Who Started Chevrolet Motor Company - Damino Media

How Chevrolet Started, Grew & Became $11.5 Billion Company

Success Secrets TV:

How Chevrolet Started, Grew & Became $11.5
Billion Company
The name Chevrolet originated from a Swiss-born
American racer Louis-Joseph Chevrolet, who
founded his company with William Durant in
1911, stayed for four years and then left
his own company to Durant in 1915.
The Chevrolet Company previously called the
Chevrolet Division of General Motors Company
and simply called the Chevy is the automobile
department of General Motors, a manufacturing
company in the United States.
How Chevrolet Began
Twenty years before Chevrolet, Durant was
the founder of a successful Durant-Dort Carriage
Company which manufactured horse-drawn vehicles.
And so Durant wouldn't even touch a car with
a ten-foot pole, let alone allow his daughter
to ride in what he called, "loud and dangerous
horseless carriages."
But as time passed he realized that there
were more cars than carriages on the American
streets; an experience that did not settle
well with the relatively tentative public.
As the government regulated cars for their
safety, Durant had other ideas.
Why not improve the security of these cars
instead?
In 1904, Durant approached a struggling Buick
Motor Company and became its controlling investor.
Within a span of four years, Durant demonstrated
his salesman attitude and transformed Buick
into a leading automobile name amongst the
likes of Ford, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac.
For Durant, however, it was only the start.
Durant figured he could further improve his
odds in the industry if he built a holding
company that would control several automobile
divisions, with each division manufacturing
their own car.
With the Buick's outstanding profits, Durant
had sufficient capital to found the General
Motors Company in 1908.
A year later, General Motors acquired several
car brands like Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac,
Elmore, and others.
Unfortunately,Durant got so carried away in
his "automobile acquisition crusade" that
GM suffered cash shortage with their sales
losing to Ford's.
And so, in 1910, General Motors showed Durant
the exit door.
But Durant did not give up.
Having regained his bearings, he reunited
with an old colleague from the days of the
Buick motor company, Louis-Joseph Chevrolet.
Durant knew the Swiss-born American as a man
whose competency for car mechanics matched
his passion for racing.
In 1909, Louis had participated in the Giant
Despair Hillclimb.
An oddly apt name, considering the Hillclimb
race was less about the racers themselves
and more about test-driving the competing
car brands they drove.
Therefore, when Durant offered a chance to
build more automobiles, Louis couldn't resist
signing his name on the dotted line alongside
Durant's.
In 1911, Louis co-founded the Chevrolet Motor
Company with Durant.
Durant used Louis’ racing status as a means
of building a motor company, and his way of
getting back at General Motors.
The first Chevrolet car, the Series C Classic
Six was designed by Etienne Planche with directions
by Louis.
The prototype was ready before the company
was incorporated even though the production
didn’t happen until 1913 where it was introduced
at an auto show in New York.
In 1914, Chevrolet redesigned its logo.
And so a "bowtie emblem" logo was used on
Chevrolet’s first produced cars in 1914:
the Chevrolet H series and L series models.
That same year, Durant and Louis argued about
their differing intentions for Chevrolet’s
future car designs.
Durant wanted simple and affordable cars that
would surpass those of Fords.
On the other hand, Louis preferred playing
it fast and loose, with luxury or racing cars.
These differences split these two associates
and Louis sold his shares of the company to
Durant.
Now alone at the helm, Durant was able to
focus on his next winning car design.
He achieved this in 1916 when the cheaper
Chevrolet Series 490 finally outpaced Ford
in sales and cemented Chevrolet’s place
among the big automobile names.
To say Chevrolet made huge profits during
this period would be a severe understatement.
Durant revisited General Motors as a controlling
investor, purchasing their stocks, which gave
him the leverage to launching himself into
leading General Motors once more.
By 1917, Durant had become the president of
General Motors.
All was right, now that Durant's "big automobile"
dream was back on track.
And of course, his first directive was merging
the highly successful Chevrolet into the parent
company General Motors as a separate division.
How Chevrolet Grew
In 1918, Chevrolet launched a new V8 powered
model, the Series D for open two-seat cars
and the touring cars that could seat 5 passengers.
These models didn't sell well though and they
were scrapped by the next year.
Given Chevrolet's successful track record
in the market, General Motors rebranded and
sold their commercial grade cars and trucks
as Chevrolet with similar appearances with
the Chevrolet’s vehicles in 1919 from Chevrolet
factories located in Flint, Michigan.
The automobile company built several branch
assembly plants in New York, Ohio, Missouri,
California, Texas, and Canada.
Somewhere between the 1920s and 1940s, Chevrolet
would see Durant's vision for "producing simple
and affordable cars" come true.
In fact, Chevrolet, Ford and Plymouth were
known to Americans as "the low priced three".
During this period, one of Chevrolet's most
notable cars was the Stovebolt introduced
in 1929, which was tag-lined "a six for the
price of four".
This and several generations of the car model
blew away the competition of Ford and Plymouth.
In 1953, the Chevy Corvette, a sport’s car
with two seats and a fiberglass body debuted
to become the first mass-produced sports car
in the United States, championing the "America's
Sports Car" appeal.
The appeal of the Corvette and other Chevrolet
passenger cars would be enhanced with the
first-time introduction of Rochester Ramjet
fuel-injection engine as a high-performance
option for the price of $484.
The Chevrolet small block V8 car design made
its debut in 1955 and remained in circulation
longer than other mass produced engines around
the world.
Modifications to the V8 engine including the
aluminum block and heads, the electronic engine
management and the port fuel injection gave
birth to the designs in production today.
In 1958, Chevrolet introduced the Impala series,
which went on to become one of the best-selling
American cars in history experiencing popularity
during the 60s and 70s.
The parent company General Motors introduced
Chevrolet to Europe in 2005.
With rebranded cars manufactured from the
General Motors branch in Korea acquired Daewoo
Motors.
The economic depression between 2007 and 2010
hit Chevrolet hard.
But the road to recovery began in 2010 with
the introduction of fuel-efficient cars and
trucks to compete with foreign automobile
manufacturers.
Within the same year, Chevrolet introduced
the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, Chevrolet
Volt in America, which was sold under the
name Opel/Vauxhall Ampera throughout Europe
with a record 5,268 units soldand became the
world's best-selling plug-in hybrid electric
vehicle (PHEV) car in 2012, winning the award
for the North American Car of the Year, European
Car of the Year and World Green of the Year.
The series was then named the combined Volt/Ampera
that was sold across the world.
It exceeded the 100,000 unit sales milestone
in late 2005 and eleven years later the Volt
family of vehicles had become the world's
best-selling plug-in hybrid as well as the
third best selling electric car after the
Tesla Model S and the Nissan Leaf cars.
In 2011, Chevrolet set a global sales record
of 4.76 million vehicles sold worldwide
In late 2013, the Chevy brand was withdrawn
from Europe by General Motors leaving the
Corvette and Camero lines.
In 2016, Chevrolet unveiled the first affordable
mass-produced all-electric car the Chevrolet
Bolt EV.
This car too has won several awards.
Where Chevrolet Is Today
Chevrolet now has its headquarters in Detroit,
Michigan, and operates throughout 140 countries
in North and South America, Asia, Australia,
South Africa, and Europe with over two million
vehicles sold annually in the US alone and
a brand value of $11.5 billion.
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HISTORY 🚗 U.S. Automotive Industry (Automobiles Documentary)((ENGINEERING AMERICAN CARS & TRUCKS))

HOT ROD 100:

HOT ROD 100 Presents...
History of the U.S. Automotive Industry

Why GM Failed In India

CNBC:

