids in the mid-size car segment. With starting sticker price over $2,000 less than any mid-sized hybrid sedan and a $1,300 tax credit, it makes true hybrid fuel savings available to more people than ever before.”
Regenerative braking according to Wikipedia is system that reduces the vehicle’s speed by converting its kinetic energy into electrical energy. This electrical energy is stored for future use or fed back into a power system for use by other vehicles.
The new Sequel is able to travel 480 kilometers compared to its earlier model which can travel only 100 kilometers. The acceleration is also improved from 0 to 100km/h with time reduce from 20seconds down to 10 seconds. Top speed now stands at 145 km/h compared to the usual 100km/h.
Aura Green’s hybrid powertrain delivers 164 horsepower or 122 kW at 6400 rpm and 159 lb-ft or 215 Nm of peak torque at 5000 rpm. The concept for the Saturn’s new hybrid sedan is based on the all-new Aura midsize sedan which won the 2007 North American Car of the Year award. The Green Line features the same list of comprehensive package that earned Aura full five stars in government side-impact and frontal crash tests making it as one of the safest vehicles available. Some of the standard features included in the Aura Green are as follows: dual-stage front, side head-curtain and front seat thorax protection air bags, four-wheel disc brakes with ABS, StabiliTrak electronic stability control, and GM’s OnStar safety and security system. The Aura Green will also be equipped with original GM parts that are renowned for quality and durability like GM shock absorbers which disperse or absorb energy and in the process prevents the uncontrollable movements of the vehicle especially when driving on uneven road surfaces.
It seems like General Motors is really serious about going green, as recently Iowa General Motors’ director of environment and energy programs Mary Beth Stanek said that the ethanol industry must strive to create higher blends of fuel. The announcement made at a biofuels forum is brought about by the desire of the automaker to increase production of flex-fuel vehicles.