GM to sell electric car, CFE to offer meters

 

 

Mexico News Daily | Tuesday, April 21, 2015

mexiconewsdaily.com

 

 

There are barely 200 electric cars on the road in Mexico, but General Motors and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) are betting on an increase in the numbers.

 

GM will make its first entry into the electrically-powered vehicle market in Mexico with the introduction of the Spark EV.
 
The 100%-electric car will sell for 499,900 pesos, or US $32,000, and come with a three-year/60,000-kilometer warranty.
 
It utilizes a 21.4-kwh lithium ion battery and will reach a full charge after seven hours on a 240-volt portable charger. The auto maker claims potential fuel cost savings of 30%-70%, depending on electrical rates.

Fully charged, the Spark’s range is 132 kilometers. The vehicle will be available for purchase in June and will bring to three the number of manufacturers offering electric vehicles. BMW and Nissan are already in the market.

Meanwhile, the federal electric utility is offering homeowners the option of an additional meter just for vehicle charging. The CFE will supply and install the meters at no charge, but consumers will pay the going rate for electricity to charge their vehicles.

Owners of fully-electric or hybrid vehicles will be eligible for the installation, which will enable drivers to keep track of their fuel costs.

CFE boss Enrique Ochoa told a press conference the meter program is part of an accord signed with the Mexican Automotive Industry Association (AMIA) to promote sales of the vehicles.
AMIA’s Eduardo Solís said what’s missing now is a subsidy to make the vehicles more widely accessible. The auto makers, he said, have asked the federal government to declare them exempt from IVA, the value-added tax.

Source: El Universal (sp), El Financiero (sp)
 

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GM plant in Mexico to run mostly on 34 MW of windpower

windpowerengineering.com

February 17, 2015

Paul Dvorak

 

 

General Motors for the first time is procuring wind to power its manufacturing operations, enabling one of its Mexico facilities’ electricity needs to be run mostly on renewable energy. This addition of 34 MW of wind power allows GM to achieve its corporate goal of renewable energy use four years early.

GM signed a power purchase agreement for 34 MW from Enel Green Power, which is developing and constructing a massive wind farm in Palo Alto, Mexico.

Construction of the wind farm begins in the second quarter of this year. When complete, more than 12% of GM’s North American energy consumption will come from renewable energy sources, up from 9%  The company’s current renewable energy use – comprised of solar, landfill gas and waste to energy – totals 104 MW against a goal of 125 MW by 2020. The use of clean energy reduces greenhouse gas emissions and GM’s impact on climate change.

Seventy-five percent of the energy coming from the wind turbines will power most of GM’s Toluca Complex sitting on 104 acres, making it the company’s largest user of renewable energy. The remaining capacity will help power its Silao, San Luis Potosi and Ramos Arizpe complexes. The use of renewable energy helps these facilities avoid nearly 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

“Our commitment to sustainable manufacturing processes is one way we serve and improve the communities in which we work and live,” said Jim DeLuca, GM executive vice president of Global Manufacturing. “Using more renewable energy to power our plants helps us reduce costs, minimize risk and leave a smaller carbon footprint.”

GM signed a power purchase agreement with Enel Green Power, which is developing and constructing a massive wind farm in Palo Alto, Mexico. The company’s use of 34 MW of energy will come from 17, 2-MW turbines.

“Mexico is an ideal location for our first wind project,” said Rob Threlkeld, GM global manager of renewable energy. “Energy is fed to a national grid, making it easier to reduce or add energy capacity at a facility. There’s also a good business case because prices for traditional power are about a third greater than the United States.

“Once online, we’ll evaluate the project to better understand how we can expand the use of wind power.”

GM is a founding member of the Business Renewables Center, a collaborative platform launched earlier this month by the Rocky Mountain Institute. The center aims to accelerate corporate renewable energy procurement with a goal of nearly doubling U.S. capacity of wind and solar energy by 2025. It is part of a larger effort – the Corporate Renewables Partnership – that includes the World Wildlife Foundation, the World Resources Institute and the Business for Social Responsibility.

The Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles, of which GM is a signatory, set a framework for the partnership and guides the Business Renewables Center.

GM to invest $5 billion to expand facilities in Mexico

marketwatch.com
By Dudley Althaus

Bloomberg

General Motors Co. world headquarters in Detroit, Michigan

MEXICO CITY--General Motors Co., one of the leading auto makers in Mexico, said Thursday that it is investing $5 billion between 2013 and 2018 to double capacity at its four plants in the in the country.

The managing director for General Motors de Mexico, Ernesto Hernandez, said the company will invest $3.6 billion in addition to the $1.4 billion invested in the past two years.

The company plans to upgrade and expand its plants in the states Coahuila, Guanajuato, Mexico, and San Luis Potosí, creating an additional 5,600 direct jobs for GM GM, +1.43%  and thousands more for suppliers, Mr. Hernandez said in an event at the presidential residence.

GM to move production of Chevrolet Volt part to US from Mexico

foxbusiness.com

Published October 28, 2014

 

Associated Press

DETROIT –  General Motors is moving production of a critical component in the Chevrolet Volt from Mexico to Michigan.

GM CEO Mary Barra is expected to announce the plan later Tuesday in a speech to the Detroit Economic Club.

The automaker will build the electric drive unit for the second-generation Volt at its Warren Transmission Plant in suburban Detroit. An electric drive unit powers the Volt's wheels.

GM won't hire any new workers to make the part. The part had been made at a plant in Ramos Arzipe, in the northern Mexico state of Coahuila.

GM has been making the plug-in hybrid Volt in Detroit since it went on sale in 2010. The second generation of the Volt is expected to go on sale sometime next year.

Barra is also expected to announce $300 million in investments in Michigan between now and the end of this year.

GM corn cultivation remains off-limits following ruling

Court deals a blow to 'monster corn.'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mexico News Daily | Friday, August 29, 2014

 

A restriction on cultivating genetically-modified corn remains in place following a court ruling yesterday in Mexico City.

The Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta had filed an amparo (similar to an injunction) to have the restriction lifted. A court ruled last September that the federal government must stop issuing permits for the experimental and commercial planting of GM corn.

The ruling was made in favor of a suit filed by Colectivas, a coalition of groups and individuals opposed to the cultivation of GM corn in Mexico based on concerns that existing varieties would be contaminated, with the result that corn’s genetic diversity would be threatened.

Although there are still 10 amparos outstanding, having been filed by other firms such as Monsanto and Dow along with the federal agriculture secretariat, activists were buoyed by yesterday’s decision, which was unanimous. They say it sets a precedent for the other challenges.

GM opponents say the limits and restrictions established in the federal law regarding genetically modified organisms are inefficient, and they cite scientific evidence that shows there has been transgenic contamination of native corn in five different states.

Lawyer René Sánchez Galindo, a lawyer for the movement Sin Maíz No Hay País (without corn there is no country), said transgenic cultivation “violates our human right to biological diversity” and affects production of the second most important grain in the world.

The pro-GM movement lost another case last month when a Yucatán judge overturned a permit issued by the federal government to Monsanto to plant 253,000 hectares of genetically-modified soybeans.

Mayan beekeepers and environmental organizations challenged the permit, claiming that honey produced near the GM plantings would be contaminated by soybean pollen. European countries, an important market for Mexican honey, have strict regulations on GM content in imported food products.

The judge in the case decided that honey production and GM soybeans could not co-exist.

Sources: Sin Embargo (sp), El Diario (en)

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