Filed under: Diesel, EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Hydrogen, GM, Frankfurt Motor Show
As the days before the Frankfurt Motor Show drop away, more bits of of news are appearing about the cars that will appear there including the Opel-badged E-Flex concept from GM. We already know the new car will have a different body style from the Chevy Volt that's been generating interest since January. The gas/E85 range extender will also be replaced by a diesel, possibly of 1.3L capacity.
Since the E-Flex is a derivative of GM's next-generation Global Compact Car platform it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the car will be similar in size to the Opel Astra, a car that is built on the same architecture. Finally, while the Volt was advertised as having a 6 hour recharge time the new concept will be rated at three hours. This last item comes courtesy of the fact that Europe has 220V as standard for electrical outlets while the US is 110V.
According to GM product planning director Benoit Schlumberger one of the keys to getting E-flex volumes up will be the Chinese market. That's also were GM is likely to put the most emphasis on the fuel cell version of the car. The Chinese are are seen as the most likely to make an effort to put some hydrogen infrastructure in place in the near term especially as the cost of fuel cells starts to come down to earth.
[Source: AutoIndustry]
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