If you didn't know, Sergio Marchionne is Fiat's CEO. In a recent interview in the French-speaking Swiss media outlet L'Hebdo, he spoke about the bank crisis, Switzerland's politics and his life in Switzerland. But he also talked about the car of the future, that is, the car of the near future.

Mr. Marchionne is a firm believer that the most realistic and available solution to reduce car pollution is reducing engine size. This agrees with Fiat's new policy on smaller turbo-charged engines, called T-Jet, and also the latest iteration of the common-rail JTD diesels. Speaking about other green car technologies, he acknowledges the benefit possible from hybrid powertrains, but believes that they're complex and expensive, and therefore more suitable for expensive cars. Regarding hydrogen, he stated that it isn't expected to be ready until 2020, but he finds it will be a real revolution once the technology is viable.

[Source: L'Hebdo (thanks to Jeroen for the tip)]

Zap's CEO Steve Schneider did a very interesting audio interview with CEONEWS.Tv recently where he talked about the Zap-X, the Zap-Coke deal and the future of the company. On Zap-X, Schneider says Chinese automaker Youngman owns 51 percent stake in the Detroit Electric joint venture, while Zap owns 49 percent in the company. Schneider explains Detroit Electric will sell higher speed electric vehicles while Zap continues to sell the lower speed vehicles. Schneider says the Youngman relationship is unique because, according to his understanding, there are only a handful of licenses given to Chinese companies to make cars inexpensively (Zap can sell buses for half the price, for example). On the release of the Zap-X, Schneider says it's a 36-month project but did not say when it started (it's been at least 14 months). Schneider did say the Alias is a 18-month project and they are six months into it. Remember that Zap has been talking about the Alias since June 2007, which was eight months ago.

On the recent deal with Coke (Coca-Cola is using thirty of Zap's compact trucks in Montevideo, Uruguay) Schneider says it was spawned from the UPS deal. Schneider explains the UPS deal came from one brave UPS rep that "risked his career" to use Zap trucks and a tractor trailers hub model. The hub model showed bottom line savings for the company and what do you think happened to that UPS rep? He was promoted to a much "larger capacity" position at the San Fran UPS branch! "Quite a few" companies (Schneider won't give out names) have contacted Zap, looking to repeat the model, since that brave UPS rep started the ball rolling.

Schneider also talked about a trip to Dubai and said the Middle East is more interested in electric cars than you might expect. Schneider was asked about the Daimler lawsuit and while he could did not say much, he did say Zap's lawyers tell him it should be settled in three months. Things are changing like the climate Schneider jokes and "the market is finally catching up (after 14 years) to what ZAP has been preaching." Schneider expects Zap to have 100 dealers by the end of this year, up from 56 at a recent meeting. AutoblogGreen is not a stock investing website but we have to admit we are really impressed by this interview and Zap's CEO Steve Schneider responses. He talks a good game, at least.


[Source: CEONEWS.Tv]

At the Chicago Auto Show ABG had the chance to sit down with Toyota's Bob Carter and Jaycie Chitwood. Bob is currently the Group VP for the Toyota Division and Jaycie is the Senior Strategic Planner. We talked about a range of issues including hybrid marketing, diesel, ethanol, hydrogen and weight reduction.

ABG: In production applications Toyota were obviously the pioneers in bringing hybrid vehicles to the mainstream and everybody is scrambling to catch up and get their own hybrids and other alternative drivetrains to market. Moving forward, obviously, you have applied your hybrid synergy drive to a wide a variety of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Let's start by talking a little bit about where you are today and where Toyota is going in the next five to ten years?

BC: Okay, where we are today. Six hybrids, three Toyotas, three Lexus. We are really pleased with the progress. Total we did 278,000 units last year. Prius had a tremendous increase, up 67 percent. We had a 44 percent increase overall in hybrids. We first brought Prius to the U.S. in 2000. As you are aware Prius was actually introduced in Japan in 1997.

There were a lot of people who were just scratching their heads. They did not really understand it. A lot of criticism on hybrid, why they are doing that. Back in 2000, fuel prices were under $1.50 a gallon and there was not nearly the concern on supply and concern on the environment was there but was not really, in my view, embedded in the society the way it is today.

