Before General Motors committed to building a production version of the Volt concept, it didn't even have a group dedicated to hybrids and electric cars. Toyota, by contrast, set one up in the mid-1990s.
Now a GM division is dedicated to hybrids and electric cars and its biggest, but by no means only, challenge is the batteries. The battery lab, at GM's sprawling tech centre in the Detroit suburb of Warren, is the hub of the company's effort to become the world's leading green car maker.
To be successful with consumers, the Volt must travel 65 kilometres between charges and be able to go an additional 1,000 km or so on the small, range-extending gasoline motor on board. GM is racing to cram 10 years of battery development and testing into less than three years.
GM has been working with two potential battery suppliers (down from the initial 27 who made proposals) and now says it has decided on the final lithium-ion battery supplier, which will be named later this year. The winner will be either Compact Power Inc. of Detroit, a subsidiary of South Korea's LG Chem; or Continental Automotive Systems, which will assemble battery packs using cells made by Johnson Controls-Saft Advanced Power Solutions and other suppliers.
Lithium-ion batteries are lighter and more powerful than nickel-metal hydride batteries now used in hybrids such as the Toyota Prius. Lithium ion provides for the lightest metal used in batteries today, which is important for mobility. GM says it has struck on the right chemistry for its batteries, which will have the high power, range and durability needed for the Volt.
Still, the race to find and develop for production the best lithium-ion battery is red-hot among the world's auto makers. Japanese electronics giant Sanyo Electric Co., already a world leader in lithium-ion batteries, was the latest to say it will start mass-producing the advanced hybrid-vehicle batteries next year. Sanyo has also added a partner: Germany's Volkswagen AG.
Nissan Motor Co. and NEC Corp. plan to start making lithium-ion batteries next year, while Toyota Motor Corp. says it will build two hybrid-vehicle battery plants with its partner, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Mitsubishi Motors Corp., another major player, says it will build a plant to meet an expected five-fold increase in demand for lithium-ion batteries. It is to open after April, 2009, and Mitsubishi will ramp up capacity amid hopes for its iMiEV electric vehicle. The four-passenger iMiEV, which runs on lithium-ion batteries, goes on sale in Japan next summer; it will be tested in California this year to evaluate a U.S. launch.
