GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

It is increasingly clear that battery-powered electric vehicles both with and without range extenders are going to become the primary type of automobile in the future. One concern going forward is that the US could substitute foreign-petroleum dependence for foreign-battery dependence, as nearly all lithium-ion batteries are manufactured in Asia.

President-elect Obama has stated his interest in having 1 million plug-in cars on US roads by 2015. He is also preparing a massive stimulus plan which legislators are currently working on. Word its that the package will contain advanced battery production government loans.

Recently US-based lithium-ion battery maker EnerDel has announced it had applied for $480 million in ATVMIP loans, otherwise known as the retooloing loans, from which GM has also applied for its advanced vehicle development. Reports indicate GM has actually asked for $8 billion for the Volt and Cruze programs.

A123 Systems is the Massachusetts-based lithium ion battery company which has been running against LG Chem for the Volt battery contract. Although rumors suggest A123 might not have won this round, future partnerships with GM and many other automotive OEMs are likely for the company. An official Volt announcement on the battery contract is likely in the immediate future, and I suspect we’ll here about it at next week’s Auto Show (rumor).

Today A123 has broken its pre-IPO silence with a major announcement. The company has said it plans to invest $2.3 billion in building US battery factories, with the first one expected in southeast Michigan.

The company disclosed that they have applied for $1.84 billion in ATVMIP loans.

They claim this degree of production could make enough batteries to power 5 million hybrid cars by 2013, and create 14,000 jobs.

GM vice-chairman and Volt visionary Bob Lutz said “At GM, we see the development of vehicles powered by electricity as key to the transformation of our industry. And advanced battery technology, is at the heart of this transformation. A123′s proposal to manufacture advanced battery cells and packs right here in the United States is a positive development for our industry and the nation.”

Source (BusinessWire)

There is some uncertainty about what the general demand for electric cars will be. Along with the 36% total drop in auto sales in December, hybrid sales dropped an even larger 43% in December. Total hybrid sales were down 10% for the year. Certainly the rapid decline is gas prices has played a significant role.

BMW’s MINI has introduced a new experimental electric car. Based on the MINI Cooper, the car has an electric drivetrain supplied by A/C Propulsion and and 35 kwh lithium-ion battery pack made by E One Moli. The car is functionally a 2-seater because the entire back seat is replaced by the massive battery pack.

The car will generate 205 hp and go from 0 to 60 in 8.5 seconds.  It has a 150 mile range.

Interestingly MINI has offered up 500 of these vehicles for interested “pioneers” to lease. The lease will be for one year at $850/month and applicants must have their own locked garage and the ability to allow installation of a specialized 240 V charging line. They will have to report back to MINI on the experience and are actually considering participants in a field trial.

The cars are only being offered to people in California, NY, and NJ. Applicants had to apply online, and the registration period was for one month. It was actually extended by 2 weeks after the first deadline passed.

I was told by MINI spokesperson Nathalie Bauthers that they received 1800 applicants overall and no decision on who will get the cars has been made yet but will be over the coming weeks. In terms of delivery she said “we will be shipping cars during the first quarter of this year with the West Coast lessees coming first, followed by the East Coast lessees.”

What do these numbers tell us about demand? This is after all a 2-seater, very expensive, has a limited one-year lease and no option to buy, is considered experimental, and gas is less than $2 per gallon. But considering the application process was theoretically open to about 50 million people over age 18 in those 3 states, with an unknown number of those who actually knew about it, is 1800 really that many applications?

Obviously we here believe in the coming electric car revolution, but is the rest of the country ready, especially with cheap gas?

It is likely that well-tested and warrantied E-REVs like the Volt will be better embraced than limited range pure EVs.

And yes, I am one of those 1800, the one year lease just might tide me over to 2010 and the Volt. But then again I may not be chosen.

Source (Bloomberg)

The Chevy Volt has started a revolution.  Not just for GM, but really for the entire automotive industry.  Perhaps the credit might go to Tesla, but certainly the widespread Volt marketing message has convinced nearly all the automakers that electric cars are the way to go.  Maybe our effort here had a little something to do with it to.  Or maybe not.

Either way, bearing the fruits of this labor, this year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit will run rampant with electric concept cars, and new news keeps coming out.

1. Mercedes Benz is expected to be revealing a pure electric and range-extended electric car called the BLueZero series, based on a SUV platform.  Daimler has indicated that “small-scale production of Mercedes-Benz cars with battery-electric drive alone will then commence in 2010.”

2. BMW will be showing its two-seater pure electric MINI E, which will begin field trials this year.  500 cars will be leased to people in NY, NJ, and CA for 1-year.  I’ll admit it, I put in my application.

3. Toyota will be revealing a newly designed short-distance, neighborhood pure electric car.  No specs or image is available.  As well the third generation Prius will be unveiled to the world.  A company official advised me rumors that it is secretly planning a solar-powered car were untrue.

4. Dodge will apparently be showing a 4th EV prototype which will be a four seater different than the Dodge EV it had shown previously.

5. Ford will be discussing its plans to bring a pure EV to market in 2011, and a commercial BEV van in 2010.  Spokesperson Alan Hall told me that although Ford has announced no lithium-ion PHEV plans yet “rest assured that we are pursuing them just as aggressively as anyone else.” There will be a “relevant” press conference at the event, and they will also be showing the new Fusion Hybrid.

6. Fisker will be unveiling the production version Karma E-REV, and unveiling a new Sunset model, which will likely be the word’s first convertible E-REV.