Over the last 20 years, the
Indian automotive market has grown from
about 500,000 new passenger cars,
hatchbacks, sedans and utilities to
about 3.5
million in 2018.
The market has an expected compound annual
growth rate of about 5 to
6 percent over the next 10 years.
But, some automakers have struggled
to make it work.
Among them is General
Motors, the largest U.S.
car company. GM stopped selling cars in
India in 2017 after years of
declining market share.
It's a striking move for GM, which
in recent years has also closed
shop in other regions around the
world, as leadership focuses on
maximizing profits and making investments
in new technologies such as
electric power trains
and mobility services.
With a population of more than
1 billion people, India is becoming
one of the world's
largest automotive markets.
The country is poised to surpass
Japan as the world's third biggest
new car market in 2021.
So while there is ample
opportunity for automakers, the Indian
landscape has been particularly difficult
to navigate, especially for
American firms. GM watched its share
of the Indian market erode
steadily over several years, bottoming out
at about one percent in
2016 just before the
automaker pulled out.
So if the Indian market is
growing, why did GM struggle, especially
when GM has been
so successful in China?
To be fair, quite a few automakers
tend to have difficulty in the
Indian market. First of all, India
is a massive country with a
diverse population of roughly 1.3
billion people.
India, I think, we are
definitely a complex market.
The income levels
are quite heterogeneous.
We are divided, actually into
urban India and rural India.
The consumer requirements are actually
different even the needs are
different in both these markets.
There are a few criteria a
mass market automaker ought to meet.
They are fuel efficiency, resale
value, proximity of service stations
and the affordability of parts
and low servicing costs.
I think first thing is price.
We are a country with a
very low per capita income.
Indians are very price sensitive.
But price is not the only factor.
So now the customer also needs
some more value, for example, with
styling elements. And then, I think,
the consumer also wants a global
brand. They want a
brand which is aspirational.
The consumer wants an overall combination of
all P's, you know it may
be product, it may be
price, it may be positioning.
Which makes the things
quite complicated for OEMs.
These might seem pretty attainable,
but many automakers have
struggled to meet these
in the country.
There are a couple of companies who
have managed to crack that code
and there are several more with shares
of the market ranging in size
from small to smaller.
By far, the most successful automaker
in India is the Japanese firm
Suzuki, which alone owns
half the Indian market.
Suzuki has enjoyed something of
a first mover advantage.
It was the first major automaker to
enter India, and it did so
through a joint venture
with Indian manufacturer Maruti.
Suzuki also specializes in highly
fuel efficient vehicles, which are
extremely important in
the Indian market.
After Suzuki, Korean maker Hyundai is
the second largest with 16
percent of the Indian market.
After that, Indian, Japanese and Korean
makers such as Honda, Tata,
Kia and Mahindra all more or less
have equal degrees of market share.
Kia in particular, is a relatively
late coming brand that has been
able to succeed in India.
I think an excellent example is
Kia Motors which recently entered, it
was a new brand and
they gave a great proposition.
They were in an SUV segment and
I think suddenly right from the month
one, we saw a great success
for this OEM, in India.
Then the remaining 10 percent of the
market is made up of others such
as Ford, Renault, BMW and Nissan.
Early on, GM entered the India market
with its Opel brand, a mass
market brand GM had
owned in Europe.
While Opel cars tended to be
affordable, they failed to resonate with
Indian buyers.
I think later on they realized that's
not a brand which is really
going to work well in India because
that was not a value proposition
which they were offering
to their customers.
But then GM introduced its Chevrolet
brand to the country, which
brought it more success.
It was a great success.
They launched a few great
products like Chevrolet Cruze Chevrolet
Beat. They had that start which
they were really looking forward.
Despite these efforts, the automaker had
trouble taking share in the
Indian market. It was the first
automaker to introduce a diesel fuel
powered car of its size.
At the time, the Chevrolet beat
was the smallest diesel powered car
customers could buy in India.
It was a strong proposition and
benefited from a government subsidy
on diesel engines.
But in the end, the
diesel Beat had few takers.
The company may also have made a
misstep by trying to introduce a
low-cost vehicle GM manufactured with
its Chinese partner SAIC called
the Chevrolet Sail.
Their plan got derailed with the
introduction of Sail because I think
they underestimated the consumer aspiration
and then, I think, the
decline started. GM also fell victim
to a kind of self-reinforcing
cycle. One challenge it struggled with
was the lack of an adequate
dealer and servicing network.
More premium brands such as Mercedes
and BMW often attract customers
with the means to travel
further for service and sales.
But, mass market brands such as
GM's Chevrolet are targeting middle
class buyers who value convenience.
Dealerships in India often sell a
single brand so GM's low sales
volumes meant a single dealer might sell
only a handful of cars in a
month and risk taking losses on
the costs of running the business.
In the end, such low market share
made it difficult for GM to justify
maintaining a presence
in the country.
The automaker officially stopped selling
cars in India on December
31, 2017.
GM told CNBC it explored many
options for its India business, but
ultimately withdrew after it
determined the increased investment
originally planned for the country would
not deliver the returns of
other global opportunities.
It continues to operate services
for existing Chevrolet customers in
the country. In September, the
automaker entered a long-term
partnership with Tata Consultancy Services,
which will do engineering
design for GM vehicles meant
for markets around the world.
The move out of India was part
of a larger pullback GM has been
making around the world as
it restructures its business.
We're seeing other automakers follow
suit as they're pruning.
They're pruning the dead branches and
focusing on where they can be
strong. For GM, this is a huge shift
because GM of old used to be all
things to everyone everywhere.
And, it has now decided that
is not the proper strategy.
The automaker told CNBC if it doesn't
see a clear path to leadership
and long term sustained profits in
a particular market, it will look
at opportunities to focus its resources
on areas that will lead to
the greatest results. It added that this
is the same approach it has
taken elsewhere.
The automaker also sold its
European operations to French carmaker
PSA in 2017.
At the time it pulled out of India
GM had two factories there, one in
the Gujarati city of Halol
and another in Talegaon.
The Halol plant was acquired by
MG Motor, the once famed British
brand now owned by Chinese
automaker SAIC Motor Corporation.
GM has a joint venture with
SAIC to produce cars in China.
Reports surfaced in November 2019 that
SAIC is also in talks to
acquire GM's Talegaon plant, along
with fellow Chinese automaker
Great Wall. GM told CNBC it
is exploring strategic options for the
plant. The move out of India was
a retreat for GM and for American
auto industry. Ford is starting
to do the same.
It's trimming some
of its offerings.
Global economy and global auto
market is slowing some.
Certainly true here in the
US, it's true in China.
There's just not enough money to
go around to every single market,
too every single vehicle line.
Look at Daimler and BMW,
they've announced major employee cuts.
But in some ways it might
have been a shrewd move.
The other thing that is happening
in the market that has never
happened before is we are on the
verge of massive disruption of the
industry. You know, we're going to
have a future of electric
vehicles, autonomous vehicles and new
ways to acquire personal
transportation and now
mobility service.
There's all kinds of things.
Nobody knows when that's going to happen
or how it's going to happen,
but it's requiring a
lot of investment.
Companies like GM just can't keep putting
a ton of money into the
future as well as a ton
of money in today's stuff.
While analysts do expect the
Indian automotive market to continue
growing in the foreseeable future, it
did hit a slump in 2019.
Maruti Suzuki sales were growing
until February 2019, but have
slipped every month, year
over year, until October.
Suzuki said in November that the slowing
Indian market was one of the
factors behind the company's falling overall
sales and net income in
its second fiscal quarter.
So I think right now the
market is going through turmoil.
Our economy is struggling and if
we only talk about the automotive
market we are talking about a decline
of minus 14 percent in 2019
calendar year light vehicles.
So obviously this year is the
kind of degrowth happening, which has
not happened in last
two decades, in India.
2020, we are just talking about a
kind of a flat growth but then
going forward, in 2021, '22, '23,
the assumption that our economy
should be back, you know, the
GDP growth rate will start growing
above seven percent. Indian
automotive analysts note the country's
auto industry has to contend
with the relatively recent rise of
mobility services such as ride
hailing. The potential of these
competing technologies is still
unknown, but could affect how
interested in car ownership Indians
remain in the future.
In the end, GM did make some of
the right choices when trying to go
into India. GM was right in
terms of localizing their products
typically for the Indian market, making
it, in line with the taxation
because they were able to save tax.
But, at the end of their day, were
really not able to match with what
the competitors were offering.
If the Indian economy picks back up,
GM may find itself trying to
profitably re-enter the country.
GM's rival Ford, which has been in
India since 1995, said in October
2019 it will create a new
joint venture with Indian manufacturer
Mahindra, which Ford said will help
it develop new products faster
and drive profitable growth.

