Tony Posawatz Joins Momentum Dynamics

Wireless electric car charging stands to make fueling your vehicle a thing of the past, and Momentum Dynamics is one of the leaders in wireless EV charging technology. To help bolster their public profile and commercialize their cutting-edge technology, Momentum Dynamics named former GM executive and Vehicle Line Director for the Chevy Volt Tony Posawatz to the Technology Advisory Board.

momentumWireless electric car charging stands to make fueling your vehicle a thing of the past, and Momentum Dynamics is one of the leaders in wireless EV charging technology. To help bolster their public profile and commercialize their cutting-edge technology, Momentum Dynamics named former GM executive and Vehicle Line Director for the Chevy Volt Tony Posawatz to the Technology Advisory Board.

“We are delighted Tony will be joining Momentum Dynamics,” said Momentum Dynamics CEO Andy Daga. “His experience and reputation in product innovation, planning and strategy, program management, corporate finance, and extensive knowledge of the automotive industry will provide MD a unique perspective and advantage as we commercialize our technology with our strategic partners.”

Back in October, Momentum Dynamics announced that it was ready to begin the commercialization process of its high-power inductive charging system. This wireless charging technology uses magnets to transfer power between the charger and EV without any physical connection, eliminating our traditional notion of “refueling” entirely. Naturally, the first car Momentum applied this tech to was the Chevy Volt.

The system is designed to deliver energy through ice, snow, or water, and the entire charging process can be completed automatically. Momentum is focusing on the commercial application of its technology, with a pair of E-450 electric buses serving as a testbed in Pennsylvania. Momentum also claims it can reduce traditional charging times by as much as 75%, one of the main complaints consumers have regarding EVs.

Momentum Dynamics wants to make 2014 a big year, and wireless charging is set to be big business in just a few more years. With Posawatz on board, hopefully Momentum Dynamics can bring its technology to market as soon as it hopes.

Source: Gas2.0

Fisker Automotive names Tony Posawatz, former head of Volt program, as new CEO

Fisker Automotive named former GM’er Tony Posawatz as its new CEO. A well-known automotive industry professional with more than 30 years of experience in product development, strategy, program management, manufacturing and quality at General Motors, Posawatz’s last role was as GM’s Vehicle Line Director and key leader of Global Electric Vehicle development, where he was responsible for bringing the Chevrolet Volt from concept to production.

Posawatz has consistently been recognized as an industry leader in product innovation and electrified vehicles and served as Chairman of the Board for the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA). In addition he led GM’s initial efforts on hybrid programs and related technology development and was “employee number one” and founding member of the Chevrolet Volt program back in 2006.

Tony is the perfect CEO for Fisker. He has been at the forefront of the industry’s technological revolution and one of the few people in the world to bring an EV to mass production. Part of my assignment at Fisker was to recruit a long-term CEO and I cannot think of a better person than Tony to take us forward. He is a real product guy for a product driven company.

—outgoing CEO Tom LaSorda

Fisker Automotive also announced the appointment of Joseph Chao as Executive Vice President and CEO of China and Asia. Chao brings more than 30 years of engineering, manufacturing and international business operations knowledge from GM, Chrysler and Daimler Chrysler where he served as President and CEO of Beijing Benz Ltd. Most recently, he served as President and CEO of SG Automotive in China and will now pave the way for Fisker’s entry into the Chinese market later in 2012.

Fisker also announced the appointment of Alberto Gonzalez as Vice President of Manufacturing. Gonzalez also brings more than 30 years of global automotive manufacturing and assembly experience from Chrysler where he operated high-volume assembly plants in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Source: Green Car Congress

Chevrolet Volt vehicle line director Posawatz retires from GM

Tony Posawatz, the longtime General Motors executive who became vehicle line director of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in, retired from the U.S. automaker after more than a quarter-century with the company, Green Car Reports reported.

Posawatz was appointed to the position in March 2006 and was often the public face of GM's effort to develop its first production plug-in. He is reportedly stepping down to spend more time with his family.

