GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

In late 2007 Honda President Takeo Fukui went on record saying he “saw no value in developing plug-in hybrid vehicles”. He criticized the Volt concept saying “my feeling is that the kind of plug-in hybrid currently proposed by different auto makers can be best described as a battery electric vehicle equipped with an unnecessary fuel engine and fuel tank,” though he did acknowledge if “we can come up with a really high-performing battery” a pure BEV would be the way to go.

Fast forward a year and a half later and Honda appears to have changed its tune.

Honda R&D Chief Engineer Kenji Nakano spoke at an SAE conference. He told attendees that Honda now believes a range of hybrid options are necessary and will be a part of Honda’s future portfolio. Included are mild hybrids, strong hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery electric vehicles, and yes, range extended electric vehicles.

“We think simple lightweight hybrid systems such as IMA are now suitable, especially for compact cars,” said Nakano. “We’ll do our best to promote hybrid technology which leads to electric drive [such as plug-in hybrids].”

Of course this shouldn’t really surprise us as Honda has just begun construction of a joint venture lithium-ion battery plant with GS Yuasa.

Welcome to the plug-in party Honda, we knew you would finally come.

Source (GreenCarCongress)

The end game for Chrysler is fast approaching, like the edge of a cliff.

The US government has given Chrysler until this Thursday to either complete a merger with Fiat or enter bankruptcy. Reports indicate that the government has already begun preparing for the bankruptcy proceedings, and that even if a deal is reached, bankruptcy may still ensure.

GM on the other hand has been given to June 1st to restructure or face similar consequences. Both companies are contending with debtholders who are unwilling to accept concessions to reduce the companies obligations.

There are indications that GM may announce on Monday that they will be shutting down their storied American iconic Pontiac brand forever, though the company has not confirmed this. Reports also indicate that GMC will be allowed to stay on along with Chevrolet, Cadillac, and Buick.  Meanwhile GM will be idling 13 plants up to 9 weeks this summer to save cash and has just received another $2 billion in government funds to continue operations.

Even if GM too has to enter bankruptcy on June 1st, a smaller leaner and profitable GM along with the Volt and Voltec is expected to rapidly emerge.

Chrysler though may simply be liquidated and sold off if deals with banks and Fiat cannot be reached.

Stay tuned, the week ahead may be full of surprises.

It is often asked whether the Volt’s 40 mile all-electric range (AER) will be applicable both to city and highway driving. Other questions include how driving aggressiveness and the use of heating and air-conditioning might affect range. I had a chance to discuss these matters with Nick Zeilinksi. Nick is GM’s Director of Advanced Technology Vehicle Engineering.

Nick describes the driving test cycles used to test the Volt and other cars. “There are three primary driving cycles, the EPA city cycle, the EPA highway cycle, and the US06,” he says. “The US06 is a very aggressive driving schedule with a lot of high speeds over 70 mph and wide open throttle.”

“The city and the highway cycles are a little bit milder than the average driver (drives),” he says. But for the Chevy Volt he confirms that “on both the city and highway schedule we are achieving the 40 mile AER.”

“The city and highway electric ranges are within about a mile of one another,” he says. “There isn’t much difference.”

Nick explains that the test cycles include “a standard set of accessory loads,” but that “air conditioning is not included.” He says the testing “also assumes a 60 F to 65 F degree temperature.”

“When we do our calculations we include parasitic loads,” he says referring to computer modeling. “In mule development we are trying to bring those to a minimum because they take away from driving range.”

LG Chem of Korea will be supplying the lithium-ion cells for the first generation Chevy Volts. The company was picked from an initial pool of 27 applicants in March 2007, eventually whittled down to 13 serious contenders. Finally, as announced in January they edged out A123 Systems in terms of preparedness and were awarded the contract for the cells that will launch the first Volts.

LG subsidiary Compact Power Inc. CEO Prahbakhar Patil has been in charge of developing the actual packs with GM, and will continue to partner with the automaker as GM takes over the assembly process on its own.

Patil told reporters that "there are no showstoppers" which would delay the launch at this point.

