GM, on the other hand, went to the dark side of the moon and then came back out into radio contact, so we can hear Witzenburg talking about the technology it took to get there.
Complexity or price were not issues in GM's effort, so the Precept fairly bristles with cutting-edge technologies. Indeed, there has probably never been a vehicle so well-equipped with the latest techno-toys.
GM figured pulling out all the stops was the only way to get to that 80 mpg goal, and decided to take advantage of that by using the PNGV loadstar as a way of developing and testing a bunch of technologies that might one day soon turn up in regular old boring production cars.
In response to a question about these technologies, Witzenburg pulls out a neat little card upon which he has typed the entire list. It is impressive and wide-ranging, covering such things as:
- a dual-axle regenerative parallel hybrid system
- the world's lowest aerodynamic drag for a 5-passenger sedan
- three highly efficient propulsion power sources
- an intelligent vehicle climate control system
- rear camera vision integrated into a single central instrument display
- four-wheel brake-by-wire incorporating blended regenerative braking
- an aerospace-type electrical control system
- the world's most energy efficient vehicle lighting system
- lightweight and efficient body and chassis
- world's first Lithium Polymer vehicle battery pack