In my last post I wrote about GM and the presentation it made to some of us in the media about the new battery technology they are developing along with several other companies.  At the end of that post I highlighted the two distinct lines of challenging questions that have come up in response. 

I will quickly restate these two before moving on to address them.  The first challenge to GM about their commitment to creating a new battery technology for vehicles is to directly question how serious the GM commitment is.  How can the people who were identified as launching and then ‘killing’ the electric EV-1 be taken seriously?  The second challenge is to the commitment of GM to not come out with a true electric car until there is the ‘perfect’ battery technology to do so.  In other words, since it will take several years to perfect the lithium ion battery to meet all the necessary criteria for use, why not just come out with vehicles that use the current nickel-metal hydride technology so that ‘green’ cars can be put on the road much sooner.

To restate simply:  Are you guys for real, and why wait for perfect when good is available? 

Is GM for real?  All evidence points to a truly serious, committed company that has set as one of its core missions to reinvent the actual DNA of the automobile.  First, GM is being extremely open to the press, bloggers and the world at large about what they …

One of the most important research and development efforts in the world today is the quest for the perfect battery to power electric cars.  We all know that there is global warming, air pollution, and an increasing dependence on imported oil.  We know that petroleum is a finite resource that will be depleted in this century.  We live in a country whose culture and functionality is so dependent on the automobile that an alien might think the car is the dominant form of life.  Therefore, the solution to all of these problems and situations is to reinvent how the 200+ million vehicles in this country are powered. 

It has been 120 years since the internal combustion engine was invented and first utilized for a personal mode of transportation.  In that time, the 20th century, practically every technological aspect of our lives has been consistently upgraded, changed or replaced by a new invention.  Not so the power train of the automobile, which, at its essence, is still the mechanical, internal combustion engine we were using in 1900.
This then is the historical context for what the automotive industry and many of its suppliers are attempting to do regarding the invention of an electric power source for all the vehicles we drive. As readers of this blog know, I had been invited by General Motors to meet with some of their top management last month prior to the Chicago Auto Show.  In follow-up to that, GM invited me …

It was great to meet with a number of the top executives at GM prior to the Chicago Auto Show to learn about the Chevrolet Volt, the company commitment to developing battery technology and to really find out how committed this company is and will be in the area of cleaner automobiles.  However there is one interview that truly stands out that needs to be shared. 

Larry Burns is GM’s Vice President, Research & Development and Strategic Planning.  Simply put, this means he is THE person responsible for leading GM into the future of clean transportation. It is Larry’s job to initiate and oversee  research, lead, innovate, prod, motivate  and yes, seduce all those he comes in contact with to buy into a new vision of automotive transportation.

At the outset of our conversation, I made it clear that I was very impressed with GM’s commitment to the Chevrolet Volt and supportive of the seeming commitment to market ever more efficient and green vehicles. That being said, I challenged him to show me what was on his drawing board that was more than just an aggregation of ways to increase over all fleet MPG by degrees and do enough green initiatives for the marketing department to be happy.  I wanted to hear plans for transformation, not incremental change.  I got what I asked for. 

Larry wants to change the automotive world, simple as that.  As our conversation went on, he became ever more impassioned about creating alternatives to the internal combustion engine; that …

[Note to readers: This blog was one of a select few blogs to be invited by General Motors to a behind the scenes opportunity at the current Chicago Auto Show to meet and interview top management.  As far as GM knew or I could discern, they were the only major auto company to reach out to the blogosphere and they should be given credit for that.  What follows in this and a subsequent post or two are some highlights, headlines and ruminations from this day long experience.  Of course my focus was and is on what I write about here: alternative energy, and new advanced technology that might change our lives in the years ahead. Seen through the filter of global warming, there are few more important objectives than greatly reducing the use of the internal combustion engine around the world.] 

The good news from the Chicago Auto Show is that hybrid and electric cars and innovative technologies are clearly being embraced by the large companies.  Yes, there are the cool and innovative concept cars scattered around the floor that may never come to market, but are used by the auto companies for positioning.  I wanted to see what is real, what will actually come to market and how an auto company, in this case GM, is truly reacting to the global warming reality we all now share.  I was impressed, and I learned some interesting things.

I was extremely interested and curious about the Chevrolet Volt.  I had seen the …