We introduced the first generation. It did well. It attracted the early adoptors that we were primarily interested in environmental impact. We also had people that were attracted by the technology. What is so encouraging to walk around this show is when we look at 2007, the 278,000 hybrids, it has gone beyond the initial adoptors. It's starting to embed itself within the general market and 11 percent, I am talking in terms of Toyota division which I represent, of our total sales last year were hybrid. Yet less than 2 percent of the industry was hybrid.

The conversation continues below the fold.

Tata's Rs1-lakh will debut at the Delhi's Auto Expo, which starts January 10th. The Rs1-lakh will also be at the Geneva Motor Show this March. Tata group chairman Ratan says Tata won't make a hybrid Rs1-lakh (also known as the people's car) because it would be too expensive. The Rs 1-lakh will be the cheapest car in the world and he won't make a hybrid because of the cost? I hope Ratan understands the real reason Rs 1-lakh will be a hit: it's not the low cost but the car's green credentials. Let me explain.

5 minutes and 30 seconds into the video above Ratan Tata is asked about the several thousand dollar car. He says he thinks a cheap car could be done because he already makes a car for $4,000. So, this begs the question, is a $2,500 car really anything new? Below the fold is a video of Top Gear test driving the cheapest cars you can buy today. It includes economy cars from Kia and Hyundai that you can pick up for just over $10,000. The Kia and Hyundai cost much less to make but the $10,000 mark is crossed once you take into account (as Jeremy explains in the second video below the fold) the added costs of shipping, taxes, middle men, etc etc etc.

If the Rs1-lakh comes to the states, I expect it would be priced, at best, several thousand dollars below the $10,000 mark set by Kia and Hyundai. Breaking the $10,000 price ceiling for a car will be an achievement but by itself, I don't think price will be the game changer everyone imagines. You still have to pay for insurance, fuel costs, repairs, parking, etc and lets not forget something that Top Gear reminds us of in the videos below: economy cars really, really, really suck. Just because the Korean car makers are getting a little competition from India and prices might fall won't make people suddenly like economy cars.

Go below the fold to read why Rs 1-lakh is a game changer.

[Source: Google video, Economic Times, Business Standard, YouTube, Yahoo Autos]

The video above is an 8-minute interview with Ichiro Sugioka of Volvo talking about Volvo's Recharge concept. Ichiro also talks about the many interesting advantages of battery-powered cars like the power company paying you $2,000 or $3,000 a year to use your car battery while it's parked and using recycled hybrid batteries to store energy from wind turbines. These kinds of things, Ichiro admits, won't be done by a car company. Car companies have developed home charging units for cars and Ichiro hints at a very interesting technology that might be coming from Volvo, robot pluggers. I will let Ichiro explain or you can watch 6:40 into the video interview above:

We would also like to have an automated plug-in system. Which is why we put the plug in the nose of the car. So that you could easily position yourself relative a robotic system, lets say. So that you don't have to plug it in yourself.

Please, please, please, make this electric-car-plugging-robot Ichiro! Also, if you can, make the robot wash the windows and mow the lawn.

Related:

• Frankfurt Preview: Volvo ReCharge - The Swedes go series hybrid
• Electric cars could earn owner $500 a month
• Video: iMiEV has wind turbine in the grill, solar panel on the roof
• Volvo introducing a new flexifuel engine

[Source: YouTube]

In the video above, GM's Bob Lutz says "we made a mistake" on hybrids because GM did not think it would be "important." Well, not exactly a mistake the way Bob puts it because there were "legitimate reasons." Bob says U.S. corporate structure with their "fiduciary duty" would mean going to the board to green light a "multi-hundred million dollar program that was going to lose money" and that would be difficult, of course. While at Toyota, where the "name is on the building," the "quasi-owners" can say "I want to build a hybrid and I don't care if it costs me a couple of hundred million dollars."

