For over a year now General Motors has had two corporate blogs, FastLane and FYI. Bob Lutz is a regular contributor on the FastLane blog and Dave Barthmuss, whom I spoke to at the Detroit Auto Show following the Volt reveal, put up a post on FYI blog the other day about GM's ongoing electric propulsion efforts. Dave is GM's Manager of Public Policy, Environment & Energy and he appeared in the movie Who Killed the Electric Car? He acknowledges the commitment that people have to EVs and that GM has learned from their experiences with the EV1. General Motors took the technological lessons and applied those directly to the development of the Volt and the E-Flex platform. But although, he doesn't say it explicitly, the impression I got from my experience at the auto show is that GM also learned some very important public relations lessons from the fiasco surrounding end of the EV1 program. Go read what else Dave has to say at the Read link.

[Source: General Motors]

AutoblogGreen sat down for a chat with Dave Barthmuss of General Motors after the Chevy Volt reveal yesterday (Sunday) to answer some questions about GM's alternative fuel strategy and even the EV1. Dave is the Manager of Public Policy, Environment and Energy Communications (North America) and if you've seen the film "Who Killed the Electric Car?" you might remember Dave.

ABG: Dave, what is your role at GM?.

DB: Well I manage public policy, environment and energy issues at GM North America. So if it runs on gasoline and only gasoline I've got nothing to do with it.

ABG: So you focus on the alternative fuel vehicles?.

DB: Biofuels, hybrids, fuel cells, now the Chevy E-Flex system. Also, vehicle mandates.

ABG: From your perspective what's the driving force behind creating a vehicle like the Volt?

DB: It is a business necessity. We cannot rely 98 percent on any one single source of energy for our vehicles. Ninety-eight percent reliance on oil is not a good thing. You know geopolitical issues, calamities that could happen in the Gulf of Mexico, emergency security, what's going on in the Middle East has alerted us that if we want to supply the 88 percent of the world that does not have access to a car or truck for transportation, you need to do it in a way other than the way we're doing it right now. So we basically focus on two pathways to solve or to meet environment and energy issues, and make sure our business is healthy, moving forward long term. Those involve biofuels whether it's E85 ethanol or biodiesel or electricity. And electricity has many forms. It has hybrid vehicle technology, fuel cell vehicle technology and now what you'll learn about today on the E-Flex that's the ultimate when it comes to electrical architecture.

The interview is continued after the jump.