VIDEO: Bob Lutz at the L.A. Auto Show

This is just too easy. Why doesn't this video work any more? Did Bob Lutz commit to something that will never happen? Was the video made with the same high quality that permeates all GM products? Sigh...

Perhaps it's finally the admission that the Volt is Vaporware in car form. Is it the batteries failed in beta testing? Does the car sap 30 amps of power when it's plugged in? Is the Volt ready for production as a 2010 model?

Stay tuned. GM is on top of things...

Why is Lutz at the auto show instead of fixing GM's broken, loss-making culture?

I'm incredibly impressed with the progress that seems to be occurring with the Volt thus far. That said, all this progress is still proposed progress.

More than anything, GM not only needs to produce this car, but it MUST do so with utter perfection. I watch the GM stock ticker on a daily basis and from just this alone, GM needs a winner more than anything at this point.

It would only be too sweet to show up those Toyota engineers, who in my opinion are being kind naive about their efforts by insisting on developing their batteries entirely in-house. Perhaps what you have learned from working in a cooperative, open-source manner will show the manufacturing world how important this concept really is.

Why is Lutz at the auto show instead of fixing GM's broken, loss-making culture? - Tania

And people say my comments about 40 mpg cars are unhelpful...

Tania said: "Why is Lutz at the auto show instead of fixing GM's broken, loss-making culture?"

Do you even know what your talking about?

Saturn's sales are up, and they have the North American car of the year.

GMC is way up thanks in part to the Arcadia.

Cadillac is not only booming, but also has the 2008 Motor Trend car of the year.

Chevy has taken some hits due to falling SUV sales, but with the new Malibu, Camaro, and Volt they should be back on top in no time. (Not to mention that its Hybrid trucks were given the LA green award)

Pontiac is going to bounce back once the G8 hits dealers.

Buick is selling Enclaves like hot cakes, and tied for first place in JD powers quality survey.

Saab is in the process of updating its image with a little time should be doing better.

Hummer is well....ok I guess no company is perfect =)

Yeah your right, that really sounds like a loss making culture, I don’t know how I didn’t see it before.....

http://www.autospectator.com/cars/general-motors-corporate/0032795-gm-announces-record-global-third-quarter-2007-sales-4-percent

Paul, that made me smile. Thanks.

I tried watching the video, but the sound was too low. But I have been following the Volt through various other mediums, and I am blown away by the support behind this. When it was first announced, I was one of the people who believed nothing would come of it, and it was just a stunt for GM to make people think it was "green". I am so happy to be proven wrong, and GM is doing everything right on this. I love how honest Bob has been about it, such as admitting it would need a full restyling as the current design would have worked better if put in the wind tunnel backwards. That kind of candor is refreshing and makes me appreciate how seriously GM is taking this. I've been cynical about hybrids and just getting improved MPG because as soon as India and China's gas consumption comes on full force that will no longer be a logical fuel source at all for us. So I was very pleased to see that the Volt's technology is flexible to run on future alternative energy sources. With the Volt, GM has not simply followed, it took an idea and ran with it to a level not seen before from a major manufacturer. They are swinging for the fence. And I can't say it is future-proofed, because nothing is, but it is flexible to allow most currently foreseeable alternative energy setups. So thanks Bob. Even though the video doesn't really work well, thank you for taking products so seriously.

As an aside, A123 Systems, one of GM's trial battery suppliers, also supplied the batteries for the killacycle, an insanely fast electric motorcycle. Its creator had a spectacular crash being stupid and trying to do a burnout on it. I don't expect the Volt will be quite as powerful as that, but the batteries are impressive, I must say.

"Why is Lutz at the auto show instead of fixing GM's broken, loss-making culture?" - Tania

What do comments like that accomplish ??!? Are they interesting to other bloggers ?

I find that some people on this blog to be rude and sarcastic. Too harsh IMO. Let's all try to have some tact and diplomacy and try to discuss the issues that matter.

Chris (Toronto)

The Volt is a game changer.

And I hope people wake up, understand and realize that the goals GM has laid out for

HEED technologies (Hybrid, Hydrogen, Electric, Ethanol and Diesel) are going to change the world.

Hybrid - a commitment to 16 over the next 4 years or 1 new hybrid every 3 months.

Hydrogen - GM committed to being the first automaker to reach 1 million hydrogen vehicles by 2012.

Electric - A goal of selling 60,000 Volts the first year out with a price target starting under $30,000. GM considers the battery technology at first unproven, now is no longer an issue.

Ethanol - The entire ethanol economy seems to be hanging on GM's commitment to producing the vehicles and pushing for ethanol stations as well. Ironic considering this is the only fuel that has actually made a country-Brazil energy independent.

Diesel- The diesel engines are coming clean and diesel from algae which can provide an almost unlimited source of the fuel will see production on a large scale for the first time next year. Bio-diesel can go into an unmodified diesel engine up to 100% so I am glad GM is solidifying its position on diesel engine technology.

I tell you this because if each of these fuels are developed, and with the recent breakthroughs and advancements, and if GM's goals are realized, energy independence for America is assured.

