As it continues to work on a turnaround, Dell on Monday announced that it has named a former General Electric executive to serve as its new chief financial officer.
Brian Gladden, who had nearly 20 years of finance and management experience at GE, will join the computer maker Tuesday as a senior vice president, assuming the role of chief financial officer on June 13. Gladden is coming from Sabic Innovative Plastics, a GE Plastics spin-off where he has been serving as chief executive. Sabic is a unit of Saudi Basic Industries.
Prior to joining Sabic, Gladden held such posts as CFO of both GE Plastics and GE Medical Systems Healthcare IT.
"We look forward to welcoming Brian as an operationally focused CFO whose skills in running multibillion-dollar enterprises, and substantial experience with an industry leader, make him an ideal fit for the global economies in which we operate," Michael Dell, chief executive of Dell, said in a statement.
Gladden is replacing Donald Carty,
Carty, who will remain a Dell director, took over the CFO position in January 2007, as the computer maker tried to address a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting practices.
Carty, who was on Dell's board at the time of his CFO appointment, had been serving on the board's audit committee, which initiated its own investigation into the company's
"Don has played a key role in re-establishing transparency and integrity in our financial practices, and we are extremely grateful to have had his leadership," Michael Dell, chief executive, said in a statement.
It may look like a British milk truck but it's really a lithium ion battery powered vehicle concept from Nissan that might be a Scion xB alternative. Brian Cooley gives us a first look at the 2008 New York International auto show.
Click here to see our photos
Nissan showed off its electric-powered concept vehicle at the 2008 New York auto show. Based on Nissan's existing Cube small car, currently sold in Japan, the Denki Cube concept uses an electric powertrain with lithium ion batteries.
Two years ago, Zap, the electric transportation specialist out of Santa Rosa, Calif., talked about coming out with a luxury, all-electric SUV called the Zap-X in late 2008 or early 2009. Things have changed a bit.
The company now plans to kick off its electric car strategy with the Alias, a three-wheeled electric car, CEO Steve Schneider said in a phone interview. The company hopes to have a working prototype later this year and then start selling cars in 2009.
Zap and China's Youngman Automotive Group, through a joint venture called Detroit Electric, will then follow up with an economy car, roughly coming out in 2010 or 2011, then a four-seater sedan similar in size and price to a Honda Civic. Subsequently, it will come out with a four-seater sedan that will compete in the Audi class.
An artist's rendering of the Zap Alias.
(Credit: Zap)The Zap-X is still on the road map, but now it's coming later, Schneider asserted.
The switch--starting at the low-end and going up rather than starting high and trickling down--comes as a result of circumstances, necessity, and new partnerships, Schneider said. Zap signed a deal with China's Youngman motors in 2007. Youngman is China's larger domestic car manufacturer and has several models on the street there.
The idea now is to take gas-burning cars produced by Youngman and retrofit them for electric engines and batteries. Manufacturing will become cheaper because a production line already exists. Miles Automotive, which plans to come out with an electric car in 2009 based around an existing Chinese gas-burning car, is doing the same.
The strategy, though, involves a large risk. Batteries remain costly for electric cars. A huge portion of the $98,000 cost of the Tesla Roadster lay in the battery, and the Tesla can only go around 250 miles on a charge. Economy cars in the $35,000 price band only have a range of around 100 miles, a short distance that makes consumers wary. (Toyota and General Motors have both said that the limited range on earlier electric cars was a big reason they didn't sell well.) Some companies are contemplating urging buyers of electric economy cars to occasionally use gas-burning cars for those days they need to drive more than 100 miles. Need to go to Tahoe? Here's your SUV.
The Zap-X SUV, as illustrated on Zap's home page.
(Credit: Zap)Regulatory issues are part of the reason that Zap's three-wheeler will come out first. Three-wheelers are classified as motorcycles so the safety and crash testing regulations are easier to meet. Venture Vehicles, which also wants to come out with a three-wheeler in 2009, is following the same strategy.
"The production time is relatively straightforward. It is only a matter of how fast we can get them through the regulatory framework," Schneider said.
The marketing will also de-emphasize the Zap name, which has had an up-and-down history with investors and consumers. Zap will sell cars that run at 55 miles per hour and less, but the freeway legal cars (which includes everything from the economy car up) will be sold under the Detroit Electric moniker. Detroit Electric was actually a car manufacturer from 1906 to 1939.
"They have sold more electric cars than anyone," Schneider said. The company liked the history and the brand and so decided to buy it.
As part of a promotion, Zap will sell a commemorative version of an electric car that Detroit came out with 100 years ago.
