Comments on: Best of Bob Lutz: Farewell to the Chevy Volt Frontman http://gigaom.com/cleantech/best-of-bob-lutz-the-chevy-volt-frontman-retiring-at-end-of-09/ Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:27:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Bob Lutz Lets Loose on Future All-Electric Volt & Range Surprises http://gigaom.com/cleantech/best-of-bob-lutz-the-chevy-volt-frontman-retiring-at-end-of-09/#comment-19919 Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:43:52 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/?p=22680#comment-19919 [...] bid farewell to Bob Lutz as the frontman for General Motors’ Chevy Volt nearly a year ago, when he announced plans to retire at the end of 2009 (it didn’t take too long for those [...]

]]> By: Ivan Morse http://gigaom.com/cleantech/best-of-bob-lutz-the-chevy-volt-frontman-retiring-at-end-of-09/#comment-19918 Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:50:10 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/?p=22680#comment-19918 Uh? or I prefer “Hello” Mr Shorter, Sorry for late reply, but this issue is tedious for me! Firstly, I assume that you are not aligned with any of the companies mentioned here:- GM, ECD Ovionics, COBASYS, A123 Systems, Texaco, Chevron, etc, and have nothing to gain from your defence of these enterprises. (Please give disclosure.)
The fact that Texaco hounded GM to give-up on alternate-fuelled vehicles and sell ECD Ovonics to them was not because Texaco wanted to promote electric vehicles, but because they saw them as a threat to their lucrative industry. If you don’t believe in a Big Oil conspiracy, you are naive. Tex were so blatant in their intentions that they even re-named their new “prize” CO ntrolled BA ttery SYS tems (COBASYS) to flagrantly emphasise their intentions to CONTROL and not PROMOTE this company!! You are right that COBASYS has the NiMh cells and A123 has LiLon cells, I did not state differently, except the since A123 is now the ONLY marketing outlet for both companies and COBASYS cannot sell direct, there seems to be suspiciously no mass auto sales allowed for COBASYS higher-tech product!! This was the main reason that GM had to buy their VOLT batteries from LG in Korea, instead of giving jobs to Americans! If you think that the LiLon batteries are superior to the NiMh batteries, why did the beloved NiMh equipped EV1 have three times the range of Wagonner & Lutz’s bail-out LiLon VOLT? This situation has forced GM to add an on-board generator to the Volt, just to compete, (and maybe also satisfy Big Oil requirements to get the superior American COBASYS NiMh batteries in future?) Truth is, if it wasn’t for Toyota, which is beyond the influence of Big Oil, we would still not have forced ANY other electric or hybrid vehicles to be offered in North America today. All this may be just too late, because the US auto industry has already jeapordized itself with greed, arrogance and collusion! Ivan Morse

]]> By: Milestone: Toyota Plug-in Hybrid to Roll Out En Masse by 2012 http://gigaom.com/cleantech/best-of-bob-lutz-the-chevy-volt-frontman-retiring-at-end-of-09/#comment-19917 Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:31:56 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/?p=22680#comment-19917 [...] comparison, former Volt frontman Bob Lutz has said GM is supposed to roll out 10,000 units of the model in 2011, and have as many as 60,000 [...]

]]> By: Dick Martin Shorter http://gigaom.com/cleantech/best-of-bob-lutz-the-chevy-volt-frontman-retiring-at-end-of-09/#comment-19916 Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:35:14 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/?p=22680#comment-19916 Uh, Mr. Morse, A123 cells are lithium ion cells, not NiMH, which would be the technology that ECD Ovonics (Cobasys) owns the patents on. So, I don’t see how the Cobasys partnering would produce the effects you are claiming…. Cobasys is not willing to build or sell small orders for their large-format NiMH batteries, but to suggest that A123 would deliberately cut their own throats and refuse to sell into the automotive EV market seems extraordinarily far fetched.

And the tech is different, as well – NiMH is good high-density storage that has to be finagled to get high currents safely, so it’s a good fit with hybrids that don’t depend exclusively on electric for their loads. Li(nano)PO4 is lower energy density, but handles the high-current charge and discharge cycles of a full EV much better than NiMH, and with more inherent safety, and far better lifetimes at the charge and discharge rates required by an EV.

I don’t see the Big Oil conspiracy here, unless you can come up with some supporting evidence…

]]> By: Electric Car Glut on the Way? http://gigaom.com/cleantech/best-of-bob-lutz-the-chevy-volt-frontman-retiring-at-end-of-09/#comment-19915 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:33:19 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/?p=22680#comment-19915 [...] Chevy Volt, Roos tells the Washington Post (buried deep in an extensive feature about the Volt and former frontman Bob Lutz), “There’s already an enormous amount of competition and perhaps a global [...]

