GM Suggests Life of Volt Battery Might Be Shorter Than Expected in Hot Areas
By Scott Doggett November 23, 2009
EDITOR'S NOTE: Please see later post.
With less than a year to go before the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle is scheduled to enter production, General Motors suggested in its FastLane Blog that the battery that supplies the juice that propels the car might have a significantly shorter-than-expected life in hot environments.
"The biggest challenge in testing is hot-weather storage of the vehicle," the automaker wrote. "Currently, 10 years of battery life is the norm, but some people could get more battery life depending on the climate where they live and their driving conditions."
The second of those sentences strongly suggests that if a Volt spends most of its time in a hot environment - which would, of course, include many parts of the western and southern U.S. - the normal 10-year life of the battery likely will not be achieved.
The person supplied that information, Vehicle Chief Engineer Andrew Farah, did not go into detail regarding the challenge hot weather poses to the battery. Farah also mentioned the heat problem in a media briefing last week.
In the FastLane Blog entry, he said that the Volt team is continuing to tweak the battery's chemistries and that the tweaks "are very small. The adjustments are mostly in the life of the battery. It's a challenge, but also a great asset for the vehicle."
We can only hope that the adjustments "in the life of the battery" pertain to a month here or a month there - not a year here or there. It would appear that he's saying the battery is a great asset to the vehicle, which, uh, should go without saying.
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Heck, I can't get a cell phone or laptop battery to last more than two or three years, so props to them if they get it to last even twice as long. That's about as long as you'd expect a traditional lead acid battery to last anyway.
You may be impressed with a 4-6 yr battery life for the Volt, but not me. Cell batteries cost $20-$40 to replace, if bought retail. I can deal with repalcing that every 2-3 yrs. The batteries on the Volt would cost in the neighborhood of 5-10K to replace?? No thanks.
10 yrs would be more acceptable to me. At that stage I would probably be looking to get a new vehicle anyways.
Sdslawny - Article was in error and Scott quickly corrected with a second one - GM says 10 years is life with MORE expected if you live in moderate climate zone.
ahh...good stuff, thanks for the re-direct. Much better.
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