GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

An interesting potentially revolutionary sideline to the Volt/electric car story is the secretive Texas company called EEStor. They have reportedly been working on a special low-cost, low-weight, super-high energy density electrical storage device similar to an ultracapacitor, called the EESU. As much of a breakthrough as this device seems on paper, no one has ever seen one in the flesh. If real, the device would offer several times the energy storage as lithium-ion batteries at a fraction of the cost and weight with an unlimited lifetime

I’ve interviewed the CEO of Zenn Motors who has an exclusivity agreement with EEStor for cars, and who assured us production EESUs would be delivered by the end of this year.

I also interviewed a director at Lockheed-Martin, the company that has signed a military contract with EEStor, who actually saw EEStor’s production facilities and too advised working EESUs would be delivered by year end.

Now a company called Light Electric Vehicles has also reportedly signed an exclusivity agreement with EEStor to use their storage devices in 2 and 3 wheel vehicles.

Per the company’s press release, which actually is its entire website, the EESU would provide “over 450 watt hours per kilogram and over 700 watt hours per liter, charge in minutes, and, for all practical vehicular purposes, last indefinitely.” As well the company said it expects to offer the EESU in “a variety of electric propulsion systems for use in electric bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, and three-wheeled vehicles.”

They say they plan to offer a bike with a 1 kwh EESU weighing less than 5 pounds that will propel the bike over 100 miles.

I had a wide-ranging discussion with Robert Kruse, to whom I posed many of the questions readers here asked. Bob is GMs executive director of EVs and Hybrids. In this segment we discussed Volt production.

How many Volts are you aiming towards producing in the first year?
We have not announced a specific number for the first or subsequent years, but I can tell you were not going through all this effort and to this extreme to be a little niche player.

You will see significant and substantial volumes in the first and subsequent years. We see plenty of demand out there.

Is it true that the Detroit-Hamtramck (DHAM) plant where the Volt is expected to be built is only capable of producing 60,000 vehicles per year?

The DHAM plant is probably capable of producing at full capacity close to a couple of hundred thousand vehicles per year. The Volt is intended to be built at DHAM assuming the state and local packages are successfully negotiated.*

Has any retooling began at that facility yet to prepare for the Volt?
No, I would say that we haven’t actually started cutting metal at the plant or moving metal. I would say that the manufacturing and engineering organization have begun their plant designs and layouts. I have the Volt done completely virtually and analytically now. They’re working on the design. I don’t believe they have actually started installing any tooling yet. They have initiated orders for some of the longer lead items as it relates to equipment and manufacturing plants as it relates to the specific model of production.

How long would it take to tool up the plant for the Volt?
Obviously we have announced that the Volt will be in production by November 2010 recognizing our development program. We will be building non-saleable Volt units at the DHAM plant long before November 2010. So everything backs up from there.

So when will the first non-saleable units be produced there?
Right now I’ve got mule vehicles, integration vehicles later on, and manufacturing non-saleable vehicles will happen earlier in 2010.

Is that the captured test fleet?
First we have our non-saleables then we have our captured test fleet which are usually our first saleable vehicles.

Do the non-saleable vehicles go out on the public roads?
After they’ve met certain requirements, yes we can test them out on public roads.

Would those vehicles stay in the possession of GM employees or might others get a chance to have them?
No, maybe on a select basis but not on on an unassisted basis, that’s true for any program.

When will dealers be able to order Volts?, will it be before November 2010?
When we start into marketing and dealer allocation its really outside my swimlane. Typically there will be a dealer certification process, not every Chevy dealer will be able to sell a Volt. They’ll have to go through certification and make sure they’ve invested in their repair and service areas, trained their organization and so on.

*NOTE: The Detroit city council on Monday approved $136 million in tax abatements that GM had requested in order for them to commit to building the Volt at DHAM.

I was able to follow-up with Tim Grieg, the Volt’s chief interior designer via email to gather some more details.  Thanks Tim.

I asked him three questions:

1. What are the data options the center display will provide?
Too many to list in a single e-mail, but the CENTER display (on top of the Integrated Center Stack) will display audio, climate control, navigation, and the Volt page where the customer can program when to charge the vehicle, for instance. The display in front of the driver will show vehicle speed, total range (electric range and fuel range), total miles driven (total EV only miles and total fuel only miles), a trip odometer (again, with EV trip and fuel trip), and an efficiency meter, which will help customer fine-tune their driving to maximize their range. Other features that show up in the display in front of the driver will include information like tire pressure, etc.

2. Will the car have Internet access?
No Internet access, but I can say that GM will take advantage of what OnStar can do for our customers to expand the “experience.”

3. Will leather be an option and what is the other material?
The Volt will have 2 trim levels — one fabric and one leather.

Earlier this week Chrysler attempted to shock the world by displaying three new production-intent electric and range-extended electric vehicles.  Word was also out that the automaker was in advanced talks with A123 Systems to develop automotive batteries and had formed a strategic partnership with GE.

