GM's Bob Lutz Talks Volt With Letterman (VIDEO)

Bob Lutz, GM's fighter pilot/publicity car czar, appeared on "The Late Show With David Letterman" last night to talk electric cars with Dave, who had recently hosted Elon Musk, the CEO of electric car company Tesla Motors.

Lutz wanted to talk about the Chevy Volt, the electric car that GM hopes to make available by 2011.

For his part, Letterman basically replayed half of his visit with Musk and the Tesla Model S, joke-for-joke.

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Comments

[senorlou]

Honda is selling the Insight for just over $20,000. Toyota sells the bottom of the line Prius for about $25,000. GM is selling this car for $40,000. I don't know what he's talking about an $8,000 tax break, but maybe that break is going back up again. Even so, $32,000 isn't even close to what the Japanese are selling their hybrids for - which will soon be plug in hybrids. GM is more than 10 years behind these companies. To sell another $40K car is another major mistake.

[LindaWarnke]

How are you folks going to recharge your electric cars? By plugging them in? To what?
Anyone who wants too see the future of electric cars can just take a look at California...Every year, when the weather heats up, that state has rolling brownouts because the existing power grid cannot support the additional load demand. So what happens when tens of thousand Californians come home from work, and in addition to cranking up the AC, plug their vehicles in to charge overnight?
I'll believe in the future of electric cars after I see serious expansion of our power grid. Otherwise, it's all just a fantasy.

[ipv4]

This would go perfect with my solar panels. Sorry you can't say the same.

[BlackbirdHighway]

The cars have built in charging timers so they can wait until late at night. That's when electric rates are cheaper because the that's when the grid has excess capacity. They won't contribute to brownouts which typically happen in early evening when peak load occurs.

When there are millions of electric cars on the road they will actually help alleviate brownouts with the need to build additional power plants.

Vehicle To Grid (V2G) is the ability to have the cars give a small portion of their charge back to the grid when. So, people get home from work around 6 PM and plug in their electric cars, the cars each give a few kilowatts back to the grid while folks turn on their air conditioners and big screen TVs.

Later that evening, when the grid has excess capacity, the cars recharge and are ready to go in the morning.

One reason electricity is so expensive is that the utilities have to build enough power plants to handle peak load, then many of those plants are idle most of the time. That's a very poor return on investment. Electric cars will help keep electric rates low by decreasing the need for peak load plants.

[The Meek]

Thank you Linda for posting your question. It gave people the opportunity to provide an answer.

California is a great place for electric vehicles because of all the sun you get in most places. Solar panels on your roof could provide some of the energy needed to power them.

Converting older vehicles to electric power would also be fun for the mechanically inclined. Why wait for the auto industry to come up with what you want.

[senorlou]

You don't know squat about California's energy problems. We had rolling brown outs in 2001 because the energy pirates shut off the generators and held us hostage. We lost over $45 billion , some say we lost up to $80 billion.
http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=270

The reason why the Volt will flop is because it costs $40,000. The Japanese have hybrids for as low as $20,000, and the plug ins won't be much more money.

[CaptD]

Tesla is here to stay and will lead the way toward true "usable" electric cars; with DB behind them it is a no brainer. I bet Porsche/VW is kicking itself for not partnering with Tesla first!

+ I know where they can get lots of manufacturing plants at bargain rates!

[Mauiboy]

I certainly hope that the Volt succeeds for the sake of GM and the sake of the nation. Toyota is about to introduce the plug-in hybrid on top of their already successful Prius series. As I see it, we need to reform our utility delivery system by making it smarter and cleaner and then following with plug-in technology as an easier way to assist in the war against global warming.

[American50]

The Obama administration Just like day care for small children

[mathme]

What the hell are you talking about?

[crayola 08]

i don't get it. over 10 years ago there was a car called the EV1 that average people were driving in their everyday lives. so why is it taking so long to reintroduce an affordable electric car?

[The Meek]

I am a person that has driven very used cars most of my life. I have a name for cars with lots of bells and whistles. I call them crushers. Even the smallest mechanical problem can be extremely difficult to repair.

