GM Takes Delivery of Advanced Batteries for Chevy Volt
October 31, 2007

The Chevrolet Volt moved yet-another step closer to reality Tuesday when, as scheduled, General Motors took delivery on the first advance lithium-ion batteries to go into E-Flex operating system that powers the Volt.

The battery delivery buoyed the confidence of GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who told the Detroit Free Press in an interview that he hoped GM would build as many as 100,000 Chevrolet Volts in the first year of production, set for around year-end 2010.

Lutz told the newspaper that the first-generation production version of the E-Flex will appear in a vehicle that will be called the Chevrolet Volt and will look similar to the concept car unveiled at the Detroit auto show earlier this year.

But, Lutz said, the production version will have a more traditional front end. “The engine-motor configuration didn't work. ... Now it has a more classic-looking front end,” he told the paper.

E-Flex combines the battery with another propulsion system; a small gasoline engine, in the case of the Volt. The vehicle runs on electricity, with the engine used to generate electricity to be stored in the battery rather than driving the wheels.

While Lutz said GM has not determined how many Volts it will make in the first year, he said he’d like to see between 60,000 and 100,000 produced at GM’s Detroit Hamtramck plant, “and then go up from there.”

GM will perform initial testing on the experimental batteries from LG Chem, one of two battery makers that has signed a development contract with GM for lithium-ion batteries. The second battery maker, A123Systems, will deliver its first experimental battery pack to GM in December. By first quarter 2008, GM intends to install the batteries and the E-Flex system into a Chevrolet Malibu for more extensive testing, Lutz said.

Both companies are supplying lithium-ion batteries, although they use different chemistries. In recent months, Lutz expressed optimism that batteries from at least one and likely both companies will work in the Volt. GM requires that the batteries deliver 40 miles of pure electric power, charge and recharge 4,000 times, have a 10-year life and are ready for GM’s plan to have the Volt on the road by year-end 2010.

Advanced lithium-ion batteries are considered key for not only the Volt but also other plug-in hybrids and electric cars.

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