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Clone Attachments Unveiled At Detroit
Move Forward
One of the closest car makers to the Detroit giant General Motors unveiled its E-REV plug-in hybrid Silverado, Suburban and Express Van models. The company is called Via Motors and its line is to retrofit cars and trucks with the installation of plug-in hybrid drive trains called the E-REV.
This system allows the vehicle to extend its traveling range when using its full electric option to nearly a hundred miles per gallon on just a single full charge of electricity. For its Via Silverado, the electric motor of the vehicle is able to produce voluminous torque. The E-REV system is attached to the Silverado frame, called gliders, or any other GM design model without any engine or drive train. When the company gets them, they then install the vehicle's new hybrid drive train.
Via Motors can install drive trains for other models but it focuses on the GM models owing to the close relationship the start up has with the automotive giant. The relationship is based on the presence of Bob Lutz, the former Vice Chairman of General Motors, who is now a member of the board of directors at Via Motors. The COO of Via is also a GM man. Alan Perriton was one of the top executives in the Asia Pacific operations of General Motors.
In its press releases, Via claims that their E-REV Silverado is able to travel twenty one miles per gallon using its hybrid-electric mode. Aside from this upgrade all the other options in the vehicle are not far from what the GM offers its customer base.
The company is on an uphill climb especially with its connections with Lutz are the previous statements that the former GM executive made against global warming, He called it the biggest scam in history and now with the production of electric vehicles, he says he is saving the planet not merely from global warming but for many other reasons.
Other issues that the company is facing are the direct competition by GM for its line with their very own hybrid Silverado. Instead of going to another company for the drive train and another for the interiors and shell, the GM Silverado Hybrid is fully maintained in GM showrooms alone. A second issue is the lack of testing and performance information about the E-REV system. This makes many purchasers wary of the possible performance issues of the company.
The E-REV system has a 402 horsepower electric motor that pairs itself up with a 4.3 liter V6 gas engine. The unique feature of the E-REV design is that the gas engine acts as generator as well as independent motor. The main engine is the electric vehicle that is powered by a 24 kilowatt hour liquid cooled lithium ion battery array. One of the selling points of the design is that the battery array can be fully charged in just four hours.
Bobby Castro is the online editor at the Electric Car News site, where he has published a number of articles about the Electric Car industry
Article submitted Thursday, January 26, 2012 & read 2 times.
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