http://www.mlive.com/businessreview/oakland/index.ssf/2009/02/gm_exec_on_korean_battery_make.html


I had a chance recently to talk to James Queen, GM's global vice president of global engineering, about the Volt and the company's plans to vertically integrate battery development and production by collaborating with LG. Queen was in Ann Arbor to celebrate GM's new Advanced Battery Coalition for Drivetrains with the University of Michigan, another key partner in the effort.

"They were ready," Queen said. "A123 is an outstanding firm with a lot of great people, and they're going to be very competitive in this space. But at the time we needed the Volt – November 2010 – LG was already there.

"Manufacturing this is unbelievably critical. After we did some site visits – and I was both at LG's R&D facility as well as their manufacturing facility – the precision-slash-cleanliness required with this technology was different than a lot of other things we do. And that's why LG Chem won."

No surprise there. It's just as almost everyone speculated and a good call on GM's part. As much as I would like to see the batteries and packs made here, I don't want to see the Volt get delayed because A123 is still learning and growing.

The strategic value of this decision depends on which aspect of the technology is strategically more important.

Is the car more important or is the underlying battery technology (including the ability to fabricate them cost-effectively) more important?

The battery tech is what defines the capability of the car. There's going to be relatively little differentiation between the cars of different manufacturers. Well, among those who adopt the serial approach to coupling the ICE to the battery to the motors there will be little differentiation.

The big difference in performance, capability and cost will be driven by that one big $16,000/16KWH/200kg/100l part underneath. Whoever can adjust any one of those numbers sharply down is going to have the biggest impact on vehicle capability. Oops - sharply UP for the KWH. But you know what I meant.

does anyone have a good link for a
discusion of the relative advantages of ...

lithium phosphate v. lithium manganese

thanks in advance

excess3