GM’s heads of public relations, Steve Harris, and research and development, Larry Burns, have announced their retirements today. Automotive News [sub] spins the move as a “shakeup,” but notes that Harris was already on a contract extension. Burns, meanwhile, is burned at the stake as a hydrogen advocate. Despite Burns’s $1b hydrogen initiative of 2002, “the goal of an economically viable fuel cell vehicle by 2010 foundered on the lack of a national hydrogen fueling system,” notes AN. And as goes the political system, so goes GM. Meanwhile, Group Vice President and General Counsel Bob Osborne also announced he was returning to private practice, while former president of North American operations, Troy Clarke, is still at GM with no job title.
Burns will be replaced by the current executive director of R&D, Alan Taub. He will oversee the integration of GM’s global R&D and product development operations. Harris (formerly of AMC and Chrysler) had joined GM in 2006, agreeing to leave retirement for 18-24 months. That period had been extended to the end of 2008. His replacement, Chris Preuss, is currently VP in charge of GM Europe’s communications.
Burns, meanwhile, is burned at the stake as a hydrogen advocate. Despite Burns’s $1b hydrogent initiative of
Hey, I remember that! It was the whole skateboard concept, right? The whole chassis with swappable cabins thing.
Hydrogen fuel cells were never thought all the way through as a technology. At the end of the day, they are at best a complicated battery system.
I’m shocked Burns got to blow through a billion dollars chasing that mirage. One of the things which happens when the CEO and dominant board members don’t actually understand physics, engineering and technology is that the guys in charge of R&D can sweet talk the guys in charge of funding into doing stuff which makes no sense.
Steve Harris’s replacement, Chris Preuss, comes back stateside from Switzerland. He is well qualified and professional and will do an outstanding job.
The problem wasn’t just a distribution system — the catalyst was at least as important. Even after a decade of R&D, the cost of a catalyst small and light enough to be appropriate for a motor vehicle was only down to about $100,000. Ballard Power Systems, the most important independent developer of automotive fuel cells, gave up in 2007, selling its automotive fuel cell assets to Daimler.
Steve Harris is a good guy. This may be a case of shooting the messenger.
“Burns, meanwhile, is burned at the stake as a hydrogen advocate. Despite Burns’s $1b hydrogent(sic) initiative of 2002, “the goal of an economically viable fuel cell vehicle by 2010 foundered on the lack of a national hydrogen fueling system,” notes AN.”
Yeah, GM blew threw a cool billion… but I don’t think they can get away with “Surprise Me, I mean really! After a billion dollars I just noticed that there aren’t any hydrogen stations out there.”
Below is a link to a 2002 Wired Magazine article about the plan. – And here’s the money quote (as far as I’m concerned anyhow):
” I park my rented Pontiac Sunfire in the Renaissance Center garage and open the trunk to retrieve my laptop. As I do, a slab of snow slides down the rear window and straight into the open trunk. I stand for a minute contemplating this. The same people who are promising to reinvent the automobile can’t figure out how to design a car that doesn’t dump snow into the trunk.”
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.08/fuelcellcars.html
Cue the flying monkeys…..”our little party’s JUST beginning….”
They both did a better job than Bob Lutz.
Fuel cells are not batteries. Batteries, at least as used on this site, can be recharged by excess electricity. A fuel cell can’t. That is why the Honda FCX Clarity is a hybrid and not a pure fuel cell car.
Fuel cells have big military advantages so my bet is that uncle same paid $1.2 billion of the $1b GM spend on fuel cells.
There are fuel cells that use other kinds of fuel than H2 but even H2 fuel cells don’t need to tank H2. Just place a reformator in front of the fuel cell that converts the gas into H2.
Yeah, GM blew threw a cool billion… but the hydrogen car wasn’t originally going to need refueling stations. It was a fuel cell deal.
Fuel cells need fuel.
The problems with them only begin at the cell itself. The infrastructure needed to make this work on a scale that matters might as well be infinite in cost.
… Group Vice President and General Council Bob Osborne …
Err, that’d be Counsel in this case. And where do I apply?
You will notice that the openings were filled by more guys from inside the machine. I don’t see a real shake up here.
Robert Schwartz :
You will notice that the openings were filled by more guys from inside the machine. I don’t see a real shake up here.
I freely admit to knowing little (OK – nothing) about the inner workings of GM management, but just who would we expect to take over various divisions within the company?
We’re not talking about bringing in an outsider CEO like Ford did, but about lesser positions within the company. It would seem to me that there have to be some highly qualified people already in the company. And its not like GM has unlimited time to turn things around.
Whether or not these people are capable (and have the power) of turning things around remains to be seen. OTH, I think it is pointless to criticize the move until we see what happens.
What do you call canning Larry Burns? A good start.
Seriously, I think that the hydrogen car was another classic GM-logic blunder. They’ve been taking the “Great Leap Forward” tack since the days of the Vega.
For a billion dollars, I have to believe that they could have bought a Toyota Prius and reengineered it just enough to avoid royalty payments (or, God help us, developed their own hybrid technology) for a billion dollars and had a good product on the market already. I believe that would have been the wise course. Why didn’t they do it?
They keep trying to build completely new platforms from scratch as a way to get away from the bean-counters who want the engineers to use as many off-the-shelf components as possible. Well, the engineers know those are junk, so they want to use the new platform to justify quality parts.
Unfortunately, the bean-counters always manage to compromise the new stuff too.
All, I must disclose that I am a GM Employe.
@ Lokkii
http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.com/gmnews/viewmonthlyreleasedetail.do?domain=3&docid=55670
“JAMAICA, New York – Shell today opened its second hydrogen filling station in the greater New York City area, providing improved access to hydrogen for drivers of fuel cell Chevrolet Equinoxes participating in Project Driveway.
Project Driveway selects consumers who sign up on the Internet in the greater New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. to participate for two months at a time in the demonstration. Chevy.com/fuelsolutions
Shell will open a third third station this summer in the Bronx in conjunction with the New York City Department of Sanitation.
Shell hydrogen station in White Plains has been operating there for more than a year, making up Shell’s first cluster of hydrogen filling stations.
The station opening Tuesday at JFK International Airport is a partnership between Shell, General Motors Co., the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the US Department of Energy.”
@ charly
The US Gov’t has been funding hydrogen fuel cell use in passenger vehicles since at least 1990, probably before. In 1990 I was a buyer at GM’s Allison Gas Turbine Division in Indpls and assisted in developing a response to a US RFQ (request for quote) for a 1/4 scale working model of a hydrogen fuel cell powered car. Just my personal speculation, but I would think that GM has probably received funds from the US Gov’t in the development of hydrogen fuel cells, along with other US automotive manufacturers.
RE: coup d’tat
Burns has worked at GM for forty years, so he is probably just retiring because it is time to do so.
All of us here at GM are also waiting for the big shakeup. In Fritz’s July 10 news conference, he clearly stated that it won’t be ready for full disclosure until the end of July.
And Fritz also stated that 35% of 1300 execs will be cut this year. (Bloomberg 7/7/09) The Burns and Harris anouncements are the start of the cut.
@ ChristyGarwood
Fair enough points… and I accept them.
I still tend to believe that my “Great Leap Forward” hypothesis is valid though.
Further as a Corporate guy myself, I understand that, even at Mr. Burn’s level, he’s not really driving the train alone.
Finally, if it was indeed a billion tax dollars rather than GM resources that were used, I concede GM would have been very foolish not to accept the funding and study the possibilities.
Someone at GM should have had the balls to say fuel cells are bullshit. And not wasted the governments (our) tax dollars. Taking money just because it is there is wrong.