Can somebody please wake up GM ?



So many people have asked this question over the past 10 years. Still, the world's largest automaker has been flooding the US market
with cheap gas guzzlers like there is no tomorrow, and as if oil will costs pennies on the dollar forever. Now we are stuck with a
fleet of vehicles that wastes gas like nothing else, using 25 quads energy per year of precious liquid black fuel.

Post Peak Oil is now. And the world is faced with at least 3% annual decline in available petroleum for the foreseeable future.
http://www.energywatchgroup.org/fileadmin/global/pdf/EWG_Oilreport_10-2007.pdf
What will happen if we try to use more ? Yep. Prices will go through the roof. Think that $130/barrel is expensive ? Then try to buy
another million barrels per day ! It just aint there.
With declining global production oil prices will keep on going up unless somebody uses less of the stuff. Chinese and Indians drive
small golf carts, Japanese take the train, Europeans use half the energy per capita and are used to high energy prices already, so
these guys will continue to use the same or more of oil. So who will carry the big burden of stratospheric oil prices, and be FORCED
by the world to use less ? Right. The good old USA. If we heroically increase domestic oil production, kick alternatives in high
gear, then we might get away with only a 3% annual decline in oil available to the USA.

The only way to drive the same amount of miles, while using less oil is to increase fuel-efficiency of our fleet of vehicles.
Here we are at a serious disadvantage w.r.t. the rest of the world, because of the totally outdated energy in-efficiency of our
fleet.

It takes 20 years to renew the entire fleet. 5% of the vehicles is renewed each year. So if we want to keep driving the same amount
of miles in the face of 3% annual reduction in oil supply, then these 5% of new vehicles has to have TRIPLE the gas mileage of the
old vehicles that go to the scrap heap.
Average gas mileage today is around 20 MPG, so we need 60 MPG vehicles, and we should be producing them already right now !!

What we have lagged (in fuel economy) in the past 20 years we need to make up DOUBLE : we need to produce the most energy efficient
vehicles in the world for the next 20 year or else we will be pushed out as the leading world power. We have some catching up to do
so to say. We can't grow the economy if our transportation system dwindles.

So to keep the price of oil in check, to keep the US rolling, we need to transform the way that cars are powered, and we need to do
it right now.
If GM had done this 10 years ago, and we would not be in this dangerous energy crisis that we are facing today.

First off, with world oil supplies depleting, it does not take a genius to conclude that 30 years from now, almost all ground
transportation will run on electricity. Not just because electric systems are factors more efficient than ICEs but also because
there are many more choices and options to generate electricity then there are options to produce 20 million barrels of liquid fuel
per day. So the new drive trains must be prepared for plug-in electric. How can this be done ? Hybrids are a nice start, but Asia
has the lead. GM's SUV hybrids are pathetic with 20 MPG efficiency.

So which car does GM make that gets close to 60 MPG and is prepared (or can easily be prepared) for plug-in electricity ? None.
Actual, one : the Volt !
An electric-hybrid sports model, that gets 50 MPG when run in auxiliary mode (on a small ICE/generator).
So you would expect this Volt to be in the showroom by now.
But no. GM does not produce it yet, because they "are waiting for battery technology to catch up".
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/car/open/clip-scen-detr-02.html

GM is "waiting".
Can somebody kick their *** please ?
There is no time to wait.
Who needs much of a battery any way when in auxiliary mode you get 50 MPG already ?

What is important is that the Volt has electric drive, wheels driven by electric motors, not an ICE with transmission and rest of
the drive train.
And electric-drive is the absolute winning concept for the 100 MPG car.

- Strong electric wheel motors (200 hp, 300 hp or 500 hp) outperforms V8's during acceleration
- ultra-capacitor that stores the few hundred kJ to supply full power during acceleration.
- comes with almost 100% complete regenerative braking (wheel motors store energy back into the capacitor).
- requires only a small, lightweight ICE/generator (50 hp or so) for power to overcome rolling and air drag losses.
- optionally add a (small) battery for short trips (10 miles) and climbing up-hills.

Here is a simple example prototype, with stellar performance and awesome gas milage, even though it is quickly put together (and can
be much further optimized) :
http://www.pmlflightlink.com/archive/news_mini.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/the_hybrid_mini.php

Such a system has so many advantages over the standard ICE train, and even over the current hybrid, that it astounds me that none of
the car makers has embraced this yet.
So here is the opportunity to catch-up and pass the competing automakers. It is also mountable on any vehicle of any size. From
small sport cars to SUVs and pick-ups and trucks and even locomotives (where it is already widely used without the ultracapacitor).

It would seriously surprise me if GM does not already have the technical teams that know how to manufacture each of the components
and build them into their vehicles (replacingthe ICEs). The Volt's drive system shows that it can be done by GM. So now it is a
matter of company will and vision, and replacing the ney-sayers in the company, reorganize the production lines, and get these
vehicles into the showrooms.

And this is just the propulsion system. There are many other components that need serious overhaul right away. Air conditioners is
one that stands out : GM's SUV airconditioners are strong enough to cool a small house in Arizona, and use power accordingly. How
about changing windows and insulation so we keep the heat out and the light in ?

Time is running out for V8's. Time is running out for the ICE. Time is running out for inefficiencies. Wake up and smell the coffee.
We likely reach $200/barrel oil this year or early next year. That will mean $6/gallon gas. The year after it will be worse.
Only the delusional and the insane will buy a 'classic' GM vehicle that runs at 10 MPG, since it will cost $9000 in gas to drive it
in 2009 alone. In 2010 this will go up further.
Even 20 MPG vehicles (current GM hybrids) will not sell in only a few years.

GM got us into this mess of oil addiction. Our entire economy will cripple if the US vehicle fleet does not get top-of-the-line fuel
efficient on the devil.
Please no more "waiting for batteries". It's time to get to work !! You will be gone in just 3 years if you don't change. And leave
the US with cheap, big and inefficient and by then useless products that you pushed onto the market over the past 20 years.

Americans are entrepreneurs. Especially car makers are. This HAS TO BE done and it CAN be done. Get the US off oil and towards a
better future.

I had to get this off my chest.
Thank you for your attention.

Rob Dekker (engineer in heart and soul)
Alameda, California


.

Quantcast