Volt Birth Watch 33: Horsing Around With the Batteries
GM won't make the Easter deadline to have a Volt test mule on the streets. Nor will they make the April deadline Car Czar Bob Lutz revised it to. CNNMoney reports he's now saying they're looking at two competing battery developers and they want to "run the two in parallel a while longer" How much longer? Lutz didn't say, but he still insists they'll launch the Volt in "late 2010." The two companies, Compact Power and Continental Automotive Systems, are in what Maximum Bob termed a "horse race" to see which works best. He also insists "the battery technology is working great" and the development problems "aren't fundamental electrochemical problems [but] simple engineering problems." He estimates by 2015 between a quarter and a third of GM's production will be hybrid-electric or alternative-drive vehicles to meet the new CAFE standards. Keep in mind, though, that this comes from a grown man who still believes in the Easter Bunny .
© 2008 by ttac.com
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What happened to A123? Did their horse pull up lame? [clicks link] Oh, I see, they're partnered with Continental... and GM? This strikes me as curious. GM was hooked in with Continental to use cells developed by A123 and GM and THEN ALSO signed a deal with Compact Power, which represents LG? Why would they look beyond the cells in which they have a stake? Trouble at A123? Trouble with A123's battery? "[Lutz] estimates by 2015 between a quarter and a third of GM's production will be hybrid-electric or alternative-drive vehicles to meet the new CAFE standards." Considering the negative unit volume growth of so many of their product lines, I think this is entirely possible.
Kix-"Considering the negative unit volume growth of so many of their product lines, I think this is entirely possible." Ouch! Well put.
I guess they don't want to put all their easter eggs in one basket.