Don't worry about GM losing the mantle of "technology leader of the world" because of that "one" car from Toyota. Why? Bob says the Volt could be "perhaps the world's most fuel efficient vehicle that has the highest range on batteries only." Just the world Bob? Does anyone in the car industry under promise?

Related:

• Videos: Bob Lutz says Toyota will have egg on its face come Easter
• LA Auto Show video: Bob Lutz confirms GM will release 16 hybrids in next four years
• Bob Lutz admits "mistake" with hybrids but still sees promise in technology

[Source: Reuters]

When Audi showed off the beautiful Metroproject hybrid concept in Tokyo in October, I hoped a true leader in car design had discovered hybrids but they still like good ol' diesel better. German Audi's chief Rupert Stadler said this in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport (please forgive the Google translation from German to English):

Which technology do you see in the United States because the larger potential: diesel or hybrid?
Stadler: The answer to U.S. customers every day. So far in the United States over 600,000 diesel vehicles purchased, and only 250,000 hybrids. We have in the United States is still a communicative Hybrid hype, but ultimately, the solution through which the customer provides the best efficiency. The efficiency of a diesel is especially true for long distances in the United States simply unbeatable.

Will Audi nevertheless until 2015 a hybrid vehicle manufacture?
Stadler: Yes, the Q7 is the end of 2008 the beginning. But the number one priority is for Audi diesel. We will next year offer a solution, in all states of the USA, the high environmental requirements. We also continue to work on hybrid concepts.

Volkswagen, another German car maker, has said they love diesels too which is understandable because diesel is a big part of these old Eurpean car makers businesses (of course, they love hybrids, too). The video above shows Rupert at a Motor Show in front of the Metroproject. Pay attention for a small mention of hybrids.

[Source: Auto Motor und Sport via German Car Blog and tipster Christian]

In an interview with Inside Line, Wolfgang Hatz, head of powertrain for Volkswagen Group, had some harsh words for hybrids. Wolfgang said VW only makes hybrids because of political pressure, Toyota would have problems if they had to produce hybrids in high volume and the car industry would go bankrupt if someone said all cars had to be hybrids. Wolfgang said all this when he was asked "will hybrid become the dominant power source in the next few years?" and here is the full response:

Hybrid technology is a very expensive way to save a small amount of fuel. The cost/benefit analysis is quite on the expensive side, but we're politically pressed to develop hybrids by the U.S. market. If someone said that every car must be a hybrid, the car industry would be bankrupt quicker than anything else. Even Toyota would have problems if they had to produce hybrids in high volumes. But politically we have to do a certain amount of hybrids.

Wolfgang thinks VW will have have higher market share with clean diesels than hybrids in America because "people who drive a diesel never go back to gas." Wolfgang also thinks there is too much emphasis on C0₂ and "saying that we should only drive small cars is like saying that we should all live in tiny apartments." The interview ends with Wolfgang saying fuel cells won't be an alternative for the next 30 years but gas will be around in 30 years.

What do you think would happen to the car industry if someone mandated every new car be a hybrid?

Related:

• VW CEO Martin Winterkorn answers his critics view that VW is not green enough - will build hybrid in 2008
• Honda president, CEO: plug-in hybrids "unnecessary," don't reduce emissions
• All Volkswagens to have hybrid option

[Source: Inside Line]

The video above is an interview with the emanently quotable GM vice Chairman Bob Lutz on GM's move towards making greener cars and CAFE standards at the 2007 LA Auto Show. Bob says the reasoning for making more fuel efficient cars is really a global one because there are places around the world with $9-a-gallon gas. Bob continues by saying they will continue to make "both" anyways (i.e make green green cars and fuel wasting sports cars and SUVs).

In the interview, Bob was specifically asked about Hillary Clinton's CAFE standard which is the mpg plan by a presidential contender that calls for the largest increase in the shortest amount of time. Bob says the candidates are on a "mad race" to outdo each other by coming up with ever larger CAFE standards. Bob then makes an apparent direct slam at Clinton's plan to give them money to "retool" their plants and repeated his apparent new reasoning that CAFE means larger cars. Here is exactly what he said:

The politicians now seem to be in a mad race to who can come out with the larger number. Nobody seems to be concerned with technological feasibility or what it's going to take in terms of technology and cost to reach these numbers. Because anybody who thinks we can just sort of retool the factory to produce 35 MPG cars obviously does not understand the situation.

