GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

Lithium batteries and cold weather do not go well together. An incredibly important part of engineering the Volt, and electric cars in general, is to assure that they will function properly in very cold weather.

My MINI-E which is rudimentary and relies on cabin air to warm the pack, was just  in the shop having been towed for the third time in its short 7 month life. In temperatures below 32 degrees I regularly only get about 55 to 60 miles of range. I came out of my workplace two weeks ago to find the car unable to start with the battery registering zero.  A “battery module” was replaced.

The Volt battery has its own independently regulated software-controlled liquid thermal management system that ensures stability, reproducibility and longevity.

GM’s Voltec engineering team are on another road trip to Kapuskasing Ontario to cold-weather test the Volt.  Kapuskasing is 500 miles north of Toronto and this time of year has temps regularly below zero.

As Volt engineer Pam Fletcher writes:

We want to see how the vehicle responds in temperatures as low as -40 degrees C. Basically, we try to simulate customer behavior to be sure the vehicle responds exactly as a customer would expect.

Despite the frigid temperatures, the Volt is engineered to handle extreme conditions.  The battery is warmed up during plug-in charging, which is recommended particularly in cold climates, but we realize not everyone will do this.  So at night, we plug-in some vehicles and some we don’t.  We want to ensure the vehicles start in the morning, or if the battery is too cold, we want to be certain the engine-generator starts first to protect the battery.  The engine-generator system will provide energy to heat battery if it was not plugged in or to supplement battery temperature.  By the time you remote start the car, or remote cabin conditioning as we refer to it in the Volt, pack up your things and get in, the car is ready to go.

To learn more about cold weather testing the Volt, and to ask your own questions, tune in at 730 PM EDT for a live real time chat with Pam and Volt lead engineer Andrew Farah in the box below:

As my recent Drive Electric Cars video illustrated, there are a great many divergent reasons why people want to drive electric cars.

There appears to be three largest groups; those concerned about energy security, those concerned about global warming, and those concerned about peak oil.  Almost as polarizing as abortion and capital punishment, members of each group often don’t see eye to eye, yet stunningly all want electric cars. Rarely does one unifying theme attract so many diverse interests.

GM vice chairman Bob Lutz wants electric cars too.

He gained significant notoriety in 2008 when he famously called global warming a “crock of sh*t.” Despite the PR backlash he hasn’t changed his views, though perhaps his choice of words, and recently expanded on his ideas with reporters.

“I am not going to give a speech on this because everytime I do I get in trouble,” he quipped.

“All I ever say is look at the data, look at the empirical evidence,” said Lutz about global warming. “Look at what they said 10 years ago what would happen with rising ocean levels, it hasn’t happened.”

Lutz actually thinks the planet is cooling due to reduced solar flare activity.

“It has got nothing to do with CO2, it’s got everything to do with solar activity,” he said.

So why does Lutz think we need electric cars? Peak Oil.

He is especially concerned that over the next 20 years growth of the automotive market in China will surpass the rest of the world combined, putting great pressure on the remaining oil supply.

“At that point we have to have alternative drive systems, which to me have to be electric,” said Lutz.

So what drives you to want to drive an electric car?

Source (SMH)

Alex Cattelan is a GM engineer working on development of the Voltec powertrain, and has been involved in the Volt program ever since the beginning.

She recently had the chance to drive a pre-production Volt out among a fleet of seven cars to Knoxville, Tennessee.  Cattelan also noted she has previously driven pre-production and mule Volts in cold Canadian winter conditions, high altitudes in Denver, and the scorching heat of Death Valley, and through it all “we have not found any surprises,” she wrote.

Cattelan says that the “twisty, winding roads” of Knoxville are particularly a place where “you really get to see what a car is made of.” And in that place she said of the Volt’s performance from a driver experience standpoint “we are happy with the results.”

She explains it was in those mountains of Tennessee that GM worked to “calibrate how the Volt’s battery energy, fuel efficiency, and drive quality work together in real world conditions.”

She explains that a car must give back to the driver what he or she would expect, and the Volt is no exception. It must feel right and respond intuitively. She says it should have the same feeling both in EV and charge sustainting mode, should climb hills as needed and if its 95 degres outside “take the heat.”

