Monday, April 16, 2007
Dangerous Hybrids
This blog on motortrend.com was very interesting. Presidents present: President Bush, CEO of Ford-Mulally, CEO's for GM and Chrysler-Wagoner and LaSorda.
Anecdote by CEO Mulally, CEO of Ford.
"It was really fun to show the president, and the secretaries, the cabinet secretaries, the (Ford Edge) hydrogen hybrid," he began. "It's a really neat vehicle. It has a hydrogen fuel tank, a hydrogen fuel cell, and a lithium ion battery. And so when the battery has gone down to about 40 percent of its capacity, the hydrogen fuel cell takes over, the hydrogen goes in ... out comes water of the exhaust pipe ... you can tell I'm a designer. I'm a car guy now. And so, the important thing was, you can also fuel it by plugging it into the wall, either your electricity or your neighbor's. [Laughter.] Or you can ... run it on hydrogen. And so, we wanted to make sure it was real, and not a photo op. And so we had it plugged into an electrical outlet at the White House. And we had a long yellow cord. And so I asked [an aide] to plug in the cord next to the front wheel, next to the electrical socket, instead of the hydrogen socket. And so when I walked out, I noticed the cord was lying there, closer to the rear wheel, the hydrogen ... and I thought, 'oh, my goodness...' so I started walking faster, the president walked faster. He got to the cord before I did, and I violated all the protocol, and I touched the president. I grabbed his arm and moved him up to the front, and ... I got a break."
So former jet aircraft designer Alan Mulally saved President Bush from blowing himself up, along with Mulally and maybe Wagoner and LaSorda and a few secret service agents.
Oh, the humanity!
Anecdote by CEO Mulally, CEO of Ford.
"It was really fun to show the president, and the secretaries, the cabinet secretaries, the (Ford Edge) hydrogen hybrid," he began. "It's a really neat vehicle. It has a hydrogen fuel tank, a hydrogen fuel cell, and a lithium ion battery. And so when the battery has gone down to about 40 percent of its capacity, the hydrogen fuel cell takes over, the hydrogen goes in ... out comes water of the exhaust pipe ... you can tell I'm a designer. I'm a car guy now. And so, the important thing was, you can also fuel it by plugging it into the wall, either your electricity or your neighbor's. [Laughter.] Or you can ... run it on hydrogen. And so, we wanted to make sure it was real, and not a photo op. And so we had it plugged into an electrical outlet at the White House. And we had a long yellow cord. And so I asked [an aide] to plug in the cord next to the front wheel, next to the electrical socket, instead of the hydrogen socket. And so when I walked out, I noticed the cord was lying there, closer to the rear wheel, the hydrogen ... and I thought, 'oh, my goodness...' so I started walking faster, the president walked faster. He got to the cord before I did, and I violated all the protocol, and I touched the president. I grabbed his arm and moved him up to the front, and ... I got a break."
So former jet aircraft designer Alan Mulally saved President Bush from blowing himself up, along with Mulally and maybe Wagoner and LaSorda and a few secret service agents.
Oh, the humanity!
Labels: cars
