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GM Forms New Vehicle Engineering Organization for Hybrids, Extended-Range Electric Vehicles and Batteries
24 January 2008
General Motors has formed a new engineering organization that is dedicated to implementing hybrid and extended-range electric vehicles (E-REVs) and advanced battery technology in another step aimed at bringing the electrification of vehicles into the mainstream development process more quickly.
The global team will be led by Robert Kruse, executive director of vehicle engineering for hybrids, electric vehicle and batteries. In North America, the team will be based in Warren and Milford, Mich. In Europe, the team will be based in Mainz-Kastel, Germany and in Asia-Pacific they will be located in Shanghai, China.
The future of automotive transportation will be based on electrification of our vehicles. By having a vehicle engineering team in place and focused on delivering the technical aspects of hybrids and E-REVs, we can accelerate these programs and get them into production quickly and efficiently.
—Jim Queen, GM group vice president of Global Engineering
GM’s newest vehicle engineering team will develop vehicles using a variety of propulsion systems including gas-electric hybrids and GM’s E-Flex architecture. Vehicles that will be engineered by this team include the production E-REVs based on E-Flex architectures, starting with the Volt; Chevrolet Tahoe and Silverado 2 Mode; Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid; Saturn Vue 2 Mode Plug-in; Saturn Vue and Aura Hybrid; GMC Yukon and Sierra 2 Mode; and the Cadillac Escalade 2 Mode.
This team will also support GM’s CO2 initiatives in Europe. In China, they will support the Buick LaCrosse Eco-Hybrid (earlier post). Other, yet to be announced global hybrid and electric propulsion vehicles are expected to be developed under this organization.
January 24, 2008 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBack (0)
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Comments
Sounds good, I hope this engineering organization is given respect and listened to.
Posted by: Elliot | Jan 24, 2008 11:17:50 AM
Hey...didn't GM have a special division about a decade ago devoted to cutting edge radical electric vehicle designs to "bring to market"...something about an EV 1...too bad they killed the program, that knowledge might have come in handy...who's kidding whom? This is worse than vaporware - it's shamware...I think I'll run a company with government help run entire cities into the ground, yeah, and I'll create a special fairy tale division where cutting edge research will focus on bringing magical products to the market...we'll need lots of it to get us out of this mess
Posted by: Ole Tymer | Jan 24, 2008 12:19:07 PM
Hey...didn't GM have a special division about a decade ago devoted to cutting edge radical electric vehicle designs to "bring to market"...something about an EV 1...too bad they killed the program, that knowledge might have come in handy...who's kidding whom? This is worse than vaporware - it's shamware...I think I'll run a company with government help run entire cities into the ground, yeah, and I'll create a special fairy tale division where cutting edge research will focus on bringing magical products to the market...we'll need lots of it to get us out of this mess
Posted by: Ole Tymer | Jan 24, 2008 12:19:44 PM
"I'll create a special fairy tale division where cutting edge research will focus on bringing magical products to the market...we'll need lots of it to get us out of this mess..."
Pretty much what Jim Jones and Peoples Temple did in Guyana. Another failed simulation.
Posted by: sulleny | Jan 24, 2008 12:51:16 PM
For those following GM over the past few years, GM already has a hybrid engineering organization within GM powertrain group - the one that famously works with BMW, Daimler and Chrysler for the 2-mode system.
It appears that GM has created a similar structure within their vehicle engineering group (to work with its sister hybrid powertrain engineering organization).
These types of organizational alignments are not uncommon among automotive and other large, complex companies.
Posted by: CarNut | Jan 24, 2008 12:58:30 PM
I would create a multi fueled multi mode hybrid. An FFV/ANG hybrid with ICE only or parallel hybrid or series hybrid or EV modes. Bring this in under $30k and under 3k pounds and prepare to make lots of them in sedan and SUV models.
Posted by: sjc | Jan 24, 2008 1:05:23 PM
Too little and thirty years too late ...
Posted by: Lucas | Jan 24, 2008 2:36:19 PM
One more GM division to design and outsource production of lower cost PHEVs using combo ESSUs (Supercaps + Firefly batteries) would be a good idea.
Posted by: Harvey D | Jan 24, 2008 3:29:01 PM
Meanwhile the chinese are gearing up..
Posted by: Herm Perez | Jan 24, 2008 3:57:45 PM
"Too little and thirty years too late..."
Right! The other plug-in hybrid manufacturers are selling them hands over fist right now!...urhh wait a minute....
"Meanwhile the chinese are gearing up.."
The Chinese hybrids may likely be too heavy due to their high contents of Lead.
Posted by: Schmeltz | Jan 24, 2008 6:32:17 PM
Good thinking GM, If the startup can weather fire we'll be well served by this approach.
It sounds sensible enough to me, somewhere for creative talents and clear focus
Posted by: arnold | Jan 24, 2008 8:43:08 PM
Or check the Chinese "Chery" crash test....
http://youtube.com/watch?v=f7rrk3ZjN-I
Unsafe engineering needs no excuses. It needs to be accepted as simply bad engineering. And if the miracle in China spent a little more time on improving human rights they might find their engineering would improve.
Posted by: sulleny | Jan 24, 2008 11:53:16 PM
Chinese quality will be suspect just like Japanese and Korean quality was. It remains to be seen whether the Chinese can come up to world standard quality soon enough.
Posted by: sjc | Jan 25, 2008 1:04:36 AM
