June 7, Detroit Michigan – Today, myself and several other bloggers including including Matt Kelly of Podtech, Sam Abuelsamid from AutoblogGreen, Todd Kaho of Green Car Journal, Scott Anderson of Hydrogen Forecast, Philip Proefrock from Ecogeek and Greenoptions, and Matt Mayer of GroovyGreen.com were given the opportunity to interview Micky Bly who is GM’s Director of Hybrid Vehicles. You will soon be able to view a video of the interview. You can hear Matt’s podcast here.
The occasion was the Challenge X event..our hats off to Mississipi State University who won. And thanks to University of Waterloo for letting me drive their hydrogen Equinox! Read press release here.
Mr. Bly was very candid about the Volt’s production. When specifically asked whether the Volt will definitely be produced, he responded that it was indeed Rick Wagoner’s plan.
He confirmed the plan for a Lithium-ion battery and indicated that NiMh was not an option due to it’s lower energy density, potential durability issues, inability to sustain deep cycle discharges, and inability to handle wide temperature ranges.
When asked if batteries might be swappable or upgradeable as technology matures, he indicated that could be a possibility.
With respect to battery manufacturing, he didn’t indicate it part of GM’s business plan to make their own batteries, but though it made more sense to outsource it to other companies. He did admit that the Johnson-Saft solution was not being applied to the Volt..its down to A123 and LG Chem. Interestingly, Mr. Bly noted that Tesla Motorcars presented their battery solution to GM, and that he wasn’t familiar with Altair Nanotechnologies.
In a speech earlier in the day by Larry Burns, GM’s VP of R&D, he mentioned GM’s commitment to energy diversity, and noted that with acceptance of the E-Flex plug-in architecture, U.S. gasoline use could be reduced by 37 billion gallons, per year. I asked Mr. Bly if GM had any communication with the big oil companies on this potential effect, and he noted that he was unaware of any such discussion.
We still couldn’t get an exact date on Volt production, but he confirmed the Saturn Vue plugin was roughly on track for 09. We can only still speculate whether the Volt could come six months later, as that was the separation between original announcement dates of the two vehicles.
He also noted that the Saturn Aura and Vue hybrids are now out for about 4 weeks, and that a limited number if about 100 Hydrogen Sequels will be released in November.
Interview with Nick Zielinski to follow…