Chrysler must have been interested in sharing some of the publicity bestowed upon GM for the Volt program, and also must have recognized the inevitability of the electrification of the automobile.

I was interested in GMs position on this new development.  GM E-Flex spokesperson Rob Peterson offered us the following statement:

We welcome Chrysler’s decision to follow our lead into the electrification of the automobile and the development of extended-range electric vehicles like the Chevrolet Volt. When manufacturers compete, consumers win. We expect Chrysler’s announcement will accelerate the development of affordable electric vehicle technologies such as batteries – cost savings and efficiencies that will eventually be passed on to customers.

Brothers electric are also brothers in government assistance. Yesterday the US Congress has finally approved $25 billion in loans for automakers.  The President has already agreed to sign the bill and money could flow in as little as 6 months. Distribution rules have yet to be decided.

Also the tax credit for plug-in cars approved last week by the Senate, was now also approved in a modified form by the House.  It isn’t clear if the Senate will agree to these modifications, or if the issue will be solved prior to the Congressional recess.

Those who follow this site closely should have a good understanding of the relationship between the generator and the battery in the Chevy Volt. Unfortunately Edmunds did not, stating that the engine does not recharge the battery, and created a bit of an Internet frenzy over, well, nothing, they were just wrong.

The battery is recharged by the engine, but only as little as possible.  The point is to avoid petroleum use.

Here’s how it works.

For the first 40 miles, the fully charged battery (80% state of charge) powers the electric motor. Regenerative braking can help recharge the battery to a certain extent.

When the vehicle drives past 40 miles, the battery reaches a 30% or so state of charge. So called “the customer depletion point”, preventing the battery from going below that sustains the batteries longevity. Lithium-ion cells don’t survive as long when they are deep discharged, and GM has the goal of 10 years/150,000 miles.

At the customer depletion point the combustion engine fires up and operates at one of several optimized fixed RPMs. The engine turns the generator, producing electricity.

The electricity, at around 50 kw, serves primarily to propel the car. As the driver drives, there may be times when more electricity is made than the motor needs. Guess where that goes? The battery of course. GM doesn’t want to waste energy or unnecessarily use petroleum. As well the regenerative brakes opportunistically may put charge back into the battery.

The generator does not fully recharge the battery. It doesn’t make any sense to, for then you would be using petroleum to travel. The goal is to use the electric grid, so the car will carry on at approximately that 30% state of charge until the driver can get to an outlet and then fully recharge. Without recharging at an outlet, the car could drive indefinitely using gas and refills, but doing so would defeat the whole point of petroleum displacement.  It may be useful on the occasion when a long continuous drive is necessary though.

There may be times when generated electricity so far surpasses the needs of the car (i.e. a long downhill), that the battery level might get high enough to let the ICE cut off, but this probably wont be often.  If it does occur, then as the drive continues and the 30% level is reached again the ICE will turn on again continuing the cycle.

Bloomberg has reported that the EPA has reached a preliminary agreement to awarding GM a 100 mpg window sticker EPA rating for the Chevy Volt.

This information reportedly came from Volt vehicle line director Tony Posawatz who noted that the EPA agreed to use a testing method that would produce at least a 100 mpg result. GM has indicated this article was inaccurate.

GM spokesperson Rob Peterson today advised me that GM has been continuing discussions with both the EPA and CARB. He noted GM has reached a preliminary agreement with CARB (not the EPA) who has agreed to classify the Volt into a “unique” category that sets it aside from hybrids and EVs, calling it a “type G” vehicle. He also advised that we are several months away from determining a Volt sticker rating, and that it will undoubtedly require road testing of pre-Volts to do so. The number 100 or greater is far from final.

I spoke with Mike Duoba who is a national expert on plug-in hybrids at the Argonne National Lab and who chairs the SAE committee charged with developing efficiency labeling standards for plug-in cars.

He describes a methodology typically used called the full charge test. In this test, the E-REV runs through standard federal driving cycles until the car switches from charge-depleting to charge-sustaining mode. It then runs for an additional cycle. One then calculates the gallons of gas used over the number of miles driven.

This number would then be adjusted by a utility factor. This value takes into account the entire population of drivers’ driving habit. For example as is the case of the Volt, 78% of drivers drive less than 40 miles, so since few are at the extremes of range, lower mpgs at those ranges would have a small contribution to the final number.

Mike feels the window stickers will have to be simple and allow people to compare among types of cars, but thinks it is likely and appropriate for the Volts mpg to wind up greater than 100.

He acknowledges that the EPA will take the recommendations of his committee into account when they finally issue the public statement, but are not obligated to be held to them.

Remember, first 40 miles, infinite mpg. After that roughly 50 mpg, but less than 20% of daily drives go beyond 40 miles. What does this mean to the consumer?

Source (Bloomberg)