2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer Ss on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2016 Technology of the Year Finalist: 2016 Chevy Volt

The 2016 Chevy Volt is in all ways an improvement over the Volts that came before. It's got a new powertrain, a new look, and new (and better) fuel economy figures. What's not to like? For the second generation, GM used the last few years of automotive battery improvements and customer data to deliver a car that took what people liked about the first Volt and offered up more of that. This means a longer all-electric range (from 38 miles to 53) and better gas-burning fuel economy (37 miles per gallon up to 42 mpg – oh, and you're not required to use premium any more, either). All of this for less money than the outgoing 2015 Volts. Chevy's new plug-in hybrid will start at $33,995, which is not only lower than the 2015's MSRP of $34,170 but it's also just a few hundred dollars higher than the average new car price in the US. In other words, the new Volt (and many other plug-in vehicles) is not out of the price range for most car shoppers. The interior has been updated as well, losing some of the oh-so-futuristic touch-sensitive center stack in favor of more realistic tactile buttons. This along makes the new Volt better than the first generation, but when it's wrapped up in the new exterior design, it just feels more appropriate for a car that's not trying to be from the future. Instead, the new 2016 Chevy Volt wants to be the best plug-in car for right now.

Meet the mother-daughter team that's worked on almost every Chevy Volt

It's Mother's Day, and we're soft enough we love our mothers enough to share a new video from General Motors with you. In it, we meet Monique Watson (left) and Evetta Osbourne, a mother-daughter team that works at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly where GM makes the Chevy Volt (along with all of GM's other plug-in hybrids: the Opel Ampera, Holden Volt and Cadillac ELR). The two work side-by-side and have installed the lithium-ion battery pack on almost all of those vehicles - nearly 80,000 of them - since GM started making the pre-production Volts in 2009. In a prepared statement, Watson said that she likes working next to her mom, day in and day out, and they the two are totally in sync when it comes to putting the 400-pound, 16.5-kWh packs into the vehicle undersides. They two can also share stories throughout the day, and Watson said, "The arrangement has absolutely improved our relationship." Osborne started working at Detroit-Hamtramck in 1999, Watson since 2006. If you're driving a Volt today, you probably have them to thank for doing a bit of the work putting your car together. See a short video of them in action below. It's Always Mother's Day for Detroit-Hamtramck Duo Mother, daughter install lithium-ion battery pack in nearly all GM electric vehicles 2014-05-08 DETROIT – For Detroit resident Evetta Osborne, every day is Mother's Day. That's because she literally works side by side with her daughter, Monique Watson, at General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant. They have installed the lithium-ion battery pack on nearly every Chevrolet Volt, Opel Ampera, Holden Volt, and Cadillac ELR since production began. In fact, apart from vacation days and an occasional sick day, the mother-daughter duo has installed almost every battery pack since the Volt was in pre-production in 2009. The ELR launched earlier this year. All told – including Ampera – that's more than 80,000 electric vehicles. "We're a good team and our relationship is secondary when it comes to performing our jobs – but it's great to work alongside my daughter, said Osborne, a mother of five. Because the battery packs weigh more than 400 pounds each, automatic guided vehicles – robotic carts that use sensors to follow a path through the plant – deliver them just as the vehicle body structures glide into position overhead. The carts then lift the T-shaped packs, and Osborne and Watson guide them into the chassis and secure each one with 24 fasteners.

Trucks with the best gas mileage for 2024

There's no denying that pickup trucks are an integral part of our culture. They've been instrumental in building our infrastructure and giving the public access to remote locations and myriad recreation activities. Trucks aren't known for being particularly fuel efficient though, with boxy silhouettes and considerable weight negatively affecting their gas mileage ratings. The times are changing and not only are trucks getting more economical, but there are also several new smaller alternatives. An efficient tuck doesn't have to by tiny, though. Some of the trucks with the best gas mileage look classically bulky. What is the most fuel-efficient truck? So what's the most fuel-efficient pickup truck on sale in the U.S? It depends on which class of trucks you're looking at. For this list, we're focusing only on internal-combustion trucks. The small crop of all-electric trucks are certainly worth considering, but it's not so easy comparing EVs to ICE trucks here. In most cases, these trucks are the two-wheel-drive versions since they return the best mileage, but there are a few four- or all-wheel-drive models that we call out.  Not surprisingly, the revival of the compact pickup has altered the truck landscape. In many cases, these petite trucks may be just the right size for many shoppers. That's great because most owners would rather not lug around a ton of weight that they don't necessarily need. The simplest answer to the question posed above is the Ford Maverick Hybrid. It tops this list of fuel-efficient truckswith an impressive 37-mpg EPA estimate for combined city and highway miles. With only 191 horsepower and a continuously variable transmission, it's not as capable off-road or for towing as other trucks, but if you just need something to haul stuff around, you really can't do any better. Its 4.5-foot bed has a slight advantage over its only rival, the Hyundai Santa Cruz, which has a 4-foot bed and an estimate of 23 mpg. So now we know what truck uses the least amount of gas. 2024 Ford Maverick 2.5-liter hybrid powertrain 37 mpg combined (EPA estimate) What is the most fuel-efficient midsize truck? While not as popular as their full-size siblings, midsize strike a good balance of utility and drivability. They’re easier to navigate in a crowded parking lot, and fit down more trails earning a set of Arizona pinstripes.