Comments on: Does Construction of a Battery Factory Need to Start 2 Years Before the Volt Gets Mass-Produced?

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 02:37:03 +0000

It’s sad to think we may be trading one dependancy for another.

But in all honesty I could care less if the cars ran on cocaine, as long as it’s not oil at this point…

Yes we *may* have problems with China over this, but we *know for sure* that we have major problems with oil and oil-rich countries, so I’ll error on the side of maybe on this one, and choose potential problems with potential madmen over current active problems and current madmen…

(I really hope we could find a way to have them made in a free country though, and I’d pay more just for that)

By: OptimisticMF

OptimisticMF — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:31:41 +0000

Neutron,

Don’t disparage someone because they haven’t reviewed your library of postings. You wasted more time telling Randy to get educated than it takes to google it.

Randy,

Here is what I found:

http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/lithium/

http://www.evworld.com/blogs/index.cfm?page=blogentry&blogid=211&authorid=81&archive=0

http://www.prnewsnow.com/Public_Release/Automotive/135922.html

Don’t take my word for it, but it looks like most of the “usable” lithium is found in four countries. One of which is China, another of which is not us. That could change over the next couple of decades, but we should consider it nonetheless.

-MF

By: Estero

Estero — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:17:26 +0000

I’m just a little disappointed that A123 has chosen to have their batteries manufactured in China. While this will not change my mind about purchasing a Volt, I would much rather the battery production would be in the USA.

I’m like some of the others; don’t really want to trade dependence on mideast oil for dependence on China. If the supply of batteries coming from China were ever interrupted for whatever reason it would take years to build production facilities in the U.S. It is far better to start with U.S. production facilities right from the gitgo than be sorry later!

There are lead acid battery production facilities in Ohio, Missouri and perhaps elsewhere. Let’s give those companies the opportunity to move into the production of lithium ion batteries.

By: Neutron Flux

Neutron Flux — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 01:55:20 +0000

Randy in post #10 Says” What is the world distribution of substantial lithium deposits that are/will be cost effective to mine.” To that I say Randy read my previous post & links to the USGS publication on Lithium supplies i twill answer all your questions. I won’t repost because by reading previous posts people come up to speed, get educated & don’t ask the same questions.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 01:13:58 +0000

Well the NYT is sadly well known for propaganda and fictionalized accounts of virtually anything they see as a threat to their visions of Utopia… They swore an oath against GM many years ago, and they aren’t going to let something as minor as fact or hope stop them from that now…

…The real shame is that anyone bothers to read a publication that is less reliable than The Enquirer…

By: Randy

Randy — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:53:11 +0000

What is the world distribution of substantial lithium deposits that are/will be cost effective to mine. I realize that cost comparisons will vary greatly as petroleum prices continue to escalate but do we want to trade oil cartels for “element” cartels? I believe that the volt, and it’s eventual competitors, will provide a win-win-win situation for our country, the consumers within it, and the planet itself.

By: noel park

noel park — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:04:52 +0000

Well I hate to sound dumb again but, if the Volt is not to be sold until late 2010, that’s 3 years away. So what’s the problem in any case?

By: Drake

Drake — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:59:04 +0000

Van – the beauty of li-on batteries is that there are lithium deposits all around the world (including the U.S.) If a war were ever to break out with China (by the way, I can not see this happening any time soon) then we could easily build domestic battery plants.

Energy independence is only one of the many ways that plug-in hybrids are going to change the world. A more complete list may be found here: http://www.thecaseforpluginhybrids.com

By: kent beuchert

kent beuchert — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:57:46 +0000

GM is NOT , repeat, NOT going to be building any battery factory. Get that out of your head and never believe ANYTHING that is printed in the NY Times. That rag
has screwed up reports on companies whose stock I’ve owned, technologies that I follow, etc. and who can forget Friedman’s incredibly ignorant rant about autos, a subject he has no ability to claim any expertise about, in which he somehow managed to blame the coming Armeggeddan mostly on GM. I recently read an article in that paper in which it became obvious that the author really didn’t understand alternative energies at all – she thought all solar power technologies were basically the same. How can you explain ignorance of such astounding degree in a paper that supposedly is written by college graduates?
Almost sounds like Honda and Toyota are flooding the NY Times with advertising dollars to encourage more anti GM plug-in
articles, huh?

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:53:32 +0000

This story underscores Van’s point. A123 has just opened a factory for batteries and has just secured $30m of funding to expand manufacturing capacity.

We are seeing the kind of increase in manufacturing capacity that the quoted “expert” said would precede the release of the Volt by about 2 years.

http://www.smalltimes.com/display_article/309957/109/ARTCL/none/none/1/A123Systems-receives-$30M-to-scale-up-nano-enabled-batteries/