Bob could have meant another candidate reference to retooling plants but I don't recall another candidate or policy asking for retooling. Anyway, just the way says "retool" makes me think Hillary's energy plan was not read happily in GM offices. Bob Lutz wittiest quote, from the many great one in this short interview, was probably that "a lot of the CAFE discussion is well intentioned, maybe, but misguided." You, sir, are a poet.

Maybe.

[Source: Wall Street Journal video]

In an interview that should air soon tonight (Nov. 18) at 8 p.m. EST on CNBC's Beyond the Boardroom, GM CEO Rick Wagoner says General Motors will release a new hybrid every three months for the next four years. Three days ago, CNBC teased the interview with that quote and you can watch the tease here. This program highlights page says "the popular Cadillac brand and GM's plans to roll out a new hybrid every quarter for the next 4 years." That page also includes another tease of the interview where Rick says he really thinks things are going to change in the next 10 or 20 years. Here is exactly what Rick says in the video about hybrids;

We will have one new hybrid coming out every quarter for next four years. We've got four on the market right now. We are getting in the game with a range of technologies.

Doing some simple math and knowing that a quarter means three months and that there are four quarters in a year; this means there will be 16 new hybrids from GM by 2011. There are about 16 hybrids on the market currently. This release schedule easily puts GM ahead of any other car maker's announced hybrid release numbers and should make GM the car maker with the most hybrid brands for some time. Stay tuned, I will live blog the the interview as it airs. Feel free to hoot and howl in comments.

Related:

• Wagoner through the years - video interviews with the GM CEO, 1999-2006

[Source: CNBC]

Craig Venter, famous for running a parallel, commercial version of the Human Genome Project, was on the Colbert Report last night promoting his book A Life Decoded: My Genome, My Life. In the interview, Craig said we have digitized biology, including the human genome and can make DNA that may make lifeforms to provide new ways of making energy. You can code genes that make hydrogen from sun light or different types of gasolines and octanes right from sugar said Craig.

Colbert asked if this takes off, will it make him so rich he would make Bill Gates look like Warren Buffett? Craig said there has to be a commercial solution to break our dependence on oil but we need a 1,000 different solutions. Your future home may have a biological fuel cell vat that produces your gas from your food waste said Craig. The biggest issues of three big issues (the others are energy and food) is the lack of fresh water according to Craig. Anyone else find it shocking such a good interview was done by a fake, comedy news show?

[Source: Comedy Central]

Recently, I wrote that Tesla's co-founder Martin Eberhard made a joke about the lack of quality in other electric car companies. Does Martin really feel that other electric car companies suck? YES! In a video interview (which you can watch below the fold) with the Wall Street Journal, Martin says all other electric car companies business approaches are "wrong" and they make "crap." Here is the full quote:

"In general, it seemed to me that, the way all other people started electric car companies, got in the business, was wrong. They wanted to make a car that would save the world. So, they needed to make a car that everyone could afford and they tried to come in at the bottom end of the market. They try to go up against very, very mature companies in a very, very mature industry. Every single component they buy costs them double what Honda or Hyundai or somebody pays for that same part. So they wind up with a car that's a piece of crap. No one wants to buy it.

No other industry does that happen. No other industry do you start in the low end and work your way up. Think about cell phones and flat panel TVs and camcorders and refrigerators and air conditioners. All these things start off as an expensive product and are sold to people who can afford it that are buying it not to save a lot of money but to experience the luxury of this new thing. That allows the companies to develop their technologies, to develop their supply chains and to drive the costs down, step by step as they reach a broader and broader market every time."

Martin also explains Tesla was delayed a year (from the original schedule) because they added safety equipment to the battery to absorb the heat of a burning cell. The safety equipment added 15 percent to the size of the battery and hundreds of pounds to the car's weight. The interview ends with Martin talking about the mistakes of DeLorean and Tucker that, of course, Tesla is not repeating either. If Tesla fails, this interview will not seem ironic at all.

