(Photo by Wigwam Jones on Flickr)
As GM’s Vice President of Research and Development and Strategic Planning, Larry Burns usually toes the line between excessive cheerleading and dry technical jargon. Burns seemed to be leaning toward the former at the 88th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, where he delivered a speech at the Chairman’s Luncheon. In this speech, Burns called for the creation of a partnership between public agencies and private business to bring electric-drive and “connected” vehicles to the market. This grand alliance would include federal agencies, utility companies, automakers and parts manufacturers to make green cars commercially viable.
Burns called for the creation of supportive technology that would facilitate a rapid transition from gasoline to electrical on American roadways. This technology includes hydrogen fuel cells, batteries, engine sensors and GPS systems necessary for a truly interconnected clean-fuel fleet. In his speech, Larry Burns spoke with urgency of the need to leave behind internal combustion engines and old technologies in favor of an across-the-board change in America’s car culture. If he wasn’t speaking on behalf of a major producer of vehicles running on internal combustion engines, he would have been far more convincing.
While Burns was less than convincing in speaking of an auto market filled with electric-drive cars, his discussion of this collaboration’s technical and economic repercussions was more substantive. The research head cited improved routing of congested traffic, advanced parking payments and increased motorist safety as the results of this alliance. The lunch’s attendees lapped up the promises of energy independence, job increases and a forward-looking economy espoused by Burns as the economy continues to sink.
Skepticism of Larry Burns’ speech center around the lack of specifics as well as the state of General Motors at the moment. General Motors would be a bit player rather than a leader in this alliance at the moment, a reality that would not work well for a company accustomed to working from the top. The platitudes presented to the Transportation Research Board meeting sound great but Americans are tired of hearing pleasant words and unrealistic projections from domestic automakers. While the promise of an electric-drive portfolio and collective action sounds great, General Motors needs to first survive the economic downturn before Larry Burns can turn these words into action.