I think we all have a vested interest in seeing GM's goals realized so is there anything Microsoft or Google can do?

Here are two companies with deep pockets in search of a mission. High here is GM with the greatest mission, energy independence, reducing greenhouse gas and the carbon footprint, enriching America's farmers and industry.

The era of computing breakthroughs has just past, the time for commuting breakthroughs is now upon us.

The greatest changes over the next decade and the greatest enhancements to our lives, material well being and advancement lie in commuting technology, long overlooked and long under studied. It will no longer take a back seat to the Silicon Valley, it has been thrust into the forefront by high oil prices.

The net result will be a leap in technology that is akin to the the radio giving way to the i-Pod or the wall phone giving way to the i-Phone.

Fastlane short?

The Silicon Valley and its technology had its run, time to shift from computing to commuting technology. And the fact is, commuting technologies hold just as much promise as the silicon wafer.

I hope for GM, God willing, that it will be just as profitable.

This is great news. Finally, an admission from the big brass about the importance of this project. The Volt will never erase the fact that GM bought the electric tram companies in all major American cities and replaced them by their gas guzzling buses, but that was in another era, when the industrialized world had zero social conscience (remember what happened to poor Preston Tucker who tied to tackle the big three with a safer more environmentally friendly car). Anyway, times they are changing, cause time is simply running out and big industry must lead the way. Bravo GM.

Why is Bob at the autoshow? Because thats where he belongs. Let the real Engieners at GM work on getting the details right. I'm amazed at the comment on the Cd (drag coefficient) being to high. Bob what is the drag coefficient backward?

Bob, I applaud you at coming clean with the admission that the Cd is to high, as an aero guy, I'm very happy to hear GM is working on the other half the fuel economy equation that everyone else seems to forget/miss.

On another front though Bob, GM has mislead us again by showing some amazing new concept and promising some great results, to only come back and say oops we have to change something. I was never a fan of the volt style. But the concept is a nice idea. What kind of BSFC numbers do they need to pull this off? Aren't they better off with some type of fuel cell battery system?

Well I guess we will all be waiting. 40 miles though? Oh well all things considered thats amazing as it is. Batteries have come a long way. To bad GM can't do better.

For the future though Bob, please make your video casts longer and a bit more professional. I would have loved to see you field audience questions. I also would love to see you directly comment on the Blog site here. Many of us here think GM can do much much better and we hope our comments are helpful, It'd be nice to know if we are providing useful information.

Bob,

I was truly inspired by your speech. It sounds like the Volt is really going to be produced. I was blown away when I first read about the Volt and the E-Flex system. In my opinion, this will be the dominate technology in the future. It is a game changer. I believe the Volt system will evolve kind of like computers did 20 years ago. I will be the first one in line to buy one. My wife also said she would love to have one as well. Keep up the good work.

Jim

Comments like the first two from Michael and Tania really are pointless. Often such brash and outrageous statements are made for shock effect or out of anger, and have little thought put into them. I find Nate's comment so much more productive (Along with many others). It is constructively critical. Instead of insulting and harsh comments, why not try to contribute to making GM better? This blog is a wonderful forum, and it is great that an executive at Bob's level takes the time to write for us, and (hopefully) read our responses. Comments like Michaels really do not accomplish anything. Do they inform with hard facts? Do they offer advice to improve the situation? No. If you're posting just to be a fanboy for some other brand by putting GM down with mindless statements, there are so many better things that could be done with your time. If you have concerns with GM's products and policies or ideas for how they can be improved, then this is the perfect place to broadcast them, and it is really good that you care enough to share and that GM cares enough to listen. But when you post, be polite, be professional, and be helpful. The worst thing for GM would be to have a bunch of yes-men on here celebrating any mediocrity as somehow class leading and the path to success. GM needs our criticism in order to improve, but our criticism must be delivered tactfully.

How else will the Volt be unique?

Does GM have any tricks up its sleeve?

I certainly should like to be surprised when the production Volt breaks cover. Will it be?

--E

I'm so proud of GM! You're finally doing the right things in the right way.

Regarding the Volt, I haven't been so excited about anything since my first school dance.

Just remember that if there is no plug, there will be NO SALE!

As far as the range-extender is concerned, this external combustion looks very interesting! http://www.cyclonepower.com/

It has the efficiency of the Diesel engine, Full torque from Zero RPM so no transmission is required, runs on any fuel, compact, cheap to make, recycles it’s own heat so no radiator is required and fully combusts the fuel so not muffler or pollution controls are required.

Hydrogen could work for public transportation - buses.

There is no infrastructure and there won't be a long time from now to allow people traveling anywhere they'd want with their hydrogen powered cars.
Home refueling is not the solution. That home refueling station must cost a fortune and it's a waste of resources and money even if some will pay for it. There must be public refueling stations. Period.

However, for a city's public transportation system, there may be only a big hydrogen refueling station to provide the necessary fuel for all the busses in the city. A single refueling point for busses makes sence since they would have established routes and won't go out in the wild.
This would be economically and environmentally feasible: one refueling station per city, specialized service teams, the technology would be payed off considering the mileage, zero emissions.
Well, I think this would work.