Editor's UPDATE: if you're going to comment on this post, which you're welcome to do, please read the comments that have already been posted. Mr. Eberhard himself contributed and said the WSJ took his "piece of crap" comment out of context. Just want to make sure we're all aware about the full story here. Thanks.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

V2Green, a Seattle start up, is writing software for power companies to manage the charging of electric cars. There are not that many electric cars right now but V2Green thinks there will be between 500,000 and 1.5M by the year 2015 from companies like Tesla and Chevrolet. V2Green is currently generating revenue from a number of tests and will announce a deal with a utility later this month. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer interviewed the CEO and co-founder of V2Green, David Kaplan, about the need for and potential future of smart charing. Here are some quotes from that interview:

"The driver may simply come home, plug the car in at 6 p.m. and you just need it to have a full charge by 8 a.m. the next day ... That's a 14 hour window in which we can decide to get you an amount of electricity that may only take three, four or five hours to deliver. Our system can juggle that sort of calculation across thousands and thousands of cars to create a smooth load profile for the grid operator, so they are not experiencing power spikes or having to bring on back up sources of generation."

"I am doing this because it is a business. There is money to be made here ... It is a longer-term build business than something like a typical technology business, no question about that. But when this market kicks in, it is going to be a very significant hockey stick."

A hockey stick? OK. Now, what do you think of Kaplan's comments?

[Source: Seattle PI]

David Pogue did a great segment on CBS Sunday Morning all about electric cars recently which included an interview with GM vice chairman Bob Lutz. David has a larger chunk of the interview with Bob Lutz in his e-newsletter. In the interview, Bob mentions the "batteries may or may not have exactly that shape" as the ones shown in the cutaway. Bob says "one of suppliers is even looking at doing them in little foil bags, like those airline toilettes. Except you'd accordion the whole batch of them." David then jokes "and they're not as useful in wiping your face." Bob adds "No, you would not want to wipe your face. Although lithium... you know, if you're bipolar, you can eat your battery."

Bob also says "at various stages of the program, we are going to bring in members of the media. I'm hoping that as early as spring of '08, we will have the first rough prototypes running, which will permit members of the media to drive 30 or 40 miles purely on batteries and listen to the internal combustion engine kick in." Bob is also critical of CAFE in the interview saying saying numbers like 35 MPG are "crazy." On the release date, Bob says "It'll either be late '10 or early '11, but we're still holding everybody's feet to the fire for 2010." The car will also look like the Volt, which is designed to be different from any GM car which Bob says is the "secret of the Prius."

There are funny parts to the interview as well. I especially like the joke about free Volts for reporters and David's joke about Toyota's floating car. David Pogue and Bob Lutz should do a comedy routine together with accordions.

[Source: New York Times]

Update: Sadly, David Pogue informs us that the feature story on electric cars has indeed been bumped again. Thanks to the new Osama Bin Laden tape, we must wait until next Sunday, September 16, to enjoy the interview.

Last week, I told you that David Pogue was doing a piece about electric cars for CBS Sunday Morning. Pogue himself later informed us that it was bumped to this weekend. We have a few more details about what the piece will include thanks to CBS News. Here is the text of the preview.

"ELECTRIC CAR: David Pogue takes a look at the future of electric cars in this Sunday Morning cover story. He visits the Silicon Valley headquarters of Tesla Motors where a 0-to-60-mph-in-4-seconds electric roadster is being readied for sale later this year. Pogue also travels to Detroit to visit with GM's Bob Lutz who shows us the latest developments in the Plug-in Electric Hybrid called the Volt which is being readied for a 2010 roll-out. "

Vijay Vaitheeswaran, correspondent for The Economist and coauthor of "Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future" may also make an appearance in the piece according to another CBS preview. Well, that's unless it's bumped. This is the news biz. There are always breaking news stories so you may have to wait another week for a new interview about the Volt and Tesla. Whenever it airs, we will tell you about it.

[Source: CBS News]