Bob Lutz might try to have us believe that he “invented” the plug-in hybrid Volt. In reality, he just dusted off old plans on GM’s shelves for their 1969 XP-883. Forty years ago, in response to concerns about tightening emission standards and future oil supplies, GM unveiled a plug-in hybrid city car concept. Six 12 Volt lead-acid batteries propelled the Smart-sized car electrically up to about ten mph, when a tiny 600cc two-cylinder gas engine kicked in to provide additional motivation up to its maximum top speed of sixty. The XP-883 seated two adults, plus two kiddies facing backwards, perched above the battery pack. The cute-as-a-button fiberglass bodied coupe foreshadowed both Vega and Opel 1900/Ascona styling. If GM had made it, it would undoubtedly have gotten you laid (with hairy-legged girls) just like the Volt will in 2010. But then what wouldn’t, in 1969? Maybe that’s why they didn’t bother.
Category: Volt Birth Watch
GM has a long history of offering second rate products that are “nearly as good” as the industry standard, and then telling people to buy them because they’re made in America. The CTS may not be the best RWD sedan on the market, but it’s made in America. The Aveo falls flat compared to say, the Fit, but dammit, you love your country, right? Needless to say, the Volt’s “made in America” badge is going to be a big selling point as GM searches for those willing to justify dropping $40k on the EREV. Well, the WaPo (a nest of America haters if ever there was one) reports that GM’s Rick Wagoner “refuses to promise” that Volt batteries would be built stateside. “As we sit here today I can’t give you a guarantee that it will be made in the U.S.,” Wagoner said. “If we want to get the Volt in the market, as we do by the end of 2010, we’ve got to make some relatively near-term decisions about how we are going to do all that.” But wait, isn’t the proposed bailout (which will certainly benefit Volt production) supposed to address America’s emerging dependence on foreign batteries? Didn’t Chrysler’s Jim Press frame the bailout in those very terms just a short week ago, saying “right now, the major sources of batteries are other countries. So are we trading our dependence on foreign oil, which is a natural resource, for a dependence on other countries to produce something in a factory? We need to stimulate that development here — here in Michigan.”? By putting the hype before the cars, Detroit is either damnably stupid or wickedly cunning. There’s no doubt that there’ll be some egg on GM’s face for increasing our dependence on foreign batteries, but once they actually build the cars (with help from Uncle Sam) they can bring back the battery independence talking point. Then it will be time for bailout round 2.
In true Colbert Report fashion, a “tip of the hat” to the General Motor’s spinmeisters for letting GM Car Czar Bob Lutz walk into the lion’s den, knowing full well Colbert would make him look like an idiot. Mission accomplished. For example, Mr. Colbert pushed Maximum Bob on his stance on global warming, forcing the winner of our annual Bob Lutz Award to claim the Volt was for people interested in operating “cost per mile,” not the environment. Bob’s request for a change of subject was far from elegant (somebody help me, please!). Although Colbert managed to make Lutz look tongue-tied, nervous and shifty– only one of which you’ll see in person– the interview never got to the heart of the matter. So a “wag of the finger” to Stephen Colbert for not asking the obvious questions: is the Volt currently for sale? How much? Does GM have the financial liquidity to make it happen? On that note, Mr. Colbert should take a gander at GM’s market share slide before suggesting (however saracastically) that Lutz should take over the U.S. financial system (shiver). And to think I once compared Stephen Colbert’s passion for truth to the honest goodness of a Ford Ranger. Fake news should be ashamed of themselves.
Why is GM Car Czar Bob “I Stopped Making Sense Years Ago” Lutz so damn defensive about the Volt’s design? Writing on the FastLane Blog, Maximum Bob wants to tell all those naysayers (oh me! choose me!) to shut the Hell up. “The Volt is going to be bought… for the emotion tied to the technology contained therein.” And while he’s at it, Bob takes yet another sideways swipe at Toyota (who are none to pleased with The General‘s alt prop lobbying these days). “In terms of the impact of Volt on the automobile industry, I think you’ll see lithium-ion technology filter out to the rest of the industry, even to our competitors who initially said it wouldn’t work,” MB hints hubristically. “I think they’ve figured out that we may well be onto a winning formula here, with 40 miles of driving powered by electricity from a battery and a small engine — powered by gasoline or E85 — to create additional electricity to power the vehicle for several hundred additional miles. I suspect most of our competitors will have vehicles with technology similar to the Volt within four or five years.” Bob touts the patriotic side of the project, and then gives TTAC (et al) the middle finger. “With the Volt, you go home, you plug it in, and you’re done. And for roughly 80 cents’ worth of electricity, you’ve got a fully-charged battery, ready to take on another forty miles of gas-free and tailpipe-emission-free driving. If that’s greenwashing, then come on in — the water’s fine.” What, into the washing machine?
