Bob Lutz blogs on GM's electric drive development
Over at the GM FastLane blog, Vice Chairman Bob Lutz has posted an update on GM's electric propulsion development efforts. He responds to some of the critics who call the Volt just a big publicity stunt and emphasizes that this is being handled as a real production intent program. GM has established a dedicated battery development team and its size will be increased by thirty percent over the next two years. Denise Gray has been appointed to a new position as director of energy storage systems, and will be overseeing all these efforts. You can check out the rest of what "Maximum" Bob has to say over at FastLane.
[Source: General Motors]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave 10:04AM (2/28/2007)
Mr. Lutz,
I am not impressed with a 30% increase in battery development personnel. Problems of the scope, diversity, and magnitude of those caused by the shortcomings of the internal combustion engine should be attacked with the spirit and dedication of the Manhattan Project.
And once again, I will not be buying a new car until electrically driven vehicles are available to the general public by the big automakers.
Thank you for your time Mr. Lutz, please let me know if you have any battery development breakthroughs, and the timeline for the release of the Volt (or other electrically propelled vehicle) is solidified.
Sincerely,
David Schmetterer
DSchmetterer@yahoo.com
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shongwong 10:46AM (2/28/2007)
Ugh. waiting to buy a new car only after a mainstream electric vehicle has come out is kinda like waiting to buy a computer until Vista comes out...
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Dave 7:21PM (2/28/2007)
Shongwong -
Care to elaborate? You've frozen this particular comments section with your strange comparison of a huge step forward in the efficiency of vehicles, with the unnecessarily inefficient "upgrade" that Vista represents.
If Vista were a car, it would be pretty, but made of iron, and what should be the aerodynamic front end of the body would face the rear. Its weight and brick like aerodynamics would be so hard to move that it needed 2 engines (they'd call it a "dual-core"), both of which could pull a standard Mack truck and trailer. It wouldn't have any doorlocks, but a guy who asks you over and over if so-and-so can come into the car. And forget about editing video on the thing...
A series hybrid like the Volt is more like Mac OS X. A different approach to the everyday problems of getting around, resulting in a streamlined more efficient product, which needs less resources than the everyday vehicle (WindowsXP) to do the same work. If it were really like OS X, it would come with an angry Rottweiler to guard the car, and that expanding foam safety stuff from Judge Dredd.
I'm trying to think of a way to tie a Linux distro into this (if you don't count OS X as one) but I can't think of a metaphor for an open source car built for free out of household materials, by hand, that will take you where you want to go, but only if you can master a book filled of strange looking commands and variables.
The car, however, would go the speed of sound, stop comfortably in an instant, be incredibly safe to ride in, never need to be turned off, and get the equivalent of 1,000mpg. It would have bank vault locks on its gullwing doors. Why gullwing doors? Why not? No focus group to tell you that you can't have gullwings on your linux car.
So yeah, I'm boycotting the big automakers and not going to buy a new car until they decide to release a car the computer equivalent of OS X. If I need a car between now and then, I'll just buy used (again).
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