Posawatz began working for GM in 1980, and the company put him though Dartmouth's Tuck Business School. He had worked on developing both full-size trucks and mid-size passenger vehicles for GM before moving on to the Volt. Sales for the plug-in have picked up momentum in recent months – the model tripled its June sales from a year earlier and has moved 8,817 units through the first six months of the year, which is more than GM sold all of last year.

As of late Thursday, Posawatz was still listed on the executive committee for the Electric Drive Transportation Association.



Source: Autoblog Green

Tony Posawatz Talks Chevy Volt and Future Price Cuts, We Hope

Last week at the EDTA conference we had opportunity to sit down with Vehicle Line Director for the Chevrolet Volt, Tony Posawatz, to discuss myriad issues including future cost cutting.

Posawatz said his days start at 5 a.m. and the Chevrolet Volt is keeping him even more busy now that it is in production. When we caught up with him around 6 p.m., he was still on the go, manning the Volt display, energetically engaging visitors and industry peers.

As we were talking, a man came up smiling, shook hands all around, and greeted Posawatz.

He was a leader from Delphi automotive components, Posawatz explained.

Costs for this car will come down, but that doesn’t mean it will be cheapened.

“So, we’re seeking he and his team to develop us a lot of good, highly efficient, low-cost components for the future.” Posawatz said with humor in his voice.

“We’ll get it,” came the reply with a grin.

“See, and he is committed,” Posawatz said to laughter.

As we had already been discussing the car, I could not help but take the bait and open up the broader question.

“Is that how you are going to cut the cost for the Volt,” I asked.

“We have a lot of ways, lot of ways to cut the cost,” Posawatz said.

I replied everyone is curious because a couple weeks ago GM’s Vice President of Global R&D, Alan Taub, stated unequivocally that GM was “on track” to meet a target. So, how would GM get production costs down? Would it consider stripping the Volt, making it cheaper somehow?

“None of that,” Posawatz said, “But I just told the last gentleman: like any new technology, whether it be the $4,000 cell phone, plasma screen TV, you know, computer storage – they all have their costs. It’s no different from the first high-volume battery.”

Tony Posawatz is also co-chairman of EDTA’s board of directors. Manning the booth, he entertained one and all.

In a nutshell, Posawatz said Volt supply contracts were made when GM’s credibility was at a low point. To some, the Volt was possibly another experimental car with no guarantees.

“So some of the original cost we have is cost that is probably higher than it needs to be because the suppliers were either reluctant to enter the business, there was no competition for it, or there was no assured high volume,” Posawatz said, “Some of those things have changed.”

Earlier that day, Posawatz had told a breakout session audience his theme centered around the Bob Dylan lyrics: “The times, they are a-changin.’” While he was referring to GM’s overall involvement in the EV industry, it seemed clear this theme was resonating deeper into contributory aspects, including the Volt’s production cost.

“As we increase our volume, contractual relationships will change with higher volume price comes down,” Posawatz said. “As we resource [battery] cells and they no longer come from Korea, and they are going to come across the state from Holland, Michigan, do you know how much money is reduced?”

After the Holland plant is up and running, he said, a major part of the Volt’s cost will come down, without stripping any quality out of the car. This will happen after GM is sure its domestic plant can reliably produce LG Chem’s “secret recipe” for its batteries.

“So, some time in 2012, we haven’t’ stated the date, they are on track to build their plant, upgrade their facilities, their capacity,” Posawatz said, “But that’s just one example where I don’t think shipping the cells across state versus from Korea with duties, tariffs, special refrigerant – expensive refrigerant – and temperature control [will cost nearly as much].”

EDTA had a test drive set up for the present, and thus far only Volt. In the background is the convention center where the conference was held.

“Can you put a dollar amount on it,” I asked.

“No, no, we’re staying away from that. Posawatz said. “I know Alan quoted a dollar amount.”

“No, he actually didn’t and he didn’t answer specifically,” I said of a question whether it was a $10,000 target set by GM CEO Dan Akerson.

“Oh, OK,” he said, “I thought he quoted that, but we have thousands of dollars that will come out of the car.”

“’On track’ implies $10,000,” I added, “but he didn’t state it.”

“Well again that’s speculation as to what the ultimate target is, but we feel very good that some of these enablers that I identified and levers that I indicated [will have their effect],” he said, “I challenge people to be able to see if they know where the cost comes out because so much of it is commercial.”

