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Jon Lauckner, Chevrolet Volt Founding Father
 
2:00
Jon Lauckner -  Good afternoon everyone.   Thanks for joining.   I wanted to quickly thank all our co-hosts for this chat today - AutoBlogGreen, EV World, GM-Volt, GM FastLane and our new Volt social network, Chevrolet VoltAge.   Let's go.
2:00
[Comment From Dan Petit ]
Would it be possible to at least tell us when you might be able to give us a base price range, so that we can ourselves not have a "moving cost budget target"?
2:02
Jon Lauckner -  Hi Dan. We typically do not lock in on pricing until about 3-6 months prior to start of production. The reason is primarily so we have an opportunity to take a look at the market, competitors and other factors. So stay tuned.
2:02
[Comment From Eric ]
There has been talk about heaters to warm the battery in cold conditions for better performance, but is sounds like the car will run almost entirely on the supplementary motor in the extreme cold. Is this true and what should potential consumers who drive where the mercury regularly dips below 32 and even 0 expect?
2:06
Jon Lauckner -  The Volt has an on-board system to both heat and cool the battery to keep it at roughly 20-25 degrees C. When the vehicle is plugged in, for example in your garage, grid power will be used to power this on-board system. Clearly, if the vehicle is not plugged in, for example in an airport parking lot in the winter, we need a way to warm the battery up that doesn't use grid power - this is where the ICE engine comes in.
2:07
[Comment From Paul Stoller ]
Due to the high initial cost of the Volt, are there any plans to use a modified version of the Voltec drive train to create a non-plug in version. I would think this would be a good way to compete against the likes of the Prius and also help to get the economies of scale necessary to bring overall costs of a full plug in version.
2:08
Jon Lauckner -  Well, if you take away the plug-in feature from the Volt, then it wouldn't be any better than a parallel hybrid using petroleum as its only source of propulsion, and that's not the idea of the Volt.
2:08
[Comment From old man ]
My thoughts are on the Volt and the types of gas generators being tested. Is there any chance that this might be a good application for a Wankel type engine?
2:12
Jon Lauckner -  We're not considering a Wankel (rotary engine) at this point.   There are reasons, but I'd use up a huge amount of time explaining why that's the case.   We are looking at more efficient gen sets using next gen technology like HCCI (homogeneous charge compression ignition) which looks very promising.
2:13
[Comment From Cybereye ]
Any other plan that does use alternative energy range extender down the road that won't be in cars, but trucks and SUV?
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