Chevrolet

Audiopedia:

Why General Motors Left Europe

CNBC:

In 2017, General Motors,
the largest U.S.
automaker with brands known around the
world made perhaps one of
its boldest moves in its history.
It sold its European Opel and
Vauxhall brands to the French
automaker PSA known for brands
such as Peugeot and Citroen.
It was the end of an era
for GM which had first ventured into
Europe nearly 90 years before.
It also marked the end of nearly
two decades of losses for the
brands under GM's stewardship.
GM executives said the deal
would unload a difficult and
struggling business and allow the company
to focus on its more
profitable North American market and free
up cash to make needed
investments in new technologies such
as electric cars and
autonomous driving.
But the move came with risks.
The European new car market is about
as large as that of the
United States and leaving it would
not only hit GM's volume but
also increase its exposure to the
ups and downs of the U.S.
auto market.
The sale of the unit
also racked up huge costs.
GM took a $3.9 billion
loss in 2017 owing
mostly to the $6.2
billion in costs it had to
shell out for the sale.
So why did GM leave?
Did the automaker simply
screw up or fail?
Was it wise to get out of Europe?
And what does it mean for GM's
future and the future of the auto
industry?
The decision actually says a lot about
how difficult it is to be a
global automaker today and the
sometimes subtle ways markets
around the world increasingly favor
local players who can tailor
their products to
specific markets.
In the end GM may have failed
in Europe in part because it just
isn't European.
The numbers show General Motors was
having a rough time on the
continent in the nine years or
so before the divestiture of GM's
European business.
It bled money at the EBIT line
every single year for a total of
about $14 billion in
losses on $208.4
billion dollars in sales it's nine
year weighted loss of 6.9
percent.
EBIT stands for earnings before interest
and taxation and is the
metric GM uses to report
the money its international business
divisions make.
Its worst year during that time
was during the financial crisis in
2009.
Where GM incurred a 15
percent loss of $3.6
billion dollars.
The best year in that period was
2016 where it still had a 1.4
percent loss totaling
about $257 million.
Now that sounds like an improvement
and in absolute terms it was.
But consider that over the same
nine year period GM turned a
profit in North America of
$28 billion on $823.7
point billion in sales.
That's a nine year
weighted gain of 3.4
percent an automaker generally tries to
target an 8 percent EBIT
for any given region and for
the world as a whole.
GM's rival, Ford for example has an
8 percent EBIT target for its
European business.
The automobiles never really
sold well with consumers.
And one of the reasons they
weren't able to achieve profitability
is because what they did sell
were primarily passenger cars and
not the higher margin trucks and SUVs
that they saw a lot of in
the U.S..
So that's that's a
big part of it.
There's also a lot of headwinds that
they faced on the cost side
of the equation with with the
cost of labor, unions, and
also more stringent regulation
particularly from an emissions
standpoint.
So a lot of those reasons are
why they had such mixed results and
from a market share perspective when
they pulled out they were
they only had about 6
to 7 percent market share.
So it wasn't really a
dominant market for them.
And GM was losing ground
during that time to competitors.
Consider that the automaker
had a 9.3
percent share of the European car
market in 2008 but that fell
below 7 percent in 2014 and stayed
there for two years and then
fell again to around
6 percent in 2016.
Meanwhile European competitors seem
to be faring better.
And once GM sold off its
European business its earnings shot up.
The automaker earned a
global EBIT of 9.9
percent in 2017 and 8.4
percent in 2018.
But why was GM struggling in Europe
when it does so well in the
United States and is
even leading U.S.
automakers in China a market that is
by no means easy to do
business in.
One reason is that
Europe is pretty unique.
To be fair to GM it is not
the only automaker that has had trouble
there.
American cars have never been an
easy sell in the European market.
Ford for example has dialed back
its presence in the region.
Gm is not alone
in their struggles.
You see Ford pulling out of
Europe and American cars just never
have really sold very well there.
That market is really dominated
by the big three German
manufacturers and others.
But it's also a
fairly fragmented market.
So they just really were never
able to compete and consumers just
didn't really like their cars.
There were larger economic and political
factors such as the great
recession and tightening emissions
regulations that made it
tougher for companies to
do business there.
Another factor is the
distinctiveness of European tastes.
At the time GM CEO Mary Barra
said 80 percent of the vehicles in
the Opel portfolio didn't share
parts or platforms with those
sold in any of
GM's other markets.
When we look at the portfolio
going forward from a vehicle
perspective or a portfolio perspective
only 20 percent of the
portfolio overlapped with the rest
of the General Motors
portfolio.
So we think the real opportunity
for PSA is to leverage that
Europe specific scale.
That put the company
in a tough position.
Major automakers generally want to
build flexible platforms and
parts that can be used in
a variety of models in different
markets.
This helps them keep costs low
and achieve those highly desired
economies of scale.
There are forces however that make
it difficult to share parts and
platforms.
Automobiles tend to be highly regulated
products and many of the
markets where they are sold
and the regulations can vary
sometimes widely from
region to region.
One example of this is
fuel economy and emissions regulations.
Both the U.S.
and Europe have them.
But they tend to differ and
producing cars to meet each
regulatory regime costs
more money.
It requires that the company engineer
and test every vehicle to
fit every set of rules.
But many industry observers say GM
made a number of missteps over
the years that contributed to
the brand's struggles in Europe.
Opel and Vauxhall are often thought
of as sensible cars but they
do not have the glamorous
reputations of more premium brands.
GM typically sold Opels and Vauxhalls
in high volumes usually to
keep costs low.
But simple supply and demand shows this
has a way of driving down
prices.
And while GM produced a lot of cars
it was hard for it to make
money on the cars it made.
It also introduced its Chevrolet brand
into Europe which had the
effect of undermining sales
of Opel and Vauxhall.
Both brands already had
difficulty distinguishing themselves in
Europe's competitive landscape and
selling highly similar
Chevrolets right next to
them further confused buyers.
Furthermore the company didn't
have the right products.
Opels portfolio was heavily
weighted toward traditional passenger
cars such as
subcompact and sedans.
And the brand missed the boom
in crossover and small SUV sales.
At the end of the day Europe is
a large market but it is a mature
one and does not offer the
opportunities for growth companies can
find in China and other emerging
markets or even the kinds of
opportunity in the U.S..
A lot of it is really reflection
of the economic growth in Europe
relative to China.
You have one of the fastest growing
countries in the world and the
U.S. which is growing stronger a
lot stronger than Europe now.
You know if you look at European
GDP over the last several years
just has really lagged the
North American market in Asia.
China is now the world's largest
car market with 28 million new
vehicles sold in 2018.
That number is likely to continue
to rise as the auto market
continues to grow.
In North America particularly the
United States, is becoming an
ever more profitable market as
consumers turn toward higher
priced crossovers, SUVs,
and pickup trucks.
So GM cut the cord in Europe and
said it would use the money to
focus more on its strong business
selling trucks in North America
while sinking piles of cash
into its investments in electric
vehicles and self-driving cars.
Those aren't cheap aspirations and it may
be a long time before GM
or anyone else makes
money off them.
Meanwhile GM's North American sales
have grown pretty consistently
from 56 billion dollars in 2009
to 113 billion dollars in 2018
according to FactSet.
Meanwhile it was able to sell the
business to Peugeot and a large
automaker that has been successful
focusing on Europe but who
also has plans to
return to the U.S..
They've been very open over the
last few months about their
interest in specifically
Fiat Chrysler.
Which I think they view as a
opportunity to gain a foothold in the
North American market and obviously
you know that company has
said some very well-received brands with
Jeep and a lot of the
new products that
they're introducing.
In a comment to
CNBC, General Motors
said:
Peugeot surprised the industry by saying
it had restored the Opel
and Vauxhall brands to profitability in
part by cutting costs and
introducing new more
profitable models.

Chevrolet Bolt EV Traction Motor - Deep Dive

WeberAuto:

