Prior to Tesla offering its IPO we learned that Toyota would enter a partnership agreement with the California-based electric automaker to jointly develop electric cars.
With the successfully IPO, Toyota took a $50 million stake in Tesla and has begun to press forward with collaboration.
Both companies have announced the planned fruit of their labor.
The famous Toyota RAV4 EV which was built from 1997 to 2003 and sold in limited quantities in California shall be revived.
The new electric RAV4 small SUV already exits in prototype form powered by Tesla’s Panasonic battery pack and drivetrain. It is currently undergoing tests.
Tesla will deliver a fleet of RAV4 EVs by the end if this year, and if all goes well, the vehicle will go into mass production in 2012.
Some of the original RAV4EVs are still in operation, adored by the California owners.
This is quite a striking PR move on the part of Toyota, rekindling the spirit and passion the original RAV4 electric car embodied. Some have argued GM might have done the same with an EV-2. Its certainly not too late for that.
President Obama visited Holland Michigan on Thursday to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony of the new LG Chem battery plant. This plant was funded in part by a DOE stimulus grant of $151 million with a matching $151 million provided by LG Chem. Once fully operational in 2012, the plant will be capable of producing enough cells for 200,000 hybrids and electric cars, and will specifically be making the cells both for the Chevrolet Volt and the upcoming Ford Focus Electric, expected to go on sale in 2011.
“This is about more than just building a new factory,” said Obama. “It’s about building a better future for this city, for this state, and for this country.”
The Obama administration has pledged a goal of putting 1 million electric cars on US roads by 2015. So far the Recovery Act has contributed $2.5 billion towards United States electric car battery and component plants, 26 of which are already in some stage of construction. Nine of these are battery plants, including ones from A123 Systems and Johnson Controls. These facilities can collectively expect to produce 500,000 electric cars annually, and are expected to help transform Michigan into the electric car battery capital of the country.
The 650,000 square foot LG Chem plant is expected to produce 300 jobs.
“The workers at this plant, already slated to produce batteries for the new Chevy Volt, learned the other day that they’re also going to be supplying batteries for the new electric Ford Focus as soon as this operation gears up,” said Obama. “That means that by 2012, the batteries will be manufactured here in Holland, Michigan. So when you buy one of these vehicles, the battery could be stamped “Made in America” -– just like the car.”
Obama also predicted that all this investment in electrification of the automobile, will lead to more affordable electric cars in the future.
“Because of advances in the manufacture of these batteries, their costs are expected to come down by nearly 70 percent in the next few years,” he said. “That’s going to make electric and hybrid cars and trucks more affordable for more Americans.”
“It also means we’re going to be less dependent on foreign oil,” he added.
During the event, Obama got to check out and sit in both the Ford Focus Electric and for the first time, the Chevrolet Volt.
We have come a very, very long way from January 2007.
Obama Meets President and Vice President of LG Chem
It’s really no surprise that the 230 MPG rating GM once promoted the Volt as acheiving will not be officially approved by the EPA.
This efficiency was determined based on a draft methodology that has since been changed. The final method called J1711 was just recently approved by the SAE and will be used to determine the Volts’ mileage rating. The method continues to take into account the effect of nightly charging for a plug-in hybrid, and thus to some extent the average fuel economy over time, though has not yet been made public.
At yesterday’s conference when GM announced the Volt’s battery pack would be fully warrantied to 8 years or 100,000 miles, journalists asked what the Volt’s final overall mileage estimate will be.
“We just don’t know right now,” said Micky Bly, GMs director of EVs and hybrids .
In an exit interview with GM-Volt, former GM vice chair Bob Lutz said “the one thing we are reasonably sure about it whatever label we get will be triple digits,” admitting GM had jumped the gun on the 230 announcement.
Even with the new method, the debate rages and will go on between GM and the EPA right up until the point of sale in November said GM vice chairman Tom Stephens.
“We’ve been working collaboratively with the EPA and the industry to come up with a number that gives our customers something they can feel comfortable with,” Stephens said.
It may not be as simple as displaying miles-per-charge in charge-depleting and miles-per-gallon in charge-sustaining mode. People who charge twice per day or almost always drive less than 40 miles per day may burn gas so extremely rarely that generator mode fuel economy will become exceedingly unimportant for them.
In fact, according to Stephens, the EPA is considering for the Volt replacing the standard city and highway sticker with a fuel economy table illustrating expected fuel economy in several different driving distances or scenarios.
And for those who havent seen it, GM rolled out the first public version of a Victory Red Chevrolet Volt, captured by our friend Sam Abuelsamid of Autoblog who was lucky enough to attend the battery conference in Michigan. See photos above and below.
After years of speculation, General Motors has finally announced the terms of the warranty on the Chevrolet Volt’s lithium ion battery pack; eight years/100,000 miles.
The 16 total kwh pack stores sufficient energy in a band from roughly 30% to 80% state-of-charge to propel the car for up to 40 miles at ambient temperature and with moderate driving style.
Since first working with the LG Chem lithium-manganese spinel cells in October 2007, GM has definitively proven their safe and robust nature. In these nearly three years of testing, GM has completed more than 1 million miles of driving and 4 million hours of validation of Volt battery packs, which include exactly nine modules and 288 cells.
“The Chevrolet Volt’s batteries have exceeded our performance targets and are ready to hit the road,” said Micky Bly, GM executive director, global electrical systems. “Our customers are making a commitment to technology that will help reduce our dependence on petroleum. In turn, we are making a commitment to our customers to deliver the highest standards for value, safety, quality, performance and reliability for an unprecedented eight years/100,000 miles.”
