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Chevy Volt owners log half a billion electric miles, 2015 production starts

As General Motors gets ready to start 2015 Volt production Monday, Chevrolet is looking back at some of the numbers that got the car to where it is today. The headline number is that Volt owners have collectively put more than a half-billion electric miles on their cars. The unsurprising upshot is that, if you went out and bought a Volt, you're pretty keen on getting as many electric miles out of it as possible. 90 percent of all Volt trips are done purely on electric power. The typical Volt driver goes 970 miles between fill-ups, GM says, and that means that 63 percent of all miles are done on battery power. General Motors executive director Larry Nitz gave AutoblogGreen a few more details on the usage habits of Volt drivers, including that 81 percent of commuting miles are electric. Two-thirds of US Volt drivers charge their vehicle 1.4 times a day, a clear indicator of drivers trying to maximize electric miles through opportunity charging. In fact, Nitz said, 90 percent of all Volt trips are done purely on electric power. GM also says that the Volt's official 35 miles of electric range is still doable for many owners who have had their car for more than 30 months. Looking ahead, we know that one upgrade for the 2015 Volt will be 4G LTE connectivity that can turn the car, like others in the GM family, into a mobile wifi hotspot. We're of course much more interested in when GM is finally going to start production of the next-gen Volt, but GM officials would only tell us that they're very excited about the still-secret vehicle, promising we'll be learning more "soon." Nitz did confirm that today's Volt drivers are most interested in three things from the next-gen model: more range, a lower price and a fifth seat. He did not say whether or not GM will be able to deliver on those requests. Chevrolet Volt Owners Surpass Half a Billion Electric Miles After 30 months of use, a sampling of Volts shows consistent all-electric range 2014-06-19 DETROIT – Since its launch in late 2010, Chevrolet Volt owners have accumulated more than half a billion all-electric miles. Additionally, based on a General Motors' study of more than 300 Volts in service in California for more than 30 months, many owners are exceeding the EPA-rated label of 35 miles of EV range per full charge, with about 15 percent surpassing 40 miles of range.

Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.

Autoblog Minute: 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty truck reveal

Competition in the heavy duty truck segment heats up as we get our first look at the 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty lineup. Autoblog's Adam Morath reports on this edition of Autoblog Minute. With commentary from Autoblog's senior editor Greg Migliore and an interview with Doug Scott of Ford Motor Company. Update: This post has been updated to reflect that the entire Ford F-Series Super Duty lineup is new for 2017, not just the F-250 model. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] Competition in the heavy duty truck segment heats up as we get our first look at the 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty trucks. I'm Adam Morath and this is your Autoblog Minute. As Ford prepares to release its new Super Duty line to the American worker, we spoke with Doug Scott of Ford's Truck Group to find out what customers can expect from this latest super duty offering: [00:00:30] [Doug Scott Interview] For more on what the changes to Super Duty mean for the segment we go to Autoblog's Greg Migliore: [00:01:30] [Greg Migliore Interview] Will a larger cabin and increased towing capacity help these heavy duty trucks take off like the smaller F150? And, how will the other HD giants, Chevy, GMC, and Ram respond? Truck fans, be sure to sound off in the comments below. For Autoblog, I'm Adam Morath. [00:02:00] Show Logo Autoblog Minute is a short-form video news series reporting on all things automotive. Each segment offers a quick and clear picture of what's happening in the automotive industry from the perspective of Autoblog's expert editorial staff, auto executives, and industry professionals. Chevrolet Ford GMC RAM Truck Autoblog Minute Videos Original Video ford f-250 f-250 super duty