One-on-One with Jon Lauckner, VP of Global Program Management, Part 1
Jon Lauckner is GM’s VP of Global Program Management, and is reported to by all of the vehicle line directors including Frank Weber, the VLE for Chevy Volt/E-Flex. I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Mr. Lauckner in his office and the chance to sit down with him for a 45 minute chat about all things Volt. I am very grateful for Mr. Lauckner’s openness with me on a wide range of topics. Surprisingly, he admitted to me that he frequently reads GM-Volt.com, a sentiment echoed to me by several GM executives. Because of the length of our discussion I will post it in several parts.
What is your involvement with Lance Turner at the E-Flex battery lab?
I talk to Lance off the record quite a bit. He knows what’s going on and has been in the business for a long time, knows what to look for. The first packs were just a simple crimping operation. The next ones will be more robustly attached over a longer surface area.
What comments can you make in regards to the battery running without cooling?
Now you know why when we see the results we are particularly encouraged. If you could keep the cells close to that magic 20 degrees C (70 degrees F) with the cooling system running, that would be good, but when you can run the battery severely and you still don’t have temperatures shooting off the map, that gives you more encouragement.
So there’s some extremely encouraging results.
Are you extremely confident about the program?
We are confident. You can get into degrees of confidence. Its a stretch clearly. If we were going to do this thing in a normal business fashion, we’d get the batteries on the rails and make sure that everything is exactly like we’d like to see it, then we would start the program. That’s the way we would normally do it. We call that ‘de-coupled development’, where you do the basic invention or application of exactly what you’ve got, you do that in a separate way, there’s a separate sort of process that you do. You get it to a certain point in it’s development and then you apply it to a vehicle program and then you take off with it. That’s the way you typically do it in General Motors, I think the other companies run it to a greater or lesser extent in the same way. But, right at the very beginning, we realized that we’ve got to do something different if we really want to make an impact in the very near future. So what were going to do is run the vehicle program and were going to run the battery program in parallel, maybe behind just a ’snitch’ but more or less parallel, and were just going to have to hook them up in the end when were finally going to have to make the call to go to production. We’ll hook them up and well sprint the final distance to the start of production. That’s why this one we have to watch fairly carefully, because we are running in parallel. We are basically doing the vehicle with the assumption the battery is going to make it. Well assumption…The point is you don’t make assumptions without having some basis in fact. So when we run these tests in the lab they give us encouragement that we’re ‘A’ on the right track, and ‘B’ this thing is going to come the way we hope it’s going to come. Now we have to get these battery packs in vehicles.
This is a very very important step. Lab work is very important because it’s very repeatable and very stable and so on and so forth, but where people start to really get confidence is when you get things in vehicles and when your vehicle results correlate with you lab results and they’re also satisfying.
When you get to that point, is that it? Is that the end? Then you just start producing the car?
‘No, No, No. There’s a lot of development that takes place but you move into different phases. Instead of it being a phase where you’re exploring a lot of different alternatives trying to find the best one, you go through the development process in that way for a while, and then you hone in on the one that you really want to have and then you work that one very intensely. We call it ‘design loops’. And you make multiple design loops and your try to further refine that thing, reduce variability, improve the robustness of the design, because you want a design that not only works but its very repeatable and its very tolerant to variance.
You mean so you can build tens of thousands of them?
Because if you know if you build one of some thing , you can measure each and every part and you can make sure it’s perfectly nominal and it performs exactly the way you expect it. When you start doing mass production then you have a normal production variance. You don’t always get the same nominal value. You have a tolerance to a part. And typically there’s a manufacturing tolerance. We call that product tolerance, and process tolerance. So you’ve got, depending on the part, one or both of them. So that’s why you need to be very certain of what you see in the results and have a way to correlate it, and you need to have a way to make sure that you’re confident that you’re going to get something thats at the end of the day quite robust.”
Is there a lot of preparation at the level of the assembly plants that would have to take place in order to produce Volts?
Do you mean at the vehicle side or the battery pack side?
Both.
I don’t know that there’s a battery pack in existence, well I should be careful, Tesla probably has a pack operation that fairly significant because of the number of batteries that they’re putting together, but lets put it this way, at least for us, we’ve never done a battery pack of this particular size before, so there will be a lot of work that required just to set up the basic manufacturing process.
