Comments on: GM-Volt Interview: Compact Power VP of Engineering, Martin Klein, Part 2

By: Rich Anderson

Rich Anderson — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 03:01:45 +0000

I envision a day when charge stations have 1-2MW or greater battery packs stabilizing the grid and offering charges to EV’s. Using an 50KW battery pack would allow for multiple high rate quick charges all the while the grid has thousands of packs to stabilize the grid. Each battery pack grid tied to a substation being constantly recharged for more charges. The technology is here now with AES using Altair nanosafe batteries. Infrastructure is must easier and much more beneficial than hydrogen or ethanol. The 33% of generated off peak power going to ground could be effectively used.

By: o.Jeff

o.Jeff — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 03:19:06 +0000

Dear Mr. Klein,

Thank you for answering Lyle’s questions!

We are counting on you and your organization to deliver a great battery pack for the Chevy Volt.

The Chevy Volt is the first car in a hundred years that has the potential to really make a positive change for the world. Whether you are concerned about energy dependence out of concern for foreign policy or for economic reasons, or whether you are concerned about global climate change, the Chevy Volt is the only car that can make a significant difference.

By: butters

butters — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:43:59 +0000

Rich #27,

A 50C charge is 72 seconds and a 100C discharge is 36 seconds. A 50C charge for a 16KWh pack would almost require a megawatt power source (800KW). I believe that Altair’s price target is $1/Wh, which would of course be $16,000 for the Volt’s pack. I wonder if that’s more expensive than the packs from A123 and CPI.

What happened with Altair in the run-up to GM’s selection of the development teams? It really does seem like there are three major technological branches to consider in the high-power lithium-ion landscape, and Altair is one of them. They’re the only ones doing anything innovative with the anode material.

By: Rich Anderson

Rich Anderson — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 03:43:11 +0000

How about a battery with 20 year life, operates and charges (50C) at -60F to +165F. Can charge in 10 minutes (100C) and can be discharged and charged totally with no damage over 15000 times. Current cost about $.50/Watt. (See AES 2MW storage system press release). Forget about cooling except maybe a fan to supply some winter heat and discharge excess to air or heat pump in summer.
Check out Altair-nanosafe battery data sheet. Altair already has an 18k battery pack. (See Aerovironment, Altair. Go Green demo in Norway).
Then use the generator to recharge the battery while supplying power to motor cycling back to battery every hour or so to give the volt even greater MPG.

By: Canuk

Canuk — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 00:21:08 +0000

Thanks for the response guys. It seems you too are keeping an eye on the happenings behind the scenes.

A123 systems has already gotten into bed with Cobasys (yikes!). However, Compact Power has not (as best I can ascertain from their website).
I hope that this is a tactic that GM has arranged so that Cobasys cannot hold the technology and the Li-ion batteries as ransom for another of their greedy motives.

I think it would behoove us to keep watch over the main players in the Volt development to see if scheming is going on which could thwart the sucessful outcome of this new car. If development is delayed or prevented, it would most certainly be very disappointing for us and generally bad for the world as a whole.

I can tell you, I’m really interested in purchasing a Volt, however, if it’s not ready in about 3 years when I need a new car, I’ll be making tracks to the Toyota store for one of their hybrids.