Hello, I'm professor John Kelly and this
is the Weber Auto YouTube channel.
In this episode we will be disassembling
the drive unit the electric motor and
gear reducer out of our 2017 Chevrolet
bolt on the hoist behind me here. now
this drive unit and electric motor
combination is is all one piece,
unlike the Nissan Leaf that has a drive
unit that unbolts from the electric
motor. This drive unit is rated at 150
kilowatts which is 201 horsepower, it is
also rated at 360 Newton meters of
torque which is roughly 266 foot-pounds
of torque.
Now let's let's talk about torque just a
little bit. That torque rating is what
the motor itself is capable of producing,
that is not the same as the torque that
ends up at the wheels of the vehicle, so
for example the Chevrolet Spark EV
produced by Chevrolet before the Bolt
here
actually had an electric motor that
produced 540 Newton meters of torque, the Bolt EV electric motor only produces
360 Newton meters of torque and so you
might be misled into thinking that the
Spark EV had more torque; well, the motor
did, but not the torque delivered to the
axles that drive the wheels. So the gear
reducer right here on the side of this
drive unit has an impact on that because
gear reduction is also torque
multiplication minus frictional losses, so
the Spark EV had a 540 Newton meter
electric motor but it only had a three
point one five to one gear reduction
unit which resulted in about 1700 Newton
meters of torque at the wheels, at the
axles. the Bolt EV electric motor
produces 360 Newton meters of torque a
whole 180 Newton meters less of torque
from the motor, but it has a seven point
zero five one eight to one gear
reduction through this gear reducer
which multiplies that 360 Newton meters
of torque by seven point zero five one
eight, which gives us over 2,500 Newton
meters of torque at the axles. So there
are other electric vehicles out there
that are being produced right now that
have higher torque higher motor torque
than the Bolt EV
but what would be interesting, I and
I don't know what their gear ratios are
yet, is to see what is the torque
actually to the axles what's the torque
to the ground because that's what you'll
feel when you step on that accelerator
pedal, that's the torque to the wheels
that makes the vehicle move. The design
of this drive unit this electric motor
it has a peak amperage draw of 400 amps
versus 450 as for the Spark EV so it
uses less current to provide more torque
so it's a more efficient better design
electric motor. The electric motor in
this drive unit spins clear up to 8810 rpm where the
Spark EV only spun up to about 4500 rpm,
and we'll take a look at some
differences in the electric motor design
and the stator winding design that
allowed it to spin at those higher rpms
without the AC losses that typically
occur at higher rpm. As mentioned in the
previous video on high voltage
components of the Chevrolet Bolt EV this
drive unit uses about 2.9 litres, around
3.1 quarts of Dexron HP fully synthetic
base transmission fluid automatic
transmission fluid. It also is cooled by
the General Motors Dexcool 50/50 mix
of coolant and deionized water. Okay
let's take a look at the outside of the
housing here of this drive unit. The
official name or designation of this
drive unit by General Motors is the
1ET25. The one means it's a one speed
trans axle, this doesn't shift, E means
it's electronically controlled, T means
it's a transaxle, and the 25 is a
relative torque rating. Alright, right
here on the front of the transmission is
the actual last eight digits of the
vehicle identification number and you
can see that MMF right there, that is
the three-digit regular production
option code the RPO code that you can
find on label in the back of the Bolt EV if
you take out the lower compartment
carpet and look in what looks like a
spare tire tub, there's a label on the
driver's side that has a whole bunch of
three digit codes on it
MMF just means that's which transaxle
or transmission this vehicle came with.
Okay right here on the top of the trans
axle is the transmission range selector
actuator and this is a brushless DC
motor with a gear reducer that actually
moves the shift lever to put us in to
Park reverse neutral Drive and low, now
technically inside of this drive unit it
there's really only park and not park,
but there is a position sensor in here
called an internal mode switch that will
monitor which position the transaxle
range selector is in so that the vehicle
can act appropriately. For example the
shifter itself on the center console is
not directly connected to the drive unit,
it's just an input to the computer that
controls this actuator, so when we go to
the reverse position for the neutral or
drive or low, there's a feedback on the
internal mode switch electrical
connector right here, that lets the
engine control module, even though this
doesn't have an engine, know which gear
range you have selected so that it can
request the trends axle act
appropriately. Also, right here by the
electrical connector for the internal
mode switch is the transmission fill
plug, so if you want to put fluid into
this transmission you need a 14
millimeter wrench or socket to take this
plug out and put the Dexron HP fluid
into the transmission. There are two
drain plugs on this transmission, one for
each side, so there's one down below on
each end of the transaxle the driver's
side and the passenger side, there's
there are two separate drain plugs to
get the fluid out of each side, now
there's only one fluid that goes
throughout this entire transaxle but
because of how its baffled and set up
inside to remove all the fluid you need
to remove both plugs.
Now speaking of fluid and fluid level
when you drain fluid at whatever the
recommended fluid change interval is or
if you're doing service work on the
transaxle here and you're adding fluid
you need to know when to stop adding
fluid, so on the other side of the
transaxle right here is the transaxle
fluid level check plug, so the drain
plugs right down here, the fluid level
check plugs here, the fill plug is on the
other side so you take the fill plug out
you take the fluid level check plug out,
and you add fluid until fluid comes out
over here, and then you let it sit and
stabilize for a minute add a little bit
more and make sure that fluid comes out
comes out to a slow drip, and then the
instructions tell us to put both plugs
back in and go drive the vehicle until
the transmission fluid temperature
reaches 35 degrees Celsius or 95 degrees
Fahrenheit and then double-check the
fluid level again to make sure that
comes out at a very slow drip. Alright,
while we are here on this side of the
transaxle we have an electric motor an
electric pump for the transmission fluid
so there's a big filter we'll see when
we take this thing apart down the bottom
center of this transaxle it will pull
fluid up from the filter and then put it
into what's called the oil sump so the
oil sump is basically just a great big
bathtub looking area up here that the
pump fills full of fluid and then there
are these little drain channels that
fluid drains down to cool the stator
windings and lubricate bearings and so
on and we'll see that once we get the
cover off so we have an electric 12 to 14
volt driven electric motor that pumps
fluid throughout this transaxle. From
what I read this pump only works when
you are in Reverse or Drive, it does not
pump when you're in park or neutral.
Alright, we have another electrical
connector right here, this connector is
for the resolver which measures the
angle of rotation the direction of
rotation and the speed of the electric
motor rotor itself, and then there's a
transmission fluid temperature sensor
that is in the bottom of this
transmission case cover here. All of
those are accessed electrically through
this electrical connector right here. As
you may have seen in my other video on
high-voltage components we have the air
conditioning compressor of the bolts up
here and then we have our coolant pipes
that go into what's called a coolant
sump in the bottom of this transaxle and
we'll see that here in a few minutes but
we have coolant going in coolant coming
back out and goes through a series of
cooling fins and cooling circuits to
absorb heat from the transmission fluid
right here on the back we have the
electrical connection for the
three-phase cables that come from the
the
single power inverter module that sits
two modules above here. Three-phase
orange cables come down to drive the
electric motor, there's a cover
the cables bolt on and then there's a
cover they'll holds the cable in place.
We have a transmission vent right here,
let's just take that vent off while we
vent tube off while we're here now you
can see the oil sump area again on the
top and the cooling sump coolant sump
area here in the bottom all right there
is one additional plug on the side of
the case with the electric motor and
there's nothing in the service
information to indicate this but I
believe this is a pressure test plug to
check the pump output pressure, but I
can't find any information on what that
fluid pressure should be. Okay, I'm going
to be disassembling this transaxle right
here on the workbench but there actually
is a special fixture to hold this
transaxle and allow you to rotate it and
disassemble different pieces of it and
still be able to rotate it for
convenience. I have this special adapter
as you can see here in this photograph
but the way it's mounted it's too high
and too difficult for me to disassemble
in that holding fixture being in a
wheelchair, so the workbench is where I'm
going to disassemble it, but I wanted you
to know there is a special fixture for
that and I tried it it just doesn't work
for me.
by the way this transaxle weighs about a
hundred and seventy pounds or 77.4
kilograms. Okay, well we're ready to
start disassembly, the first step is to
remove this oil pump the 12-volt power
oil pump, it has three bolts right here
and a few seals underneath it as you can
see here there are two seals that seal
the pump to the transmission case right
here there are two bolts that hold the
cover over the pump gears themselves
there are no instructions on
disassembling this so I assume we're not
supposed to disassemble it but that's
exactly what I like to do
take things apart I'm not supposed to as
long as I can get them back together and
make it work again here we go we've got
a Jew rotor style oil pump there's an
o-ring right here that needs to fit in
this groove to seal and then the cover
just bolts on okay the next thing on the
list is to remove the left-hand and
right-hand output shafts that go into
our differential side gears in the gear
reducer this is the left-hand side right
hand side over there it calls for a
slide hammer and a old pilot bearing
removal tool for a manual transmission
so this is the pilot bearing removal
tool right here and a slide hammer and
we are supposed to put this up inside
and put it into the snap ring groove for
the CV shaft and then pop it out well
come to find out the snap ring groove is
thinner than the tip of this tool that's
supposed to go into it and I didn't
realize that's what the problem was and
I had a hard time getting these output
shafts removed I finally got him out but
once I got a mound got looking at the
tool versus what they were supposed to
be grabbing I realized I need to grind
these down make him a little thinner so
that they'll actually fit into the
grooves of the her for these CV shaft
snap rings that are there so since I've
had this entire transaxle apart before
and I'll put it all back together
I've removed those snap rings they'll
hold these output shafts in place so I
can just pull them out by hand right now
this big long left hand output shaft
goes right through the center of the
rotor of the electric motor itself it's
it's hollow in the middle
and it has a big heavy-duty bushing
right here on the outside with the axle
seal and this is our left-hand output
shaft and then the CV shaft itself plugs
into here that goes to the left front
hub and bearing assembly and tire and
we'll assembly so there's our left-hand
axle shaft there's a snap ring that fits
in that groove right there typically and
I've just removed and I've just removed
that snap ring for ease for this
demonstration here obviously I'll need
to put that back in when I reassemble
so that's the left-hand axle shaft on
the other side we use the slide hammer
again and pull out the right hand axle
shaft as you can see this one is much
shorter than the other one and it has
