Grab our RSS Feed
Follow us on:
   AND    

Archive for the 'Battery' Category

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »

Chevy Volt Will Continue to Operate Even after Battery Drops Below 50% Capacity

July 24th, 2009 | Posted in: Battery, Engineering with 252 Comments

Lithium-ion batteries degrade over time. There’s no getting around this fact. GM is going out of its way to pamper the Volt’s pack so as to guarantee up to 40 miles of pure electric range even at 10 years or 150,000 miles of driving. But what happens beyond that?
Most experts believe the [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 252 Comments

GM Volt Battery Assembly Plant Site Chosen

July 17th, 2009 | Posted in: Battery, Production with 132 Comments

It is being reported that General Motors has chosen the site where it will assemble Chevy Volt battery packs. They have not officially announced this but sources indicate a press event is expected within a month.
The Chevy Volt is dependent on its state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery packs for propulsion. The 16 kwh packs are [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 132 Comments

GM Orders Enough Hitachi Lithium-ion Cells for 100,000 Hybrid Cars

July 3rd, 2009 | Posted in: Battery, Hybrid with 145 Comments

Most people here know that GM has contracted with LG Chem to supply large format lithium-ion cells for the Chevy Volt in an agreement that goes out until 2015.
As we have learned from discussions with GM’s battery people, the company continues to work with multiple battery suppliers and is always looking for new cell technology [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 145 Comments

GM Advanced Battery Lab Tour w/ Video Part II

July 1st, 2009 | Posted in: Battery, Research, Video with 259 Comments

I recently had the chance to tour GM’s newly opened 33,000 square foot advanced battery lab in Warren Michigan.  The first video is here.  This is where the Volt’s batteries are being lab tested.  Other hybrid systems are being tested here as are cells from outside suppliers.
In this video we see a presentation by Dr. [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 259 Comments

GM Advanced Battery Lab Tour w/Video – Part I

June 22nd, 2009 | Posted in: Battery, Production, Video with 213 Comments

While in Warren Michigan for the opening of the GM advanced battery lab I along with a group of journalists was given a tour of the facility.  I filmed the event (video below).  In this segment we hear from Bill Wallace, engineering group manager, GM battery lab. He shows us the current Chevy Volt pack [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 213 Comments

LG Chem Breaks Ground on New Lithium-ion Battery Plant in Korea, Eventually Plans to Build One in US

June 10th, 2009 | Posted in: Battery, Production with 118 Comments

LG Chem is the Korean company that GM chose to supply the lithium-ion battery cells for the Chevrolet Volt.  LG has already begun the process of creating the assembly line that will manufacture the proprietary large format or prismatic cells for the Volt.  Those cells will be shipped to the USA and placed into packs [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 118 Comments

GM Opens Global Battery Systems Lab

June 8th, 2009 | Posted in: Battery, Research with 126 Comments

On Monday June 8th, GM despite being amidst a chapter 11 bankruptcy, formally opened its new expansive advanced automotive battery systems lab. I was present for the press conference and heard the announcement live.
The lab is the largest and most technologically advanced automotive battery lab in the United States.
Located in the sprawling 1 mile square [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 126 Comments

GM Committed to Study the Application of Ultracapacitors to Future Chevy Volts

May 23rd, 2009 | Posted in: Battery, Gen II, Research with 83 Comments

Argonne National Laboratory has been pursuing a research project since mid 2007.  The idea is to blend ultracapcitors with lithium-ion batteries in the energy storage system of a PHEV.  Lithium-ion batteries are particularly good at energy density whereas ultracapacitors are best in terms of power density.  High energy density is needed for traveling long distances, [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 83 Comments

LG Chem Has Begun Battery Plant Construction for Chevy Volt Cells

April 23rd, 2009 | Posted in: Battery, Production with 148 Comments

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 [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 148 Comments

LG Chem Confident About Volt Launch Date

April 22nd, 2009 | Posted in: Battery, Production with 73 Comments

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 [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 73 Comments

GM Volt Battery Update

March 19th, 2009 | Posted in: Battery, Engineering, Production with 177 Comments

GM hosted a press conference on their battery strategy and GMs director of EVs and HEVs Bob Kruse wrote a blog post about it.
As we know, the Volt lithium-ion cell contract went to LG Chem of Korea. Mainly the decision to choose them over A123 was based on the fact that LG was ready [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 177 Comments

Q&A With Lithium Battery Charging Breakthrough Inventor Byoungwoo Kang, and What Does This Mean for Electric Cars?

March 13th, 2009 | Posted in: Battery, Research with 164 Comments

On March 11th, the world heard about a new breakthrough in lithium-ion battery technology. Researchers Gerbrand Ceder and Byoungwoo Kang created a new technique that gives lithium-ion batteries a 100 fold increase in power density. These new batteries when moved from lab to factory could allow charging at 100 times the speed and release [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 164 Comments

RSS Recent Posts

RSS Recent GM-Volt Forum Posts