Will you being doing that at General Motors?
No. Not necessarily. I’m just taking about whether your talking about the individual cells which are largely going to be in the hands of A123 systems and LG Chem. The packs going to be in the hands of CPI or Conti. So clearly they’ve got work to do on their side, but we have work to do on our side because we have to put the packs in the vehicles.
That’s how you see it happening in the end, CPI or Conti will makes the packs?
At the moment. We will build the cars and put the packs in. So a good portion of the vehicle assembly process is very well known to us and not very ‘exciting’ from the standpoint that we’re going to have a lot of surprises.
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53 Responses to “One-on-One with Jon Lauckner, VP of Global Program Management, Part 1”
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January 22nd, 2008 at 7:04 am
I wonder how much longer it will take to make the “we’re finally going to have to make the call to go to production” decision?
I think that is what most of us are really waiting for from GM.
Because once that is done, then we will know that a Volt is some form will be seen in the showrooms.
It may not be the car for everyone here, but in reality, what car is? But at least we will then be able to make an informed decision if the first E-REV is a car we will be willing to spend our money to own! Because all this wild speculation (Futuristic or retro, $20K or $40K, actual range of the batteries, etc, etc, etc,) is making people crazy……..
Good interview, Lyle. I look forward to reading the rest of it.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:14 am
Because all this wild speculation (Futuristic or retro, $20K or $40K, actual range of the batteries, etc, etc, etc,) is making people crazy……..
Speaking of speculation … is there any predictable formula for resale value on such an iconic/collectible car?
Granted, there will be a sizable volume from the get go, but maybe this won’t be the depreciation risk of the usual American car.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:24 am
“Speaking of speculation … is there any predictable formula for resale value on such an iconic/collectible car?”
Interesting question. It will all be about the battery I suppose. I know one thing, I plan to drive that baby till the wheels fall off, then get another.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:25 am
The GM vehicle development process is one that has evolved over a 100+ years. The Volt development is a radical departure from that process. That suggest to me that GM is truly committed to develop the Volt and only a significant unforseen problem will stop it’s production.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:29 am
Lyle, what happened to the Quotes?
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:00 am
Well, GM has most assuredly worked with battery packs larger than this one. In fact, GM has worked with larger PbA packs as well as NiMH packs in the EV1. And then there is the Electric S-10…………
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:05 am
[quote]
Brian #3, I plan to drive that baby till the wheels fall off, then get another.
[/quote]
I’m with you. My Hyundai is at 155K and still going strong. The Volt I will drive until the end, and then hopefully buy another one with 120 mile range per charge.
Lyle, the quote function was really nice.
I’m experimenting with what I remember. I hope I have the tags right.
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:06 am
Nope, must have the tags wrong.
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:15 am
I wonder if there has ever been a blog like this about any car at this point in it’s development?
As for the wait list number - I would suggest that you have 2 wait lists - one for the 40K volt and one for the 30K volt. This would give a good signal to GM where to set the bar.
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:43 am
Speaking of resale value, I think the people who need to worry about resale value are those that buy the typical ICE powered vehicle in 3 or 4 years. By the mid to late teens those type of vehicles could be considered obsolete.
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:49 am
Excellent interview Lyle! That is fascinating to me how they go about producing vehicles–I learned a lot.
Demetrius has a good idea in my opinion with the (2) waiting lists proposal. Maybe a good thing to consider, then at some point present GM with it. Food for thought.
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:03 am
Man, an audio or video of this would be fantastic!
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:56 am
“I wonder how much longer it will take to make the ‘we’re finally going to have to make the call to go to production’ decision?”
My wife is tired of my ‘92 Honda Civic (only 95k miles!). She keeps bugging me for a new car. I’m trying to hold out for a Volt, but she keeps working me. If the Volt is delayed, all my delaying tactics will be wasteed. Go GM, Go!
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:16 am
My o5 Toyota Tacoma quad cab will be paid off in 2011 and only has 24,700 miles on it right now. So I will be in a good spot to trade it on a Volt or keep it for the 4×4 when the roads are bad here.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:45 am
Demetrius @ 9, why two waiting lists now? Why not wait until we have some solid numbers from GM so Lyle doesn’t have to recalculate things over and over again?