the support bearing in the differential
case itself that holds it in place and
its own snap ring that I've already
removed and of course an axle sill here
on the other side as well okay the next
thing on the list is to remove this
transaxle case to remove the case I've
got to take the linkage off and our
actuator off and then we've got these
bolts to go all the way around and then
we'll be able to see the gear reduction
transfer gear and the final drive ring
gear and differential gear set so I'll
take the clip out and lift up for a
linkage on the shift actuator and then
take the bolts out
okay here's the shift actuator assembly
itself transmission range selector
actuator kind of a great big piece I
I've seen some of these that are smaller
right I'm not sure why this one is so
giant I'm not I've never seen one this
big but it obviously does the job of
mechanically shifting the transmission
range lever since you have an electronic
shifter on your center console alright
let's take these bolts out of the trans
transmission case okay I've got all the
bolts out of the transmission case now
we can attempt to slide it off it has a
couple of dowel pins they'll hold it in
place there's a couple of pry points
plus one right back here and another one
right here there we go
I'm going to come in with a plastic
mallet here and just tap lightly there
we go okay we can see inside of the
transmission case itself and the only
things in here of real interest are the
transmission internal mode switch right
here we got the electrical connector
right here harness right there that
connects to this outer blue connection
connector that will read which Range
Park reverse neutral low you have
selected with your transmission shift
lever and then we have the parking
linkage right here we've got Park
reverse neutral Drive
and low now of course normally
transmission fluid would would be
pouring out of here of whatever didn't
get drained out when you drained it
previously but I've had this apart and
cleaned everything up before we have our
ring gear right here and our
differential gear set and as notice we
have real nice ball bearings here these
bearings since their ball bearings
instead of tapered roller bearings have
to have in place shims so there's a
special shimming procedure to control
the end play of these bearings that will
have to go through when we reassemble it
so you're supposed to take these shims
off and throw them away well and then
replace them with new new ones when you
go back together I suggest that you take
them off and measure them and then hang
on to them because you might you might
need them again when I took these off
previously and measured them they were
almost all identical in the thickness so
there are six of these shims for the six
ball bearings that are in this transaxle
four of these shims measured exactly
half a millimeter in in with the other
two one of a measure one millimeter in
width and the other one measured 0.9
millimeters so you need to keep track of
what thickness shim you had where and
write those down so that you you'll have
an idea of at least what it was before
you took it apart now if you're just
going back together and you haven't
changed any shims or any parts inside
just reuse the old shims but if you're
changing a bearing or any of these
internal pieces you need to go through
the special measurement procedure that
we'll see when we go back together to
determine if these shims are correct
okay so there's there's special shims on
each of these
bearings I've measured all of them RIT
written their dimensions on the ziploc
bag here that I keep them in and will
refer to those when we go back together
all right now we just need to remove the
counter gear right here and the final
drive a ring gear and differential gear
set this is where our short little
output shaft plugged in right here and
then our long one came all the way
through on the other side okay before we
remove these gears there is a an
aluminum gasket with a rubber seal
embedded into it the instructions tell
us that is not reusable
there is also an oil baffle right down
here to channel transmission fluid away
from the ring gear to reduce losses as
it rotates into it and to splash oil up
into different channels to lubricate the
the bearings if we look in this case
half right here you can almost see what
looks like a funnel right there for the
fluid to drain back down and lubricate
this outer bearing and a similar one
here on this other other side for that
bearing so we've got a oil baffle to
remove all right I've got the oil baffle
removed on the other side of that is our
magnet for metallic particles from gear
normal gear wear and other malfunctions
okay now we're ready ready to remove
these gears pull out on the counter gear
and then pull out on the final drive and
it'll come right out if you don't pull
out on that counter gear first there's
not enough clearance for the final drive
Unit two clear so here's our final drive
you can see our open differential gear
set inside there here's our sim on the
other side as well
all right the instructions tell us that
we can if we won't want to remove the
park linkage in the internal notes which
I don't really care about that that's
just regular stuff that you'd see in any
other automatic transmission so let's
continue on with things that are unique
to the bolt
evie drive unit here the one ET 25
transaxle so let's turn the transmission
case around and we'll take off the
transmission case cover here on the
driver's side
now the SAE document the details the the
bolt evey drive unit here that I told
you about in the high voltage component
video tells us that the drive unit
itself was designed to be serviceable in
the vehicle that's why they have a case
removable case cover on one side and a
case cover on the other side for the
gear reduction unit you can leave this
Center portion with the electric motor
in it in the vehicle and just remove one
or both case covers to do service work
on components inside the case covers
seal replacements resolver replacements
internal modes with replacement and so
on but anyway we're going to take off
this case
cover next from the driver's side all
right this case cover is going to be a
little harder to get off than the other
one because the rotor that has internal
magnets embedded inside of it has now
magnetically pulled itself over to the
stator because we are no longer
centering it inside of the stator itself
and so it puts a it pulls it off to the
side just a little bit so there's a
prying
right here
and there's a pride point right down
here another prior point right here
there we go okay so here's our case
cover and it has an aluminum gasket
that's not reusable as well our case
cover has this long transmission filter
that's not serviceable without
disassembling things as you can see has
a temperature sensor down inside of it
right there and then this is our
resolver our serviceable resolver that
measures the position speed and
direction of rotation of the electric
motor rotor inside the transaxle here
let's turn this around oh by the way
down inside of the bearing housing there
is a shim for the ball bearing right
here on the rotor itself so we're
looking at the stator and the hairpin
six conductor deep stator design a
unique design we'll talk about that a
little bit more once we get the stator
out we have a lubrication channel right
here where fluid is going to drip out of
our oil sump and run along and drop down
on to the stator windings themselves and
cool the the stator windings it also has
a drip channel that comes over and goes
down to this bearing here to lubricate
it
so we've just got an 8 millimeter head
bolt holding the filter in place and as
you can see the filter just has an
o-ring seal on the one side and you can
see the pick up filter screen filter
element on the inside so this is going
to reach all the way in up underneath
the the stator itself to pick up the
fluid on the back side of it and on the
back side of it is the inlet of the
coolant so that would be the cooler oil
on the back side there all right then on
the resolver it just has eight three
eight millimeter head bolts to hold it
in place and one electrical connector
this resolver only bolts in in one
location it's not adjustable it has
automatic learn unlike the older Toyota
Prius resolvers that that would actually
come out of alignment
if you unbolted them and there was no
way for you to line them back up okay so
here is our resolver pull back on the
connector position assurance clip
depress the tab and remove the resolver
itself the resolver is a serviceable
unit when and if it ever goes bad but it
should should never go bad all right
then the remaining wire harness and the
pass-through connector here just goes
over to our temperature sensor okay next
on the list we need to remove what is
called the center support this is what's
supported the driver's side ball bearing
of our differential case assembly
okay this is our center support it's
held in place with six bolts and aligned
with two dowel pins right there now with
that removed there's nothing to stop our
transfer gear from sliding out it's just
a tight fit on the bearing in the bore
as it should be just pray lightly
sometimes these will just slide right
out and right in and other times they'll
they'll fight you here we go okay so
here's our transfer gear it's ball
bearing and shim so put that shit over
here with the others okay right here in
the end of the case we still have a
lubrication channel right here from the
oil trough the oil sump I mean right
there and then we have a cover for the
three-phase electrical connector right
here as well then on the other side we
have that oil distribution channel right
here that cools the stator so we've got
to remove that we are now to the point
where we are ready to pull this rotor
out but we just can't grab on to it and
pull it out it has some super strong
neodymium magnets multiple layers envy
configuration inside of this stator
you're not going to pull it out by hand
and you sure don't want to come in here
and start prying on it so the only way
to get that rotor out of there if you
want to remove it for service replace a
bit bearing on it or the gear on the
other side or another bearing or just
replace the rotor itself for whatever
reason loss of magnetism and trouble
code sets or whatever
it takes a special tool to pull it out
without having it rub on the stator
frame itself and without having it
injure you with you trying to pull it
out and it's pulling back in with all
its magnetic strength so true get that
out there's a special guide tool that
will hold it centered in the stator and
we need to set that up next and it
starts on the other side here so there's
a special tool kit that costs almost a
thousand dollars to Center this rotor as
you pull it out I found one on eBay for
a little bit less than that but but it's
a very expensive tool but if you want to
do service work on this transaxle you've
got to have it so let's bring in the
special tools okay so I brought in the
special tools to keep the rotor centered
there's a special spacer with a notch in
it to clear that notch right there this
is just gonna fit in there just like
that then there's a plate that bolts on
over the top of this to hold it in place
these don't need to be super tight
they're just holding that little spacer
in place so I'll just lightly Snug those
up then there's a sleeve here that's
supposed to fit down the center of that
rotor but these sleeves are a little bit
too big I've had to take sandpaper and
send them down to make them fit inside
of this rotor and I don't know if that's
because the tools were made for a first
design rotor and then they changed it or
if they just made the tools incorrectly
but these tools are from what used to be
can't more tools the special tools
supplier for General Motors it's now
Bosch service solutions so Bosch you may
want to take a look at this this tool
here the DT five two zero one one
- one - three because it doesn't fit
it's not doesn't Center up inside the
the rotor as well as it should
i've had to sand it down just a little
bit and then i'm able to tap it in a
little bit there but I think that it's
supposed to be if it's supposed to be a
tight fit but it should be able to slide
in by hand I believe then we have a
guide pin that's going to go through the
center of that then we have this outer
housing the bolts in place to hold the
guide pin in place so the blue sleeve
this one here because there's one for
the other side also centers the rotor
