Interview with founding member, David West, Vice President of Marketing, Raser Technologies.

Transcript

We are speaking with David West, Vice President of Marketing for Raser Technologies, and cofounder of the advanced hybrid development consortium.

David, why did you feel a need for a consortium of advanced hybrid technology?

West: The need is there because there is a gap between the Tier 1 suppliers and the OEM, and the auto manufacturer. That gap is there because of the way our market works, it’s a competitive supply, and there’s more distance there than in, say, Japan where auto makers have vested interests in supply companies like Toshiba. For example in the case of Toyota and the Prius, Toyota has partnerships with Toshiba and Panasonic and long term plans working together to achieve this goal. Here, there’s more of a reliance that component suppliers will come up with technology that the automakers can implement into new cars.

David, I read here in your press release that your intent is to bring together component suppliers to work together to develop the next generation electric motor dominant plug-in HEV. Can you elaborate a little bit on this intent?

West: This is an invitation to join. This isn’t a description of what the consortium is, but just the first few members inviting the rest of the members to get started and go to work. And it involves component suppliers and will involve OEMs. It also involves other organizations: universities, nonprofits, and government organizations. The results of this consortium will be shared by all and the technology will be available to all. Who’s to benefit most? The consumers. The consumers will get in their hand something that has a warranty, something that’s mass produced, that has a price on it that’s right, that’s dependable, that they can go buy and use and afford. And that’s really the objective, is to get something that goes beyond scientific demonstration and academic demonstration and get right into commercial manufacturing.

The other members of your consortium consist of a power and utility company, Maxwell Technologies, a maker of ultra capacitors, and Electrovaya, a lithium ion battery company. Tell me, what is Raser’s role in this consortium?

West: Raser Technologies has one important component, one important technology that’s part of a hybrid car that happens to be at the heart of it, the drive system itself, which is undergoing some of the most radical change in a car. The balance between that and batteries, that and ultra capacitors and power management, is delicate and there needs to be a lot of cooperation there in making sure that that technology is ready to go into production. So this consortium allows automobile component suppliers to work to make their technology production ready so that it can be adapted faster by automakers, and automakers can have confidence that they can move forward and offer hybrid technology that is sustainable and profitable. The goal is to produce at least one, multiple hopefully, production ready PHEV prototypes that offer short range electric only mode and long range hybrid mode. And we see that mark being defined as 100 mile per gallon fuel economy and 200 mile per gallon fuel economy—PHEV 20 [20 miles electric] and PHEV 50 [50 miles electric].

So is this consortium’s purpose to act as a lab for the proof of concept of a plug-in HEV?

West: This is a commercial consortium; this is not an academic consortium. Our objective is: commercialize this technology. We want to get it into production so that consumers can benefit with mass produced commercial cars that offer PHEV benefits, so they can drive the first 20 or 50 miles without ever turning on their combustion engines, so they can go right past that gas station, where you feel at home for as little as six cents a kilowatt hour in some states. That means 50 cents per gallon gas again.

David, outline for me the process or steps you will take in developing the plug-in HEV.

West: Here are the milestones: establish membership that represents key components. We have one of those members providing system integration services. Establish a preliminary design that shows a valuable component design. In other words, the components are there, they work together, and they can achieve the performance. And a price design, make sure that performance is achieved at an acceptable price to the OEM and the consumer. Once we feel like we have achieved that, we then go to phase two, which invites OEMs to pick up on that design, take it, adapt it, and the technology it offers, and go to phase two which is the build of that vehicle.

You know, we read almost every day, certainly weekly, about plug-in hybrids, particularly the consumer, who at their own expense convert their HEVs into plug-in HEVs validating both the demand and the desired mileage performance. Talk to me about these ad hoc plug-in hybrids that appear to have the same goals as your consortium.

West: When a demonstration car does show improvement and benefits it’s exciting, we see the public response. The problem is, it’s disconnected from the manufacturer. It’s a hobby project, or a garage project, or an academic or a university project. Some of these cars work great, but they cost too much to produce, or they are not engineered in a way that’s mass producible by the OEM that takes production considerations into account.

Toyota produced the most popular selling HEV, the Prius, even with several models competing in the market. What particular type of plug-in will the consortium build?

West: We’re not looking for that one magic recipe, that one car that everyone’s going to love, because there is no one car that everyone’s going to love. There are different cars, different requirements, therefore the application of technology needs to respond to that. You won’t get the same benefit in an SUV as you would get in a very light vehicle that’s aerodynamic. However, the consumers who buy SUVs are looking for that hybrid benefit, and looking for a way to make it affordable for them, because they need to have a bigger car. This country was built with powerful cars that can do work, that can haul payloads, that can deliver plywood, that can haul soccer teams. It’s the way we live, so the technology needs to provide improvement and benefit to the wide spectrum kind of cars that automakers make. And some automakers will go after luxury SUVs, some will go after economy, and some automakers will go after power-enhancement.

Once the consortium produces the plug-in hybrid, how will it be further advocated to the consumer, and what financial argument can you help provide?

West: One very important thing that the consortium does is allow more credibility and a stronger voice for a number of component suppliers who have been dwarfed in the past by their big brother the OEM. And it allows the consumers to have a strong voice because consumers seem to be demanding these additional benefits for hybrid cars and hoping that automakers can provide it at a reasonable cost. So, the consortium allows a coherent political voice to seek funding, and to seek political support in terms of tax credit, to support battery purchases without increasing the cost of the vehicle, and to have some more sway with the automakers in allowing them to take advantage of more coordinated R & D, and take that for free.