Ex-GM CEO makes "green" auto industry comeback

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. — Nearly 10 years to the day after he was pushed out as chief of General Motors Corp., Bob Stempel shoveled a handful of dirt to break ground on a new plant in Ohio that could make him a key player in a more environmentally friendly automotive industry. Stempel, 70, could easily have retired to a comfortable life after his tenure as chairman and chief of GM ended in October 1992 with a boardroom coup. But now as chairman of Energy Conversion Devices Inc., he works 60 to 70 hours a week and flies around the world to visit clients as he makes his case for battery-powered vehicles.

Stempel is betting that sales of hybrid cars and trucks, powered by conventional gasoline or diesel engines mated to an electric drive system, will grow in the coming years as companies seek more fuel-efficient vehicles.

In late October, Stempel ceremoniously kicked off construction of a 170,000-square-foot plant in Springboro, Ohio, that will make enough nickel-metal hydride batteries to supply 50,000 to 60,000 vehicles a year. Production at the plant, a joint venture between Chevron Texaco and Energy Conversion Devices, is scheduled to start in the third quarter next year.

"People have been sort of on the fence about hybrid cars," said Stempel, his voice booming with excitement. "All of a sudden they are moving off the fence. We know that there's going to be enough solid business out there that we ought to get under way."

Currently there are only three hybrid gas-electric vehicles for sale in the U.S. market, all made by Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd.: the Toyota Prius, the Honda Insight, and a hybrid version of the popular Honda Civic small car. However, Stempel said that U.S. and European automakers are requesting prototypes for some test vehicles from his joint venture company, Texaco Ovonic Battery Systems.

Unlike pure electric vehicles, which take hours to recharge and have limited range, hybrid gas-electric vehicles recharge themselves and can travel as far as conventional cars and trucks. Some so-called "soft" hybrids expected to be rolled out over the next two years shut the engine down when the vehicle idles or comes to a stop, such as at a traffic light, and quickly restart upon acceleration, also saving gasoline. Some will also have 110-volt outlets that can be used for powertools, which could appeal to construction workers.

Other hybrids, such as the Prius, Insight, and Civic hybrid, have electric motors that provide extra power, thus improving fuel economy even more. Because they use less fuel, hybrids produce less carbon dioxide, which is considered one of the prime greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.

Stempel, an engineer by trade, was part of a team at GM that created the catalytic converter to clean vehicle emissions. He laughs now when recalling how he and his colleagues thought they had perfected the converter so it produced only "harmless" carbon dioxide.

"If we don't really control the emissions from personal transportation, the way the regulators are going to control it is to put limits on driving. Look what happened to Mexico City. There are days in Mexico City when you can't see," he said. "I think once the public really gets used to (hybrids) there won't be any question that they're going to be pretty well accepted," Stempel said. By 2007, "we may be approaching 500,000 a year from all manufacturers here in North America."

Stempel said that automakers are moving ahead with plans that include his batteries, though he declined to give details, citing confidentiality agreements. The company is also testing some Toyota vehicles with its batteries to try to win business away from Matsushita Battery, a unit of Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.

Matsushita and Stempel's company have been embroiled in a patent dispute. ECD has alleged that Matsushita, which supplies the batteries through a joint venture with Panasonic Electronics for the Toyota Prius, wrongfully obtained patents held by ECD. Matsushita has denied the charges.

Toyota intends to sell 300,000 hybrid vehicles a year by 2005, with most of the sales in North America. One of its next hybrid models will be a version of the Lexus RX 330, the upcoming replacement of the popular RX 300 SUV.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the U.S. automakers who are trailing the Japanese in the race for hybrid vehicles have played down their importance. John Smith, GM's vice president of field sales, service, and parts, said that the ultimate goal for GM is for cars and trucks that run on fuel cells.

"Hybrids can never be an endgame because they have packaged in one vehicle two modes of power sources," Smith said. "There's a redundant system on board and by definition it's not the efficient engineering solution."

But Stempel's former company is also proceeding with plans for more hybrid vehicles. GM will launch hybrid full-sized pickup trucks in 2004 that use lead acid batteries and is considering a hybrid sedan or sport utility vehicle in a few years that could use nickel metal hydride batteries, a spokesman said.

Hey, these guys always whine and complain about the enviornment, it would be nice if one of them, actually tried and do something as opposed to trying to make people STOP doing things. If he can be successfull, more power (no pun intended) to him and us.

"One of its next hybrid models will be a version of the Lexus RX 330, the upcoming replacement of the popular RX 300 SUV."

The three current "hybrids" are small sedans-quite small.

The RX 330 would appear to be a mid-sized (Camry based) cross-over wagon. Some call it a medium sized SUV. The "330" designation seemingly implies a 3.3 litre, six cylinder gasoline engine.

Hybrids can perform well. I have read that they accelerate well, using BOTH motors.

If ANYBODY builds and sells vehicles of adequate size and performance, with great mileage, for competitive prices, they will sell.

Thus far, nobody has, however, and they haven't sold many.

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