into this plate and then this sleeve is
centered into this plate so we've now
centered the rotor on this side of the
stator so now we need to go to the other
side to put additional tools in to get
it centered and then pull it up and out
okay at this point if I had the
transaxle mounted in that special
rotating holding fixture I would just
simply rotate it on its side and get the
get the rest of the tools hooked up but
I don't I'm not able to use that so I'm
just going to put some extra long bolts
in this side of the case to hold the
case up off of this tool when I tip it
over to support it as we pull the rotor
out
okay so here we go we're going to tip
the tip the whole thing up on its hand
just like that so now we've got
clearance for the tool underneath and we
can get the upper tools set up to pull
the rotor up and out all right while
we've got the transaxle tipped on its
side let's take this oil sump cover off
and show you what's inside of there so
it's just a big empty trough and you can
see has one two three four five six
holes in it where fluid is going to go
out and drip down on other parts inside
of the transaxle for stator cooling and
for the ball bearing lubrication the
cover itself has that same aluminum
gasket that's not reusable also while we
have this transaxle on its end let's
turn it over and take the coolant sump
off next okay here's our coolant sump
you can see this pipe right here is
where the coolant comes in and it has to
wind back and forth back and forth and
then come back out over here the coolant
sump which is visible from the bottom of
the car with the under car cover removed
also has that same aluminum gasket
that's not not reusable why are they not
reusable I don't know maybe the aluminum
crushes these I'm going to see if I can
buy replacement gaskets at the local
Chevrolet dealer it seems like I saw a
service bulletin saying that all these
parts are serviceable now and it gave
the part numbers for them but if not
none of these are damaged it only has 35
miles on it and I'll reuse them and see
what happens
okay so coolant sump oil sump so now we
are ready to pull out the rotor assembly
so to pull out the rotor assembly we
have a guide pin it's going to come in
and screw into that dowel they had a
threaded end on it all right so this
threaded guide pin did not line up
exactly perfect with the guide pin down
below I can't tell if we're just
spinning the whole thing there we go
all right it's screwed all the way into
that alignment dowel from below now we
have this tool that has three holes that
go over the holes where the stator bolts
are so we need to remove the stator
bolts next these stator bolts are not
reusable three stator bolts so we put
this tool over the top of that we want
to be very careful that we don't damage
pry lean or set anything on the stator
windings here that could cause damage to
them so we'll get that lined up just
like that now I'm going to reposition
the camera so you can see
how tall this next tool is that fits on
here all right we have two clamshell
type tools that are going to come in and
clamp down over the resolver cam rotor
there and this bearing they're gonna go
just like that except I need to split
them apart so I can get the next tool in
it says this big tall piece right here
that's going to go over and down into
our stator bolt holes so we've got this
threaded shaft we've got this adapter
right here that these little clamshell
tools are going to hook into and then
the threaded shaft with a nut on the top
of it we're going to tighten that nut
and pull the rotor up out okay so the
tricky part of giving this hooked up is
getting both of these
clamshell tools over this lip right here
so I have to loosen the nut on the top
and let it come down let me turn this
you can see what's going on
there we go okay so we slide that open
clamp the clamshells around it put this
sleeve over the top of it to lock the
clamshell in place snug up this nut to
hold the lock in place and then from the
top here we start to pull up on the
rotor itself I'm going to get
repositioned bring my chair up a little
higher here so I can reach that nut it
takes quite a bit of turning to pull
that out okay here we go thirty
millimeter wrench we want to turn the
nut and prevent the shaft from turning
so I'm just going to hang on down here
as it comes up those guide pins the
guide dowels keep it from rubbing on the
stator frame although although there's
almost a strange ratcheting sound as I'm
pulling this out that makes me think
it's barely contacting the the stator
laminations or the rotor laminations
anyway we'll pull it out and take a look
see if we can see any witness marks you
can see the top of the rotor now is
starting to appear
I think we're finally clearing the top
of the yes we are it all of a sudden got
real easy to turn the nut so we no
longer have the magnet pulling out or
resisting us pulling out okay you can
see the entire length of the rotor here
get another bearing down below it and a
gear below that now we're supposed to
just lift up on this and and pull it out
I'm not sure if I'm strong enough I may
have to bring in the the engine hoist to
pull it out of here but it's just
sitting on these three non-magnetic
aluminum poles here and we've got the
weight of the the rotor assembly itself
I measured it earlier but I can't
remember what it is at this moment but
let's see if we can lift this up and out
though I cannot so let me get the engine
hoist we have to lift it up high enough
to clear that alignment dowel so I've
got to lift it up probably four more
inches 100 millimeters or so okay I've
never tried this before it's just a lift
strap let's bring it up
okay the lifting or the tool was getting
stuck in one of the holes for the the
stator bolts there we go
okay here we go
and we've cleared the alignment dowel so
slide the case out of the way here and
we'll let that back down
oh let's see how much that weighs it
says it weighs 60 pounds with the tool
the tools probably 10 pounds of that
okay we have to remember that this rotor
is highly magnetic very strong eight
pole magnetic field around this thing
and so we need to keep it away from
anything any metal particles or any
tools or anything else that could cost
cause it to receive damage on its
laminations here in looking at the the
laminations from removing it I don't see
any obvious damage at all there let's
let this down and take the the tool off
and just look at the rotor itself
little clamshell pieces out of there
these tools are magnet earth iron some
some sorts so we got to keep those away
from the magnetic field as you can see
these blue bars are aluminum they're not
sticking to the the rotor itself and
then plastic of course works great with
the magnetic fields so now we've just
got our rotor we've got our drive gear
down here I've got a ball bearing and
another ball bearing there's another
shim down inside the case a bigger
diameter shim for this bigger diameter
bearing all right I'm going to get some
wooden blocks to put this in all right
here's the rotor for the bolt
evie as you can see this bearing seems
to have some sort of a gray coating on
the outer race where this one does not
and on the counter gear bearings they
also have this gray coating it doesn't
say anything about what that gray
coating is for I suspect it's to prevent
corrosion from the dissimilar metals
with possible induced currents going
through them with the the motor running
vehicle going down the road I've seen
this type of coating on universal joints
in universal joint caps universal joint
caps bearing caps in an aluminum
driveshaft the same color I don't know
if it's the same material but if any of
you know what this coating is for if
you'd please put that in the comments
below I'd appreciate that
I'm just speculating okay so we've got
the rotor out of the way this is a
serviceable piece now the last piece to
remove is the stator assembly itself and
it has three special guide pins that go
into the stator bolt holes and screw
into the transaxle case and then they're
tapered on the top here and that's to
allow you to slide the stator out
without it binding inside so I'll slide
that over there rotate it down and just
pull out slightly
here it comes just like that so here's
the stator for the Chevrolet bolt Eevee
if we zoom in close and look at the
stator windings you can actually see
there are 1 2 3 rows of these hairpin
conductors which means they are 6
conductors deep in this stator and from
what I read in the SAE document on this
new improved motor that helps reduce the
AC power losses at the higher motor rpm
a typical stator like in the previous
Chevrolet Volt had 2 rows instead of 3
so they were four conductors deep in the
Chevrolet Volts and six conductors deep
here and one of the people that was on
the original design team for the
Chevrolet Volt told me that when they
designed this electric motor and it's
designed for maximum efficiency and hand
power that there was no other motor out
there that could even match the
efficiency of this motor and they said
that they designed this motor to be the
next small-block Chevrolet so to say of
power trains so the small-block
Chevrolet was and still is a very
popular very powerful v8 engine and has
been for many many years and their
intent was to have this motor design
maybe even this drive unit be in
multiple platforms with the same high
power high efficiency motor system if we
look at the other side here of the
stator windings you can see the the
other end of the hairpin conductors and
then there's a drip channel right here
for oil to come out of that oil sump and
to drip down and go down and lubricate
the stator windings because these get
really hot this is the heat source
inside of the transmission and it and
although it gets hot it doesn't get as
hot as the fluid
although the fluid gets hot it doesn't
get hot as a normal planetary gearset
style automatic transmission and the
cooling system surge tank reservoir cap
was only pressurized to 5 psi for this
loop of the cooling system so much lower
amounts of heat compared to an internal
combustion engine with a torque
converter heat generating planetary
gearset style of automatic transmission
now just a couple of things to get
wrapped up with this disassembly video
because we will reassemble it showing
the special measurements for the shims
and everything when we go back together
but one thing I wanted to show you about
these electric vehicles is how simple
they are and when I mean when I say
simple I don't mean simple design
meaning it was easy to design these
simplicity is not necessarily easy but
if we look at the number of rotating
parts in this entire drive unit
there are basically three main rotating
parts we've got the rotor assembly that
then turns the counter gear right here
that then turns the final drive three
pieces no clutch packs no bands and no
sprags no roller clutches no Pistons
none of those hundreds of parts that you
would see in a typical automatic
transmission let alone the internal
combustion engine that this is replacing
of course there are three main moving
parts these pieces here but each one has
two bearings on it so there's six more
pieces so there's nine total and then
inside of the differential here we have
two side gears and two differential
pinion gears so that makes for a total
of 13 possible moving parts inside the
of this drive unit and only when you're
turning corners would the side gears in
the differentials
be rotating at a different speed than
the differential case so a real basic
very reliable system these electric
vehicles and and this one is is very
efficient and that the design is very
compact to where this left-hand output
shaft remember goes right through the
center of the rotor instead of being
offset like on the the Nissan Leaf and
other electric vehicles out there so
congratulations to Chevrolet and the
design team that came up with this
amazing and efficient and simplistic
evie drive unit and I think it's
absolutely beautiful so coming up I hope
to shoot a reassembly video with all the
measurements for this drive unit and
then we've got all of these parts out
the drive unit all of the electronics
and our and our Chevy bolt back here on
the hoist is totally empty yeah under
the under the hood so we've got to put
that all back together and and make it
work again even the battery is out the
whole thing is stripped as far as the
powertrain is concerned and we're gonna
put that back together and and make it
work and hopefully get it converted to a
DC fast charge thank you for watching