]]> By: Why GM and Battery Startup Sakti3 Tied the Knot http://gigaom.com/cleantech/best-of-bob-lutz-the-chevy-volt-frontman-retiring-at-end-of-09/#comment-19914 Fri, 15 May 2009 04:04:39 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/?p=22680#comment-19914 [...] decided on a supplier for the lithium ion cells in the battery packs for its upcoming Chevy Volt, frontman Bob Lutz explained that the risks involved with working with a startup helped tip the balance in favor of [...]

]]> By: Best of Rick Wagoner: Farewell to the Volt/Hummer Chief « Clean Tech News http://gigaom.com/cleantech/best-of-bob-lutz-the-chevy-volt-frontman-retiring-at-end-of-09/#comment-19913 Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:05:17 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/?p=22680#comment-19913 [...] late in his tenure, eventually championed the extended-range electric Chevy Volt concept along with frontman Bob Lutz — has resigned at the request of President Barack Obama’s auto task force. Under [...]

]]> By: Ivan Morse http://gigaom.com/cleantech/best-of-bob-lutz-the-chevy-volt-frontman-retiring-at-end-of-09/#comment-19912 Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:53:09 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/?p=22680#comment-19912 Re Best of Bob Lutz, Cevy Volt Frontman Retiring—
Mr Lutz did not tell the whole story about using low-tech Korean Lithium-ion batteries for the Volt instead of A123Systems’ advanced Nickel-Metal-Hydride batteries. When Chevy was developing the EV1 it bought controlling interest in ECD Ovinics NiMH battery technology in 1994. After it scrapped the EV1′s GM sold its stake in ECD to Big Oil (Texaco) in 2001. In 2003 Texaco sold 50% of ECD to Chevron and they changed its name to Cobasys. As I understand it Cobasys controls the market in commercial NiMH batteries and only allows their use in hybrid vehicles with internal combustion engines. A123Systems is partnered with Cobasys and won’t provide NiMH batteries for the Volt, as it is totally electric! Therefore GM is now unable to get the batteries it helped develop, as Big Oil is blocking their use in electric-only vehicles! This is why the Volt has a range of only 40 miles per charge, and is totally impractical for commuting, vs the original EV1′s range of 150 miles per charge.

]]> By: Best of Rick Wagoner: Farewell to the Volt/Hummer Chief http://gigaom.com/cleantech/best-of-bob-lutz-the-chevy-volt-frontman-retiring-at-end-of-09/#comment-19911 Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:37:34 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/?p=22680#comment-19911 [...] late in his tenure, eventually championed the extended-range electric Chevy Volt concept along with frontman Bob Lutz — has resigned at the request of President Barack Obama’s auto task force. Under [...]

]]> By: GM Viability Plan Plays Up the Chevy Volt « Earth2Tech http://gigaom.com/cleantech/best-of-bob-lutz-the-chevy-volt-frontman-retiring-at-end-of-09/#comment-19910 Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:01:38 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/?p=22680#comment-19910 [...] plan also shows a GM that’s very different from the one that gave outgoing vice chairman Bob Lutz a soapbox for his often less-than-scientific thoughts on climate change: It [the plan] also results [...]

]]> By: Greentech Media: Green Light » Blog Archive » GM’s Bob Lutz Will Say Goodbye http://gigaom.com/cleantech/best-of-bob-lutz-the-chevy-volt-frontman-retiring-at-end-of-09/#comment-19909 Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:35:45 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/?p=22680#comment-19909 [...] is known for controversial statements, such as the one expressing his disbelief in global warming. Earth2tech has a good post listing some revealing and funny quotes by [...]

]]> By: Best of Bob Lutz, the Chevy Volt Frontman Retiring at End of ‘09 … | Chevy2006.com http://gigaom.com/cleantech/best-of-bob-lutz-the-chevy-volt-frontman-retiring-at-end-of-09/#comment-19908 Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:58:36 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/?p=22680#comment-19908 [...] View post:  Best of Bob Lutz, the Chevy Volt Frontman Retiring at End of ‘09 … [...]

]]> By: kerry bradshaw http://gigaom.com/cleantech/best-of-bob-lutz-the-chevy-volt-frontman-retiring-at-end-of-09/#comment-19907 Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:32:12 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/?p=22680#comment-19907 I share Lutz’s dislike for Better Place, which I’ve renamed “Better Con.” Any major advance in battery recharging capabilities immediately renders Better Place obsolete. The fact that it can recharge means nothing – regular gas stations will transition over to
recharging stations, one pump at a time, as business and demand dictates. Better Place is a monopolistic endeavor, the ONLY reason Agassi is involved (forget the green nonsense – that’s for the goobers). The major problem with batteries isn’t simply that tehy can’t be recharged quickly enough – they are, among other things, too expensive, something that Better Place actually exacerbates, since any traveler must be backed up by 4, 5 or 6 battery packs in reserve for each full day’s travel. And those batteries have to be in the right location. I’m not interested in gettting into a relationship with a monoploy. I wouldn’t touch Better Place with a ten foot pole.

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