GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

Today I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Bart Riley, co-founder, VP of R&D and CTO of A123 Systems. We discussed A123′s battery system and how they are going about making the Volt’s battery pack system.

This interview is important in that is reveals the first details available about A123′s plans since the June 5th announcement by GM that battery contracts had been awarded

He indicated that A123 has over the past five years developed a battery system that has “unprecedented safety, power, and life.”

Specifically, they developed a nanophosphate cathode that differs from the cobalt-based system currently used widely in laptop and cell phone batteries. Those lithium cobalt dioxide cathode batteries can become unstable when charged or overcharged or abused and are subject to explosion. A123′s new safer cathode material nanophosphate, uses no cobalt, is not an oxide, and thus has no stability or safety issues. The cells can heat because they are high-power but cannot explode. Indeed the cells are already on the market in power tools.

A123 is collaborating with Continental AG to make the battery pack system which will meet GM’s requirements. Continental will put a large number of A123′s cells into a plastic case designed to handle the “abuse of the vehicular environment” and develop computerized cooling and battery management electronics that will examine each cell insuring that it does not come out of its ideal cycle of operation. There will clearly be a give and take between the two companies.

An important fact, Dr. Riley also noted that cooling the cells is important not for safety reasons, but because it is a “life issue” as he calls it. GM wants the batteries to last for at least 15 years of use and temperature variability can reduce battery life and must be avoided.

He states that the battery science is already complete and can meet the goals of the project, but minor tweaks of cell design may still have to take place for them to interact properly with the pack. Also packs must be able to be assembled on a mass-production scale. Unfortunately, as of this moment in time, he noted that a prototype pack does not yet exist.

Comparing this project to the Hymotion Prius extender pack which uses A123 batteries, Dr. Riley states that the Volt is a whole new platform as opposed to simply extending the battery life as Hymotion drop-in supplement does. That system though, can extend Prius driving range to 20-40 miles electric

Compared to Altair Nano’s system, he states that A123′s has higher energy density. Altair Nano uses a different anode, and winds up with 1/2 voltage and twice the weight per cell.

He stated that A123/Continental has no direct knowledge of the CPI/LG activity and are essentially operating in the dark from one another.

The goal of one year to functioning battery pack is approximate. He indicates GM is setting out a very aggressive time-line, but initial unit delivery for prototype vehicles could come out even in 6 months since A123′s focus is on “making things happen”.

Overall I got the impression that Dr. Riley was highly confident of his batteries scientific merit, safety, power, and durability characteristics. He seemed to indicate creating the pack was more of a second act; just a simple engineering process, and should be pretty straightforward.

I am certainly more confident that the unknown wild-card of the battery pack when it comes to the Volt’s production, is showing up as an ace!

Headquartered in Massachusetts, A123 has 350 employees there, in Michigan and in Asia.

Soon we will be hearing from the CPI team, so stay tuned!

Podcast Below:

Tonight, myself and several other bloggers including including Matt Kelly of Podtech, Sam Abuelsamid of AutoblogGreen, Todd Kaho of Green Car Journal, Scott Anderson of Hydrogen Forecast, Philip Proefrock from Ecogeek and Greenoptions, and Matt Mayer of GroovyGreen.com were given the wonderful opportunity to have a sincere and very interesting discussion about the development of the Chevy Volt car, E-Flex system, and energy diversity. We were joined by Nick Zielinski, the Chief Engineer of the Volt and Gary Smyth, GM’s Director of Powertrain Systems.

The main theme of this discussion was ENTHUSIASM. I can tell you these gentleman are highly devoted to the development of advanced propulsion systems, using diverse energy sources including electricity, and genuinely love what they are doing. They relay an infectious enthusiasm that is clearly sweeping the company, brought about by the remarkable direction of great change the company is heading toward under the stewardship of Rick Wagoner. GM is facing the energy crisis and climate change head-on and has plans to deal with them.

Dr. Smyth was passionate about our country’s need for automotive energy power diversity and biofuel adoption (ethanol and diesel) in the face of increasing difficulty in oil production, both due to security concerns and increasing difficulty in accessing oil reserves. We were able to ask many questions about the Volt and I tried to make sure I asked as many of your questions I could:

1. Timeline:
It is clear that an internal company timeline exists for production of the Volt. Right now it is a company secret. The year 2015 was NOT corroborated by Mr. Zielinski (we saw it quoted elsewhere), and can be considered non-factual. Actual production still seems closer to 2010, but it remains an educated guess.