I think the waiting list now just shows how many people are interesting in the car–which is exactly what counts at present.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:55 am
I’m pleased to hear Jon Lauckner & other GM executives sometimes have a look at what we post here.
Here’s a word of encouragement: In my 40+ years in the US space program, for every one of the dozens of spacecraft I worked on, from the Saturn to the Space Shuttle, we designed & developed the many different subsystems & components in parallel …the schedules never allowed any other option!
One more thing… The first time I met Werner von Braun (father of the US Space program) someone in the lab asked him how we could be SURE the Apollo program would be successful. His answer was, “We will test, und test, und test, und test, und test….” (he kept repeating “und test” until his face turned blue & we thought he might collapse)!
The Volt is superbly conceived & GM’s peerless scientists, designers & engineers will implement the concept almost flawlessly, I’m certain. But when you’re designing something that’s different from almost everything that’s been built or operated before, the ONLY way to be sure it will work reliably is to EXHAUSTIVELY test it, as follows:
1) Test the Volt’s mules & production prototypes to extremes of temperature, shock, wearout, EMI, etc that significantly exceed the worst-case predicted limits
2) Test at least ONE prototype vehicle to EXCEED these design parameters –until a component or subsystem FAILS (if possible)– to determine the actual design margins
3) Finally, reconcile the original worst-case analyses on all parts, components and subsystems with the test findings and incorporate any design changes needed
(Some of GM’s former HUGHES guys with space backgrounds may be helpful in conducting or overseeing design reviews, worst-case analyses, etc)
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:13 am
Yep. Testing, evaluating, retesting and reevaluating, this is largely why it takes so long to bring an all new car to market. Maybe some of the “Give me a Volt right now!” crowd will start to see the big picture through this amazing blog.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:44 am
And all that NECESSARY testing also adds to the cost!
So give that some thought when you look at the sticker……..
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:59 am
The time frame they gave us is more then justified. To produce something this complex with new tech and a completely new car requires alot of testing. Especially if they are planning mass production. Also consider that if they are to use the flex system in other vehicles they wouldnt want to miss a big flaw and have every volt on the road go bad ruining the reputation of the system.
Besides my car payments don’t end until 2011 anyway.
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I’m the one screaming for as “perfect a car as possible”. It needs to be extremely reliable so the GM can get its good name back.
Having said that, I agree that making this type of car will cost more money. However, GM needs to keep the sale price down so the masses can afford it. Let the masses brag about what a great reliable car GM has built. The more the masses brag about that, the more cars GM will sell. The more cars GM sells, the less cars Toyota sells. The Volt must be a successful car in terms of quality AND in sales.
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Not saying right or wrong but I would venture a guess that a large enough number of people would want to buy these vehicle’s untested beta version.
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:48 pm
It’s great the Volt will be so well tested before hitting showrooms, but…
T testing is never enough. My 3RD generation Prius had something go wrong each year since I got it in late 04. Non of it required a tow, and was quickly repaired at the dealer.
I could have been very upset with Toyota, but due to the dealer attitude, and training (I always went to the same service manager, who personally dogged my problems), dealing with the problems was, well, not a problem.
What I’m saying is, a great deal of the reputation of the Volt will rest at the dealers level, because things will break before they are supposed to. Once GM has done it’s thing and gotten the Volt within specs and out the door, it’s the dealers who will make a great car greater, or a great car a hassle. The Press is going to be watching for a story.
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I think that going ‘green’ has to make at least some economic sense - therefore, if the Volt is basically going to give me an electric Cobalt - and a loaded Cobalt costs 18K - then a base Volt (no leather or alloy wheels) just can’t cost 22K more!
At this point in time GM must have a firm number in their minds - the sooner they make it clear to me - the sooner I can get truly excited about the Volt.
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Lyle,
Do you know if Discovery Channel or someone is documenting the creation of the Volt?
I’d watch that program in four years!
