Bob Stempel: Engineer led GM during turbulent '90s (dies at 77)

By NICK BUNKLEY
Published: May 10, 2011

DETROIT — Robert C. Stempel, a mechanical engineer who helped develop the catalytic converter and served as chairman and chief executive of General Motors during a troubled two-year period for the automaker, died on Saturday in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 77.
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(After his career at GM ended) ... He later became chairman of Energy Conversion Devices, a suburban Detroit company that builds solar panels and created the battery technology used in hybrid cars.

As chief executive of General Motors, Mr. Stempel approved the EV1 electric car, which became the subject of the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” after G.M. later canceled the project. The EV1 would have been the first modern-day mass-produced electric vehicle.

Stanford Ovshinksy, the inventor who founded Energy Conversion Devices, described Mr. Stempel as one of the auto industry’s earliest advocates for electric cars. He said Mr. Stempel was pleased to see automakers beginning to introduce electric vehicles, including the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid.

Tue Apr-26-05 04:27 PM

Where did Waggoner's short lived predecessor Bill Stemple go? He was smart, he went into the electric vehicle and solar energy business.

“He is the best engineer I’ve ever worked with in the world,” said Stan Ovshinsky, who ran Energy Conversion Devices, a car-battery development company where Mr. Stempel worked after leaving GM.
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In the 1970s, Mr. Stempel recognized the need to cut pollution and make cars more efficient, helping lead a companywide shift to smaller, more efficient vehicles, said Lloyd Reuss, a former GM president.

Mr. Stempel led the development of the catalytic converter, which uses precious metals such as platinum to convert the harmful gases from combustion into less harmful ones.

He also pushed the development of GM’s EV1 electric car in the 1990s.
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— From News Services