Today GM announced that the 76 year old Mr. Lutz will be retiring. On April 1st his position will change from GM Vice Chairman – Global Product Development to Vice Chairman and Senior Advisor. Tom Stephens who is GM VP of Powertrain will assume Mr. Lutz’ current role.

Then, at the end of 2009, Mr. Lutz will retire.

On his blog today Mr. Lutz wrote a post entitled “You’re Not Rid of Me Yet.”

With respect to the Volt he said the following:

There has been speculation that I would stay until the debut of the Chevrolet Volt next year. When I do retire at the end of this year, the Volt program will be well on its way to launch and I’ll feel the same sense of pride and accomplishment that the entire Volt team will feel when the first ones are silently rolling off the assembly line.

He also told reporter Jamie LaReau of Automotive News:

We will be driving finished Volts this summer because we’ll have a lot of them through the tail end of this year and next year. So in terms of low-volume production, we’ll be producing them, we just won’t be selling them. As far as I’m concerned, the Volt is done.

First the automaker is closing 4 truck and SUV plants in North America, which should result in $1 billion in annual savings.

Second he noted GM is open to selling part or all of the Hummer brand.

Third he confirmed plans to build a new Chevy compact, and a successor to the Aveo.

Last he told reporters GM’s board has officially approved funding for the Chevy Volt’s production. He said, “the Chevy Volt is a go”, and “we intend to show a production version of the Chevy Volt publicly in the very near future, and we remain focused on our target of getting the Volt into Chevrolet showrooms by the end of 2010.”

Well folks, the show is on, and not a minute too soon.

Source (Auto Channel)
Picture from the Detroit News

Whereas he’s not sure the economy is in recession, GM President Fritz Henderson has now indicated he believes that the auto industry is. Truck sales, generally quite lucrative for GM have plummeted at the same time smaller money-making small car sales have increased. Overall car sales have sunk further than anyone had predicted. Recent strikes have led GM to $800 million in lost revenue.

Today GM told reporters they would have to resort to borrowing and reduced spending if the recession worsens.

They told reporters that they have $24 billion in cash and $7 billion in undrawn loans, after three straight annual significant losses in a row. In the last quarter alone they lost $3.25 billion. They claim though this cash is an adequate cushion to get them through 2008. But what happens after that?

Of course in 2007, GM sold 9.69 million cars, and sold 2.25 million the first 3 months of this year. That is after all a lot of cars. Furthermore, although the U.S. sales figures are weak, double digit increases are occurring in China, and GM’s gains there are significant.

Its still 2 and 1/2 years until the Volt is slated to arrive. Will GM save the Volt, will the Volt save GM, or is this much ado about nothing, and just the usual gyrations of the economy?

I go with the last option.

Source (Bloomberg) and (CNN Money)

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCSygno1830 width=272 height=224 ]

Just now an article appeared on Bloomberg.com. The authors cite “secret sources” (not sauces) as saying that GM expects to have an early working Volt prototype out in 2008 which will get a 10 mile all-electric range. Their secret source goes on to say that a 40-mile version will be out in 2009. Official GM spokesman Scott Fosgard is noted to decline a comment.

The article points out thats GM’s plan is more aggressive than Toyota’s plan for a shorter range PHEV expected to max out with 10 miles, and we suspect to use NiMh batteries. Toyota is described as being unable to produce longer electric ranges within an affordable price range. Bob Lutz, however, is quoted as being confident that GM can overcome these technical and pricing obstacles.

This indeed is very new information. I cannot verify the secret source, but considering it’s been two months since the battery contracts were awarded, and the very aggressive efforts of those battery makers, it wouldn’t surprise me. How does it taste to you?

Yesterday, Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally said that hsi company plans to sell plug-in hybrids within the next 5 to 10 years.

He made this comment at an event marking a partnership between Ford and Southern California Edison to explore the feasibility of rechargeable cars and the impact on the electrical grid of their widespread use.

Ford is apparently giving 20 plug-in modified Escape hybrid vehicles to the utility company who will hand them out to some of it’s customers for analysis.

Although lagging behind GM by years, this announcement by the number 2 U.S. automaker proves the importance of this new class of vehicles and clearly indicates that mass production and widepread use and acceptance will certainly be taking place in the near future.

Theres no stopping the plug!

In our last post, I presented an interview with Dr. Bart Riley of A123 Systems, one of the two companies GM awarded contracts to in order to develop the Volt’s battery packs. Now I’ve also had the opportunity to discuss the same issues with two top executives from the competitor company, Compact Power Inc. (CPI) which is a subsidiary of LG Chem. CPI has 22 employees an is located in Troy, Michigan. I spoke with Martin Klein, Director of Engineering, and Mohamed Alamgir, Director of Research. A podcast of the full interview follows the post.

In this interview, Mr. Klein and Dr. Alamgir were both candid and clear about the development plans.

