Open Access Article Originally Published: September 16, 2008
As part of its Centennial Celebration, which included the official unveiling of the Chevrolet Volt E-Flex extended-range electric car, General Motor's hosted an experts panel discussion on the future of transportation in the 21st Century.
Panel members include: Dr. Larry Burns, GM's VP, Research & Development; Dr. Mark Duval, EPRI; Dr. Don Hillebrand, ANL; John Gasesa, Casesa Shapiro Group, LLC; Chris Paine, director 'Who Killed the Electric Car?; and Joel Makower, Executive Editor Greener World Media, Inc., acting as moderator.
The topics and questions spanned a wide range of issues from discussions of the technology in the Volt to the current economic turmoil on Wall Street and its potential impact on the industry and consumers.
In response to a question about the viability of fuel cells in automotive applications, Dr. Burns and Argonne National Lab's Don Hillebrand conceded that the technology remains a longer term proposition that brings with it a host of issues from hydrogen production to fuel cell cost reductions. Yet is also provides the kind of power source needed to create fully-functioning electric drive vehicles that can effectively compete with current gasoline models, especially in "family-size" applications. Dr. Burns noted that the beauty of the E-Flex system is that can support various energy sources from ethanol to biodiesel to hydrogen, though not on the same vehicle. Ethanol might be the preferred choice in Brazil, biodiesel in America and hydrogen in France.
To listen to the panel in its entirety use either of the two MP3 players above, or feel free to download the complete file to your personal computer for transfer to and play back on your favorite MP3 device.
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Reader Comments
1 comments so far...
26-Sep-2008
64048
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just finished listening the recording. Good thing you offer this stuff Bill, thanks.
what struck me is the way misconceptions, leading to/implying dead ends, wasting time, money and good will unfold.
these are interwoven in ways varying from consciously / willingly to subconsciously and unwillingly. The more of the latter, the more effective.
this forms one of the systemic dimensions of the inadequacy of how various parties respond to the current predicament (emissions, dependency, jobs).
without exposing lines of argumentation for what they are (the emperor's new clothes, or not), we're doing the wrong things. Efficiently, or otherwise.
as Einstein stated: 'we should make things as simple as possible, but not simpler'
and that's what we're doing in debates like this one, thereby obscuring pathways to real progress re the issues we want and have to address
Posted by: Emil Möller
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