Since 1997, owners of selected General Motors vehicles have had the option of subscribing to OnStar, a cellular service that lets drivers make hands-free phone calls, hear turn-by-turn navigational cues, receive remote diagnostic reports, and get emergency support in accidents. In the car business, 13 years is a long time—but in the world of mobile … Continue reading “GM Updates OnStar Brand for the Era of Mobile, Social Media”
Tag: GM
A123 Opens Lithium Ion Battery Plant in Michigan, Wants to Create Global Hub for Electric Vehicles
Big companies put on dog-and-pony shows for government officials all the time, but this one actually means something. A123Systems (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AONE]]), based in the Boston area, is officially opening a 291,000-square-foot lithium ion battery manufacturing facility in Livonia, MI, today. The plant already employs more than 300 people, and is part of a Michigan expansion … Continue reading “A123 Opens Lithium Ion Battery Plant in Michigan, Wants to Create Global Hub for Electric Vehicles”
Lithium-Ion Battery Maker Sakti3 Gets $4.2 Million from GM, Itochu to Speed Up Commercialization Efforts
Sakti3, an Ann Arbor, MI-based lithium-ion battery maker, announced today that it has brought in $4.2 million from General Motors Ventures and Itochu Technology Ventures to put toward the manufacturing and commercialization of its battery cells. Sakti3 was co-founded by Ann Marie Sastry, a University of Michigan engineering professor, in 2007, and is working on … Continue reading “Lithium-Ion Battery Maker Sakti3 Gets $4.2 Million from GM, Itochu to Speed Up Commercialization Efforts”
Raised in a General Motors Family, Jason Forcier Driving Growing Auto Battery Biz for A123 Systems
[Updated and corrected, 5/4/10, 1:15 pm ET] Jason Forcier was raised in Flint, MI, a city whose economic woes have been tied to the decline of the U.S. auto industry. Now he’s grown up and heading efforts at a growing company called A123 Systems to make advanced batteries for a new generation of energy-efficient cars … Continue reading “Raised in a General Motors Family, Jason Forcier Driving Growing Auto Battery Biz for A123 Systems”
Compact Power to Build Li-ion Plant
Compact Power, a Troy, MI-based subsidiary of South Korean manufacturer LG Chem, will spend $303 million to build a new lithium-ion battery plant in the west Michigan city of Holland. The companies said the plant will break ground this summer and by 2013 will employ more than 400 people. LG Chem already supplies battery cells … Continue reading “Compact Power to Build Li-ion Plant”
Boston-Power Adds Ex-GM Exec to Board, Prepares to Take On Automotive Battery Market
Around the time Steve Jobs unveiled the Apple iPad, a funny Photoshopped picture began making the rounds on the Web, showing Jobs with four iPhones crudely lashed together with duct tape. The picture’s unspoken message, of course, was that the iPad is just a big iPhone. Well, something like that is actually coming true in … Continue reading “Boston-Power Adds Ex-GM Exec to Board, Prepares to Take On Automotive Battery Market”
May The Schwartz Be With You: Eric’s Top Stories of the Summer
Thirteen weeks, 123 stories, and about a million cups of Starbucks’ finest later, my internship at Xconomy in Seattle is over. But as a parting gift, I am going to share some of my favorite articles from the summer here. I hope you enjoy reading them (and my other articles) as much as I enjoyed … Continue reading “May The Schwartz Be With You: Eric’s Top Stories of the Summer”
Razorfish Deal Could Be Great for Microsoft, Says Online Strategy Expert Warren Gouk
One of the biggest tech deals of the year came over this past weekend—the $530 million acquisition of Seattle-based Razorfish by French marketing firm Publicis Groupe. Most people I’ve talked to seem to think the deal makes good sense for all parties. (Razorfish became an online advertising subsidiary of Microsoft in 2007 when Microsoft bought … Continue reading “Razorfish Deal Could Be Great for Microsoft, Says Online Strategy Expert Warren Gouk”
Going Green, Gradually: Catching Up with Local Motors and Its Crowd-Sourced Car
The Rally Fighter is half dune buggy, half muscle car. Designed for off-road racing in the deserts of the Southwest, it looks a lot like any ride you might see on the cover of Road & Track. But what’s different about the Rally Fighter is that it’s a product of the Web 2.0 revolution: it … Continue reading “Going Green, Gradually: Catching Up with Local Motors and Its Crowd-Sourced Car”
