Executive:
Why the Chevy Volt must be built
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Frank
Weber at NAIAS 2008
Over the past few weeks there has been a lot of
speculation on whether the Chevy
Volt is a real product or just some sort of
'vaporware' designed as both a distraction and a marketing
machine. Recently, I covered this topic in Chevy
Volt: Hype whore or resource hog.
At NAIAS I was able to interview Frank Weber, Global
Vehicle Line Executive for the E-Flex drive, which
includes the Chevy Volt concept. I'm hoping to finish
transcribing my interview later today or tomorrow and then
I'll post the whole thing. However, I wanted to post one
interesting answer to a question I asked Frank.
Me - "Recently, Bob Lutz stated that he was
90-something percent certain that the Volt would make it
to production. What’s your confidence level that the
Volt will happen?"
Frank Weber - "When you look at the data that tells
you the only concept that will really make a difference in
terms of energy consumption, emission reduction, creating
an independence from petroleum, the only vehicle concept
that can do this is an extended range vehicle like the
Volt.
So, you answered your question already. Society, the
challenges that we have, we cannot afford not to….So,
the question you ask is wrong. Because the industry has to
put this technology in place, otherwise there is no
solution for the energy challenges of 2010, 2020 and
2030."
I don't know about you, but I feel pretty confident when
the main engineer running the Volt program believes the
Volt MUST be developed.
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