In all this heady Volt-o-mania, it should be remembered that GM is trying to boldly go where no lithium-ion battery has gone before. The vehicle’s success (i.e. its ability to live-up to the performance-related hype perpetrated its corporate shills) depends entirely on its li-ion battery pack’s ability to hold a suitable charge, discharge that charge, recharge that charge, and do so for a good long time, without losing its ability to charge, discharge and recharge appropriately. A Reuters article [via Planet Ark] kinda makes you wonder about all that… “Among the challenges to overcome are extending the life of high-power lithium batteries and bringing down their relatively high cost, Tien Duong of the US Department of Energy said on the sidelines of a lithium battery conference held at this government laboratory. ‘Life means 10 years, plus. For hybrids we know (their batteries) last 10 years plus. For the PHEV (plug-in electric vehicle), we don’t know… One of the phenomenons that cuts short the life of the battery is power. You may have a lot of energy, but if you run out of power, that’s no good.'” You might even say it’s bad. Speaking of which, “Toyota is making quite an effort to build a lithium-ion battery,” Toyota’s Noboru Kikuchi told the attendees. “Simply giving up nickel metal hydride batteries seems like a bad idea.” And so they’re not going to do it. [thanks to JT for the link]
Surprise! The Detroit News published not one, not two but THREE PR puff pieces to accompany the “launch” of GM’s plug-in electric – gas hybrid Volt– an unveiling that’s two years ahead of sales (where IS that Camaro?). Scott Burgess gets the top slot, with “Jolting expectations: Inviting electric car is rare example of reality outdoing the concept.” Burgess begins his ode to Voltage by discounting the discrepancy between the endlessly touted concept car and the now-endlessly touted (if non-functional) “production” version. Yada, yada, yada. “GM has pushed through every checkpoint and remains on schedule to deliver a car that is a true game-changer.” Next up: “Volt turnaround proves U.S. automakers’ mettle” by Auto Editor Manny Lopez. “Any questions about what the American auto industry can do were answered Tuesday at the Renaissance Center when a production model of the Chevrolet Volt rolled into the automotive universe.” You know, other than “can you guys avoid bankruptcy?” “Is the Volt the answer?” Manny pretends to ask. “Not alone. But when paired with other new products such as the Chevy Cruze, which GM says will get 45 miles per gallon, or the Ford Fiesta or the next generation pickups from all three automakers, the domestic industry’s offerings look pretty good.” KBISFB. And finally, Robert Snell’s more news-oriented take (hence it’s postition at the bottom of the deck). Snell simply repeats all the suits’ n’ analysts’ hype, finishing with a bit of unintentional foreshadowing. “”It is not a niche product,” Alex Cattelan, the Volt’s assistant chief engineer opines. “It is the tip of the iceberg.”
After an epic meeting about TTAC site tweaks, I returned to an email from a seriously perturbed member of our Best and Brightest. It reads as follows… “Over on CNN.com home page Chevy has an ad for the Volt. It says ‘Chevy Volt will go 40 miles before using any gas at all. Fully charged 2010.’ Then, in fine print on the bottom, ‘Performance capabilities subject to change without notice.’ What the hell is that (the fine print)? Does it do 40 mile or doesn’t it? Sounds like GM doesn’t know.”
Toyota is not a happy camper. “On the same day the Chevrolet Volt was unveiled in Detroit, a Toyota executive told a congressional committee that lawmakers would be wrong to enact tax credits that benefit only one plug-in hybrid design,” Automotive News [sub] reports. The legislation that’s pissing off the world’s largest automaker would offer a $7500 federal tax credit for any hybrid with a battery pack rated at six kilowatt-hours of electricity or more. That would be the Chevrolet Volt. And only the Chevrolet Volt. Speaking to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, ToMoCo’s national manager of energy and environmental research said pending legislation “redefines plug-in electric vehicles to seemingly eliminate consumer tax credits for all but one plug-in vehicle design.” That would be the Chevrolet Volt. And only the Chevrolet Volt. “We believe consumer incentives should encourage all plug-in designs,” Robert Wimmer railed. “And allow the consumer market to select winners, not legislation.” Note to GM: you do NOT want to piss-off Toyota. If the gloves come off, you’re so dead. I mean, sooner rather than later.
