GM's Hybrid/EV engineering director Bob Kruse resigns
Bob Kruse is going freelance. Kruse has been executive director of global vehicle engineering for hybrids, electric vehicles and batteries at General Motors since early 2008. He has overseen the teams led by Denise Gray, Larry Nitz and Micky Bly that are developing hybrid and electric vehicles for GM. Kruse has opted to leave GM and form his own consulting firm called E V Consulting LLC to provide engineering expertise to companies looking to cash in on the federal bounty currently available for developing plug-in vehicles. Kruse and GM both say that he is leaving the company on good terms and the change has nothing to do with progress on the Volt or other programs. This just happens to be an opportune time for Kruse to strike out on his own.
Kruse will be replaced by Micky Bly, who has been director of hybrid vehicle integration. For the last several years, Bly has led the teams that did the production development of GM's two-mode hybrid trucks and SUVs. More recently, the Volt integration work has also been part of Bly's responsibilities.
[Source: Detroit News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mike 10:54AM (10/01/2009)
Yeah, he has a whole years experience of being in charge of producing what is still vaporware in market terms.
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ziv 10:16AM (10/14/2009)
So now it is _vaporware in marktet terms_? Grin, I guess the 80 IV'ers that are on the road kind of invalidated the _vaporware_ tag, so you updated your criticism a bit, but the truth is that the Volt is going to be a heck of a vehicle. It won't be for everyone, but if you drive less than 14,000 miles a year, you will use less than a gallon of gas a week. The only question is how fast GM and the other builders of ER-EV type cars can reduce the MSRP. BEV's are at least 10 years from being viable for most people due to range anxiety, price per kWh, and slow recharging (or batterylife depleting faster charges). Fuel cells are at least 20 years from viability with huge issues regarding price, EROEI, storage and infrastructure issues. So ER-EV's look like they are going to rule the roost for a decade or more as gas slowly moves back up into the $4 to $5 a gallon range.
mike 6:22PM (10/01/2009)
"Updated my criticism" ??
..from what?
I have not been particularly critical of the volt here from what I recall.
But yes... I can't buy one ... so yes... it is vaporware.
They tell me I'll be able to buy one soon...
When I can it will not be vaporware any more.
When I can and others have for at least a few years and the prices have become more reasonable and they've shown it to be reliable too then I might consider buying one.
As for ER-EVs leading the future pack for a while, I agree they probably well.
Along with hybrids anyway...
And to be honest the distinction between those two in usage is trivial - the ICE drives the car or the ICE drives the battery...
I think the only thing that might curtail that is a massive breakthrough in battery tech getting us to straight EV faster or a massive breakthrough in fuel production from some renewable source - allowing the continued reign of the ICE.
Tim 12:43PM (10/01/2009)
Mr. Kruse just wants to use his new Gov't contacts to help others in the auto industry steal taxpayer money with of course a healthy slice for himself.
Society is held hostage by Corporatists (Google it) and their crony redistributionist career politicians. This is obvious and easily demonstrated by the bailouts, Gov’t loans & other Corporate welfare. To big to fail? Yet these tyrants have the gall to blame the heavily regulated Free Market Capitalists.
These Corporatists and their career politician crones will keep us busy with partisan politics while they play both sides to rape us silly. This has been going on since the Fed was created to help “centrally plan” financial markets. If politicians only honored their oath to the Constitution, this would be a free and fair market where crony corporatism could NOT happen.
Bob Kruse is SCUM!
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Throwback 1:04PM (10/01/2009)
Soon all jobs will be either government jobs or government affiliated jobs. So much for private enterprise.
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Serge 12:31PM (10/02/2009)
Well, leadership of *private* automotive industry, with a few exceptions, has not shown much business acumen lately. So, until better business leaders show up on the scene some party, who actually knows how to run things, needs to take charge.
ken 5:23PM (10/01/2009)
Kudos to Bob. He can provide exactly the sort of help that small companies like mine (see Gaiatransport.com) need to get to the market faster. Launching a small company, especially in this investment climate, is tough -- even if, like me, you have been a successful CEO, have had some of the world's largest companies as clients, etc. Without help, it can border on impossible.
