Comments on: GM: Chevy Volt Battery Contract Not Decided Yet

By: Dillion

Dillion — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:49:03 +0000

It seems like something is missing, no?

By: shooting clothing

shooting clothing — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:22:09 +0000

Great quality stuff.

By: credit repair firms

credit repair firms — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 05:05:51 +0000

This is not bad advice, unlike a lot I have come across.

By: Kayla

Kayla — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:58:07 +0000

How much does the battery cost in the Chevy Volt? I mean will it cost more than we save? Will the volt really be worth it.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:02:53 +0000

i would rather them wait and not rush to pick a supplier and verifiy that everything will be alright with the car rather than rush to pick one and 5 years into owning the vehicle there is a major malfunction and you only get a 5 mile range. i hope that eventually which manufacturer does not get the volt contract they get contracts for mild hybrids and can supply gm with cost effective yet safe batteries so that both companies can make profit and stay afloat

By: mien green

mien green — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:45:32 +0000

That’s the way I see it shake out, too, with the majority of gen-1 customers opting for the battery lease option, just to keep the Volt affordability within range. There will always be those who’ll insist on outright total package purchase, just for the possession control issue if not the better economics, if they can afford it.

By: 57silver

57silver — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:28:10 +0000

Why do most assume A123 and CPI battery packs will be comparable in cost? All lithium ion technologies are obviously not the same and the ’superior’ battery packs are normally much more expensive than than another brand that likely have slightly lower performance or shorter lifetimes. Look at cordless power tools from competing makers that use lithium ion technologies. For instance, Black & Decker uses A123 cells in their lithium ion battery packs for the DeWalt brand of premium power tools, but those battery packs are very expensive. How much extra are consumers willing to pay for a superior battery pack? It could possibly be thousands of dollars difference in the price of the two battery packs. I would hazard a guess that the Volt battery packs will be from $10,000 to $20,000 each. As doggydogworld mentioned in post #37, some lithium ion cells cost around $100,000 per ton. That is $50 per pound of cell. The target weight of the Volt battery pack is 400 lbs. If one assumes 200 pounds of the pack is due to the weight of the cells, that would be $10,000 for the cells alone, not including the cost of building the complete battery pack.

Perhaps one brand of battery pack could be leased from the battery manufacturer, while the other pack could be purchased outright by those with sufficient cash. A possible advantage to leasing the battery pack for a specific period is that an improved technology may be available, and at a lower cost, when the lease expires. The more adventurous may prefer leasing the battery pack hoping for better tech in the future, while some may not want to take the gamble. I think both options should be available.

By: The Daily Five: Tuesday, 10 June, 2008 | EcoTech Daily

The Daily Five: Tuesday, 10 June, 2008 | EcoTech Daily — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 08:51:27 +0000

[...] GM – Chevy Volt Battery Contract Not Decided Yet: General Motors scrambled the talking heads Monday. The Pr blitz followed reports this weekend — reported here on EcoTech daily — that Korea’s LG Chem had landed the battery contract for the upcoming Chevy Volt electric hybrid. No so, says GM spokesman Rob Peterson: both Conti/A123 and CPI/LG Chem are still under consideration. We’ll keep you posted. (GM-Volt blog) [...]

By: nasaman

nasaman — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:38:26 +0000

65 N Riley, 66 Grizzlly, 69 Joe, et al……
I agree with all of you —as well as the several others that also say GM needs to place production contracts with BOTH battery suppliers. As some of you know, I have also been a very vocal advocate that GM should apply the Volt technology to other market segments ASAP, especially to rapidly-growing crossover CUV vehicles such as the Saturn VUE plug-in already in development/testing and the Cadillac Provoq plug-in concept (masquerading as a fuel cell vehicle) announced in January and employing the same platform as the VUE.

In particular, the Volt’s battery technology can easily be adapted to both the VUE & Provoq —both electrically and physically. This became clear when GM released detailed cutaway drawings of the Provoq in January. They placed a 9kWh Li-Ion battery pack under the Provoq’s front console between the firewall & rear of the front seats and explained this would give the vehicle a 20-mile EV-only range (without use of the fuel cell). I have shown conclusively in a dissertation I’ve provided to GM that, whether they keep the VUE’s 2 mode architecture or substitute the Volt’s E-REV approach, the Volt’s 16kWh battery can achieve an EV-only range of about 35-36mi at highway speeds for both the plug-in VUE & the plug-in Provoq.

And if the Volt battery were increased slightly in size to18kWh and repackaged into two “half-packs”* of 9kWh each, either CUV could achieve the Volt’s EV-only range at highway speeds of 40 miles. Since the Vue & Provoq are identical platforms, one 9kWh pack could be placed under the front console and the 2nd pack under the rear seat. This way, the basic Volt battery design from the Volt’s same two suppliers, repackaged into 2 half-packs for the VUE or Provoq, could meet the needs of three different highly-appealing vehicles in three different market segments.

*”Half-Packs” of either 8 or 9kWh, each shaped like an “I”, would be only half as heavy (& much less cumbersome to install/remove) than the Volt battery’s present “T” shape

By: Jake

Jake — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:00:58 +0000

I think Statik’s comments regarding the emergence of a “preferred” battery among Volt buyers are dead-on. At the very least, they ring true with me. I am meticulous about rechargeable battery care and performance, and if I ever own a Volt (or a later E-Flex vehicle with a little more cargo space), I WILL want to have the best battery possible in my car. I think even the average consumer is very aware of potential range issues with electric cars, so they will also want the best battery possible. If the Volt is out for a year or five and a superior battery emerges, you better believe that people will spring for that one. Just my $.02.