Another
Q/A with Bob Lutz on the Volt, and other alternative energies.
Here's a small sampling:
Quote:
How important is the Volt for GM? What's at stake? You've got Toyota going in a slightly different direction, with its hybrids powered by nickel metal hydride batteries. They're playing down lithium.
We now have showdown at the OK Corral. You have one giant auto company saying it won't work, and one saying it will. Ever since Toyota assumed the mantle of technology leader, there's been a certain class of buyer who wants to be associated with the best technology. In that sense, every Toyota has a little bit of Prius in it. The iconic Toyota vehicle is the Prius. The iconic GM vehicle is the Hummer H2. So that creates the impression that Toyota is frugal, GM guzzles. Toyota loves the environment, GM pillages the environment. Perception becomes reality. Well, this is about recapturing General Motors' technological leadership. We want to be the company that has the solutions for tomorrow.
And you think lithium ion batteries are the way to do that?
The problem with lithium ion is scalability. But now Black & Decker has been using it in tools. Segway switched to lithium ion from nickel metal hydride two years ago for their transporter. Then I read about Tesla, these battery-powered cars with a 200-mile range. To do that, they're using thousands of laptop batteries wired together. When Tesla announced they were building a car, that kind of tore it for me. I thought, "If some little West Coast outfit can do this, we can no longer stand by."
|
I liked that he finally acknowleged Tesla. He always seemed to skirt around them when he spoke of the Volt.