Angus Mackenzie: Hi, I am Angus Mackenzie Editor in Chief of Motor Trend. And I am here at the LA Auto Show with four of the key people, behind one of the most important vehicles in General Motors future, the Chevy Volt. And I have with me Bob Boniface, he is In Charge of Design, Tony Posawatz he is the Vehicle Line Director, Denise Grey he is the battery expert, and Brita Gross, he looks after the infrastructure.
Now guys there has been a fair bit of controversy about this car, its very high profile, what are some of the biggest challenges you've faced to getting this car into production. Well I am going to take the first with Denise, because you can't about the Volt, an electric car without talking about the battery. How do we take new emerging Lithium Ion technology that we've become familiar with in our devices, in our power tools, and how do we scale them up with the demanding requirements we have in our automotive environment. Our demanding specifications like ten years of life, hundred fifty thousand miles and how do you make that all work. And Denise can probably elaborate little bit more on some of the things that are real, very basic. The batteries are the core of this car, aren't they?
Denise Grey: The battery is, in fact one of our engineers mentioned that this is a four passenger engine vehicle, but there is actually a fifth passenger in the vehicle, which is the battery. And you've got to think about that perspective to make sure that it's cool, make sure that it's at the right temperatures that we can maximize the energy from the battery in order to propel the vehicle.
Angus Mackenzie: Now, the problem with the battery is the same as there was in the Thomas Edison's days. It's not a hugely efficient means of storing energy, how you have been able to maximize that?
Denise Grey: With Lithium-ion there's been a big improvement from Lead Acid to Nickel-metal Hydride to where we are today with Lithium-ion, and there are still innovations yet to come tomorrow. But it does have a great opportunity to store energy, and the energy density with the lithium-ion is a lot better that the ones previous to that. So there is a mechanism by which you do it and we think it's ready for production.
Angus Mackenzie: Now Bob, a lot of work has gone into optimizing the design of this vehicle for Aero efficiency in particular, I mean what was some of the things you had to really think about?
Bob Boniface: Well Aerodynamic performance is based on keeping the air attached to the car. So you got to make sure that you design the surface in such a way that you have smooth integrations of body forms, don't allow the air to detach from the surface and create turbulence drag. But be very simple to just design a pill shaped and for efficiency - we are designers, so styling wise the car has to look good. So you have to think about things like stance, wheel track, wheel diameter, overhangs. The car has to look good, so people who want to but it, but it still has to deliver on the Aero promise. And we've accomplished both with the car.
Angus Mackenzie: Now, Brita your role signifies that this a very different kind of car, because for best part of a 100 years, the infrastructure, no one has really thought about that, what exactly does your mean?
Brita Gross Well, the good news is that the vehicle has been designed to be as convenient for the customers as possible. So it plugs into any house plug, that's a 120 Volt, 240 Volt, it's compatible that's the really good news. But the reality is to make this vehicle appealing to many more consumers. The ones that live in apartment buildings, for example, we need a strategy for some public charging at a public place. Also a part of this problem is the cost of the vehicle. And to make it more appealing again, because we are intending to get this thing into very mass production, make it more appealing to consumers, it means we got to get the cost down. One way is to look at incentives, what can local communities do, what can local government do, what can state governments do? Federal government has already taken a bit step forward for the 7500 dollar tax credit, they have awarded for a vehicle that gives 40 miles. So we are working very carefully with these communities, to work on incentives, the public education out reach, and then this public charging infrastructure that should be set up. Again it's not really critical on day one, but some of that goes a long way to make people feel comfortable, that there's even more charging out there than they get just at home.
Angus Mackenzie: There probably isn't the car that probably I am looking forward to driving more than this one. If GM gets this car right, it could be a real game changer. Thanks a lot guys, thank you.
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