Video: Rick Wagoner on GM's commitment to energy diversity. And new E-Flex concepts soon?
by Jeremy Korzeniewski on Mar 18th 2007 at 4:01PM 
As we mentioned last week, Rick Wagoner, chairman and CEO of GM spoke to the crowd at the Geneva Motor Show last week, and here is a video to prove it. He spoke quite a bit about alternative fuels and alternative propulsion. He went on to state that GM is committed to providing vehicles that can operate on many different sources of energy, and that GM supports the EU and their goals of reducing harmful emissions from automobiles. Wagoner highlighted that GM has recently been focusing more heavily on electric vehicles, both powered by electricity from hydrogen fuel cells, and "extended range electric vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Volt." Extended range being the on-board internal combustion engine powering a generator providing electricity to charge the batteries, I presume. Wagoner said that GM is also pushing forward with their alternative fuel programs such as E85, and working to improve the efficiency of their gas and diesel offerings. GM would like to displace the use of petroleum based fuels with alternatives such as bioethanol, which he mentioned was the fastest growing biofuel. Wagoner showed off the new Saab 9-3 BioPower vehicle that will be available for sale soon in Europe. The new 2.9 liter diesel V6 engine was also on display as well.
Of interest to us here, Wagoner mentioned the GM Sequel, and announced that a test fleet will be released into Europe of ten fuel cell vehicles. Also, regarding their E Flex platform, Wagoner spoke of using many different sources of electricity to power it, and said that there would be new concept vehicles using the platform at the Shanghai Motor Show and Frankfurt Motor Show. These vehicles would likely have nameplates from GM's European brands. That is certainly something to look forward to!
Thanks for the tip on the video, Linton!
[Source: Youtube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kballs 6:32PM (3/19/2007)
This is a good thing. Relying on the Volt alone would be the wrong way to gauge the success (estimated sales, cost differences with regular drivetrains, performance comparison, efficiency comparison, etc.) of this technology because there are so many factors that would be non-comparable with conventional vehicles or stuff that may hinder Volt popularity/sales (styling, performance, type of car, size, etc.).
GM may also be looking at e-flex as a way to simplify production and save money... have 1 vehicle that they can sell anywhere just by dropping in another type of genset.
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