Segway, GM Collaborate on Next-Generation Personal Transport
I had to check the calendar when I heard about this to make sure it wasn’t still April Fool’s Day. It appears that Bedford, NH-based Segway and Detroit-based General Motors (NYSE: [[ticker:GM]]) are joining forces to develop a new electric-powered, two-seater vehicle that, like the famous Segway Personal Transporter (PT), balances on two wheels. The … Continue reading “Segway, GM Collaborate on Next-Generation Personal Transport”
A123 Files For “Lucky” IPO, BP Shells out $90M for Verenium’s Biofuel Tech, Alnylam Ventures into New RNA Realm, & More Deals News
New England tech firms ended last week right where the Beijing Olympics began—with a much-anticipated event timed to the lucky number eight. That, and the rest of the week’s biz-tech dealings below. —Observers have been waiting for some time now for A123 Systems—the Watertown, MA-based maker of advanced batteries whose customers include GM and Black … Continue reading “A123 Files For “Lucky” IPO, BP Shells out $90M for Verenium’s Biofuel Tech, Alnylam Ventures into New RNA Realm, & More Deals News”
Mascoma Teams with GM, Moldflow Melds with Autodesk, Concert Scores Some Heavy-Duty Cash, & More Deals News
Last week saw several very large financing deals. Perhaps those depressing Q1 numbers gave investors a little kick in the rear? —Concert Pharmaceuticals of Lexington, MA, raised a hefty $37 million to support its work on drugs incorporating deuterium, a heavier form of hydrogen. The Series C round was led by a “leading public equity … Continue reading “Mascoma Teams with GM, Moldflow Melds with Autodesk, Concert Scores Some Heavy-Duty Cash, & More Deals News”
GM Chips In for Mascoma’s Cellulosic Biofuel Technology
In January General Motors announced an investment in Coskata, a Warrenville, IL, company that has backing from Advanced Technology Ventures of Waltham, MA, and is developing a chemical-thermal technology for making ethanol out of high-cellulose materials such as wood chips. But apparently GM wants to hedge its bets as it searches for ways to encourage … Continue reading “GM Chips In for Mascoma’s Cellulosic Biofuel Technology”
GM Savors A123Systems and Coskata Deals Amid Dreams of Clean Vehicles That Can’t Crash
When General Motors unveiled its lavish 330-acre, Eero Saarinen-designed technical center in 1956, company president Harlow Curtice cruised to the podium in a shark-finned, bubble-domed Firebird II gas turbine experimental car. “We must put more emphasis on basic research, pure research,” Curtice declared, later adding, “I hope you will come to regard the General Motors … Continue reading “GM Savors A123Systems and Coskata Deals Amid Dreams of Clean Vehicles That Can’t Crash”
A123 Thinks Big about Electric Cars from Norway
Local battery powerhouse A123Systems is delving further into the automotive market, thanks to a three-way deal involving itself, Norwegian electric car company Think, and General Electric. A123 has signed a deal to put its lithium-ion rechargeable batteries into Think’s vehicles. Think is making an electric car, the City, that has a top speed of 60 … Continue reading “A123 Thinks Big about Electric Cars from Norway”
Ethanol Minus the Corn: ATV’s Bill Wiberg on Coskata and Its Big Deal With GM
Switching the nation’s vehicle fleet from gasoline to biofuels such as corn-derived ethanol could reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, which is why President Bush wants the U.S. to produce 35 billion gallons of alternative fuels by 2017. But there are a couple of big problems. So much of the nation’s corn supply already … Continue reading “Ethanol Minus the Corn: ATV’s Bill Wiberg on Coskata and Its Big Deal With GM”
A123 Inks Deal to Develop Battery Cells for GM Electric Car
A123 Systems just landed a promising deal with General Motors to co-develop the battery cell for the automaker’s Chevrolet Volt line of electric cars and other vehicles. GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz made the announcement yesterday during a speech in Michigan. Under the deal, Watertown, MA-based A123 will co-develop the lithium-ion battery for GM’s E-Flex … Continue reading “A123 Inks Deal to Develop Battery Cells for GM Electric Car”