SAE Show 2011 – Genovation G2 Plug-In Hybrid (Motor Trend) 2 May '11
This article was originally posted on Motor Trend's Wide Open Throttle blog. The full excerpt can be found here.
Who in their right mind would start a new car company in the U.S. in this day and age? Good question, though Fisker and Tesla have managed to scoop up quite a bit of government and corporate largess in the course of their launches. Rockland Maryland-based Genovation Cars Inc. bills itself as a tight team of dedicated professionals who have allied themselves with established corporations like R&D partner Tata Technologies (an engineering services arm of the Indian megacorporation) to help realize its stated goal of becoming “the premier provider of green automobiles in the U.S.”
The company envisions a range of cars starting with the G2 coupe, which would launch as a battery electric vehicle powered by a 38 kW-hr lithium-iron-phosphate battery pack provided by partner K2 Energy. Range for the 3500-pound aero-slick 0.20 CD four-seater is stated at “100 miles under worst-case conditions,” with 0-60-mph acceleration estimated at a respectable 7.5 seconds. (That aero number is based on computational fluid dynamics studies soon to be verified in the University of Maryland’s wind tunnel, and no power figures have been announced for the AC induction type traction motor.)
The EV would be joined soon after by a plug-in series hybrid using a Lotus 3-cylinder engine that was designed specifically for range-extender duty and shown in Geneva two years ago. A smaller 22 kW-hr battery pack will be used in the plug-in version, good for around 50 miles per electric charge, plus another 250-300 on gasoline. A single, advanced thermal management system will keep the batteries, engine, power inverter, and passengers operating within their respective comfort zones, and is being developed by Dana Thermals.
Other lofty goals listed on the company’s web site include extensive use of wind and solar energy at their factory and use of recycled and renewable materials in the vehicle while admitting that “color consistency cannot be guaranteed and is, therefore, not acceptable to some large manufacturers. We consider this inconsistency to be an environmental badge of merit.” Company representatives suggest that the car can be built and sold profitably in volumes of 3,000 per year at $60,000 each and hopes to have the cars on sale by 2014. We wish Genovation all the best, but that sounds like a tall order to us.