“Another thing,” I replied, “is some are saying even if you do reduce production cost, you’ll just say ‘great, we’ll just keep that as profit,’ and keep selling the car at the same MSRP assuming the market bears that. Would you do that?”

“I think we have a lot of options in the future,” Posawatz said, “I think that the possibility of having a broader price range in the Volt is highly likely including lower price points to start off – especially if you want to have greater volume.”

Would you ever sell the Volt for $35,000,” I asked.

“We’ll see how that all plays out in the future. We don’t make those kinds of pricing decisions now,” he said, “Then again the simple fact is the Volt in 2011 comes with nav[igation] standard. Future cars won’t have nav standard. It comes with the Bose Energy Efficient Sound System standard. It comes with so much stuff loaded into the car; the five years of OnStar.”

Current models are loaded. There will likely be versions made available with fewer options. This plus other cost savings will give Chevrolet the option to price the Volt lower.

“What’s going to change when you get your U.S.-made engine on line,” I asked.

“Not much. Effectively it’s another example of a cost reduction,” he said, because it will be another major component now made in-state, without international shipping fees.

“We feel very, very good about where we’re going, and its not like this is a new plan,” Posawatz said, “This is the plan all along to work the cost out. Some of the contacts were set up frankly because our first year volume was low.”

In his outgoing, engaging manner, Posawatz commented on those who have tried to research GM’s initial Volt production cost.

“This is why we laugh a little about people who claim they know what the cost of the car is,” he said, “OK, that may be the cost for the first 10,000 cars, but it is not [the cost for] the lion’s share of the cars that we will produce at high volume for mass market.”

Source: GM-Volt.com

Six Volts Topping Pike's Peak - VIDEO

Volt director Tony Posawatz, describes what GM is learning from its repeated trials up and down the Peak:

“As you know, we are very serious about the testing we do on our cars, especially the VOLT with it being loaded with so many “technology firsts,” he said. “We try to prove to ourselves that in the most severe and harshest environments that every VOLT will exceed our expectations including on-going “tweaks” as we finalize our software/controls and assure full completion of all of our tests.”

“It is pretty fun to continue to do work on Pikes Peak when you know your car can handle it,” said Posawatz. “Do all other plug-ins tout their prowess on Pikes Peak? I think not.”

“You know our ReGen braking recaptures a lot of electric miles on the way down and records a really low brake pad temp,” he added. Such low temperatures have occurred that a ranger who performs mandatory brake testing seven miles from the summit actually had to check the Volt twice with his laser gun.

Not So Fast! Gm's Volt Can Run On Regular Gasoline

Chevy Volt Being Put Through Its Paces








When General Motors announced pricing for the 2011 Chevy Volt last week, one new technical detail grabbed some attention. Vehicle line director Tony Posawatz was apparently the first exec to mention to the press that the range-extending engine in the Volt had been calibrated to run on premium gasoline.

There have been some question about what happens if you put regular gas in the tank and whether that would damage the engine. GM powertrain spokesman Tom Read confirmed to Autoblog that the Volt's 1.4-liter inline-four is equipped with a block-mounted knock sensor like virtually every other modern engine. The engine is calibrated for premium with extra spark advance to optimize the efficiency and output of the engine. If regular gas is used, the knock sensor will adjust the spark advance to prevent engine damage. Premium gas also reportedly has a longer shelf life than regular, which could be an issue for Volt drivers who maximize their plug-in's electric capability by using as little gasoline as possible.


Source: Autoblog

Back to the Chevy Volt Price Speculation

Chevy Volt on Display








One of the only questions remaining for the vaunted Chevy Volt is where GM will place the final MSRP? With a reasonable price tag and a US Federal tax rebate of $7,500, the Chevy Volt could have a very broad market. If the Volt comes in at $32K then the final retail cost would be $24,500. A little more than the average small sedan price but still quite reasonable. Would you pay this much for a cutting edge plug-in hybrid vehicle?

Tony Posawatz is the Chevy Volt vehicle line executive.

From TheGlobeandMail.com:

The questions ran fast and furious as Posawatz worked the crowd.

“How much?”