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:54 pm
DaV8or (#17)
I’m one of those people who are screaming for this to happen as quickly as possible. You are correct about proper design and testing; it needs to be done. But if the execs at GM are reading this board and all they hear is contentment about slipping time frames, they might not be motivated to try to prevent it.
Where’s the current bottleneck? Battery testing? Do the battery testing guys have a strict overtime approval process, making it difficult or impossible to put in any overtime? Is there a 2nd or 3rd shift? Are the testing machines running 24/7?
None of these “hurry-up” measures will decrease quality. A small cost for overtime may be very small compared to lost market share if Japan beats them to it.
Here’s what I want to tell GM management: I’m rooting for you. I want to trade in my Nissan for a GM product. But you’ve got to win my business with a quality product in my budget and on time.
Large corporations have many policies that hamper innovation. What are the execs at GM doing to help the guys on the floor avoid these? Do they have auto-authorized overtime? 2nd shifts? concurrent testing (or plans for concurrent testing)?
I bet the guys working on the space race to the moon didn’t have accountants breathing down their necks asking about overtime authorization.
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Leon #25
Im gonna go out on a limb here and guess that most of the people on this project are salary.
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Leon:
Two things wrong with your arguments:
1. No one says that they want testing to push back the scheduled date, just that they want the testing done. In my opinion, we are saying to those that think the Volt should be out by Feb 2008, that it will be the end of 2010 before we see it, and here is why.
2. The moon shot was not a for profit corportation with share holders. A government crash program is a vastly different beast….
But I agree with everything else you have to say!
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Robert,
Lockheed Martin pays its salaried workers overtime after 45 hours. Not mandatory, but nice. However it takes a lot of approvals etc.
Jim, #1: All right, end of 2010 is OK. I really think they could have done it quicker if their heart was in it, but I’m ok with 2010.
#2: Good point.
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Not saying right or wrong but I would venture a guess that a large enough number of people would want to buy these vehicle’s untested beta version.
Are you crazy. Buy a vehicle for 30-40k untested. Most of the population does not have that kind of money to buy untested products.
To belive that the volt will make the ICE obsolute or wothless is another crazy statement. Lets see a 25k car and 15k for gas or a 40k volt, pay for electric and some gas.
I for one want an economical electric vehicle. At 40K there will only be a niche market for this vehicle. Finiancially the Volt does not make sense priced around 40K.
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Ed #29, “I for one want an economical electric vehicle. At 40K there will only be a niche market for this vehicle. Finiancially the Volt does not make sense priced around 40K.”
I agree completely. The Cobalt can be bought for under $15K. That buyer would have to go through a tremendous amount of gas to break even with a $40K car. This type of buyer is not going to see an advantage whatsoever. Even at $30K, I don’t see this as a car for the masses. It needs to be a less costly car for the consumer in order for GM to make a dent in Toyota’s sales. It needs to be a car everyone can afford. I think then, GM sales will really take off. They would have a huge huge hit on their hands.
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Bravo Lyle, one excellent interview again.
Well to those of us who look at the development of EV at GM in general and its competitors, I was this morning at the European Auto Show in Brussels, and I met the product managers for Belgium of Volvo on the C30 ReCharge, Reva for a test drive, and I was able to speak to some other people of Opel and VW.
Here are some findings :
- about the Opel Flextreme : the people on the Opel stand were all sure the Flextreme (contrary to what has been said in a previous post), in a form or another, will be marketed in Europe in 2011. Moreover the new Opel calalogue I got there this morning presents the Flextreme as a concept made for future production. I hold it in my hands right now.
- About the Volvo C30 Recharge (I made photos (I do not guarantee their quality) if you want them do not hesitate to ask), I asked all the questions you asked me : the belgian product manager answers this : “I do not know what is the market target, I do not know the price interval, I do not know when and how the production schedule will eventually start, I do not know if there are working prototypes and I never saw one on the road but I know (as he said) that we intend the be on the market with the ReCharge in 2012, that we want to apply this technology in other models and that we could have sold the C30 ReCharge to every people who stopped near it provided the price was correct. Come back in 2010 and I’ll have more precise data for you.”