GM stresses the following key features of the Volt’s battery that allow this unprecedented in the industry warranty:
Thermal Management: the intrinsic thermal management system allows the pack and car to operate flawlessly from -13 degrees Fahrenheit (-25 C) and as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit (+50 C). In cold weather the cells are warmed by the generator and in warm weather they are chilled.
Diagnostics: there are more than 500 diagnostic tests on the pack that run 10 times per second. 85 percent ensure the pack is operating safely, 15 percent ensure durability.
Cell design: the LG chemistry ensures high power and long life.
Energy Management: by not fully charging or discharging the battery ensures the longest possible life.
GM is on track to deliver the Volt to customers later this year.
“We’re moving fast to deliver for the customer and ensure the Volt launch stays on track,” said Nancy Laubenthal, plant manager of the Brownstown Battery Plant. “Last August we announced the investment in the Brownstown facility and in January built our first completed battery pack. Now we are finishing pre-production batteries and soon we will begin building production batteries for Chevrolet Volts that will be delivered to dealers before the end of the year.”
In addition to this battery warranty, GM is also offering the following additional warranties on the car:
100,000 mile/5-year transferable Engine Limited Warranty (for Range Extender)
100,000 mile/5-year 24/7 Roadside Assistance Program
100,000 mile/5-year 24/7 Courtesy Transportation Program
36,000 mile/ 3-year no deductible Bumper-to-Bumper transferable warranty
100,000 mile/6-year corrosion protection
At 4PM Eastern you can ask questions directly of Volt vehicle line executive Doug Parks and Volt marketing director Tony DiSalle in the chat box below:
GM has issued a brief press statement indicating that some major Volt news will be announced Wednesday at 2 PM Eastern time. The news will be reported from GMs Brownstown battery assembly plant. This is the facility where GM has been manufacturing Chevrolet Volt battery packs using the prismatic lithium ion cells provided by LG Chem. Hundreds of prototype packs have been assembled since the first rolled off the line in January.
This facility is of sufficient size to support full mass production of the Volt, slated at 30,000 cars per year for 2012.
On Thursday it is known that President Obama will be coming to Michigan to visit the groundbreaking ceremony of LG Chem’s battery plant in Holland Michigan. This plant will be capable of building enough lithium-ion cells for about 50,000 plug-in hybrids per year, one of which is the Volt. Ford has just announced it will also source lithium-ion cells from LG Chem for its upcoming Ford Focus Electric which. These cells will eventually also come from this plant.
GM has stated that the media briefing will provide the following three details:
1. A “major consumer initiative”
2. “Details on the validation and testing of the Chevrolet Volt’s lithium-ion battery ”
3. Details on “the start of regular production”
Information will be announced by Tom Stephens who is GM’s vice chairman of Global Product Operations and Micky Bly who is GM’s executive director of Global Electrical Systems.
It might be fun to speculate what great news we will be hearing. Sources tell GM-Volt the consumer initiative is indeed Volt-related and the Detroit News has reported GM will be releasing the terms of the Volt’s battery warranty.
Stay tuned to this site and we will provide all the details later in the day, including a webchat with Volt vehicle line executive Doug Parks and Volt marketing director Tony DiSalle.
People often ask why GM doesn’t seem to be advertising the Volt.
It turns out now that launch is near, the process has begun. Since GM announced the new initial launch markets of Texas and New York, print, television, and newspaper ads have begun appearing in those regions.
At the top of this article you can see a copy of the Volt print ad that ran among other places in the New York Times. At the bottom of this article you can see a 30 second Chevrolet Volt television commercial.
I also had the follwing discussion on this with Tony DiSalle who is GMs director of Volt marketing.
How about people who get confused about the 40 mile range, do you think there is some education needed as some people see the LEAF as being somehow better and how will you go about correcting that?
There’s no question. How we are going about doing it? One way is to talk to you and people like yourself to get the word out. Clearly we have a lot more work to do digitally ourselves. You will absolutely see messaging from us from an advertising and marketing perspective to try to get the word out as well. You’re absolutely right, this is neat, it is a great marketing challenge as there isn’t a clear frame of reference for this. We’re kind of in many ways because the car is so innovative, we have to over-communicate in order to land the message with the consumer.
In terms of how the Volt does what it does, how we are able to achieve this notion of you don’t have to sacrifice your lifestyle. You charge your Volt overnight you take it out running errands, your plans change, don’t worry about it, you don’t have to come home and recharge. We have a backup system that’s going to get you where you need to go.
We’re working on creative concepts to help bring that to life right now, and also a lot of the PR outreach talking to people like yourself is really important.
The grassroots approach?
Yes. And I’ll also tell you we have a saying here that there is no better marketing told for the Volt than the Volt. Getting people in the car is going to be very very important.
You mean buyers and owners?
Buyers and having dealers demonstrate the vehicle and all of those kind of things. Auto shows, events, those kinds of grassroots things, as easy and as basic and as simple as it sounds, you can literally have somebody sit in the car, walk them around it, and in many cases drive it. I have found when you can do that the car can and does sell and educate itself.
I hear people ask why GM isn’t advertising the Volt in a traditional way. There’s no cool ads when Nissan is doing all this stuff for the LEAF. Are big flashy Volt ads something we will eventually see?
Oh yeah, you will at some point. Keep in mind we’re still five months away from launch. As we get closer you’ll obviously see more and more from an advertising perspective from us.
I can’t tell you specifically the medium and those kinds of things, those are things that were working through right now. There’s clearly an intent to advertise.
Will we see some celebrity endorsements, or things along those lines?
There’s nothing for me to announce to you today…we know this neurologist in New York…
