Goro Tamai joined General Motors’ Saturn Corporation in 1995 as a member of the Saturn Powertrain Engineering group in Madison Heights, Michigan. His work focused on cylinder head and valvetrain design for the Saturn engine, with emphasis on fuel economy and emissions. He was also responsible for leading the initial engineering of the GM Hybrid powertrain. His next assignment, in 2000, was at GM R&D Advanced Technology Vehicles to work on the integration of hybrid powertrains with the vehicle system. This led to a position in the GM Powertrain Advanced Engineering group in Milford, Michigan as the lead engineer to develop the Saturn VUE Hybrid System. For two years, until mid 2006, Goro Tamai was the Controls System Integration Engineer (CSIE) for the 2007 Saturn VUE Green Line Hybrid production program.
Goro Tamai presently heads a group of engineers as the CSIE for the Full-Size Truck 2-Mode Hybrid program at the GM Milford Proving Grounds. He is responsible for balancing the fuel efficiency, tail-pipe emissions, drive quality, and performance by integrating the control systems of the internal-combustion engine, electric motors, transmission, and hybrid supervisory system. The first application of this 2-Mode hybrid system will debut as the 2008 Tahoe Hybrid, to be launched this coming winter.
He has authored/co-authored several technical papers. His most recent paper, presented at the 2006 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) World Congress was titled “Development of the Hybrid System for the Saturn VUE Hybrid.” He also authored the book The Leading Edge, Aerodynamic Design of Ultra-Streamlined Land Vehicles (1999), and has more than 20 patents issued or pending in automotive technologies pertaining to engine design and hybrid control systems.
He is the recipient of the 2006 GM Chairman’s Honors Award, the 2006 SAE Excellence in Oral Presentation Award , and the 2002 SAE Max Bentele Award for Engine Technology Innovation.
Goro Tamai received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993, and 1995, respectively. His undergraduate thesis at the MIT Sloan Automotive Laboratories was on research of piston-slap dynamics in an internal combustion engine. For his graduate thesis, his research was to study oil-film thickness in an internal combustion engine. Goro Tamai was also the team captain and driver of the MIT Solar Car Team which won Sunrayce 95, the premier transcontinental North American solar racing event of the time. From 1996 through 2004, Goro Tamai has spoken at solar car racing conferences primarily for college students, and volunteered as a solar race car mechanical scrutineer at qualifying events.
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