In all these ways on those mountains the Volt lived up to her expectations.

In an almost poetic fashion she writes:

As I stood next to the Volt on top of a mountain last weekend, I felt overwhelmingly enthusiastic about its capability.

I’m confident that Chevy Volt drivers will feel invigorated like I do by its exciting, smooth, quiet, and fuel-efficient performance.

I imagine there’s a lot of people just waiting to get their chance to see for themselves, myself among them.

Source (GM)

There are two major reason why people want electric cars. To achieve energy independence, to help the environment, or both.

While the first benefit can’t be disputed, a newly publicized study suggests that electric car use may actually be worse for the environment.

The study was performed by the group Transport Watch and found that diesel cars produce half as much CO2 as electric cars when the fossil fuel required to make the electricity is taken into account.

The study concludes “We conclude that the notion that electric cars will reduce emissions is a fiction.”

The study also took into account electrical energy leaked lost between the powerplant and the point where the vehicle would be charged. This leakage was estimated to be an astounding 76%. Diesels on the other hand achieve a 45% efficiency.

The research was done in the UK where only 20% of electricity is generated by renewable energy. It was estimated that in China, for example, where most electricity comes from coal, a change from diesel to electric vehicles would double CO2 emissions.

The research implies that burning fuel within the vehicle produces less emissions than creating electricity and sending it down the grid.

A conclusion drawn from this research by Philip Gomm, of the RAC Foundation is; “Electric vehicles are not a panacea. They are good for generating headlines but not necessarily at saving the planet, at least not in the short term. For today and tomorrow, a lot more attention needs to be paid to refining existing petrol and diesel technology, and making cars smaller and lighter as a way of saving fuel – something recognized by the Committee on Climate Change. These are proven solutions to an immediate problem.”

You can check out the details of the study here and draw your own conclusions.

Source (Telegraph)

Some industry observers are concerned that mass adoption of electric cars might strain the supply of natural lithium reserves.

Since the lithium ion battery was first invented in the early 90s, lithium production has been ramping up rapidly for use in consumer electronic devices. Car batteries are of course much more massive, and if they are produced globally in very large numbers, reserves could theoretically be an issue.

Lithium is currently obtained from dried salt ponds, or “salt flats”. Most of the natural supply base exists in South America and China, and one expert predicts future growth will strain the ability of these locations to export the salt.

This expert, William Tahil of Meridian International Research, predicts that with a growth rate of 25% per yer of lithium containing consumer electronics, that by 2015 there would only be enough supply of lithium to build 1.5 million Chevy Volt-type cars.

Another concern is the environmental impact of increasing production.

Not all experts agree with these projections.

EnerDel CEO Charles Gassenheimer had told us that perhaps at a market of $100 billion, there might be a bottleneck, but that in fact lithium is even present in the sea (see post).

A123 VP Ric Fulop has told us that he believes there’s enough lithium on the planet for “several billion” electric cars (see post).

Source (CNET)

A new study was just published in which researchers estimated it would cost $200 Billion in research and infrastructure to bring fuel cell vehicles to mass market levels.

The study analyzed the cost of bringing 2 million fuel cell cars to the roads by 2020 and 25 million by 2030. It was determined that to achieve such a ramp up, the government would need to spend $55 billion between 2008 and 2023 and private industry would need to spend $145 billion.

It was noted in the article that the high and rising cost of platinum makes of 57% of the cost of fuel cell stacks and was a significant barrier, as well, from the article "future platinum supply is a critical issue in forward projections of fuel-cell costs."

So while a production-intent fuel-cell Chevy Volt program is underway at GM, there remains serious considerations whether fuel cells will become the dominant vehicle type.

The study logically concludes that the best approach to displacing petroleum will be to develop a portfolio of alternative fuel vehicles including battery EVs, hybrids, and bio-fuel cars in addition to fuel cells.

Source (Marketwatch )

On a somewhat related note, Al Gore just gave a speech in which he challenged the U.S. to an initiative to achieve 100% fossil-fuel free electricity in 10 years. He cited not just environment concerns but those of national security as well.

Source (Text of Speech )