“We have not priced it yet,” said an affable Posawatz, the father of two teenagers himself and in town mostly to explain the car to Olympic big shots and corporate honchos. He's heard the “How much?” question a million times and has been repeating that same answer every time.

In addition to being in charge of the Volt's development and launch, Posawatz is also the car's No. 1 salesman – has been since GM said it would make the Volt a real production model. That came after the General created a stir with its Volt concept car at the 2007 Detroit auto show. That silky two-door coupe concept, however, is nothing at all like the four-door, four-seat hatchback that has become the Volt production car.

The Volt, which GM repeatedly insists is a pure electric car with an anxiety-eliminating gas engine on board, remains the face of the “new” GM. The gas engine, a 1.4-litre four-banger borrowed from GM's European operations, is there only to charge the T-shaped lithium-ion battery pack running up the car's spine.

The batteries have a range of about 64 km. When they have no more juice, the gas engine kicks in to recharge them and keep drivers moving along. At no time are the Volt's wheels driven by the gas engine, however. The Volt is a pure EV.

Posawatz tells the students about GM research that says a 64-km range is more than enough for most commuters. But just in case, the gas engine is there. It eliminates what has become known in the EV world as “range anxiety.”

“The Volt is designed to be your everyday car,” he says. “It's not for towing and it's not your vacation car. It's your everyday car. The car you drive to work.”

Speed? Officially, 0-100 km/h in nine seconds or less, but insiders are saying a sub-eight-second sprint might be possible. Top speed: 160 km/hour.

Then he returns to the cost question. He simply must. The news media and the relentless blogosphere have been alive with predictions that the Volt will sticker for as much as $40,000 (U.S.). GM has not and really cannot confirm or deny that number.

What Posawatz is willing to say is that if government incentives for EVs are figured into the reduced overall ownership costs of driving a Volt, the real cost to a Volt buyer “is easily less than $30,000.”

Posawatz is referring to the $7,500 the U.S. federal government will subsidize Volt buyers. Ontario has also said it plans to give EV buyers as much as a $10,000 rebate – what some GM rivals call the “Volt subsidy.”

The B.C.government is expected to put in place an EV subsidy, as are other provinces. Ottawa remains silent on the matter.

Posawatz fields other questions, too, and they are not strictly about economics. Dollars-and-cents matters consume the new media covering the Volt, but not these young people – not yet, at least.

When the gas engine kicks in, he says in response to a question about what it feels like when the range-extender fires up to charge the batteries, “most of the time, you can't even feel it.” The batteries are designed to have a 10-year lifespan and even then, they'll carry a 70-per-cent charge and have a useful life beyond the car itself.

What nightmares will buyers face in getting replacement parts?

EVs, he says, are fundamentally less complicated than internal combustion engine cars. They should be easier to maintain and fix. On top of that, Volt dealers will have technicians thoroughly trained in keeping Volts on the road. In fact, he points out, nine prototypes are being winter tested right now in the frigid cold of Kapuskasing, Ont., at GM's winter testing facility.

His final message: “I think electric cars are the future. Whether the electricity will come from fuel cells or batteries or what is the question. But for us, we like to say burn rubber, not petroleum.”

With that, Posawatz and his small support crew (two public relations types, a technician and another engineer) jump into the Volt and a shiny Cadillac SRX crossover wagon and head down the mountain to the Olympic Village or thereabouts. The Volt may be the future – and these students are certainly interested in that future – but the present is still filled with 800 million gasoline and electric cars navigating roadways around the world – Vancouver included.

GM To Host Webchat With Felix Kramer and Tony Posawatz To Discuss Plugging In

Mark your calendar if you are interested in the following:

In test run for next week’s Business of Plugging In Conference in Detroit, GM is hosting a webchat on Friday, 16 October at 12:30 pm EDT with Felix Kramer, president of California Cars Institute (CalCars) and Tony Posawatz, Vehicle Line Director for the Chevrolet Volt.

Both will speak on a panel at the conference the following week on consumers and the prospects for market penetration of plug-in vehicles.

The webchat is hosted on the Chevrolet Voltage website and is also accessible below.