Many have been skeptical of Zap in the past. The company tried to bring Smart Cars to the U.S. in a deal that didn't get off the ground. Nonetheless, the little company does seem to be able to land interesting alliances. It recruited Albert Lam, former managing director at Lotus Engineering, to serve on its board of directors. Lam was instrumental in linking the deal with Youngman. And the company landed millions from investors in Dubai. Lotus also works with Zap.
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Silicon Valley is sparking a revolution in alternative-fuel autos, but it may take awhile--too long perhaps--to effect change in Detroit, according to a panel of auto executives.
A group of electric and traditional carmakers spoke here Friday at the Joint Venture Silicon Valley conference about innovation, why alternative carmakers are attracted to the Valley, and whether nimble upstarts can overshadow the big Detroit automakers. The consensus was that Silicon Valley is commanding the attention of the auto world, whether it will dominate or not.
"We're not going to take over China or Detroit, but every carmaker has an outpost here and is watching what people are doing," said Felix Kramer, founder of nonprofit plug-in hybrid initiative CalCars. "This can be a real incubation area for new technology in automotive."
To be sure, Silicon Valley is rife with change when it comes to the merger of technology and autos.
Volkswagen, for example, recently funded Stanford University in order to develop a new car lab whose mission is to study "cutting-edge research in safety, comfort, and fun for the consumer driving the car," said Sebastian Thrun, while speaking at an artificial intelligence conference Thursday night. The lab, which will open later this year, will focus on new technologies such as computer-assisted driving--for instance, a car that could park itself. Eventually, self-driving or smart cars could help make driving more efficient and safe, Thrun said.
"When kids can drive themselves to soccer, and do away with the soccer parent, humanity will be better off," Thrun said.
Elon Musk's Tesla Motors, also based in Silicon Valley, is delivering its first production models of an electric two-seater roadster, for a price of nearly $100,000. It eventually plans to sell a four-door electric car for about half the price and then even more affordable models later.
Another Palo Alto upstart called Project Better Place, founded by former SAP executive Shai Agassi, recently announced that it will team with Renault and Nissan car companies, along with the Israeli government, to develop electric cars and electric-battery stations in that nation. It has raised $200 million to produce lithium-ion batteries and the facilities to recharge those batteries--and its cars are expected to be ready by 2011.
Google, based in Mountain View, also recently announced Recharge It, a project to convert hybrids to plug-in hybrids and test vehicle-to-grid technology, in which the vehicle's battery powers the electrical grid. Milpitas-based OEMtek is charging people $12,500 to convert their Toyota Prius into a more efficient car (getting 100 miles per gallon vs. 45 miles per gallon) with a larger battery.
San Dimas-based AC Propulsion, which makes an all-electric Scion eBox for $70,000, is also opening up an office in Palo Alto to service customers here, according to Tom Gage, CEO of AC Propulsion who spoke on the panel. (Gage drives an eBox, an electric car that gets 120 miles on one charge. The company's first customer was actor Tom Hanks.) AC Propulsion also supplies technology to Tesla Motors.
So why is Silicon Valley such a hotbed for alternative cars? It's the customers.
"The driving public here is among the most enlightened in environmental and policy issues," Gage said.
CalCars' Kramer, added to the sentiment: "The plug-in hybrid is the first thing to come here because of popular demand," he said, referring to the movement behind CalCars, Ourpower.org, and Google's plug-in effort. "There's a different customer here in the Valley, and that's why we favor this area."
Backing up his point, 30 percent of the people in the audience said in a poll that they drove a hybrid to the conference.
Byron Shaw, managing director of the Advanced Technology Office at General Motors and who's based here, spoke on the panel about the goals of GM, which is one of the first major car companies to say that it will develop a plug-in hybrid. Shaw said that the company plans to introduce the first rendition of the plug-in Chevy Volt in 2010 along with similar versions for the Saturn. He said that GM will also sell a bevy of alternative-fuel vehicles in the next decade, including electric cars, fuel cell cars, and vehicle-to-grid plug-ins.
"There's an opportunity to bring Silicon Valley and the auto industry together because the two don't always march to the same drum," he said. "We have a wealth of experience of building vehicles, but there are things changing that now, such as the conventional cost of fossil fuels. In the same way Silicon Valley has driven down costs of technology, it may happen with the auto industry, too."
That said, GM is slower than the technology industry, he said, and the company is driven by a fickle consumer. One consideration, for example, is that the battery for a hybrid plug-in must operate well in cold climates like Minnesota as well as warmer places like Phoenix. "The supply base just isn't there for electric vehicles," he said.
AC Propulsion's Gage said that after working in Detroit for eight years, he's seen that car companies can change for the consumer, but it will be especially challenging in the alternative fuel market.
