The Chevy Volt - Stalled in a Time Warp

There's an old joke about a gay guy speeding down the highway, who gets stopped by a cop. "Where's the fire?" the outraged cop says. The gay guy replies," in your eyes, officer, in your eyes."

When it comes to GM's new plug in, electric car, the Chevy Volt, due out in 2010, we should be asking project manager Bob Lutz, where's the fire? Because it appears that Lutz might not have the burning desire, to produce a market winner.

The highly awaited Chevy Volt, which is supposed to cost $40,000.00, is priced too high for the average consumer. The Chevy Volt will cost about double the price of the popular Toyota Prius Hybrid, which lists for about $22,000. It appears that GM might be planning a market failure, at least until they can produce and sell enough Volts to lower the cost.

What makes me doubt that Lutz has the prerequisite, fire in the belly, that all of history's famous inventors had, is that he recently said, "global warming is a crock of shit." Are you detecting a lack of urgency?

Bob Lutz might be one of the most admired and experienced executives in the car industry. At 76 he's also one of the oldest. Lutz seems wed to the past. His collection of classic cars rivals Jay Leno's. No matter what happens to GM, Bob Lutz's 6.9 million dollar salary will leave him a wealthy man.

The high cost of the Chevy Volt has to do with the batteries. Around 1900 Thomas Edison developed a reliable automotive battery. Around the same time he planned production of an electric car. Then as now, the major problem with the electric car, was producing a reliable, cheap, light weight, battery. Thomas Edison envisioned, widely available charging stations that would recharge the electric car's batteries.

Around 1900 there were electric taxis operating in New York, and other cities. After Thomas Edison's laboratory burned down, he was never able to advance his electric car program. He was already an old man.

Here we are, 108 years later and we're still working on the same problem: - reliable batteries.

Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nicola Tesla, were the genius inventors who brought electricity into a world lit by fire. Thomas Edison had an unbelievable work ethic. He tested a few thousand filaments for his light bulb, until he finally arrived at the right one. He famously said, "invention was 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration." When Thomas Edison wasn't working on electricity, he invented the phonograph, and motion pictures.

As a child, Nicola Tesla dreamed of one day harnessing the power of Niagara Falls. Nicola Tesla achieved his dream, when he, and George Westinghouse were able to convert the power of Niagara Falls into electricity, and to send that electricity into Buffalo NY. They accomplished this fete in1896, just 17 years after Thomas Edison perfected his electric light bulb.

These gentlemen, would be spinning electrons, in their graves, if they knew that, with all of our computers, and technology, we can't develop a cheap electric, plug in car. They galloped over the technology hurdles, of their day, leaving clouds of dust behind them.

Thomas Edison, Nicola Tesla, and Westinghouse, were entrepreneur inventors who gambled their fortunes and reputations on their inventions. The Chevrolet Volt will be the product of over paid, bureaucratic, executives. I wish Bob Lutz well, and hope, and pray, that the Chevrolet Volt is a winner. GM is hoping the Chevy Volt will help stave off bankruptcy. The silver haired fox might have one last, great victory, in him.

In the end, our country will have to turn to young entrepreneur, inventors, to solve our global warming and energy dependence. People like the electric revolutionaries, who brought electricity, to the door steps, of early 20th Century Americans. We need to harness the genius and determination of tomorrow's visionaries, those who will do what ever it takes, to achieve energy independence, and stop global warming. Somewhere, the next great inventor toils in a garage, lab, or university, waiting to bring clean light to the world.