Interview With GM's Tony Posawatz Regarding Next Steps For Chevy Volt

Here is the official word from Tony Posawatz spelling out the immediate future for the Chevy Volt. Next off the production line will be a thousand or so "PPV's", which stands for pre-production vehicles that will again be put through the paces and refined such that a final generation "one" model can be ready for mass production. In case you were not aware, GM is already working on the second and third iterations.

Thanks to Lyle and the others at GM-Volt.com for the interview. Find their story here.

As was reported on Friday October 9, GM completed building the last of a total of 74 pre-production Chevy Volts, which were built in the modest-sized pre-production operations facility in GM’s Warren campus. I had the chance to discuss with Volt vehicle line engineer Tony Posawatz what happens now.

Now that these cars are finished what happens next?
Interestingly enough this is probably where the intense work begins. From a build perspective, we won’t build again until early next year in Hamtramck. What we do now is we take the production intent designs that were built up in the integration vehicles and we test the living daylights out of them and continue to do iterations and iterations. A lot of it is software. A lot of it is taking some of the crudeness in fit in the body fits and tighten them up. Although we do it on math, variations occur and flushness and fit come out a little differently then they do on paper.

So we’re now tuning it. And between that time from October of this year and March of next year, we test the vehicle to confirm the production design works, tweak and fix things, and as we tweak and fix things those changes have to be incorporated in the production tooling and those things typically have a longer lead time.

Then the production tooling is in place. Those are the big heavy expensive dyes to stamp the sheet metal. Those are more significant molds and cavities and processes to manufacture plastic parts in high volume. That’s kind of what happens right now. Right now is the testing, problem-solving, refining and putting all that learning into the production tools. Come the March timeframe and we’re running Volts with production tools. And that is still an iteration process or learning process to refine it for what’s going to happen later in the year.

Are you beginning to put hardware into the Hamtramck plant?
Oh yeah, the Hamtramck plant and the battery plant are on a project plan to upgrade themselves to be ready to build in the early 2010 timeframe. So right now there are tools in toolshops being produced and as we find out, we need this or that, we’ll change it on a production tool. That’s the process we’re in.

When you first start building in March what are those vehicles called?
We call them PPVs, pre-production vehicles or validations. We have a couple more “flavors” but those are all flavors of production vehicle that we work through. This is fairly state of the industry, our terminology is a little different, but every manufacturer does these iterations or flavors of vehicles that have the next phase of software.

At some point in time for example the interior parts have a certain graining to them that you do as one of the last things. You put in a little grain into the tool, but once the tool is grained and they have this nice little texture to the plastic parts it’s very hard to change the tool if you have any functional dimensional changes. Later in the Spring we’ll actually grain the parts so that they really look like production and piece the cars together.

Right now things are actually going pretty well. We have certainly a lot of issues but that’s standard for this type of project and where we are at in the program. Issues are actually a good thing. We know no one is that good to get it spot-on or if the issues don’t properly surface they somehow surface later. If you have a lot of variation in some of the parts, and you don’t see it early enough to try to control it, to get thefir finsihs and execution elements perfect.

PPVs are not saleable?
No, they’re not saleable yet.

So you will build a few hundred of those?
No we build in the two to three thousand range. We’re finalizing that number right now. A lot of that is practicing the processing of that. Ultimately their will be a line rate of many jobs per hour when we do this so you want to get the guys actually practicing in the production environment.

GM Outlines Criteria for a Successful Volt Launch, Including Plug-In Ecosystem

Would you like to have an insight as to why General Motors is in such a piteous shape? The answer lies in the following ridiculous article headed up by GM's Tony Posawatz, Chevrolet Volt and Global Electric Vehicle Line Director.

Instead of just producing a plug-in vehicle for the public, GM wastes time drawing up criteria that are necessary for the Chevy Volt to have a successful launch. They claim that putting 1M plug-in vehicles on the road will require a "plug in ecosystem". Give me a break. GM has not produced ONE plug in vehicle and they want the public to be concerned about ONE MILLION? Furthermore, GM has NO plans to produce a million Volts anytime soon. In fact, even at a run rate of 100,000 Volts per year, it will be 10 years until they hit the 1M mark.