He also dismissed criticism about the expense of batteries and hence the Volt, claiming that "at $3 a gallon of gas, the payback is within five years." He also said CPI supplied GM 50 packs last year and will be supplying them 400 in 2009. GM has said they expect to build about 100 production prototypes prior to launch, although a few hundred more pre-production for a captured fleet are also expected.

Excitingly Patil said LG parent company in Korea has already begun the construction of the Volt’s dedicated lithium-ion cell assembly line. He said the cell line only needs to be running for about 6 months before the Volt is launched.

LG is currently capable of producing 40 million cells per month. Each Volt pack has between 200 and 300 cells. Eventually a US factory is expected.

Source (Detroit News )

As a sidebar to the Volt we follow the story of EEStor. This is the Texas-based stealth-mode company that has been working on developing a specialized energy storage unit (EESU) that is somewhat of a cross between a battery and an ultracapacitor. The device uses a specialized chemical powder called barium titanate which is alumina-coated (CMBT) and is theorized to be not only is capable of very high power density, but very high energy density.

The company has an agreement with Zenn Motor Company of Canada to supply these energy storage units for use in electric cars.

What makes these devices so groundbreaking is that if realized, they could potentially hold several times the energy of lithium-ion batteries at a fraction of the cost and weight, and experience no degradation thereby giving them an infinite lifetime. They would also be extremely rapidly rechargeable. The public has been waiting for a demonstration of these devices for years but to date it has not occurred.

Today a very special, long-awaited and per EEStor “huge” milestone was achieved. They report their CMBT powder has been certified as having met or exceeded a relative permittivity of 22,500. This value has to do with the ability of energy storage material to store charge. A large permittivity means the material has a large capacitance, or ability to store charge.

Of course at this point no working prototype has yet been demonstrated, but Zenn continues to report it expects working prototypes.

Michael Bergeron, VP of Engineering of ZENN said “The permittivity results as indicated are beyond the specifications outlined in our technology agreement which is extremely encouraging, we will review these results and expect to announce our findings as soon as they are available.”

“EEStor’s announcement reveals continued progress in developing their Electrical Energy Storage Unit,” said Ian Clifford, CEO of ZENN. “We remain focused on fulfilling our cityZENN and ZENNergyTM drivetrain programs, the first implementations of EEStor’s EESU.

Full EEStor Press Release:

CEDAR PARK, Texas, April 22 /PRNewswire/ — EEStor, Inc. announces relative permittivity certification of their Composition Modified Barium-Titanate powders. The third party certification tests were performed by Texas Research International’s Dr. Edward G. Golla, PhD., Laboratory Director. He has certificated that EEStor’s patented and patent pending Composition Modified Barium-Titanate Powders have met and/or exceeded a relative permittivity of 22,500.

EEStor feels this is a huge milestone which opens the advancement of key products and services in the electrical energy storage markets of today. The automotive and renewable energy sectors are a few of the key markets that would benefit greatly with the technology.

LG Chem is the Korean battery manufacturer GM has chosen to supply lithium ion cells for the Chevy Volt’s battery pack. The company was chosen based on its chemistry, cost, production capacity, purity standards, and ability to deliver on time.

Prabakhar Patil is the CEO of Compact Power Inc, an LG subsidiary that helped GM design the Volt’s integrated pack. His company will continue to partner with GM on further pack development even though GM itself will be taking over on pack assembly and future pack design.

If any doubts remain about GM’s or LG’s ability to deliver, Patil told Reuters that Volt production remains “on schedule” for production launch in November 2010.

He noted that GM is pressing ahead on the Volt program despite financial difficulties.

“From GM’s side, it’s their highest priority program,” said Patil. “I continue to see the same kind of commitment. I don’t see any near term or imminent issues.”

These sentiments are regularly echoed by the GM team executive team responsible for building the Volt. In fact today, GM’s VP of Energy and Environment Beth Lowery said “that despite the current economic challenges and the fact that we are undergoing great changes to reinvent the company, resources for “green” initiatives are being preserved.”

Source (Reuters)