Toyota laughs while Chevy Volt battery power is ripped in half
By Matt Jansen
For a while now GM has focused on finding ways to reduce the price of the Chevy Volt. It will be expensive to manufacture because of the lineup of lithium-ion batteries running down the center of the car. GM has several options, one of which is to reduce the number of miles the Chevy Volt can drive on a single electric charge by half.
If the research GM conducted in Los Angeles is accurate though, then many Americans would either have to charge the Chevy Volt twice or continue to use gas on a regular basis. 40 miles on electric power was the key number that captured two thirds of drivers. Twenty miles makes the Chevy Volt seem a bit less revolutionary.
But, it also may make it more affordable. Tony Posawatz, senior engineering executive for the Chevy Volt told Reuters that “GM could offer a battery pack with a 20-mile electric-only range to bring costs down . . . part of an effort to cut the cost of such vehicles by half or more.
Price estimates for the Chevy Volt have varied wildly, ranging initially from $30,000 to possibly well over $40,000. But, GM has other options to bring the cost of the Chevy Volt down. The company is currently is moving close to a deal with a battery supplier, and has to make a decision in the next few months to meet production schedules, and the magical 2010 deadline.
With a battery supplier supplier in place, GM will have a clearer picture of how much it will cost to manufacture the Chevy Volt, and how it may be possible to identify additional sources of revenue. One such example is in the electric battery aftermarket.
GM has been “approached by utilities interested in using recycled Volt batteries as a power storage system, a secondary market that could bring down the cost of the Volt and other plug-in vehicles for consumers.”
That means power companies could store excess electricity generated during off-peak hours and feed it back into the grid when demand is high. The deal makes sense because even after GM’s target for the Chevy Volt battery of to last for 10 years or 150,000 miles, it’s expected that the lithium-ion cells will still function at 70-80% capacity.
But, that would require GM to embrace an investment with a long tail, unlikely in light of its struggles with the EV-1.
Meanwhile, Toyota is planning on a plug-in hybrid Prius for 2010, targeted for fleet operators like the government and other businesses. In typical fashion, Toyota may be waiting to gauge the success of the Chevy Volt before jumping into the plug-in hybrid market. It certainly offloads a lot of the risk to GM.
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June 17th, 2008
This story is misleading. The Chevy volt will be offered with a 40 mile range. A 20 mile range option is being considered too but 40 miles has already been demonstrated and is the target for model 1. In addition to a 20 mile option, they will offer 60, 100, etc. or more mile options as the batteries are developed and drop in price.
June 17th, 2008
Offering a battery pack size option makes a lot more sense than not offering one. And who says that the range is permanent, as implied by this article. The article also is wrong in the number who can commute using 40 miles – it is close to 80%, not the 2/3rds claimed (66% for Jansen, the math challenged journalist). It looks like the Volt will sport a mid 40’s driving range and enable over 80% to commute using no gas, even without any workplace recharging. There WILL be plenty of recharging at the workplace,that’s for certain. And many other public venues – two towns in California are already installing outlets with free electricity for those paking in their center marketplace. The offering of a half sized pack is not just a reflection of high battery costs – it means that there are plenty of drivers out there who commute less than 20 miles – to be exact, the DOT stats demonstrate that 51% of commuters have round trip commutes of less than 20 miles. There are also those others who can recharge at their workplace. So why on Earth would either of these 2 groups want to spend an extra $8,000 for batteries they don’t really need? Especially when you realize that battery prices are going to come down and more can be added on later, should the driver’s situation change. Jansen has consistently missed the point about plug-ins – they are effective because they take advantage
of what should be an obvious fact of life – well over 90% of the time you are in your car on the road, you are within 20 miles of home. Optioning the battery pack size takes advantage of the fact that there are 51% of the commuters out there that DON’T NEED 40 miles of electric driving range in order to knock the stuffing out of their gas consumption, in the same way that 100% of the drivers DON’T NEED a 200 mile electric driving range to reduce their gas expenditures to pocket change.
June 17th, 2008
What a dumb headline. Reading this was just a waste of time.
June 19th, 2008
Offering a lower cost Volt with 20 mile electric-only range is a fantastic idea!! I (and many other I know) have commutes of 10 miles or less. Why should we have to pay for battery capacity we will never need?
June 21st, 2008
I have no commute, but drive about 300 miles per week – all in one day. I’m hoping that the battery recharge capability of the Volt will also include the ability to generate AC (to run the computer I need in the car and possibly tools when on a job site).
In any case, the idea of having smaller and larger capacity offerings makes perfect sense. Aside from the additional cost of higher range batteries, that also includes additional weight, which I would assume would affect overall mileage/range per KVA (battery capacity).
So for the majority of drivers out there that don’t need the range I do, a lighter, less expensive configuration would only make sense. Even in my own situation, I would take into consideration the cost of the range versus the payout of using the gas recharge less often. I’m looking forward to running those numbers!
June 22nd, 2008
I agree with NSJ, I have a 9 mile commute and hardly drive more than 20 miles at a time. GM should offer a 20 mile range option with a smaller battery at less price.
June 22nd, 2008
I agree with NSJ, I have a 9 mile commute and hardly drive more than 20 miles at a time. GM should offer a 20 mile range option with a smaller battery at less price. As far as Toyota is concerned, I realized they are not the so called Green company. They built the Prius just to woo the environmentally concerned people and make some quick buck.
June 30th, 2008
Guys all I care is that we need a car that works without oil…we have to ween off these g-d dam arabs. These g-d dam arabs are pushing us to the wall,,gotta do something to replace the oil
August 11th, 2008
many people have watched Chris Paine’s Who Killed the Electric Car and they know that it was GM’s own ineptness at battery making that cast doubt on the range achievable. GM killed the electric car because there wasn’t enough money in it for them. Once again, GM and the other conglomerates are missing the chance to corner a very large commuter market. The ovionic battery put in their EV1’s two years after the EV1 hit the road did an admirable job and met the needs and exceeded the expectations of most commuting Californians. Car makers are not interested in producing an affordable electric vehicle-WHY! TATA motors wants to sell a brand new vehicle for $2500.00 in North America. Perhaps converting these to electric could be done for less than an additional $3000.00 Can you see the market for this $5500.00 all electric vehicle. Which automaker will take the HIGH ROAD and finally deliver what the customer really wants. Recent collapse of the SUV and Truck market should help with these decisions.For the ordinary person- check out companies that offer conversion to electric; many say that they can do it quite inexpensively and very well.
November 13th, 2008
The reduction in range affects two things only one of which has been mentioned. When the Volt goes from a 40 mile range to a 20 mile range and people who drive 20 miles begin to celebrate thinking they’ve only lost range, they should consider the significant impact to Depth of Discharge (DoD) and lithium cell life. Lithium batteries do not have the adverse memory affects of NiCad however they are significantly affected by high DoDs. Lithium will last longest if you maintain it at a standard temperature and when the DoD is limited. Ideally 10% DoD will result in batteries that last many years (7-10) while 50% DoDs will result in about a 20 or so percent drop in battery life and finally approaching 100% DoD will reduce battery life SIGNIFICANTLY as much as about 80%. Think about your cell phone. We routinely charge it only when the battery indicator turns red and flashes meaning we’re approaching 100% DoD and how many of us have had batteries in cell phones last much over two years… you don’t.
June 24th, 2009
Do does anyone one know what the cycle life is of these Volt batteries at 100% DoD? How about elevated temps, like 55C-60C? Lithium ion really degrades at those higher temps….
HybridGirl