How can we take this company seriously when they have no real plans to produce this vehicle in significant numbers, yet they want municipalities to spend a fortune on charging stations? This is a classic example of getting the cart before the horse. Give us the vehicles first General Motors, then everything else will fall into place. The following article is a good read and points out the reality that our electrical grid is ready NOW for plug in vehicles.

From Green Car Congress:

In a conference call organized by GM, Tony Posawatz, Chevrolet Volt and Global Electric Vehicle Line Director; Mark Duvall, Director of Electric Transportation, EPRI; and Bob Hayden, Clean Transportation Advisor, Department of Environment, City and County of San Francisco described the nature and role of the “plug-in ecosystem” required to support one million and more plug-ins on the road in the US.

Posawatz (who wryly referred to having read “someplace” about the Chevy Volt having some challenges, earlier post) said that GM believes there are four pillars that make up a plug-in ecosystem and that must be in place to assure the Volt’s successful commercial launch:

Webchat With GM’s Britta Gross, Director of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Commercialization
Date: Friday, 3 April Time: 4:00 PM EDT (1:00 PM PDT, 8:00 PM GMT)
GM’s Britta Gross, Director of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Commercialization will participate in a webchat tomorrow to field questions about the development of the plug-in ecosystem.
Those wishing to participate will be able to tie into the multi-site webchat from Green Car Congress tomorrow, as well as directly on GM’s FastLane Blog, the EV World site, or the GM-Volt site.
Bookmark this post and return to it tomorrow if you wish to participate, the viewer is at the bottom.

• Relevant plug-in vehicles that drive customer demand and are connected;
• Enabling technologies like advanced batteries and sophisticated software controls;
• A capable/green grid; and,
• Plug-in ready communities with supporting policies.

GM is focused on the first two pillars: leading plug-in technology vehicles and the enabling technologies. For the others, it is partnering with organizations like the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to focus on electric power generation, delivery and use, and working with communities, such as San Francisco, to ensure the development of integrated policies that will streamline adoption for consumers.

“One million plug-ins don’t happen without significant partnering, coordination and effort.” —Tony Posawatz

At the Washington Auto Show in February, for example, GM suggested a partial draft checklist of stakeholders and enablers to help guide cities in making their regions plug-in friendly. (Earlier post.)

Percentage of 2010 electricity consumption required by 10M plug-ins. Source: EPRI. Click to enlarge.

Mark Duvall of EPRI said the grid would be able to handle “as many [plug-ins] as you want.” Ten million Chevrolet Volts (or equivalent) on the road would account for approximately 0.8% of projected 2010 electricity consumption in the US. There is, he said, “no real practical limit” as to how many vehicles the grid can handle because the grid is constantly adapting to new loads.

In addition, he said, the marginal sources that would handle the upswing from vehicle charging are “significantly cleaner” than the national average. Most new capacity is now combined cycle natural gas or renewable (almost entirely wind).

In the long-term, Duvall said, EPRI sees about a 500 million ton CO₂ per year reduction for auto industry “almost entirely due to replacement of gasoline with lower carbon electricity.”

The charging pyramid. Source: EPRI. Click to enlarge.

EPRI sees the charging infrastructure as a pyramid. Most charging will be residential; the lowest-cost electricity will be at home off-peak.

The most important place for utilities to engage is to help vehicle purchasers who are their customers and rate payers get the charging equipment installed as conveniently and as quickly as possible.

—Mark Duvall

Next is charging at the workplace, followed by “the most difficult problem” of public charging. “Public charging is difficult, expensive, and we’re not sure how we are going to handle it. We know we need it,” he said. Three possible approaches he outlined are:

• Municipalities handle it as a public good (similar to stoplights, etc.);
• Utilities do it; or
• Startup companies operate chargers in the area.

“There is a lot of coordination that has to take place to move forward in a systematic and comprehensive way.” —Bob Hayden

Based on San Francisco’s experience, Bob Hayden outlined a number of steps required for communities to become plug-in ready. First is having a champion would can lead the effort and bring together the requisite agencies. In San Francisco, the champion is Mayor Gavin Newsom, who is determined for the city to become a leading center for plug-ins. (One reason for that, Hayden noted, is that in San Francisco, transportation contributes more than 50% of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.)