GM reported to have chosen Compact Power as Volt battery supplier
2011 Chevrolet Volt
Ever since that cold day in January when the Chevrolet Volt concept rolled onto the stage at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show, the single biggest question has been the battery. More specifically, could GM find a lithium ion battery that would provide 40 miles of range on a charge, last the life of the car and not drive the price into the stratosphere?
Although we still don't have any independent evidence that GM has achieved those goals, the company does claim to be meeting its targets. The first step on the path was evaluating more than two dozen battery suppliers in spring of 2007 followed by the awarding of two development contracts in June of last year. Although Bob Lutz acknowledged that one of those battery suppliers was in the lead last June and in August acknowledged that one had been selected to supply batteries for production, no official announcement had been made.
Reuters is now reporting that Korea's LG Chem and its US subsidiary Compact Power Inc, has won out over the team of Continental and A123 Systems. The official announcement from GM isn't expected until sometime in November. The hold up seems to be that GM and CPI are still negotiating the commercial details including how they will split warranty costs. This latter issue is expected to be a critical factor for the first generation Volt as no one has ever used batteries like this in a high volume automotive applications before.
Gallery: 2011 Chevy Volt - Live Reveal
[Source: Reuters]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TURNERSVILLE 8:24AM (10/24/2008)
Too bad for A123...GE just dumped a bunch of cash their way. Love the fact that so many suppliers had a chance to fight for GM business.
If oil is under $60 a barrel in a year or two then GM's huge investment might get returns like the EV1 did...ouch!!
Reply
Christian de Saint Preux 8:40AM (10/24/2008)
I very much doubt that even if the oil price is way down it would be a waste... the Prius came out when oil was NOT that high... It is a needed product in the market and it only needs to get DEVELOPED.
Gabagool 9:05AM (10/24/2008)
If oil stays "low" 60-90 Volt will not do all that great. But if GM will be able to reduce the price to about 30K without any tax breaks and without sacrificing much in Volts ability to bring money in, in that case Volt can succeed.
I look at it this way, Toyota and Honda are making far cheaper hybrids, i look at who's management is smarter and i have to say that GM maybe in trouble here.
Russell 9:38AM (10/24/2008)
The price of oil is the biggest concern for this vehicle, but I believe that the wheels are started to turn already and there is no way back. Electric cars are in our future and sooner because of the price of $140 oil.
Snowdog 8:39AM (10/24/2008)
A123 are the better batteries, so this must have been about cost.
Reply
TruthHurts 9:34AM (10/24/2008)
LG Group is a large South Korean conglomerate (the second-largest one after gigatic Korean Samsung), that produces electronics, mobile phones, and petrochemical products and operates subsidiaries like LG Electronics, LG Display Corp (fmr. LG-Philips Inc.), Zenith Electronics and LG Chem/Compact Power Inc. in over 80 countries.
- LG came up with the idea (touch screen mobile phone) way before Apple even introduced its Iphone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxUDNOyjZIU
- LG's own Digital TV Technology (just like GM choosing high-quality Korean-made batteries) was chosen for the US Digital TV standard: http://www.audioholics.com/news/press-releases/lg-electronics-e-vsb-adopted-for-dtv-standard-by-atsc
- LG Display Corp. (Fmr. LG-Philips Inc.) supplies its S-IPS LCD Panels to such companies like Apple (Cinema Display Series Monitors), HP and Dell among others: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Cinema_Display
Hope this helps.
Truth Hurts
Temple 10:59AM (10/24/2008)
How would you know they are better? Have you tried either automotive batteries? Besides, if warranty issues and reliability is concerned you would want to go with the company that can actually afford to cover warranty costs if something actually happened.
xcrunk 8:51AM (10/24/2008)
Made in Mexico.
Reply
xcrunk 9:00AM (10/24/2008)
On a serious note, it's a nice looking car. Nice to see a regular car and not some strangely shaped wedge.
I just hope GM can execute this project all the way through given these hard economic times.
GM, so late to the game.
Sam Abuelsamid 9:25AM (10/24/2008)
What's made in Mexico? Not the batteries. The cells will come from Korea and the location of the pack production has not yet been announced. The Volt itself will be built in Detroit.
Russell 9:32AM (10/24/2008)
Late to the game?
Are you kidding, no one is making electric cars yet, this is NOT PRIUS
compy386 9:05AM (10/24/2008)
A Lithium Ion battery will not last the life of the car PERIOD. At least not with current technology. You get 5 years out of it with about 10% battery power left by the end. Anyone who has owned an MP3 player or cell phone would know.
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Serge 9:26AM (10/24/2008)
If your phone has a cheap-o-battery that's made in China... then yes, it'll die in a year or two (or less).
I bought a Nokia 8890 ($600 with plan) and used it for over 6 years on the original battery pack, whitch was made in Japan. Only after the 6 years (I still have the phone) I noticed it strated to discharge faster... I bought a Chinese battery for it on e-bay, but I dont use the phone now. Now I have a Nokia 8800 ($500 with plan renewal) and it has a Chinese battery in it...
Moral of the story - It's possible for a battery to work for more than 5 years, it's just very expensive :)
Sam Abuelsamid 9:29AM (10/24/2008)
The lithium batteries being developed for cars are very different from those used in consumer electronics devices. A big problem with CE batteries is that the charging and temperature are not well controlled causing electrodes to crack and lose capacity. The car batteries are being liquid cooled to make sure they don't get too hot and the state of charge is very carefully monitored to avoid overcharging. The chemistry of the batteries is also different, being biased more toward energy capacity than power. All of this should contribute to longer life.
Russell 9:30AM (10/24/2008)
You re forgetting one thing, no one maintains the MP3 batteries properly discharging them to 0% every cycle. Volt's battery will only be discharged to 30% and if you ever worked with batteries you would know that State of Charge SOC is crucial to battery life.
Jared 10:00AM (10/24/2008)
The batteries for the Volt are very different from the batteries in your iPod or laptop.
TruthHurts 9:30AM (10/24/2008)
LG Group is a large South Korean conglomerate (the second-largest one after gigatic Korean Samsung), that produces electronics, mobile phones, and petrochemical products and operates subsidiaries like LG Electronics, LG Display Corp (fmr. LG-Philips Inc.), Zenith Electronics and LG Chem/Compact Power Inc. in over 80 countries.
- LG came up with the idea (touch screen mobile phone) way before Apple even introduced its Iphone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxUDNOyjZIU
- LG's own Digital TV Technology (just like GM choosing high-quality Korean-made batteries) was chosen for the US Digital TV standard: http://www.audioholics.com/news/press-releases/lg-electronics-e-vsb-adopted-for-dtv-standard-by-atsc
- LG Display Corp. (Fmr. LG-Philips Inc.) supplies its S-IPS LCD Panels to such companies like Apple (Cinema Display Series Monitors), HP and Dell among others: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Cinema_Display
Hope this helps.
Truth Hurts
Reply
PeterG 9:55AM (10/24/2008)
We know who LG is, but where are the details on the batteries. A123s are considered the best on the market. People buy Dewalt packs just to tear them apart to get the A123s. A123's last thousands of cycles.
LG Chem batteries??