General Motor's May/June 2011 Corporate Responsibility Newsletter
SAFETY
2011 Chevrolet Volt Earns Five-Star Overall Safety Rating
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has given the 2011 Chevrolet Volt the first ever five-star designation to an electric vehicle as part of its New Car Assessment Program. For the 2011 test, NHTSA introduced tougher tests and more rigorous requirements for its five-star safety ratings program, such as the introduction of a new side-pole test simulating 20-mph side impact crash into a 10-inch diameter pole.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Solar Field to Power Chevrolet Volt Assembly Plant
DTE Energy & General Motors recently teamed up to announce the installation of a 516-kilowatt solar field on the grounds of GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant. It will generate electricity capable of charging 150 Volts every day for a year – a total of 54,750 cars.
GM Electric Motors Plant is First for Major U.S. Automaker
Baltimore Operations recently broke ground on an electric motor plant, the first by a U.S. major automaker. The facility also announced a portion of its facility will be powered by a 1.23 megawatt rooftop solar array that is expected to provide nine percent of its annual energy consumption and save approximately $330,000 during the life of the project.
Landfill Gas Powers GM Plant for New Fuel-Sipping Cars
40 percent of the energy that it takes to build the fuel-efficient 2012 Chevrolet Sonic and Buick Verano will come from landfill gas created near the GM Orion Assembly Plant when production begins this fall. The use of landfill gas, which saves GM $1.1 million annually, also cuts the amount of greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides release into the air.
Chevrolet Volt Owners ‘Charging on Sunshine’
It should come as no surprise that consumers who buy Chevrolet Volts already consider themselves stewards for the environment. So when they look for ways to charge their Volts, they try to be as ‘green’ as possible. The people profiled in this story use solar power to keep their Volts running.
GREENER VEHICLES
GM Named Auto Innovation Leader
According to The Patent Board, General Motors is ranked as the No. 1 innovator out of 182 companies in its quarterly automotive and transportation industry scorecard. The ranking is based on intellectual property performance across 17 industries and determines the leader in each sector. GM was ranked No. 1 in the automotive/transportation sector in the previous scorecard, published in January.
Fuel Economy White Paper
This white paper summarized recent changes in the U.S. auto market and GM’s initiatives to improve the efficiency of its vehicles. It was intended to put current headlines into perspective.
Chevrolet Cruze Improves Fuel Economy for 2012
Chevrolet Cruze models with the 1.4L turbo and six-speed automatic transmission will get 2 mpg better fuel economy. The Cruze Eco with an automatic transmission will deliver as much as 39 mpg on the highway compared with 37 mpg for the current model.
GM Ventures Invests in Battery Electric Bus Company
In keeping with their stated goal of investing in companies that will enhance GM’s ability to innovate and ensure customers have access to the best technology, GM Ventures invested $6 million in Proterra, a leading maker of zero-emission commercial transit buses. Proterra’s EcoRide™ BE-35 battery electric bus is averaging up to 24 mpg (diesel equivalent) in service, a more than 600-percent improvement over a typical diesel bus. Using technology developed by Proterra, the lightweight, composite-body bus recharges in about 10 minutes.
Direct Injection Takes Steps Out of Fuel Feeding
Buick is working hard to eliminate to improve fuel injection technology, which will, in turn, lower emissions and improve fuel economy in their vehicles. The high-pressure direct injectors deliver fuel more efficiently, so that fuel doesn’t get left behind or evaporate up out of a carburetor. Engines with direct injection also warm up faster thanks to the ability to add a second injection pulse right before the spark plug ignites the fuel following a cold start.
GM Presence at CERES and Commonwealth Club
GM’s Mike Robinson made an appearance at CERES and the Commonwealth Club to stress the importance of not only putting people in a vehicle that satisfies the energy issues, but provides a fun driving experience.
WASTE REDUCTION
GM Recognizes Supplier for Environmental Excellence
Mobile Fluid Recovery has received the General Motors Environmental Excellence Award for providing unique recycling ideas and collaborating on projects like turning oil-soaked booms from the Gulf of Mexico into Chevrolet Volt components. Based in Birmingham, Ala., the supplier first collaborated with GM 15 years ago on a method to process solvents from rags used to prepare vehicles surfaces for adhering emblems, with the rags then being turned into car parts.
Chevrolet Volt Spares Landfills from Gulf Oil Spill WasteGeneral Motors is finding positives from the worst oil spill in U.S. history by turning oil-soaked booms from the Gulf of Mexico into air baffles in the Chevrolet Volt. Using the recycled booms allowed GM and its supplier partners to reuse 227 miles of absorbent materials, save 29,000 gallons of water and oil from nation’s landfills, and eliminate 212,500 pounds of waste from being thrown out.
GM FOUNDATION
GM Foundation Grants $2.5 Million to Art and Design College
The General Motors Foundation announced a grant to the College of Creative Studies (CCS) to support the ongoing $145-million redevelopment of the college’s A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education. In 2009, CCS opened the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education, a creative community focused on art and design that extends from middle school through graduate school and into professional development.
General Motors Foundation Gives $1 Million for Tank Exhibit
The GM Foundation is continuing its support of the U.S. Army with a $1 million donation so visitors to the National Museum of the United States Army can learn about the WWII M4 Sherman Tank, the first tank to break into the besieged town of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.
Chevrolet and GM Foundation Help Missouri Tornado Relief
The GM Foundation has committed a donation in the amount of $100,000 to the American Red Cross to aid recovery efforts for victims of the tornado that ravaged Joplin, Mo. on May 22. The GM Foundation also provides funding to the Annual Disaster Relief Giving Program, which enables the Red Cross to provide immediate disaster relief anywhere in the country.
Chevrolet Trucks to Assist with Tornado Recovery in South
Chevrolet is donating a dozen Silverado full-size crew cab pickups to United Way in Alabama to help with recovery and reconstruction work following a series of deadly tornadoes that struck the region April 27. The GM Foundation also announced that it is providing a $100,000 grant to the American Red Cross to help disaster relief efforts in the southeastern states.
Safe Kids and General Motors Foundation Mark 15th Anniversary of Child Passenger Safety Partnership
Safe Kids Worldwide and GM Foundation marked the 15th anniversary of their partnership – the most extensive private sector child passenger safety program in the nation. The partnership has grown from a program that emphasized child seat checks at dealerships into the more comprehensive Safe Kids Buckle Up (SKBU) program, a multi-dimensional initiative that addresses child safety in and around vehicles from birth through age 14.
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