Tony Passowats is the line director for the Chevy Volt and E-Flex systems. He lead the development of the Volt concept car, and is leading the development of the 2011 Volt. Tony has been a line director for 11 years and he has received many awards in that time. He was recently invited to join the board of directors of the Electric Drive Transportation Association and is presenting here today (November 2008).
Presentation: Electrifying the Nation – this title takes into consideration the importance of the model (of electric cars) but engages everyone because it’s much more than the car, ultimately electrifying the nations providing thought leadership and expertise. Tony recently spoke with Rick (from GM) where they looked at the challenges of creating cars, going beyond just working on the car and considering geopolitical forces. This business is akin to a startup in a space that is much more crowded and complicated.
“The unveiling of the Chevy Volt is a sign that General Motors is committed to responding to tomorrow’s energy and environmental challenges today.” – Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. 100 years ago today Taft was elected president and he plugged his car in. Electrifying the nation is about relevant plug-in vehicles, Advanced Batteries and Technology Partners, Intelligent Energy management services, and Electric Utilities involving community, policy and customers. It’s not just one company or product.
GridPoint is a company that GM is working with to explore software control in batteries, load control, etc. Carl Lewis will discuss one of these initiatives later today. GM’s on-star platform and how it could aid the EV. It’s more than pushing a button to unlock a door or get a reservation – it could be maintenance related, issue anticipation or green routing (reminds us of traffic mapping on Google maps). The Volt is being worked on with great energy, people ask if the Volt program is in jeopardy – Tony says no “more GM resources are being allocated towards electric drive”.
Lets talk about education – Primary vs. secondary fuel, extended range EV vs. PHEV. Plugin hybrid lineage comes from gasoline, supplemented with gasoline. The volt is an electric driven vehicle, can use secondary fuel as a backup. One is primary gasoline the other is primary electric. Internal combustion to hybrid to plugin hybrid vs. EV to EREV to FCEV. If you took away the gasoline drive component from a traditional hybrid the car wouldn’t run, but if you took it out of the Volt it would run.
Muel cars (concept Volt’s) are based on the Chevy cruise architecture, leveraging existing models. Currently GM has about a dozen prototype Chevy Volts on the road. PHEV and Extended range vehicles are leveraging shared technology at Chevrolet. The battery enterprise still needs much development, Tony’s team is amassing the equivalent of 10 years worth of battery testing.
GM works closely with utility companies to accelerate the use of electricity to replace gas, creating affordable desirable vehicles that take advantage of the grid and realize the environmental benefits of plugins. One key element we all need to work on is making charging work, off peak charging, installation services and cost of ownership advantage, billing, energy storage etc. Smart charging for grid load management. GM is looking hard at domestic manufacturing policy.
Community can play a role here, whenever a plugin is launched it may be focused on a specific area then expanded, different areas of the country (and world) have different transportation needs. GM is searching for the right community to begin and has selected some communities in California for testing. HOV Lanes, parking, charging all play a role, is the community receptive? GM has 12 vehicles representing electric drive including second generation technology for many of the cars. Gas friendly to gas free messaging, it’s the fuel. Energy diversity creates innovation and competition. We all want to have the choice to decide what the right systems are, it creates security and energy independence. The auto business is a growth business and they want everyone to participate.
This past year (2007) GM sold 9.4M cars globally employed about 265K (many less now). GM sells 61% of their cars outside of the US and motor vehicles are the single largest us export. In closing, the Volt is an important initiative for GM and they look to the help of the industry and other innovators to make it a success.