- About the Reva, : it looks and feels like an old East german product of the ’70’s but it works very well in the town traffic. I’m not sure the American people could accept to ride in such a “car” but I rode at 70 km/h (20 above the speed limit in town) that is more or less 43 mph without problem and the range is approxmately 50 miles on a charge, the problem is they run on acid lead batteries but they said the Li-ion were almost ready after intensive testing. I was unable to get the name of the producer of those Li-ion batteries.
- and finally VW, was the most surealistic experience I had because nobody on the VW stand knew that their general catalogue mentionned on several pages that the future of VW could well be in electric vehicles. So they were unable to comment and thanked me to have shown them the quotes on the “electric future of VW” . I must say this disturbs me a lot wondering what is exactly the strategy of VW.
Sorry to have been long, hope this is of interest for most of you.
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Jean-Charles-
Thanks for the informative post!
Here’s some new info on the Volvo that surfaced today btw:
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/22/volvo-pml-flightlink-is-working-exclusively-with-us-zap-x-de/
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Guys, with an engineering project this big, you can’t just work harder or put in more hours of overtime and finish it early.
A lot of the schedule will depend not on people but resources. Example: GM will have to do accelerated wear testing, which mainly involves heating the car up and cooling it down for umpteen cycles. Each cycle takes a certain amount of time and no amount of hard work will change that. Same thing for the wind tunnel, almost certainly the same thing for battery testers, etc.
And then, once all the testing is done, you have to get the FEDS to do their testing, and you may have very little control over how long THAT takes. I have heard rumors that it takes at least a year for the feds to certify a new vehicle like the Volt.
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:46 pm
“Leon #25: I bet the guys working on the space race to the moon didn’t have accountants breathing down their necks asking about overtime authorization.”
“Jim #27: The moon shot was not a for profit corporation with share holders. A government crash program is a vastly different beast.”
=============================================
Leon & Jim, you’re both right. However, as probably very few people know, ALL of the salaried guys (like me) on the Apollo program were periodically reminded that the moon shot was essentially “betting the country” …that President Kennedy believed it was **mandatory** for us to get men to the moon & back safely before 1970, or risk losing the cold war with the USSR if we failed!
As a result, I HAPPILY worked an average of 100 HRS/WK, from 1960 (when Apollo started) and for the next several years, until all our team’s design & testing efforts had been completed within specifications, under budget & on schedule. No salaried person on our team ever received a penny for anything over 40 HRS/WK …and as far as I know, no one ever complained!
I have no idea if today’s union rules at GM would allow it, but if they do, I’d strongly suggest that Rick Wagoner, Bob Lutz & several other members of GM senior management clearly communicate to all salaried members of the VOLT team that they’re literally “betting the company” on this program and that the Volt’s design goals, program schedules and budgets therefore **must** be adhered to. I’d also strongly suggest that Wagoner (et al) hold periodic Volt Program all-hands meetings (like we did on Apollo) to answer questions & to keep everyone motivated!!!
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Nasaman:
Here here. I’m tempted to say that your generation MADE our country, bu that would minimize the WW2 guys, Civil War guys, and Revolution guys (not to mention the patriots in WW1, Korea, Vietnam, and others).
I wonder if that kind of dedication is even possible with today’s labor laws.
Tom, you sound like a manager. The type of person that prevents amazing things from happening. Not a problem solver. Forgive me if I am drawing the wrong conclusions from your short post.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
nasaman:
I completely agree.
And as anyone else here who has started their own business, you are very literally “betting your future” every day you go to work. And I could not tell you how many 100+ hour weeks we put in to get hardware/software projects completed and ready for delivery to customers. Even after almost 28 years, 50+ hour weeks are not that uncommon.
Just to see how far ahead GM is in the E-REV area, here is a link to a clip that Chrysler just sent to me. All they are talking about is “what will come in the future…”
http://72.32.208.177/webcast/tvs/chrysler/naias/chrysler_2.htm
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Jean-Charles#31,
Thanks for the information about the ReCharge and about VW! In some ways the ReCharge would be more suitable to my needs than the Volt, so I’m eagerly following its development. Unfortunately, Volvo doesn’t have a blog like this one — so any tidbits are greatly appreciated.
I’d also like to hear more about the Flextreme; I’d been under the impression that it was on the back burner until the regular body-style Volt had been figured out. I really like the idea of having a diesel-electric vehicle in my driveway.