"It's a major transformation for the car companies," he said, "the power train is different; fuel sources are different. We have to start small and build a market base, and it has to appeal to consumers. To come back to this, Silicon Valley is more advanced in this area. Grassroots efforts will continue."
CalCars' Kramer went further with his criticism.
"They're being too slow. It's a major wedge for climate change. They need to learn about versioning--getting cars on the road and seeing what people like," Kramer said.
The panelists finished by predicting how many cars would be electric or plug-in hybrid by 2028. Two of the men, Shaw and Kramer, forecast that it would be 80 percent of cars on the road by then. Gage was more conservative at only 20 percent. The question is: Will that be enough to turn the tide of global warming?
INDIAN WELLS, Calif.--Tesla Motors is contemplating selling the drivetrains and software components necessary to build electric cars to other companies.
The company will probably come out with an announcement on this initiative in the second quarter of this year, and parts and software from Tesla could start shipping to other carmakers by 2010 or earlier, said Tesla Chairman Elon Musk during an interview at the Clean Tech Investor Summit taking place this week in Indian Wells, near Palm Springs. Of course, any third-party deals will depend on Tesla's success in getting its own cars on the road. The first car is out, but right now the company is manufacturing only a limited number of cars.
Last year at the same conference, then-CEO Martin Eberhard announced that Tesla would start selling batteries to third-party companies. Norway's Think was the first signed customer. Tesla, however, ran into manufacturing problems and in the fall of 2007 put the battery business into deep freeze.
"Tesla got ahead of itself," he said of the battery business.
The drivetrain, or powertrain, is the collection of components--the engine and transmission--that turn the wheels.
On other notes, Musk said that the company will try to finish a style prototype of its Whitestar sedan in the second quarter. This will give the public an idea of what the car will look like. A working prototype is possible by the end of the year, he said. (The company also still needs to figure out a real name for the car.)
The first version of Whitestar will run completely on batteries, but Tesla will also come out with a range-extended version, he added. Range-extended cars have a small gas motor that charges the battery while you drive. These cars cost a little bit less and can go far further than regular all-electric cars before running out of power.
Musk also said he's a fan of biofuels, but not necessarily for cars.
"It makes more sense as a jet fuel than it does for cars," he said. To grow fuel you need a lot of crops, and cars use far more energy than humans. A person might need 3,000 calories a day; a two-ton car might consume the equivalent of 300,000 calories, he estimated.
"It is not like there are vast tracks of unused land," Musk said.
By the way, Tesla isn't his main job. He spends most of the time at SpaceX, a private rocketry company that puts satellites in orbit for customers like NASA. SpaceX pulled in $100 million in revenue last year.
Lockheed Martin has signed a deal with EEStor to try to integrate the ultracapacitor start-up's electrical energy storage units into the defense contractor's products.
Financial terms of the agreement, announced Wednesday, were not disclosed.
EEStor is developing a ceramic battery chemistry that could provide 10 times the energy density of lead acid batteries at about a tenth of the weight and volume, according to Lockheed. A Lockheed spokesman said the company is interested in energy storage systems a soldier can carry, but also car batteries and energy systems for remote buildings.
Lockheed will spend most of the year evaluating samples it gets from EEStor and, if all goes well, it can start incorporating them into products. EEStor will begin to conduct qualification testing and mass production of the units in late 2008. As part of the contract, Lockheed will have the exclusive right to use EEStor products in the homeland security market.
The company also announced that former Dell Chairman Mort Topfer has joined its board. Last year, it was reported that Topfer left the board. The Toronto Star broke that story. (I wrote a story repeating what the Star said, citing the newspaper.) Reporter Tyler Hamilton says that Topfer did leave, but is now rejoining.
This marks another unexpected turn in the EEStor saga. The company has devised an energy storage device that it says can change the battery industry. Zenn Motors of Canada is an investor and wants to incorporate the batteries into its cars. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is said to be an investor.
EEStor, however, doesn't say a lot. In fact, the company rarely gives statements or issues releases, though it's one of the favorite topics of debate in the clean-tech world. For instance, EEStor didn't say it will begin qualification and testing on the battery units that are part of this deal. Lockheed did, in its own release (which, incidentally, doesn't include quotes from EEStor). EEStor didn't put a release out on the deal, though it put one out on Topfer.
Some people who have visited the company's facilities or reviewed its patents have come away believers. Others have become skeptics. EEStor had hoped to come out with products in 2007 but was forced to delay.
The Lockheed deal gives the company a shot of credibility. Critics, though, will likely remain skeptical until they see the devices. Defense contractors, after all, sign lots of deals like this.
In order to get its electric sports car to owners sooner, Tesla Motors plans to deliver cars with a temporary transmission that falls short of its originally promised performance.
The news was distributed to the wide world on Thursday in a blog post from Ze'ev Drori, Tesla's new president and CEO.