CPI uses a proprietary large size cell, about the size of a CD case, which does not use Lithium-Cobalt Dioxide anodes, but rather uses a Manganese oxide anode. They claim their system is not susceptible to thermal runaway (i.e. exploding) because they have developed a proprietary separator that is unique and will not allow a local short circuit to propagate. Is is not exact how many cells will be in the Volt battery pack, but very many was the response. Each has a nominal voltage of 3.8 V. Dr. Alamgir noted that CPI’s cells are more inexpensive to produce because of the free availability of materials and easy preparation process. Although I do not have exact numbers, their cells may be less expensive than A123’s. Also they mentioned and it is important to note, that LG already produces on the order of 1 million cells/day of the cobalt dioxide type for cell phones and laptops and the like.

The men indicate that CPI is quite far along in the development of a prototype pack, and indeed they indicate that small models do exist. They noted that their cells have powered an electric vehicle world record up Pike’s Peak in 2003 and 2004.

They noted that pack development has a lot to do with cooling and electronic systems, to keep the temperature stable in a wide variety of conditions (such as on hot asphalt), and to be able to check on the status of each and every cell to make sure voltage is kept uniform. I asked what would happen if one cell failed, since they are all linked in series, if the whole system would go down. The answer wasn’t so clear.

The men also reiterated that is is GM’s goal for the packs to be able to last 15 years, and Mr. Klein indicated that cells could theoretically even last 40 years!

They noted that they have no outward knowledge of A123/Continentals development process, and that through its affiliation with LG and other companies, the 22 employee CPI will have no problem mass-producing the packs.

A very positive Mr. Klein indicated that he was “very confident” that a pack to GM standards will be produced. And although we’ve heard about a one year timeline to report back to GM, the real timeline may be much sooner. It is clear that GM and CPI are working very closely on a daily basis to help them engineer the system, on a very aggressive schedule, and our interviewees indicate that a working prototype can be expected by year end.

This second interview of the two battery pack companies also indicates that the creation of the Volt’s battery pack really does not appear so far off and uncertain as some statements would have us believe. It really just appear to be a matter of time, and I suspect a short time at that.

Today I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Bart Riley, co-founder, VP of R&D and CTO of A123 Systems. We discussed A123’s battery system and how they are going about making the Volt’s battery pack system.

This interview is important in that is reveals the first details available about A123’s plans since the June 5th announcement by GM that battery contracts had been awarded

He indicated that A123 has over the past five years developed a battery system that has “unprecedented safety, power, and life.”

Specifically, they developed a nanophosphate cathode that differs from the cobalt-based system currently used widely in laptop and cell phone batteries. Those lithium cobalt dioxide cathode batteries can become unstable when charged or overcharged or abused and are subject to explosion. A123’s new safer cathode material nanophosphate, uses no cobalt, is not an oxide, and thus has no stability or safety issues. The cells can heat because they are high-power but cannot explode. Indeed the cells are already on the market in power tools.

A123 is collaborating with Continental AG to make the battery pack system which will meet GM’s requirements. Continental will put a large number of A123’s cells into a plastic case designed to handle the “abuse of the vehicular environment” and develop computerized cooling and battery management electronics that will examine each cell insuring that it does not come out of its ideal cycle of operation. There will clearly be a give and take between the two companies.

An important fact, Dr. Riley also noted that cooling the cells is important not for safety reasons, but because it is a “life issue” as he calls it. GM wants the batteries to last for at least 15 years of use and temperature variability can reduce battery life and must be avoided.

He states that the battery science is already complete and can meet the goals of the project, but minor tweaks of cell design may still have to take place for them to interact properly with the pack. Also packs must be able to be assembled on a mass-production scale. Unfortunately, as of this moment in time, he noted that a prototype pack does not yet exist.

Comparing this project to the Hymotion Prius extender pack which uses A123 batteries, Dr. Riley states that the Volt is a whole new platform as opposed to simply extending the battery life as Hymotion drop-in supplement does. That system though, can extend Prius driving range to 20-40 miles electric

Compared to Altair Nano’s system, he states that A123’s has higher energy density. Altair Nano uses a different anode, and winds up with 1/2 voltage and twice the weight per cell.

He stated that A123/Continental has no direct knowledge of the CPI/LG activity and are essentially operating in the dark from one another.

The goal of one year to functioning battery pack is approximate. He indicates GM is setting out a very aggressive time-line, but initial unit delivery for prototype vehicles could come out even in 6 months since A123’s focus is on “making things happen”.

Overall I got the impression that Dr. Riley was highly confident of his batteries scientific merit, safety, power, and durability characteristics. He seemed to indicate creating the pack was more of a second act; just a simple engineering process, and should be pretty straightforward.

I am certainly more confident that the unknown wild-card of the battery pack when it comes to the Volt’s production, is showing up as an ace!

