Detroit Auto Show: General Motors Introduces the Converj, the 'Cadillac of PHEVs'
By Scott Doggett January 11, 2009
The Cadillac Converj Concept plug-in hybrid electric vehicle made its worldwide debut today at the Detroit Auto Show.
The four-passenger grand touring coupe contains the same electric-propulsion technology found in the Chevrolet Volt PHEV, which also permits a claimed 40 miles of gasoline- and emissions-free electric driving and a gas-fueled extended-range capability of hundreds of miles.
GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz is pictured here introducing the vehicle. Its propulsion system is made up of a 16-kilowatt T-shaped lithium-ion battery pack containing 220 lithium-ion cells, an electric motor that turns the front wheels, and a four-cylinder gasoline engine-generator that feeds the battery pack.
The battery is integrated into the Converj's chassis and stores electricity from the utility grid when the vehicle is plugged in. GM claims it takes less than three hours to recharge the battery at 240 volts, or about eight hours from a 120-volt outlet.
When the battery's energy is low, the gas engine-generator comes on and provides electricity to the battery pack. In this way, the vehicle can go hundreds of miles before recharging and refueling.
Will the vehicle ever enter mass production? No one can say for sure.
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This is absolutely stellar! I think Congress should be summoned before the Big Three to answer why they haven't crafted anything so good as this in the past four years. Oh yeah, and why the economy and banking industry has been trashed on their watch.
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