Chevy Volt Moves Another Step Closer to Reality
By Michelle Krebs June 6, 2007General Motors has just awarded two development contracts for the lithium ion battery in the E-flex propulsion system to be used in its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid.
A reliable battery, the biggest challenge in developing electric vehicles, could mean the Volt would be production-ready by 2010, GM has said.
The battery proposals were awarded to one small company and a giant, both offering completely different solutions, GM said.
The proposals of Compact Power Inc. and Continental Automotive Systems were chosen from 13 submitted, GM officials said. The value of the contracts was not revealed.
Compact Power, a suburban Detroit company, is headed by former Ford engineer Prabhakar Patil.
Continental Automotive of Frankfurt, Germany, is a subsidiary of Continental AG, one of the top dozen global suppliers in sales volume. It will work with GM to develop lithium batteries that it plans to use in a production vehicle next year.
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