Headquartered in Massachusetts, A123 has 350 employees there, in Michigan and in Asia.

Soon we will be hearing from the CPI team, so stay tuned!

Podcast Below:

Today GM announced that they are moving 500 fuel cell experts out of the laboratory and on to the production front. Their collective work will focus on mass production of the 5th generation hydrogen fuel cell system that was unveiled in the Hydrogen Volt in Shanghai.What this means is that GM is serious about getting these cars on the road. We still want our combustion-linked Volt to come out first, but it wont surprise us if GM becomes the first company to put hydrogen powered cars on U.S. roads.

Indeed the Project Driveway program will allow about 100 U.S. people to drive a Hydrogen Sequel this coming November.

Many people have misgivings and concerns about hydrogen. Right now it costs energy usually in terms of fossil fuel burning to electrolyze water to form the hydrogen in the first place. H2 is really just a storage medium for energy. Also the infrastructure for hydrogen delivery doesn’t exist. Micky Bly had mentioned to us previously though that one could target infrastructure to highly populated areas, thereby allowing most of the population to utilize it, but without requiring an extensive nationwide infrastructure redevelopment.

Tonight, myself and several other bloggers including including Matt Kelly of Podtech, Sam Abuelsamid of 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 wonderful opportunity to have a sincere and very interesting discussion about the development of the Chevy Volt car, E-Flex system, and energy diversity. We were joined by Nick Zielinski, the Chief Engineer of the Volt and Gary Smyth, GM’s Director of Powertrain Systems.

The main theme of this discussion was ENTHUSIASM. I can tell you these gentleman are highly devoted to the development of advanced propulsion systems, using diverse energy sources including electricity, and genuinely love what they are doing. They relay an infectious enthusiasm that is clearly sweeping the company, brought about by the remarkable direction of great change the company is heading toward under the stewardship of Rick Wagoner. GM is facing the energy crisis and climate change head-on and has plans to deal with them.

Dr. Smyth was passionate about our country’s need for automotive energy power diversity and biofuel adoption (ethanol and diesel) in the face of increasing difficulty in oil production, both due to security concerns and increasing difficulty in accessing oil reserves. We were able to ask many questions about the Volt and I tried to make sure I asked as many of your questions I could:

1. Timeline:
It is clear that an internal company timeline exists for production of the Volt. Right now it is a company secret. The year 2015 was NOT corroborated by Mr. Zielinski (we saw it quoted elsewhere), and can be considered non-factual. Actual production still seems closer to 2010, but it remains an educated guess.

Mr Zielinski indicated that the Volt is being produced in a two-pronged approach. Both the development of the car, as well as the production process (which normally takes place after development) are being done in parallel.

2. GM Commitment to the Volt
Every one in top management in GM appears HIGHLY COMMITTED to the Volt, advanced propulsion systems, energy diversity, use of biofuels, and reduction in CO2 emissions.

Mr. Zielinski agrees that he is being given ALL the resources he needs from GM to bring the car to fruition.

3. The Battery:
Lithium-ion it is, and that is the final word. According to Mr. Zielinksi, the cell structures work great, its just putting them together into the battery pack. Don’t expect something swappable. He noted it is not clear if the pack will be water or air cooled, both designs are being looked at. He also is very upbeat and bullish on a successful battery pack. The fact is that CPI/LG and Continental/A123 are in DIRECT competition with one another to produce the best design. And we know where there is competition and money, there will be success.

The battery range is pegged at a 40 mile range, because more range means more batteries, more weight, and thus less performance.

4. Design:
Mr. Zielinski noted the enthusiastic response the concept vehicle appearance has gotten, more than GM expected, and he plans to keep it as close to that appearance as possible. They are testing a variety of materials in the structure of car to balance out weight and function as much as possible.

5. Production volumes:
Mr Zielinski indicates that GM wants to sell as many of these cars as possible! Roll-out will not be limited, so start getting in line.

6. Safety:
Mr. Zielinski noted that concerns about EMF are minimal as the engine does not produce significant amounts. GM is assessing whether there is any health risk to be concerned about.

7. The Plug:
The car will come with an adapter to allow it to plug directly into your home 110 V wall outlet.

8. EV1:
They both said that although the EV1s no longer exist, the people and technology that built them still do and are now better and more experienced and being channeled into producing the Volt.

9. Solar panels:
Really cant produce enough energy to charge the battery, but could power a cooling fan when, for example, the car is sitting in hot sun, to keep the batteries cool. The battery hold 16 KWH power..that would take a 120 watt solar panel (3 x 5 feet) 130 hours (5 days) in full sun to recharge the battery.

Overall, there is little doubt to this blogger that GM is going full-throttle to make the Volt happen, and there is every reason to believe it will. There seems to a good shot we will see a working prototype by year’s end, so keep checking in with us, and as always, we will keep you posted.

LD