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EVWORLD TELEVISION |
Meet the New GM
By EV World Television
GM President and CEO Fritz Henderson on opening of GM's new battery lab
June 1, 2009 will be remember as the day the "old" General Motors, once the largest corporation in the world, declared bankruptcy.
June 8, 2009 may be remembered as the day the "New GM" was born; not because it emerged from Chapter 11 -- that process is ongoing -- but because the company replaced its internal combustion engine test facility on its Warren, Michigan Technology Center campus with an expanded, state-of-the-art automotive battery test lab. The "motor" now powering the "new" GM is electric, not petroleum.
The video above, which features the remarks of GM President and CEO Fritz Henderson, is the first of several EV World recorded at the official inauguration of the new facility, which now occupies space the equivalent to seven basketball courts, significantly larger than the original lab. Its multiple test chambers can simulate driving conditions from the hot, humid streets of Mumbai to the frosty climes of Calgary. They can compress the ten year life cycle of a battery module or pack to just two years. A new shaker table can subject packs to the shock and vibration encountered on the most torturous roads in the world.
Specific details about the laboratory will be covered in Jim Queen's video presentation.
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Reader Comments
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5 comments so far...
11-Jun-2009
67019
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I think this is more political blabling...
Why did you then destroy EV 1?
You are years after Japan and other inventors!
Zdenko Mir
Posted by: zdemko mir
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11-Jun-2009
67021
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Why'd they destroy the EV1? Short-sightedness and the need to generate profits on more profitable vehicles like the Hummer. It was a dumb decision and they have owned up to it, so let's get over it.
During my lunch with senior production executives they admitted this:
(1) We were five years too early in the market with the EV1, and...
(2) Five years too late with conventional hybrids.
As to the suggestion, however, that they are "years after Japan and other inventors".. that is just not accurate. They built their first series hybrid car in 1969. They developed and own the patents to dozens of proprietary hybrid, electric and fuel cell technologies, which are proudly displayed on the hallway of their new Battery Test Center.
I drove the fuel cell Equinox and it's as good as anything I've driven at Honda or Toyota, and the Voltec drive is simply amazing.
I don't want to sound like GM's apologist here, but you all really need to give them a break. We're into these people for $27 Billion in your money and mine and that'll likely go to $50 Billion, a maybe higher. If they succeed, we get our money back and we get great green cars. If they don't, you can kiss America's industrial base goodbye. We become, in effect, another Britain, manufacturing other nation's cars for them.
Posted by: Bill Moore
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22-Jun-2009
67124
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naaa, lets make them sweat and punish them a little longer, they still have the old board of directors that refuse to replace Wagoner until the government forced him out. I will not believe them until they have all new blood in the board positions.
Posted by: Mr. Bruce Arkwright, Jr.
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09-Jun-2009
67006
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GM has decades of technical skill. It just needs new management.
During WWII, it changed almost instantly from cars to tanks. It can do it
again.
Posted by: John Boyd
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09-Jun-2009
67004
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It is interesting to hear that the new "Cruise" witl get 40 MPG highway. My 1998 Saturn always gave me 41 MPG highway. The 2002 Saturn I am now driving gave me 39.66 MPG on the last tank of fuel. Hmmm! I doubt that GM will ever be a leader again. They are all about making the most profit and not providing the best product which has placed them in the position they are in today. At the price Volt will sell at I won't be buying one anytime soon. The Insight is more afordable with its simpler approach. The press conference was not very exciting which shows the truth of their dire position. GM - Gone Motors.
Posted by: Phil Pollot
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