Why Ford and GM Scaled Back in Europe | WSJ

Wall Street Journal:

(thoughtful music)
- [Narrator] Take a look at this map.
It shows 23 plants that Ford
has in Europe from the UK to Russia,
but recently, Ford laid out plans
to cut six of these European factories.
- So six of 'em, they're gonna sell one.
They're closing several,
they're gonna lay off about 20%
of their workforce there,
which is about 12,000 people.
- [Narrator] But Ford is
not the only U.S. automaker
that's scaling back in
Europe, two years ago
General Motors pulled out of
the market almost entirely,
selling their European brands
to French car maker Peugeot.
Both companies expanded
to Europe decades ago
as a wider strategy to scale globally,
but they both had trouble
making money in the region.
Let's take a look at these two charts.
This one shows Ford's operating costs
in Europe over the past six years.
The gray is profits overall,
and the red is profits in Europe.
Now let's go to GM, this chart
shows GM's losses in Europe
over the 20 years before they
pulled out of the region.
So, why has it been so hard
for these two auto makers
to turn a profit in the European market?
- So the first reason is that
Europe's always been a real tough market.
Ford and GM have always been sort of
middle of the pack there,
I mean the real powerhouses
are Volkswagen, Renault, Peugeot,
and when you're sort of a
middling player in Europe,
when you already have
small profit margins,
it just makes life a lot
harder for the U.S. brands.
GM is making a decision to only compete
in markets where they're the number one
or number two operator,
and so they felt like
they've lost money there for 20 years,
and they didn't wanna continue to do that.
- [Narrator] And while GM has largely
pulled away from Europe, Ford is looking
to scale back and shift focus.
- What's behind this is a
change of business strategy.
They're selling fewer passenger
cars to individual buyers,
and they're focusing more
on their commercial market
where they're strong, which
is cargo vans and trucks
to business buyers and governments.
Bigger vehicles generally
equate to bigger margins.
There's less competition,
they're the number one commercial
van auto maker there, so they
already are more profitable
in that space and they
feel like if they focus
on growing that, they could
boost margins even more.
- [Narrator] The second
reason U.S. auto makers
are scaling back has to do
with Europe's tight environmental rules.
- Another big factor that
GM talked about a lot,
when it pulled out, was
emissions standards.
Europe has some of the most
stringent in the world,
and they're only gonna get tougher,
and that's gonna cost a lot of money
for the car companies to comply
because they're gonna have to invest in
hybrids and battery electric cars.
It's mostly battery technology.
Battery cells, the costs
have come down some,
but most experts think we're still
six, eight, 10 years
out from an electric car
being sort of on-parative cost
wise with a gas powered car.
- [Narrative] The last major reason
is that Ford and GM are gravitating
back to their sweet spot, SUVs and trucks.
- I mean these U.S. car
companies are really good
at making big SUVs and big pickup trucks.
I mean Ford's, the best
selling truck in the U.S.
is Ford's F150, it has
been for years and years.
GM sells the Chevy Silverado,
and the Chevy Suburban.
These are huge vehicles
that aren't sold in Europe.
The gas prices are too expensive.
You know, the streets are narrower.
People don't have as many big
garages like we do in the U.S.
And so, I mean that's what
Detroit has focused on,
and that's where they make
virtually all their money.
And that's why they've never
really been all that great
at making small cars,
and the European brands
have a big advantage over
the U.S. brands there.
So they're playing to their strength.
Companies like GM and Ford, for decades
they tried to build
scale, not only in Europe,
all around the world because it's
a really capital intensive
business, and you need scale.
And now what you're seeing is,
they've got other needs to
spend that capital elsewhere.
Electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles.
So they realize they can't
be all things to all people
in all markets, and they've
gotta pick their battles.
They've gotta choose where
they're gonna spend their money.
(soft music)

2019 Chevrolet Blazer: First Drive — Cars.com

Cars.com:

