May 19, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
Attention Veterans: There will be a Veterans Benefit Fair this Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm at the St. Peters City Centre. Representatives will be there to talk about veteran’s benefits, health screenings, job searchhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif assistance, social security and legal assistance among other things. There will also be military displays, family activities and refreshments.
GM Press release: General Motors’ Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant, home of the Chevrolet Volt, will close for four weeks beginning in June for planned upgrades to prepare for a significant increase in the rate of Volt production, along with assembly of the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu midsize sedan. “The Volt will be available to customers nationwide by the end of 2011,” said Cristi Landy, director of Chevrolet Volt Marketing. “By taking the time to reconfigure the plant, we will be better able to meet the tremendous consumer demand.” As a result of the plant upgrades, planned Volt and Opel Ampera production capacity this year will increase to 16,000 units, including exports and a fleet of several hundred demonstration units sent to U.S. dealers. In 2012, global production capacity is expected to be 60,000 vehicles with an estimated 45,000 to be delivered in the United States. During the four-week shutdown the plant will complete some pre-scheduled upgrades, including the installation of new tools, equipment and overhead conveyor systems throughout the facility. The plant is running on one shift but soon will stop building the Buick Lucerne and Cadillac DTS — two models GM is retiring. It employs about 958 hourly and 159 salaried people. Workers will be laid off during the shutdown, said GM spokesman Chris Lee.
From Automotive News: Japanese automakers and suppliers have collectively agreed to work on weekends and rest instead on Thursdays and Fridays during the peak power consumption months in the summer, an industry group said today. The extraordinary measure would be taken for three months from the first week of July to September at factories nationwide to ease the burden on the power grid on weekdays, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said. Chubu Electric Power Co., which supplies electricity to 12 Toyota factories in Aichi prefecture, decided earlier this month to shut a nuclear plant in Shizuoka prefecture west of Tokyo. Prime Minister Naoto Kan requested the shutdown until the plant’s tsunami defenses are improved, citing a government study that showed an 87 percent likelihood of an 8-magnitude quake striking the area within 30 years.
Motor Trend blogger Scott Evans took his turn with the Nissan Leaf but tried a little different approach. Being an “apartment dweller” he set out to see if the Leaf could provide reliable transportation for his work week commute to the office – a mere 6 miles away – without plugging the car in. With an estimated range of 85 miles indicated for the Leaf when he picked it up (and he saved 6 miles by driving to work in his pickup) there should be no problems right? Fast forward to Thursday morning: “I left home with only a third of my battery gauge remaining (four of 12 bars) and an estimated 37 miles of range left. The drive to work was perfectly routine and done in 5.4 miles, slightly further than the 32 miles of range remaining would indicate. My trip home was a bit more interesting, and where my experiment took a turn. I had to swing by the grocery store again since my trip earlier this week returned only beer and a candy bar. That added a few blocks to the trip and by the time I was home, my estimated range was down to 24 miles, several more than expected, and it was dropping fast. Thursday, as you know, was Cinco De Mayo and my wife and I made plans to go out for a bit of dinner and celebrating. By the time I found parking, my estimated range was down to 18 miles and it was blinking to let me know I was living dangerously. At this point, I was getting a little nervous. I needed to use the headlights on the way home and the range was dropping quickly. When we left the restaurant, we got our first audible warning that the charge was getting low and advising us to find a plug. Warning messages also popped up on the screen in the gauge cluster and the nav/radio screen and offered to locate the nearest plug for us. We declined and headed home. By the time we got there, the estimated range was down to nine miles, far more than the actual distance traveled. The situation looked grim the next morning. The Leaf doubled up the audible warnings, advising that the battery level was both “low” and “very low” and again offering to find the nearest charging station. Short of running an extension cord out the window of my apartment, my options consisted of the airport or the office. Making the decision harder was the fact that my estimated range was now reading “—“ and the battery gauge was in the red zone with only two bars left. At the same time, I’d picked up three warning lights on the dash, a yellow triangle with an exclamation point near the speedometer, a yellow icon showing a gas pump with an extension cord hanging off it in the center of the main gauge cluster and a similar icon with an arrow next to the range indicator. I was not feeling confident. With a gentle touch of the throttle and the climate control and stereo off, I rolled out. I lost one of my remaining two bars of battery power and the “—“ readout began flashing. Less than a mile from the office, I lost the last bar. But I made it. (And you thought he was going to be stranded. This is the very definition of “range anxiety”. Mr. Evans travelled 67.6 miles total and averaged 20.1 mph while falling woefully short of the 85 miles he was supposed to get.)
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