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
P.S. Biodiesel is the only renewable liquid transportation fuel that I can get in my area, so Diesel is a preferred engine-type.
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:07 pm
lsmithlin, I appreciate your rah rah enthusiasm but sometimes you just have to accept reality.
Let’s say GM finishes the Volt and now needs it crash tested by the feds. They’re put on the books for the testing to start in X many months and it will take them Y many weeks. Other than some strategic donations and lobbying and other schmoozing, how do you propose GM accelerate that schedule?
What you’re suggesting is only one step away from saying that I can cause the US Postal Service to deliver my mail faster if I just put some more effort into it.
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Hey GM…. Let’s get a “mule” tester up my way.. you want extreme testing… I’m in Alberta Canada and in January, the Temperature has gone from + 2 Degrees C (35 F) to -26 C . What better place for Cold weather testing than here.. Please get in touch with me and let me know when I can receive my test mule…
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Tom,
You’re precisely correct. We can not make government any faster, and some things are truly out of GM’s control. I’m saying they should make sure they are not wasting time unnecessarily.
The only thing I CAN do is accept reality. This little forum, however, has given me the ability to at least spout off. But seriously, I’ll buy the first electric plug-in that has a range extender and that I can afford. I don’t really care who builds it, though I would like to see a US auto company come out on top for once.
My experience (granted, not in the automotive industry) is that managers spend most of their time slowing me (and my fellow workers) down rather than helping us get the job done. “We can’t approve that idea until the Tiger team has analyzed it, let’s schedule a meeting for next month”, “The tech design for that enhancement is not in the correct format, please re-schedule your walk thru”. I exaggerate a little, but not much.
GM is an established, staid company. Perhaps they (the managers) are doing a great job of making sure the workers have everything they need. If I was an executive at GM somewhere in the chain between the guys on the floor (techies looking at the batteries, software guys, guys working with the clay models, the wind-tunnel guys, etc) I’d move into a desk in the “bullpen” (if they have such a thing) and keep my ears open for bottlenecks and problems. “Hey, you guys over there need a polycom? Forget the requisition forms, I’ll help cut thru the red tape and get that thing here within the hour. You just keep working on the design”.
The best thing any manager ever did for me was get me a headset so I could participate in a virtual meeting, leaving my hands free to operate my computer.
Hmm, I may have a bad attitude regarding management.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:16 pm
lsmithlin, engineering a vehicle isn’t something where you can just get some guys in a bullpen in front of their computers and bang something out. (Do you work in software, by chance?)
You have to ship parts from point A to point B for people to work on them. You have to schedule testing time with facility C and run D many tests, each of which take E time. You have to tool up F assembly lines to make G parts within tolerances H, which may take I iterations to produce J yields.
I don’t think you seem to have an appreciation for the scope of a project like the Volt.
Maybe there are some ways to cut corners and speed up development. A lot of the Volt development seems to already be happening in parallel, eerily like the Ford Pinto development. If you don’t know, the Pinto, partially due to its rush to market, often caught fire in rear-end collisions and fatally burned its passengers.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Jim #36
Thanks for the video that was great. Its good to see that GM isn’t the only american car company that is headed in this direction. All though I must say that the only one of those cars I would ever consider is the Jeep.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Ismithlin, I appreciate your enthusiasm as well, but Tom is dead on with most of what he is saying. Product engineering (especially a car, ESPECIALLY a car with so much brand new stuff in it) takes a long time. A lot of that process has already been streamlined over the years, and there isn’t much room for improvement. (BTW, I’m an engineer, not a manager :))
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Robert V #43: “Thanks for the video that was great. Its good to see that GM isn’t the only american car company that is headed in this direction. All though I must say that the only one of those cars I would ever consider is the Jeep.”
===========================================================
I agree the Jeep was the most appealing, largely because it was the only one of the 3 to use TWO electric motors, one on each axle. BTW, that would give it ~270 x 2 = 540HP! But as Martin Eberhardt has said, the efficiency of an electric motor IMPROVES with increasing size, so it makes sense to use LARGE motors to give the Jeep concept plenty of margin (at its weight, I’d guess it could top out at >190MPH & get 0 - 60 times in the 3-4 sec range …that’d sure be margin enough for me!
