Comments on: New Materials Could Double Chevy Volt Battery Capacity

By: Realist Designer

Realist Designer — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:26:56 +0000

The LG Chem plant in Michigan, where they were supposed to be making the Volt batteries, was given a $151-million grant from the Recovery Act. President Obama said, “This is a symbol of where Michigan is going, this is a symbol of where Holland is going, and this is a symbol of where America’s going.” “when you buy one of these vehicles, the battery could be stamped — made in America.”
They only made the test batteries. The production batteries have been made in South Korea and were shipped to America. The workers are still being paid and just sit around playing games.
Define “extremely popular”. Does that mean halting production for several weeks so the dealers can get them off the lots?

By: jimmy cracks corn

jimmy cracks corn — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 20:50:48 +0000

In order to keep the car in production they will adopt a new battery technology and then switch to an entirely new generation of Lithium batteries that enable a 500 mile radius on a single 10-15 minute charge. This per the Q4 announcement at Northwestern University on a major breakthrough in LI batteries.

By 2016 – 2018 the major car companies will have ZERO excuses not to have a line-up of high radius all electric cars, SUV, and light pick ups, which will push gas/oil prices DOWN.

We won’t have oil wars, we’ll be having Lithium wars….

By: Chris_V

Chris_V — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:27:44 +0000

Why didn’t they put it in the first generation? If you waited for advancing tech (and it’s ALWAYS advancing) before putting out the first product, you’d never put out a first product, as there’s always SOMETHING better in development.

At some point you have to say, “ok, it’s good enough to get the foot in the door and make a statement.” The Volt, even now, is that statement, and it’s needed to be in production now, not after 2-3 more years of waiting for even higher tech.

And they need to not use all the battery capacity, as they need to ensure longetivity of the battery pack first, to make peopel comfortable with not having to replace it every 5 years.

By: Eletruk

Eletruk — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 19:53:18 +0000

Chevy only uses half the Volt’s battery capacity (about 8Kwh of a 16KWh battery). They don’t need a new battery to double their capacity, they just need to use all of what they already have.

By: lazyreader

lazyreader — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:58:27 +0000

If that were the case, why didn’t they put it in the first generation car to begin with. Because they advertise the technology before it’s even practical. The hype puts on a lot of pressure.