20 years ago, I jumped the corporate ship, and I admire Bob for taking the initiative. He can do great things for the industry and the country.
For those with the insulting comments, I can only suggest that you think about why he might do this. Clearly Ford, GM, Toyota, and Honda are not likely to be his clients. Small companies like mine are much more likely to be his clients. In a world in which just doing the crash testing alone costs millions, companies like mine need exactly what Bob offers. He'll be swamped with business.
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Randy S 3:08PM (10/01/2009)
Agreed Tim, you're right, and the real capitalist system is long gone, it's very sad indeed... but in Mr. Kruse' defense or any company operating today, they're just playing by the new rules, they didn't create the rules, they're just playing by them, it's the bent evolution of capitalism...
Personally I don't think it will be sustainable and eventually it will collapse and take down the American dollar and economy with it, as it is now, with the most recent shock last year as a taste of things to come.
Hopfully Obama can turn things around (on a wing and a prayer). I think he's doing the right things by investing in EV's, healthcare and education. Things that have a return on investment, and hopefully he has the stones to make some serious cuts to spending on military "offense", and return to spending only on military "defense". I bet that would cut military spending in half, but good luck with that America.
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Tim 4:18PM (10/01/2009)
The Progressive Statists (Democrat & NeoCon) sent us on a course over a financial cliff.
Obama and the Democrats just stomped on the gas with MORE spending programs & LESS personal liberty. This is NOT change and it is NOT investment. It is financial ruin and the demise of the Dollar. WE cannot borrow and spend our way out of debt. Debts MUST be paid and they will be paid with hyperinflated currency and financial collapse.
Obama IS helping... he's speeding the death of the United States & Liberty. Obama serves the new world order corporatists. We, the People are simply sheep to be used, sheared then disposed of.
There will NEVER be change, prosperity or liberty in the USA as long as the Constitution is ignored or interpreted instead of honored & obeyed. Corporatism, Socialism, Marxism are NOT substitutes for FREE MARKET CAPITALISM!
Learn about liberty at http://mises.org/
mike 6:31PM (10/01/2009)
@Tim
This "constitution interpreted" line is just bogus.
Language is not precise and all language, written or spoken, must be "interpreted" by the reader or listener.
That's why math uses numbers - language is not precise enough.
Spending now for the stimulus is arguable. You could take either side. But it is certainly a very valid position to be for it. Frankly it seems to be working. I was for it and still am.
It's true we need debt reduction but not right now, not at the cost of stalling the economy just when it needed a push. The republican plan of stopping spending from the government would have been horrific for the economy in my book.
It is like being out of shape physically.
Really you should exercise a lot more.
But if you have a heart attack your doctor isn't going to tell you to go home and go jogging.
He is going to actually tell you to sit on your arse even more than normal until you are past the point of emergency and then to start a sound exercise regime for the long term.
It is the same with our current financial problems.
Stimulus now - then hardcore long term debt reduction.
I won't even go into the impossibility of possibly knowing in any way what this country or the world would have been like if the fed had never existed.
Throwback 8:50AM (10/02/2009)
How about cutting some social spending also? Many people want to cut military spending but we have as much if not more waste in welfare, medicaid/medicare, unemployment benefits, agriculture, transportation etc.
hsr0601 1:11PM (10/02/2009)
The auto industry should not forget the bitter lesson from its bankruptcy. Automakers pledged change in direction before people and thereby barely received taxpayer's cash, but they are still doing nothing. The current "unsustainable" fuel price, which is projected to go even higher, has gone far beyond a hybrid level again as it did not deter the recession.
The auto industry needs to leverage the rebates of cash for clunkers as a stepping stone for a fundamental change as promised, not business as usual. I still think the densely populated countries are consuming such incredible natural resources right now that inefficiency as it is is not allowed any more.
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