When Chevrolet told us that they were
going to be introducing a new 2019
Chevrolet Blazer we got very excited. We
thought hey cool here's a new 4x4 meant
to go up against real serious
off-roaders like the Jeep Wrangler or
the new upcoming Ford Bronco but that's
not exactly what Chevrolet had in mind.
Instead they've introduced the new
Blazer as a five passenger two row
premium crossover vehicle meant to go up
against things like the Ford Edge or the
Nissan Murano. Now it's got the V6, it's
got all wheel drive but it's also got a
very sporty version in the new RS that
you see behind me. We came here to San
Diego, California to get a better look at
the new Blazer, to drive it and to see
exactly what Chevrolet is brought to the
new crossover party. You can have your
Blazer in one of a few different flavors.
The base model comes with a standard 2.5
liter four-cylinder engine making 193
horsepower and 188 pound-feet of torque
mated to a 9 speed automatic
transmission. Front wheel drive is
standard on all Blazers but if you want
all-wheel drive you'll have to bump up
to one of the V6 models, you can't get it
with the four-cylinder engine. This base
model is peppy and agile, has a decent
interior and features most of the
dramatic styling that makes the new
Blazer a real standout on the streets.
The front end bears a definite
resemblance to the more sporty
Chevrolet's like the Camaro but the
headlights are a little unusual.
Those lights up high on the fenders are
just LED running lights, the actual
headlights are HID projector style units
down in the bumper. All Blazers have a
floating roof design first seen on the
Nissan Murano many years ago but now
copied on to just about every automakers
new SUV. The overall effect is attractive
however especially if you get one of the
more standout colors like bronze or
bright red. Add the V6 to the basic
Blazer L and you'll get what Chevy calls
the Blazer V6 trim available with either
cloth or leather interior or spend a
little more coin and get one of the two
top trim levels, the Premier or the RS.
Both come with General Motors
omnipresent 3.6 liter v6 engine making
308 horsepower and 270 pound feet of
torque. Like the four-cylinder it's mated
to a 9 speed automatic sending power to
the front wheels. All wheel drive is
optional on all these six trim levels
but the Premier and RS trims get a
special dual clutch all wheel drive
system instead
of the more basic single-clutch system
in the lesser models. The Premier gets
a monochrome exterior paint job with
body-colored bumpers and fender trim as
well as 20-inch wheels. The RS gets a
sportier look with black out fender and
window trim, a more aggressive black mesh
grille and black painted 20-inch wheels.
21 inch wheels are an option on both the
Premier and RS trims. Inside the
influence of the Chevy Camaro is clear
from the design of the multimedia system
atop the dash to the big round air vents
that also control the temperature. The
Blazer looks decidedly sporty-er than
any of its competitors like the Ford
Edge or Nissan Murano. The more luxurious
Premier trim has some decent luxury
touches inside like unique leather dash
trim while the RS goes for a racy
two-tone look. Both have acceptable
quality trim on the dash and center
console but that material quality falls
off on the door panels and in the
backseat.
I will give Chevy credit for keeping the
height adjustable seat belts, something
they've been removing on new models
lately. The interior is comfortable up
front with plenty of width and height to
the cabin. This is a bigger SUV than the
compact Equinox crossover. It's almost as
wide inside as the much larger full-size
Chevrolet Traverse. The second row
features a sliding seat to maximize
either cargo space or back seat legroom
and the seat backs fold flat
via mechanical handles in the cargo area.
The back seat is comfortable for two but
might be a bit tight for three full size
adults across the bench. The cargo area
itself is spacious. This is a bigger SUV
then you might think. It is easily a
match for the new Honda Passport
or even the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Out on
the street the difference in driving
experience is actually greater between
the four-cylinder and six-cylinder
models than between the top Premier and
RS trim levels despite the RS' more
sporting pretense. All Blazers feel solid
and surprisingly substantial with
excellent body control and a ride and
handling balance that's impressive.
The RS gets a slightly more aggressive
suspension tune and a quicker steering
ratio but not really much else. It's not
like the Traverse RS that gets a unique
engine. The same engine power is the
Premier trim too. It's sporty-er than a
Murano or a Santa Fe but a Ford Edge ST
with its twin turbocharged V6 will
easily spike a Blazer RS in a contest
of acceleration. Suffice it to say the RS
delivers more
sporty looks than athletic ability
providing a fun styling statement and a
slightly tighter driving experience.
Choosing one trim over the other really
becomes more of which one you think
looks most appealing. The new 2019 Blazer
is not cheap. A base-model 2.5 L starts
at just a tick under $30,000 including the
destination fee while the least
expensive V6 front-wheel drive model
starts at $34,495. All wheel
drive adds $2,700
to that price. The RS starts at $41,795
while the Premier starts at
$43,895.
Load up an RS or Premier with all-wheel
drive and every option on the sheet and
you're easily into the low $50,000 range
which is a lot of coin for a midsize
Chevy SUV but is indeed comparable to
what you'd pay for a Murano, Edge or
Grand Cherokee. With its sophisticated
styling, its excellent ride handling
characteristics and the technology-laden
interior the new Blazer really is a
quite formidable competitor to the
Murano and the Edge. It's on sale now in
dealerships across the country and if
you'd like to learn more about the new
Chevrolet Blazer
please come look us up on Cars.com.

GM decides to sell Lordstown plant to electric truck company Lordstown Motors

WKBN27:

Vortec 8100: Everything You Want to Know | Specs and More

Dust Runners Automotive Journal:

Back in 2001 GM wanted to offer an alternative to their popular Duramax engine
They needed something mean they needed something lean and they needed something powered by gasoline
What's up, guys, my name is Bryce with Dust Runners Automotive Journal and today
I'm gonna tell you everything you need to know about the Vortec 8100.
The idea of a gasoline alternative to a diesel engine is definitely not new and is definitely not exclusive to GM
Before diesel engines became so popular in light duty trucks
The 454 big-block was the normal for 2500 or 3500 truck. If you love GM trucks need something heavy-duty
But don't want to have to deal with finding diesel every time you need to go fill up, then Vortec 8100 is for you.
Although most people would rather have the Duramax engine there were enough people who wanted a gasoline
Alternative at the time that GM decided to make it happen
Basically, they took the crankcase of the old 454 big-block and gave it even more stroke
Officially the Vortech 8100 is not recognized as the gen7 big-block although it shares so many things with the Gen 6 big-block
That most people just consider it the gen 7
Even though GM does not what makes the Vortech 8100 more powerful than any big block before it, is mostly the displacement.
I mean, 496 cubic inches is a lot. It also has better cylinder heads and slightly improved electronics
The resulting output is 340 horsepower and 450 foot pounds of torque, which is pretty good considering the outgoing
454 had 290 horsepower and 410 foot-pounds of torque
There were variants of the Vortec 8100 that had upwards of 500 horsepower
But those were not used in the light duty trucks where the Vortec 8100 is most known for
This engine is available in GM 2500 and 3500 vehicles such as a Silverado, Sierra,
Yukon XL, Suburban, and Express. It's also available in Workhorse class a motor homes
Malibu boats
Mastercraft boats and
1898 combat armored vehicle you may have noticed on that list that there are no
Small cars and we'll explain why in just a second the weirdest thing about this engine is that when most people hear the word Vortec
They immediately think of the LS based
5.3 liter truck engine that pretty much everyone swaps into their cars the cool thing about the LS based
truck engine is that you can use other LS parts such as
ls1 heads for example
Unfortunately, there are a couple things that hold the Vortech 8100 back from ever being as popular as the ls based Vortec engines
as you could imagine putting an engine this heavy in a Corvette or Camaro would completely throw off the weight balance and make it really
hard to handle properly
Second thing holding this engine back from being popular is availability
Now the Chevy LS you can find it in pretty much any junkyard in the u.s
Vortec 8100 was not nearly as popular as the LS
So just finding one by itself is kind of hard to do and then what you do find one the price may be kind of
High because there's not a whole lot of them around this
Availability also transfers over to the aftermarket as the Vortech does not have a very good aftermarket
See, for the LS
There's pretty much anything you want from swap kits turbo kits superchargers cams heads
Pretty much anything you want aftermarket plus you can use other LS based parts such as putting
LS1 heads on a 5.3 truck engine
Unfortunately, the Vortech is not like this. So you can't just take a Vortech 8100 and put LS one heads on it
It doesn't work that way if you want better cylinder heads
You have to go aftermarket if you want a better camshaft
You have to go aftermarket if you want anything you pretty much have to go aftermarket
You can't just pick from the pile of GM performance parts out there
Those three things combined really hold the Vortech 8100 back from being popular in the enthusiast community
Although there are some hot rodders out there who really like this engine for the most part
Most people would rather just have an LS based truck engine when it comes to the aftermarket for the Vortec 8100
There is one really cool company that comes to mind and that's Raylar Engineering
What they do is they take an already giant
496 cubic inch engine and crank it up to either
511 or 540 cubic inches
They also offer camshafts cylinder heads superchargers and a couple other things for the 8100
There's stage 3 540 cubic inch kit for example takes that 340 horsepower
8100 and cranks it up to
680 horsepower
685 horsepower for a 540 cubic inch engine really isn't that much but the thing is with that stroker kit
It's going to make 680 foot-pounds of torque
Which is way more than an LS is going to make actually aspirated as we mentioned earlier
Vortech was supposed to be an alternative to the lb7 Duramax
Which was the Duramax that GM used at the time the 8100 did make more horsepower when it came out
But it didn't have the same amount of torque the Duramax made 70 foot-pounds of torque
More but it also made that torque at a lower rpm
so if you really if you were really into towing and hauling the Duramax was still the better option and that
torque gap grows even greater
Farther down the Duramax engine line you go that torque gap gets even larger and larger making the Vortech 8100 less and less attractive
To put this all simply the Vortech 8100 is a good engine
but it's not as good as the Duramax which
Ultimately kind of led to it being killed off with the six liter LS based truck engine to fill its shoes
Due to a heavy weight lack of availability and a small aftermarket. It's also not very popular in the hotrod community
Although there are there are a lot of guys who like this engine and it is gaining momentum
It'll never be as popular as the LS, but it is gaining momentum right now
So there you have it. That's the quick and short story of a Vortech 8100
Let me know down in the comments below what you guys think of this engine
Be sure to hit that thumbs up button and subscribe and I'll see you guys in the next one
You