And of course GM.  Well nothing official, but there are continued rumors about a surprise unveiling of a new E-Flex vehicle.  GM will be introducing a newly designed 2010 Cadillac SRX.  That car was actually shown previously as the Provoq concept, an E-Flex vehicle with a hydrogen fuel cell range extender.

It should be quite an experience.  I am looking forward to being there at ground zero when the press days open on Sunday January 11th.  Stay close to the site, and I’ll get the news as soon as it hits, with of course firsthand in-depth interviews and inside information whenever possible.

And despite the recent drop in auto sales, the economy, and gas prices, the momentum for electrification of the automobile remains strong.

The following is a recent exchange I had with Volt vehicle line director Frank Weber concerning battery temperature control in the Chevy Volt.

Does the battery always have some electronics running, even when the car is turned off?
No, there is a real sleep mode.

Did you hear about former CEO Martin Eberhard noting his Tesla Roadster was constantly burning energy when it sat in the garage unused?
Yes, his refrigerator. We don’t have this problem.

What we also will do is we will condition that battery for a certain period. When its plugged in and charging, and its really really cold, then you would probably spend a fraction of your grid energy just to keep your battery conditioned so that you can leave your garage or house in very very low temperatures, driving electrically.

What if you leave your Volt outside in the extreme cold?
You could still do this. The battery is fully insulated. Keeping the battery temperature for a while. To keep it just above freezing it can drive electric. Also the car will be smart. If you don’t use your car at some point you don’t want to spend energy anymore. At that point it will just stop conditioning.

The car will know that? Say if you leave it unused for a week?
No one will want to condition the battery for a week. What’s happening at low temperatures depends on what the state of charge is, we haven’t seen any major sensitivities. This car could sit there for two weeks, but without conditioning it again, it certainly wont start on electric. The engine would start and condition the battery for a few minutes.

So is there a delay when the car decides whether to start on gas or electric?
It would know this within a fraction of a second. The moment you open the door, the calculation starts, what is the battery temperature, what is the outside temperature and how should the car start.

So the gas engine will then heat the coolant?
It will propel the car and it will condition the battery. The moment you are running the engine you have the electric heater running in the battery.

So there is an electric heater in the battery?
Yes, you can chill and heat the battery.

Do you need to keep the battery at room temperature the whole time it is operating?
You don’t have to condition it to that level.

Can you say how low a temperature can the battery go on at?
No. A certain operating window that you have. You don’t have to always keep it at 71 degrees F. Ideally that is the temperature you would like it because that is where you have the maximum power output of the battery and you have the best life expectations.

Another chapter on the EEStor story has now unfolded, this time in the world of trademark patents.

In October, the secretive Texas company EEStor was granted a trademark for “EESU”, which stands for Electrical Energy Storage Unit and refers to their unique ceramic battery. The battery is purported to be low cost, lightweight, extremely energy dense, rapidly chargeable, and has a functionally infinite lifecycle. All these attributes are each many times superior to lithium-ion batteries.  Because of these remarkable properties it is hoped to be an ideal solution for electric cars, and is the reason Canadian Zenn Motors has an exclusivity agreement to build them.

Indeed the excitement generated by the potential for these devices is why they are followed here even though they are not directly slated for use in the Chevy Volt nor has GM rendered any opinion on the company. GM promotes an open-door policy for reviewing and testing any new cells companies want to offer. GM executives deny ever receiving an EEStor prototype.

Indeed the public has never seen a working prototype of these batteries yet, and there is debate as to whether one actually exists. EEStor CEO Dick Weir has declined to answer that question when I’ve posed it to him on multiple occasions. Nonetheless, military giant Lockheed Martin has obtained an exclusive agreement to use the technology in military applications.

In fact, earlier this week a patent was awarded to Lockheed Martin for a body armor vest with a built-in EESU compartment although it is also noted that lithium-ion cells could also be used.  A spokesperson from Lockheed Martin told GM-Volt.com “that product is separate from the rights agreement with EEStor… Not associated.”

In any event, the newly discovered EESU trademark patent discloses heretofore unseen preliminary specifications for an apparent EESU model called a 24V-BDHD as follows:

Thanks to EEStor blogger ‘B’ for the tip, his site is here.

Source (US Patent and Trademark Office)

Sportscar maker Lotus has just announced its intention to get into the electric car arena. They already make the bodies for the Tesla Roadster, which are based on the Lotus Elise.

Lotus’ CEO Michael Kimberley said “Don’t be surprised to see an electric Lotus shortly, we are working on the technologies that will go behind it.”

Unlike the Tesla Roadster, and of particular note to us, Lotus plans to make the car an extended-range electric vehicle just like the Volt.

The vehicle is expected to get 300 to 400 miles of range, and may be revealed at the Geneva Auto Show in March.

One more example of the merits of the E-Flex design, imitation being the greatest form of flattery. Although don’t expect high volumes and low prices from Lotus.

Source (Financial Times)

On a related note, Toyota is reported to secretly be working on a solar-powered car. According to the Nikkei, Toyota is working on a car that will get some of its power from solar roof cells, and the rest from the solar cells on the roof of an owners home. The next generation of the vehicle has the goal of obtaining all of its power from its own roof cells.

For now we’ll have to settle for a trickle charge from optional Volt or Prius roof solar panels, both of which may be making their world debuts at the Detroit Auto Show in one week.