Battery test: Two lithium ion battery cells from battery maker LG Chem are tested at GM’s new battery lab.
Technology Review
The large facility is meant to reflect a change of direction for the bankrupt company.
This week, GM officially opened a 3,000-square-meter battery lab at its technical center in Warren, MI. The lab is being used to test battery cells and packs for the forthcoming Volt plug-in hybrid vehicle, which the company says it will continue to develop, in spite of its recent bankruptcy filing.
The new battery lab is part of GM's strategy to develop its own battery packs, just as it now develops its own gasoline engines. Indeed, the battery lab occupies space once devoted to internal combustion power-train development.
As GM's engineers develop a battery pack for the vehicle, one of the key remaining questions is how durable the batteries will prove. The lab will allow the engineers to test the packs under extreme conditions to determine whether they will last for the life of the car.
Fritz Henderson, GM's new CEO, is using the Volt and the battery lab to highlight a new direction for the automaker. Henderson recently called the lab the "lifeblood of our future" and said that "the new GM intends to be a leader in these technologies" once it emerges from bankruptcy. The Volt, a vehicle that will operate on battery power alone for 40 miles, then use a gas- or ethanol-fueled generator to supply electricity to extend its driving range, is scheduled to go into production late next year.
As the company completes work on the battery for the first-generation Volt, it's also developing batteries for the second and third generation of the vehicle, which involves evaluating different battery materials and cells to find ones that store more energy, making it possible to use fewer of them.
The lab has two main sections: one for evaluating battery cells from various suppliers, and one for evaluating the performance of battery packs--cells packaged with electronics and systems for cooling and heating the cells to keep them at an optimal temperature range. The battery packs contain a type of lithium-ion cell that can be degraded by extreme temperatures.
Inside the lab, the packs are charged and discharged while being subjected to high and low temperatures as well as extremes of humidity. Engineers can also simulate different altitudes by placing the packs in barometric chambers. So the engineers can simulate conditions along a humid, hot coastline at sea level, or atop an arid and cold mountain. They can also mimic road conditions with a machine that shakes the battery packs. Elevated temperatures, which speed up the aging process of battery materials, are being used to confirm a ten-year lifetime for the batteries with about two years' worth of tests. In addition to being tested in the battery lab, the packs are being subjected to tests in actual vehicles both on the road and in a climate-controlled wind tunnel. So far, more than 100 battery packs have been built for testing.
The next few years will show whether the batteries in electric cars from GM and Nissan are safe and reliable.
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A British company is testing new chemistry that could boost the performance of batteries.
If GM can do it, what makes you think that Toyota or Honda can't?
I have, perhaps a naive, question: what makes people think that GM's competitors won't do something similar?
It is being repeated ad nauseam that GM's future now depends on electric cars. They have to make the Volt a sales success, or there won't be any second chances for GM.
What makes people think that GM will get some kind of competitive break?...Toyota and Honda are very advanced in their hybrid technologies, which implies that they know how to deal with batteries too. There is just an incremental step going from a regular hybrid to a plug-in hybrid. And you can bet that they will come to market with plug-in hybrids.
The competitive pressure will not ease for GM, and I doubt that they will leapfrog the rest of the carmakers. Just because GM makes some progress does not mean that the other guys are sitting on their laurels.
GM has been losing for decades against Toyota and Honda, and most likely this trend will continue.
Re: If GM can do it, what makes you think that Toyota or Honda can't?
Excellent point on the competition in a global race to keep the environment clean and reduce our dependency and national risks on foreign oil.
The notion GM (or any other auto-maker) is doing this stuff alone in the marketplace is naive. More to the point, these competitors collaborate on research all the time and learn from one another.
Some may take their portion of the "idea" back to their own turf where they can put together a winning business model that the consumers will buy off on (ie make a purchase). Others may read the data and decide to run in another direction all together. The GM labs in Warren are not the only place these inventions are dreamed up. Places like MIT, Stanford, U of M, Berkley, The Cal-Poly's, Georgia and other major centers of education (globally) all have excellent R&D facilties too. Just look where some of the diplomatic offices for our Friendly Countries reside and you'll find an alarming number are near these excellent schools!
Heck! Tom Clancey could write up another spook book just using Google's mapping tool to look up the addresses of many of the embassy offices here in the US. The name of the book "Teachers Pet" of course!
The GM battery Lab may have a key role in GM's future like the EV1 once had. I would be interested to see if GM had the foresight to patent their ideas enough to protect them, then license the engineering to their competition for a tidy sum.
Re: If GM can do it, what makes you think that Toyota or Honda can't?
I don't think there's anything stopping other car companies from following GM and Tesla's lead and making EV's.
A two year lead is a two year lead, so even if they launch today GM is going to have a head start on EV's, and that's important in the opinion development for EV's.
Not only does GM have a lead in development of a particular car, they have a large knowledge base on electric cars. The frame is the same, but nearly everything else is different for electrics. Every motor will need to be more efficient weight will matter more, aerodynamics will matter more.
GM has more experience with all that side stuff as well. GM has an edge, and if the market booms they're going to be in a good spot to claim the top in sales.