The post is a reprint of a letter that was sent to Tesla purchasers on December 21, as a follow-up to a town hall meeting for Tesla owners that took place on December 12. About 100 people, including those who called in, participated in the meeting, according to Drori.
The main goal is "to put the Tesla Roadster on the road as soon as possible," Drori said in the letter.
Tesla CEO Ze'ev Drori.
(Credit: Tesla Motors)Drori's letter lays out in straightforward details the car's setbacks and how Tesla plans to deal with them. The company also posted an audio file of the town hall meeting on Tesla's Web site.
The transmission is the main source of the Tesla's delay. A durable transmission that can maintain the original claims of 0-60 mph in 4 seconds is just not ready. In the interest of getting cars into the hands of owners, the company has decided to deliver the Tesla with a transmission that enables the car to do 0-60 in 5.7 seconds. Once the company has perfected a higher performance transmission that enables the Tesla to achieve 0-60 mph in 4 seconds, it will then retrofit all the delivered cars with the new transmission at the company's expense.
Tesla also addressed questions about overstated EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) driving range figures. The independent lab that performed the EPA's tests miscalibrated one of its tools, resulting in an inflated range, according to Drori. Since then, the car has been retested and the EPA now puts the Tesla's driving range at a combined average of 221 miles per charge. Tesla, meanwhile, still stands by its "real world" driving figures of 267 miles per charge in the city and 165 miles per charge on the highway, said Drori. Tesla also plans to retest the car closer to production.
While Tesla hopes plans to be in full production by summer 2008, it expects "some number of cars to be delivered in early 2009."
(Credit:
Michael Kanellos/CNET News.com)
Once again, Aptera, the producer of a three-wheeled electric vehicle, is making big claims.
The Aptera Typ-1, a vehicle that can get 300 miles per gallon, will be available in early 2008 for less than $30,000 in both an electric plugin, and gas electric plugin hybrid version, the company announced Monday.
The vehicle will be able to charge from any stand 110-volt outlet, according to company specs.
The Typ-1 will have a range of 120 miles on electricity alone, with a 600 mile range for the hybrid version when fully fueled. The vehicle seats two in the front, with one seat in the back big enough to fit an infant car seat, according to company specs. With that seat removed and used as a cargo area, it can fit up to 15 bags of groceries or two full-size golf club bags.
The previous prototype of the Aptera had been able to get 230 mpg, according to the company.
The car is street legal, according to Aptera. Like many of the electric vehicles you can buy right now, the vehicle is registered with the Department of Transportation as a motorcycle.
Instead of typical side mirrors, the car has displays fed by embedded cameras that show a 180-degree view of the rear and side area of the car. Its safety features include a front-end crumple zone to protect passengers and air bags.
While it all sounds well and good, we still have yet to see an actual video of the car in action that's not a computer generated promo.
"We have posted some renderings (from CAD data from which the car made (sic)) because it's easier to control the lighting and effects than with real photos," Aptera CEO Steve Fambro said in an e-mail.
"Video of the real Typ-1 is here: http://www.aptera.com/media.php," he said.
(Credit:
Aptera)
(Credit:
Aptera)
EEStor: You truly are the company that keeps on giving.
Mort Topfer, the former vice chair of Dell and one of the execs credited in helping turn it from a local phenomenon to a global PC powerhouse, has left the board of EEStor, according to Tyler Hamilton. Hamilton is not the disgraced bike racer but a reporter for the Toronto Star.
It's just one more bit of baffling news out of the Texas-based manufacturer of ultracapacitors, a device that stores electricity, and no doubt another factoid that critics will use to say that the company is not living up to its promises.
The company is supposed to be working on a state-of-the-art energy storage system for cars that recharges rapidly. It can also, allegedly, keep cars going for hundreds of miles. It has a big following among readers.
People I've talked to who have visited the company or tried to talk to them about their technology, however, have often come away confused and skeptical. "Weird", "mystery" and a shrug of the shoulders were some of the comments I got from visitors. The company does not issue many press releases and rarely talks to the press.
"If you had a way to turn lead into gold, you think you'd tell people," is how one VC summed up his feelings about the company to me in August.
Earlier this year, CEO Richard Weir also said that the first products likely would come out on or before the middle of 2008, or six months or so later than planned.
The URL for the EEStor's web site has been up for sale for a number of months.
Mort, by the way, is a big loss. He has worked in electronics for years and is well regarded as someone who can help a company scale. Dell named its main manufacturing center in Austin after him. In person, though, you'd never guess he was a big wig. The first time we met was at the Dell booth at a trade show. I thought the older guy with the gray, shoulder-length hair was an eccentric looking for handouts.
