Volt Birth Watch 122: A123 Wins Battery Contract Pending Government Loans
Or not, we might add. As usual, the latest chapter in the Volt saga is both convoluted and taxpayer-funded. Automotive News [sub] reports that “A123Systems, the battery supplier for the upcoming Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid vehicle, will make lithium ion batteries for automotive use at a Michigan plant if it receives federal (136) loans, the supplier said today.” The plant would employ up to 14k, and supply batteries for 19 contracts including the Volt, Chrysler’s ENVI and Project Better Place. But this information is based on A123’s filings. There’s still no official confirmation from GM on the Volt contract, although Business Wire does quote GM’s Bob Lutz as saying “A123’s proposal to manufacture advanced battery cells and packs right here in the United States is a positive development for our industry and the nation.” The strangest part of the story is that the GM-Volt.com cheerleaders, usually privy to info straight from GM, were previously convinced that LG Chem/Compact Power had beat A123 to the contract. Back in October, GM-Volt’s Lyle Dennis seemed to confirm a Reuters report that LG/Compact had won. “As we have heard before in a subtle way from GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz,” wrote Dennis, “GM was only using one supplier’s packs in the mules. Concurrently, we had heard from Compact Power’s CEO that his batteries were being used in the mules. Sources have now confirmed this is the case and that the mules packs are performing flawlessly.” So really, who knows. GM may well be saving the announcement for the forthcoming Detroit Auto Show.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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@ GeeDashOff giant batteries on the electric grid to even out power distribution with power generation Ew, that seems like a sure fire way to waste a bit more energy. Local co-generation in cold climates (like they are successfully doing in the City of London -U K) and solar feed-in (like Germany) would be way cheaper. Disclaimer: Our company has worked with Baxi.
I'm with tesaldeathwatcher; I don't think this announcement by A123 necessarily means they have the Volt contract. Rumors to the opposite have been rampant. And A123 sees plenty of future business without the Volt contract.
Actually, if teh LG/Compact batteries performed flawlessly in the Volt mules, as claimed, I would expect them to use A123 as the sole supplier of batteries. This is GM afterall.
So what's next? Dudes with Sawz-Alls cutting battery packs loose and stealing them out of dark parking lots? Seriously I have recently read an article that claims we are faced a big shortage in key elements in the coming decades. Yeah I know - we've been short of one or another thing for my entire life so I do approach this with a bit of skepticism. However the articles insist that we will simply run out of certain elements. Just use your favorite search engine to find: "The US imports 90 per cent of its 'rare earth' metals from China" "The Death of Gallium"