All battery pack makers have to make it so these batteries can be easily removed, and new ones replaced. Go to betterplace.org (or com) - because it's possible that GM can have a Bettery Exchange contract with a motorist, and "charging station". Then, it's possible to drive across country, pull into participating "stations". Yank out the discharged battery, replace it with a freshly charged one, then place the dead battery on a solar and wind powered charging system for the next motorist to come in needing a freshly charged battery. The motorist who buys the electric car wouldn't actually OWN the battery, but instead lease it from GM on some fair and affordable yearly fee, perhaps included in their insurance payments. So GM needs to come up with a kind of "docking" system.... making it easy to replace bateries. Car users can pay for a "replacement" charge (hopefully less then the cost of a fillup). The Charging stations would have a kind of contract with GM as an Authorized Battery replacement service. Of course for this to work, GM has to make an easy to replace batteries with a STANDARD system, then sign up "Charging stations" along the major hiways, or even at rest stops. Of course the rest stops would have Charging outlets... perhaps coin or credit card operated... at street parking in cities, company parking lots... and hopefully the charging fee would be reasonable, like $3 / hour plus parking fees. We can do it you guys, this idea has to be propagated.
Of course this takes cooperation from everyone, and this means JOBS, and More Jobs... Like we need to have enterprising Gas stations, now taking on the responsibility of being Charging stations, and battery replacement stations for cross country drivers. Someone needs to make these Coin operated charging stations... plug then into the grid, wind mills, solar systems, or whatever and let these cute little "money machines" start making money for them. There IS hope for a renewable Energy economy... it's just going to have to take some Phat cats to open up their wallets and invest in some enterprising individual willing to build them. From an engineering point, they are easy to build.
John
The problem with battery swapping is that lithium is scarce and the batteries are expensive so it makes more sense to have them all in cars, rather than half of them sitting around in swap stations. If you want to drive across the country in your electric car it would be easier to go to U-haul and rent a pusher generator trailer.
Hard to believe that anyone would be willing to drive cross country and stop every 40 miles to change their battery. Instead, you'd use gasoline. I wonder what the gas mileage is on the Volt in gasoline-powered mode.
And in the mean time Mitsubishi are releasing their all-electric MiEV to corporate and government customers in Japan in July. And they stated will begin selling it to customers in April 2010.
>>> thanks to new battery technology the electric cars will finally come true soon >>>
.
despite the new superbatteries are THE DEATH of MY idea of a swappable battery "cellphoneCAR" [ http://ow.ly/dOIK ] I'm VERY HAPPY to read about it (and also the IBM interest in this research) since they will help the electric cars to (finally!) become (soon!) a COMMERCIAL REALITY allowing the cars industry to produce millions electric cars with half sized and half priced battery packs but 500-1000 miles of autonomy!
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Just a couple of things to remember:
1. GM is owned by you and me but run by the Obama folks; the decision to do this is political, not necessarily technical or economic. Profit is not required but debt is assured.
2. Electric Vehicles are still in the early stages with substantial development and improvement required to become the first or best choice for most people.
3. Rare earth minerals (for the motors) are the short supply items in electric cars, a lot of which is controlled by the Chinese; there is plenty of lithium on the planet that can be processed.
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
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robert.hargraves
39 Comments
Only now?
While I am pleased that GM is opening a research facility on battery technology, it seems like a late start in the business cycle for the electric car! Tesla has a $50,000 price point on their 2012 400 mile range sedan.
Reply
asdar
73 Comments
Re: Only now?
Tesla is great. They pushed the EV forward a large step, just by being an example.
They did not build their own car. They used a Lotus built, Lotus designed body, an ACPropulsion based motor that was based on a GM variable voltage motor and controls that were from a former GM employee that started ACPropulsion.
They say their car will be $50,000, delivered in 2012 and have a range of 400 mi. but they raised the price on the roadster, were late in delivery and the range was lower than expected.
They still don't have a production facility that has ever made a finished car. If they do deliver on every aspect of their promise there's still the question of the quality of the car, the longevity of the battery and a question of how many they can produce.
Time to look past a movie that makes everyone an expert in how evil GM is and to the facts, which are clear that GM has played a larger role in EV's success than any car company.
The Volt is the next step.
Reply
stradric
33 Comments
Re: Only now?
I totally agree with you, but you can't deny that GM was in a prime position to be the leader in electric/hybrid vehicles and they blew it. They went in the complete opposite direction from the EV1 to the H2/Tahoe. They chose to go for short term gains over long term stability. Horrible, horrible foresight at that company. And yet their hydrogen fuel cell drive-by-wire "skateboard" is an incredibly innovative piece of technology that will most likely be the basis for future hydrogen powered cars.
Reply
Kingofallmedia
7 Comments
Re: Only now?
While the skate is a very impressive technological feat, it is far from a marketable product. The main problem: hydrogen. The transition to a hydrogen based transportation superstructure from a gasoline powered one would be difficult to say the least (although drive by wire is clearly the right approach). What's really interesting stuff are the things researchers are doing with battery charge times and with wireless energy transmission (WiTricity). In the future your car is going to wirelessly charge itself. Your kids will say things like: "You had to actually 'pump' Gas? Weird".
Reply
Null Hypothesis
10 Comments
Re: Only now?
I'm having a hard time believing someone could say these things with a straight face.
Tesla delivered on its promises. They were a little late on their first deliveries because of transmission problems that they have since fixed.
I don't understand why you say they haven't made a production car, they have so far delivered hundreds and plan for thousands in the next year. They have partnered with Daimler to take advantage of their mass production plants.
The only somewhat valid point you make is that the longevity of lithium ion batteries has not been proven. But they will last at least 5 years until 2014 when Chevron's patent on the NiMH battery (which was sold by GM) expires and they can once again use NiMH batteries.
GM has done more to stall the emergence of the electric car than anyone could have imagined.
Reply