Comments on: A123’s Chevy Volt Battery Pack Won’t be Home for Christmas (or for New Year’s for that matter)

By: Continental/A123 battery pack not turning up till after the holidays

Continental/A123 battery pack not turning up till after the holidays — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 22:35:40 +0000

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By: Continental/A123 battery pack not turning up till after the holidays | Blog about finance,travel,automotive,medical.

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 19:08:54 +0000

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By: Continental/A123 battery pack not turning up till after the holidays » Hybrid News

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 19:01:50 +0000

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By: Van

Van — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:12:34 +0000

Early 2008 could be as late as June 30, 2008. So the mules that are in the works would not have the A123 battery packs because they would still need the 4 month lab test period. Now if “early 2008″ meant the first quarter, before the end of March, then A123 might still be in the game. But it looks bad to me.

We do know the cells have been shipped to Conti, and we do not know the reason for the delay.

By: AES

AES — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 03:21:20 +0000

According to this MIT article, it seems A123 was beginning work on the redesigned flat cell back in AUGUST:

http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/19226/

So they probably only just now sent the pack to Continental.

Whereas CPI probably had ≥10Ah cells available for pack construction the moment they got the contract.

By: Drake

Drake — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 23:09:44 +0000

haha, love the graphic Lyle.

Maybe A123 isn’t the company we thought they were. I wonder how their batteries will hold up in GM’s test lab.

By: hevfuture

hevfuture — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 22:16:05 +0000

Hi Lyle,

Has anyone found numbers regarding the cycle life (lifespan, % capacity after cycling) or capacity of the LG Chemical cells? It seems that the best data that anyone can quote is back from 2003, as shown in the following link that you once posted:

http://futuredrive.wordpress.com/2007/10/20/survey-of-usabc-contractor-lithium-ion-technology/

If you are having an interview with CPI/LG-Chem at any point, it would be amazing to get more information on their current cycle life and capacity so that we can compare their cells more effectively to the A123 cells, for which there is plenty of published and current data.

Thanks!!

By: Vernon-Ga-Tech

Vernon-Ga-Tech — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:17:27 +0000

Since I was the one who said I thought A123 had delivered their battery to GM. I went back to the EVS23 video from Jon Laukner (see link below) to listen to what he had said. Listening more closely to what he said, it was LG who just delievered (Dec.2)their second battery pack for testing. I am sorry for the confusion.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/12/08/video-gms-jon-laukner-shows-off-the-first-volt-battery-pack-at/

With all said, it is obvious the A123/Continential are behind with LG delievering their second pack. Lets just hope it meets GM’s requirements when they finally do deliver.

By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 18:13:54 +0000

@ Rob #1 – I’ve been trying to get the same info, but it seems that nobody wants to talk about that – it seems to me that since they announced that A123 is making the batteries for the plug-in VUE, it could tie in to the testing process, but Google seems to have nothing but auto show announcements on the matter!

I know this is the VOLT site, but anything on the VOLT would be nice, too! For example, if the VUE makes it out on time as promised, that would go a LONG way toward shutting up the EV1 naysayers!

By: AES

AES — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:11:45 +0000

When A123 said the cells were basically done, the development contract was in its early stages. It’s possible GM subsequently decided that the cylindrical, automotive-grade cells that A123 makes (32157) weren’t space efficient enough. THEN GM and A123 had to co-develop the new prismatic cell that was only recenty unveiled at EVS.

CPI, on the other hand, already had prismatic cells done.

So I think the delay is because A123 had to do a cell redesign before sending the cells to Germany. The ball should be in Continental’s court right now.