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Glad to see the discussion turning to a more positive tone. Lyle, great job with the pen, or whatever you use in your Volt News reporting career. Thanks for the info and dedication
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Jean-Charles,
Thanks for the update on the Re-charge. Wonder if they’re going to produce it in the United State’s market… (hint hint).
Maybe you will have some choices when you go to buy your plug-in. I’d try to avoid the old eastern-block styled automobiles because I hear it’s difficult to get parts. Bad joke.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:04 pm
GM Guys:
Take your time, get it right, price it good, and we will wait. It’s taken the United States many decades to get into the oil import fix we’re in and I expect it will take a least a few years to begin to get out. I’m just happy that we don’t have to outsource the soloution to some other country (for crying outloud.) I’m pulling for GM and free enterprise!
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:29 am
Ray Says:
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:12 pm
… I’m in Alberta Canada and in January, the Temperature has gone from + 2 Degrees C (35 F) to -26 C . What better place for Cold weather testing than here…
GM still operates their Cold Weather Development Centre at Kapuskasing, Ontario. I spent part of a winter in Kapuskasing in 1984 - the coldest I saw was -43 C (about the same in F). (I cross country skied at -35 C.) Freeking cold and lots of snow!
http://www.gmcanada.com/inm/gmcanada/english/about/FeaturedStories/Story037.html
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:16 am
AES #32 and Jim #36 thanks for the videos.
Jim #36 :
It is difficult to comment more on the Flextreme, look at the answer I got from GM on the blog of GM Europe at :
http://www.gmeurope.info/social_media_newsroom/archives/294-Chevrolet-Volt-development-moves-forward-with-focus-on-aerodynamics.html
Another fact is that the Saturn Flextreme concept is being shown in Detroit. Is it good or bad news ? It seems that the only modification from Frankfurt is the swapping of badges from the Opel to the Saturn one.
Luke #37
Perhaps the EcoVoyager of Chrysler with a clean diesel instead of a fuel cell could fulfil your needs. Seeing the video referenced by Jim I found that the Flextreme has a true twin with the Ecovoyager(compare the opposing doors, the cameras instead of rear view mirrors, the LCD flexible screen, the panoramic roof etc.)
Dave B #47
I never went to India but long ago I bought a small trailer from East Germany and I rode a polish electric Melex golf cart. The Reva looks and feels just like the Melex and the trailer.
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:25 am
Once the design is finalized I wonder if it is possible for GM to look at after market options. It would be even more attractive to have a bunch of after market options available at the launch.
They don’t have to be just after market options provided by GM. Some third parties could be given early access too.
My favorite after market option would be a whole house generator (not V2G).
Some really cool after market options possible with the Volt might also provide extra free publicity.
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:19 am
I think we should calm down some. I am not alone, I am sure, in being very interested in the Volt, but also wanting a good car that actually works in real life, not an interesting parts collection that doesn’t quite come together. So, as much as I would like to have it today, I hope GM takes enough time to build a good car. I’m not asking for a perfect car, but I am asking for one that actually works. It seems to me that some production in 2010 is pushing things about as much as is possible, schedule-wise, to have not just testing but also correction of the rough spots. Really, the battery is fundamental, and when you don’t have any (yet) there are a lot of things that will have to change, at least a little bit, in the production car.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I think Chevy should release two Volts…
They should focus on the Chevy Volt production for 2010.
But they should split off a side development of a Chevy Volt Amp (or high voltage Volt). Essentially, a $65,000+ variant based on the E-flex system. This would be geared more toward “muscle car”. More limited range, bigger battery, bigger generator, two seater.
This vehicle would be designed to actually compete with the Chevy Corvette. With a lower top speed but geared for very fast acceleration. Essentially, those who buy it would be buying a limited production technology tester. They would agree to allow GM to study various effects of the technology.
GM should build 1,000 of these for the very late 2009 or beginning of 2010. With the commercial Volt being released in late 2010 with any final tweakings based on feedback.
This high performance variant would eventually become the vehicle that the “electric drive Corvette”.