Thanks to everyone who pointed out the non-constructiveness of reflexive and insulting criticism. Of course there's always room for differing opinions and for people who think we could be doing things better... but some of what we see from some folks out here is about as constructive as telling your boss he has an ugly kid.

There's conversation and dialogue, and there's deliberate rudeness. Thanks to all of you who recognize the difference and are attempting to enforce it out here. We greatly appreciate it, and we'll look forward to more constructive dialogue (which doesn't mean everyone praising everything we do, it just means not being deliberately rude).

Mike,

Respectfully I dont' think Hydrogen is the answer just yet. Our infrastructure can't support the energy demands for electric, hydrogen or any other fuel that is totally renewable (well relatively speaking).

I think the idea of the electric car is great but it needs to have its own generator even if slightly less efficient then the power generated by the grid. The grid currently is fossil fuel driven (mostly) and at that we are almost at max capacity of the distribution system (remember the blackout in New York?). Hydrogen is a great solution except its dangerous to store, and where are we going to get it? We can use water but it requires slightly more energy then we get out of it. I think if we go the hydrogen route it makes more sense to convert it to CH4 (methane) which is a bit easier to store and safer. To my knowledge hydrogen gas tends to diffuse (leak) through certain substances such as rubber and plastic. Which means that storing it in lightweight tanks requires metal, and the connection between parts may be problematic. Additionally natural gas companies have been adding an odor compound to natural gas for quite some time, this would have to be done for hydrogen (or methane) since hydrogen is odorless, there would be no way to tell if there were dangerous leaks.

Hydrogen is fairly easy to generate with electrolysis, the though part is isolating it and then storing it at high pressures, this is where the home market has some problems. I think we could convert refueling stations to dispense hydrogen but it would require some very special safe guards. This is the reason I favor a conversion to methane, which is a bit easier to work with.

Christopher Barger,

I'm not sure if you work for GM or are another blogger like myself, but I think if GM were to give a bit more feedback on the blogs the amount of rudeness would go down. GM bloggers are a select few (from what I can tell ) who are interested enough in what GM is doing to tell them what they think. How many GM customers actually do this? Is the blog site a forum or an additional advertising channel for GM? It should in my opinion be more a forum then advertising. Thus negative feedback should be as useful to GM as positive. In fact a balance of both is probably best for GM.

As a more generally addressed comment:

Personally I would love to see GM more active on these blogs. I guess its a PR thing to have customers questions answered and concerns addressed with more then just words. I have watched some of Bob's movies and some of them are quite good, others leave me wondering what he is doing. When he is able to back up what they are doing technically its quite nice. Sometimes though unless you have a good understanding of the technical limitations to what GM really deals with, his videos don't really impress me. Sometimes I can see why he says what he does, other times it appears like minimal thought has gone into them. Hopefully someone at GM find this useful.

Dear Mr. Lutz,
I went to a showroom today to see the new Malibu. A beautiful, beautiful car. I wish I could buy one, but how does a guy over 6 feet get into it without bumping his head?
Ed H

Mr. Lutz,

Thank you for the video. The plug in series hybrid looks like a better approach than Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive. It is funny to see that apparently Toyota is suffering from "Not invented here syndrome." In the near term the plug in series hybrid appears most promising because the infrastructure is in place. I have said this before on this blog, but I think it worth repeating, please make sure General Motors’ advanced technology is protected. I have read that General Motors developed the modern catalytic converter, but lost control of this technology due to an inept Federal bureaucrat showing the Japanese manufactures a General Motors’ catalytic converter prototype. Hopefully this fiasco does not repeat itself.

Eric,

I can't agree with you that the plug in is a better approach. At least not at present. The cost of electricity isn't that much different then that of gasoline (at present). KW per KW they are very close in cost. However the bigger problem is the lack of the electrical infrastructure in the US to support a mass amount of electric cars.

The series/parallel hybrid is an interesting problem. Both have some advatanges and disadvantages. Why do you think the series hybrid is better?

Nate - thank you for a fantastic comment that really made me think, and made a very valid point about FastLane. I think rather than respond via comment, it's worth a whole post, which I will try to write today.

Great comment!

I am very interested in the Chevy volt, and am looking forward to being able to purchase one in 2010. However I had a few questions I’m hoping you might be able to answer.

Battery System Failure

If the battery system were to fail (unable to hold any charge, which I have had happen with my own rechargeable batteries) would the gasoline charging system be able to fully supplement the electric motor, for as long as time would require to replace the battery system?

Charge requirements

Assuming a standard (American) wall outlet of 20 A and 120 V about how long would it take to recharge the battery system? Or if you had larger or smaller charging capacities could you select different amperage for faster or slower charging?

Exterior of the car

Is the exterior going to composite based material, how well does composites do in dent impact?

Environmental conditions

Would the volt be able safe to drive on ice, and/or sub freezing temperatures?

Thanks

Adam
Mechanical Engineering Student
Oregon State University