Plug-In Hybrid Electrical Vehicle

Irv Miller – you deserve a reward for being the best automotive communicator... Let the other communicators know the bar has been set...

We are PHEV.com and GM hasn't even bothered to call us or send us an email.... Pretty stupid on their part... What kind of marketing team or communicator do they have over there? He or she is probably at a union meeting looking for higher pay and more benefits and a shorter work week....

Irv, if you don't have a guitar you need to get one, because you my friend are truly a rock star. Hell I will go out on a limb and suggest to the world that you are a real MAVERICK!! Yeah, I said it.. You might be a Maverick.

All kidding aside, let me say thanks to Irv Miller for responding to our post regarding the delay or delays in getting a PHEV to market. It is very rare we get to hear from the people fighting the real battle. We appreciate the answer and the fact that you are paying attention. It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside knowing I made the right choice when I took delivery of my Toyota Prius.

If you have not read the comment to our blog. Allow me to post Irv's response.

Hey Brian,

Show me a battery manufacturer that warrants their product for the lifetime of the vehicle? When we can do that with a LI battery, the vehicle will be on the road!
We will not shuffle the responsibility for battery replacement to our customers. It's as simple as that. Wishing won't do it, a long term, viable battery will!

Irv Miller

This comment is based on my post regarding the time it is taking to get a PHEV to market.

Irv: Thank you for helping all of us understand the issues at hand.

1. Who can we blog about? Who can we write to? Why can't we get a battery manufacturer to step up to the plate?

2. What is the deal with A123 Systems? Are they even a contender?

3. Which battery will GM be placing in their Volt? Will it be warranted for the lifetime of the vehicle?

4. Are the consumer brand battery manufacturers spending any money on R&D for greener batteries or LI car batteries? Or are we depending on companies like A123 Systems and Panasconic?

5. How many battery companies produce a battery that can go inside of a PHEV? Are there several or just a few?

Sorry Irv for all the questions…. You don’t have to answer them of course but I thought I would take advantage of you….. If possible…

Irv, can you break down in layman’s terms what happened with GM and their battery that was bought by Chevron? I need to watch "who killed the electric car" again to fully understand the entire GM / Chevron debacle.

PS Readers do your part... Call up Toyota and tell them Irv deserves more power and a raise.

Our politicians and Car manufacturers need to lead the way in our green revolution. It is clear we also need to put pressure on the organizations that manufacture LI batteries. We have to do our part. Irv is clearly doing his job. Lets see if the crew at Toyota negotiating the deal is doing their job or if the battery manufacturers are not doing their job....

We need results and if the battery manufacturers are not able to produce a reliable battery produced then we need to find out what Harvard and MIT are doing with all of their endowment money... They should be providing research money to save our planet?

Ok, I need to get back to work... Blogging doesn't pay very well these days...

Labels: irv miller, public relations, toyota

We love to find new and exciting people that are helping lead the way in the green revolution. As Thomas Friedman puts it - Outgreening our competition.

It is our job to outgreen the rest of the world. It is a contest that every country needs to join. Nobody loses in this contest.

I wonder if Dr. Nammy owns a hybrid... Maybe she will see this post and let us know!

If you are in San Francisco and you need your teeth fixed or cleaned you should give Dr. Nammy a call and see if she is taking new patients.

http://sfgreendentist.com/meet-dr-nammy/

Labels: dr nammy, green dentist

Why are there so many smaller companies able to produce a PHEV and huge organizations like GM and Toyota cannot get one out before 2010.

If we are lucky we will see a PHEV hit dealerships in 2010.

Our planet cannot wait. The global economy cannot wait. I want to know how come these guys can produce prototypes like crazy but they can't produce a PHEV that they can bring to market in 2 years or less?

Interviews and articles by the executives are no different than vague political rhetoric that is spewed by political candidates during campaign debates.

We don't give our kids 2 years to get their homework done. We don't give our employees 2 years to get their jobs done before we let them go. Unless of course they are in a strong union or work for the government.

Why do Toyota and GM need so much time to get something done they should have gotten done years ago.

Auto manufacturers are like trophy wives to the oil industry. Their only job is to look good for the oil tycoons. Don't say anything and do anything that will piss me off or I will take away your allowance.

Take a look at this release from Toyota on their blog at http://blogs.toyota.com

- Irv Miller, Group Vice President, Corporate Communications

Most regular visitors to Open Road likely know that we’ve not only been studying the use of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), but that we plan to begin offering them, on a limited basis, to fleet customers next year. If you haven’t kept up with what we’re doing on this front, you can read our posts about those initiatives here, here and here.

In spite of our announcements about this, I’ve seen a bit of skepticism about how serious we are about PHEVs and about our commitment to the lithium-ion batteries that will propel them.

Let me be clear about this: We believe strongly in the viability of plug-in hybrids in some applications, and in their use of lithium-ion batteries. We believe so strongly, in fact, that we plan to begin production of PHEVs late next year.

We also plan to begin assembly-line production of the lithium-ion batteries that will power them. Developed entirely in-house, these batteries will be built on a new assembly line at our Panasonic EV Energy (PEVE) joint-venture facility, 60-percent owned by Toyota. When we do begin production, we anticipate being among the first automotive manufacturers to do so.

Why wait? Why not offer this new technology to everyone right away? Why, instead, proceed carefully with our coming PHEV fleet vehicles? We’ll proceed carefully because it is one thing to develop lithium-ion battery packs. It’s quite another thing to mass-produce them in a way that will allow us to be sure they’ll be reliable over the long haul of a PHEV’s service life. That’s why we’re going slowly and carefully.

Even as we get under way with PHEV production, we’ll continue studying the technology, the batteries, the production of those batteries, and the ways in which people interact with PHEVs. When we’re confident we know what we need to know, we’ll take the next steps toward wider distribution.

We know there’s a lot of PHEV interest out there. We just want to be sure we get our PHEV right. We’re pretty sure the users of our vehicles wouldn’t want it any other way.

Labels: campaign debates, gm, irv miller, toyota

GM cannot afford to advertise on television during the Academy Awards next year. So Hyundai has stepped in to buy the ads in their place.

First General Motors needs to apologize for being such a fuck up and causing our great country a ton of pain. Ford also needs to apologize.

The need to apologize for building shitty cars and trucks that were not fuel efficient for over 80 years.

General Motors needs to teach the union leaders about profits and losses. Union members need to understand that give and take goes both ways.

I am so pissed off that GM ditched the electric car years ago for the oil tycoons and now they want help from the TAXPAYERS to save their sorry ass.

Wall Street Welfare is running rampant and it is all because of greed and oil.

I hope that General Motors will turn over a new GREN leaf and get the next 100 years right.

Labels: gm sucks, hyundai