I like the concept of converting older simpler cars into electrics and hybrids. It's being done right there in the US of A. Support your local gear heads. I don't need a car meself and have converted a bicycle into an electric assist bike. It's fun.

[totalliberal]

I believe ya Bob. Millions wouldn't, but I believe ya Bob. Fargin icehole.

[smchp]

He failed to mention that with current battery technology including whatever they are working on it will only get about 40km on a full charge.

Tesla is much further ahead and doing it the right way. Make a product that works the way people would expect starting at the ultra-premium end and work your way down the cost ladder.

[jeg]

First, it's 40 miles, not km. Secondly, with range extender, you'll probably be able to go 400+ miles on a tank. Finally, this was actually discussed on the show.

The Volt is an electric-gas hybrid (The gas engine assists the electric motor); The Prius/Insight are gas-electric hybrids (the electric motor(s) assist the gas engine), and the Tesla's are pure electric.

Tesla is doing it the right way for a start-up, and the wrong way for a corporation that needs their cars to sell. I'm curious how many Tesla Roadsters will still be on the road in 3 years, and what condition their battery packs are in. The Volt battery pack will still be putting out 40 miles in 10 years.

Unlike the Teslas, I can drive a Volt daily for my work commute, then hop in it and drive cross-country on the weekend, without having to worry about where to plug in to recharge.

[KillTheMessenger]

What's a "range extender"? If you haven't noticed, the Volt is a plain series hybrid, i.e. an ICE powered car that happens to have a slightly larger battery than parallel hybrids (that's a necessity to assure a battery lifetime of 100,000+ miles at the moment, thus it's not even a feature). That does not make the Volt an electric vehicle by any standard.

There is no such thing as gas-electric vs. electric-gas hybrid. It's either parallel and small battery or serial and large battery. Can't do it any other way if you want to be electric and not e.g. pneumatic, fly-wheel or some other non-electric technology.

In comparison, the Tesla is a real electric car. It's a toy for the rich, but at least it's the real thing.

Unlike the Tesla you can't drive a Volt... it's not for sale, yet. What the hell are you talking about? Wishful thinking?

[smchp]

The Volt is nothing but vapourware! Just a marketing ploy. Tesla has pushed much further ahead in a much shorter period of time! GM will fail just like they always do with anything beside 50year old technology.

[jeg]

The Volt mules are currently doing 70+ mph on the highway, and being road-tested by professional journalists.

The Tesla model S is a barely functional prototype at the moment. The Tesla Roadster works, but even Letterman admits it's not terribly practical, and wouldn't work for a single-car family. The Volt will.

I don't know what your grudge against GM is, but they really are producing a good car in the Volt. You should do some research instead of continuing to slam it blindly.

[Harrier]

I guess the next question is why don't you bring back the one you already had in production what was better 10 years ago than the one you will have in two years?

[jeg]

Because it sucked? Two seats, no cargo space, 80 mile range, multi-hour recharge, cost at least $80,000 to build. Won't work in Arizona (too hot) or in the north (too cold).

Why is everyone convinced the EV1 was a great car? Oh yeah... they didn't have to pay their actual cost.

[drkazmd65]

Protoypes are always more expensive, and always are produced at a loss.

But - the real point is - that IF the powers-that-once-were in the automotive industry HAD chosen to use the EV as a starting point back then,...

They would be a decade or so closer to producing a workable, more efficient, more reasonably priced product today.

It speaks more of shortsightedness, and missed opportunity for our corporate leaders concerned ONLY with the next quarter's bottom line and not with the return a few years down the line.

[ipv4]

You need to stop posting when you down play the significance of an electric car that go 80 miles to a charge on yesterdays battery technology.75-80% of drivers in the U.S. drive less then 40 miles a day.

[lizardbrain]

At least Lutz looks better in the tank than Dukakis. Let's hope the car works and people start buying them. We need some momentum in the auto industry... http://www.dasolar.com/solar-energy/solar-powered-cars

[KillTheMessenger]

They should have called it "The Lutz". Way more catchy and fully in line with the reported features of the vehicle: it can't climb small hills and accelerates to walking speed in about a minute flat.

:-)