Mr Zielinski indicated that the Volt is being produced in a two-pronged approach. Both the development of the car, as well as the production process (which normally takes place after development) are being done in parallel.

2. GM Commitment to the Volt
Every one in top management in GM appears HIGHLY COMMITTED to the Volt, advanced propulsion systems, energy diversity, use of biofuels, and reduction in CO2 emissions.

Mr. Zielinski agrees that he is being given ALL the resources he needs from GM to bring the car to fruition.

3. The Battery:
Lithium-ion it is, and that is the final word. According to Mr. Zielinksi, the cell structures work great, its just putting them together into the battery pack. Don’t expect something swappable. He noted it is not clear if the pack will be water or air cooled, both designs are being looked at. He also is very upbeat and bullish on a successful battery pack. The fact is that CPI/LG and Continental/A123 are in DIRECT competition with one another to produce the best design. And we know where there is competition and money, there will be success.

The battery range is pegged at a 40 mile range, because more range means more batteries, more weight, and thus less performance.

4. Design:
Mr. Zielinski noted the enthusiastic response the concept vehicle appearance has gotten, more than GM expected, and he plans to keep it as close to that appearance as possible. They are testing a variety of materials in the structure of car to balance out weight and function as much as possible.

5. Production volumes:
Mr Zielinski indicates that GM wants to sell as many of these cars as possible! Roll-out will not be limited, so start getting in line.

6. Safety:
Mr. Zielinski noted that concerns about EMF are minimal as the engine does not produce significant amounts. GM is assessing whether there is any health risk to be concerned about.

7. The Plug:
The car will come with an adapter to allow it to plug directly into your home 110 V wall outlet.

8. EV1:
They both said that although the EV1s no longer exist, the people and technology that built them still do and are now better and more experienced and being channeled into producing the Volt.

9. Solar panels:
Really cant produce enough energy to charge the battery, but could power a cooling fan when, for example, the car is sitting in hot sun, to keep the batteries cool. The battery hold 16 KWH power..that would take a 120 watt solar panel (3 x 5 feet) 130 hours (5 days) in full sun to recharge the battery.

Overall, there is little doubt to this blogger that GM is going full-throttle to make the Volt happen, and there is every reason to believe it will. There seems to a good shot we will see a working prototype by year’s end, so keep checking in with us, and as always, we will keep you posted.

LD

June 7, Detroit Michigan – Today, myself and several other bloggers including including Matt Kelly of Podtech, Sam Abuelsamid from AutoblogGreen, Todd Kaho of Green Car Journal, Scott Anderson of Hydrogen Forecast, Philip Proefrock from Ecogeek and Greenoptions, and Matt Mayer of GroovyGreen.com were given the opportunity to interview Micky Bly who is GM’s Director of Hybrid Vehicles. You will soon be able to view a video of the interview. You can hear Matt’s podcast here.

The occasion was the Challenge X event..our hats off to Mississipi State University who won. And thanks to University of Waterloo for letting me drive their hydrogen Equinox! Read press release here.
Mr. Bly was very candid about the Volt’s production. When specifically asked whether the Volt will definitely be produced, he responded that it was indeed Rick Wagoner’s plan.

He confirmed the plan for a Lithium-ion battery and indicated that NiMh was not an option due to it’s lower energy density, potential durability issues, inability to sustain deep cycle discharges, and inability to handle wide temperature ranges.

When asked if batteries might be swappable or upgradeable as technology matures, he indicated that could be a possibility.

With respect to battery manufacturing, he didn’t indicate it part of GM’s business plan to make their own batteries, but though it made more sense to outsource it to other companies. He did admit that the Johnson-Saft solution was not being applied to the Volt..its down to A123 and LG Chem. Interestingly, Mr. Bly noted that Tesla Motorcars presented their battery solution to GM, and that he wasn’t familiar with Altair Nanotechnologies.

In a speech earlier in the day by Larry Burns, GM’s VP of R&D, he mentioned GM’s commitment to energy diversity, and noted that with acceptance of the E-Flex plug-in architecture, U.S. gasoline use could be reduced by 37 billion gallons, per year. I asked Mr. Bly if GM had any communication with the big oil companies on this potential effect, and he noted that he was unaware of any such discussion.

We still couldn’t get an exact date on Volt production, but he confirmed the Saturn Vue plugin was roughly on track for 09. We can only still speculate whether the Volt could come six months later, as that was the separation between original announcement dates of the two vehicles.

He also noted that the Saturn Aura and Vue hybrids are now out for about 4 weeks, and that a limited number if about 100 Hydrogen Sequels will be released in November.

Interview with Nick Zielinski to follow…