Well duh. Still, it’s refreshing to see a GM exec admit the inescapable. You know, eventually. Although, it must be said, not unequivocally. “Most of our Gen 1 technologies, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a situation where we make money, particularly when you load all the costs in,” GM COO Fritz Henderson told Automotive News [sub]. “So I don’t necessarily think this is going to be the exception.” Not necessarily going to be the exception? How elliptical is that? Not quite as oblique as GM Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz, who couldn’t resist adding his 2.8 cents. “We’ve made very, very conservative assumptions on battery warranty. And that huge lump of battery warranty in the cost calculation helps diminish the profitability.” Sounds good! Details? “Lutz wouldn’t provide specifics but said GM is assuming it will have to replace ‘quite a few’ batteries. If battery reliability and life proves to be better than assumptions, GM can relax ‘some of that scary warranty provision,’ giving the Volt a shot at earlier profitability, he said.” Earlier than what?
Remember when we told you that GM’s E-Flex EREVs (the Volt, by any other name) would be sold strictly as Opels and Vauxhalls in Europe? The decision made sense; Euro-market Chevrolets are little more than rebadged Daewoos, and the E-Flex price point (which should be truly colon-clenching when it gets to Europe) just won’t play in that sales environment. Well, GM can make all the sense in the world when it wants, but that doesn’t mean it won’t go back on its own arguments a few short weeks later. Reuters reports that GM Europe honcho Carl-Peter Forster told a Berlin auto conference “We are investing an enormous amount. We will launch these cars in Europe, both as Opel and as Chevrolet, in around three years.” And there you have it. While GM fights hard to bring Opel upmarket, trumpeting the “democratization of technology” that the revitalized brand will bring about, it’s undercutting that vision by also offering a Chevy Volt in Europe. Europeans do not typically think “American Classic” when they think of Chevrolet. They think “horrendous Korean shitbox slapped together by drunken Slavs.” Why would GM Europe expect anyone to shell out a huge amount of money for that? And while we’re on the subject, why wasn’t the Volt initially conceived as, say, a Cadillac? Keep in mind we’re talking about a car that is likely to cost $40k or more. In America that’s a stretch for a Chevy, in Europe it’s suicide.
No, really. The Detroit News says that The General didn’t mean to release snaps of its plug-in electric gas hybrid Chevrolet Volt. GM blames “human error” for the plug-in’s premature publicity– I mean the most recent premature publicity. “Those were put up in error and taken down quickly thereafter,” Chevrolet spokesman Terry Rhadigan said. “It was not intentional.” What, putting them up or taking them down? I kid. Marty Padgett, TTAC’s good friend over at The Car Connection got the scoop. And he ain’t buying the GM “oops we did it again” line. “I think they’re getting very good at playing the game of public relations,” Marty Padgett told the DetN. “Everyone is interested (in the Volt), so why not let some teases float out there?” Because the Hail Mary is more than a year away from production? Here’s a more interesting question: even if it’s true, that the Volt snaps were unintentionally leaked, why is GM admitting it? Like we need something else to convince us of their institutional incompetence?
Gary Witzenburg is a former GM spinmeister who worked on the ill-fated EV1, which was, by his reckoning, “a major success.” Gazza’s enthusiasm for The General’s, well, everything, makes the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders seem like a bunch of under-dressed Eeyores. Anyway, now that The Car Connection has disconnected from Witzenburg’s rants, the man who never met a GM turnaround he didn’t believe in provides a rehash of his Motor Trend EV1 story “A Progress Report on GM’s Plug-in EV From a Former EV1 Insider.” So, what do we learn? That the professional (though not official) GM apologist is certifiable, with a chip on his shoulder the size of [Roswell] New Mexico. “The Chevy Volt is more than a flying car; it’s a rocket to the moon, GM’s own NASA-style program to reinvent automotive technology and thus assure the triumph of truth, justice and the American Way. And that’s why the Chevy Volt has been on the cover of every publication in the country for the last 18 months. This is not about cars. It’s about America, dammit. Times are tough, and we’re all tired of people in other countries laughing at us.” Uh, OK. Anyway, yada yada yada… this might just work. “Just as with the GM EV1, the Chevrolet Volt’s biggest challenge is to be just as good as everybody expects it to be.” Oh dear.
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