Is the Volt a warning shot to the rest of the car world that GM's got the fast track to new batteries?
click the above image to enter our high-res image gallery of the Volt
Media organizations with a broad collection of stories (like a daily newspaper or the nightly news) often mention briefly what those of us who blog incessantly about a particular topic really dig into. Take, as a perfect example, this story in the Christian Science Monitor, which puts the Chevy Volt, new battery technologies and GM's upcoming hurdles into a 650-word perspective. Most of the text is nothing new if you've been checking out AutoblogGreen this past week, putting it all together lets the CSM frame GM's announcement as the first event in an upcoming race to the finish: whoever gets working, next-generation batteries - batteries "that can power a car for 40 miles, discharge most of its power, and be recharged thousands of times without major deterioration. The technology should be reliable enough to carry warranties of 150,000 miles and 10 years" - into cars first will be the first true winner of the 21st century car wars.
[Source: Christian Science Monitor]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Murc 11:02PM (1/14/2007)
I agree with that announcement....and doubt GM would say that without something up their sleeve.
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Rareflight 1:10PM (1/13/2007)
The guy at CSM is just probably a frequent visitor to Autobloggreen!
Seriously, the article seems a statement of the obvious although perhaps not for the casual follower of this issue. I'm surprised by Ms. Sastry's pessimism. As I mentioned in another post,(http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/01/07/detroit-auto-show-chevy-volt-vs-gm-ev1-by-the-numbers/#comments, comment #7) the power/energy ratio for several different lithium-ion technologies and manufacturers seems to already be in the ballpark (http://www.nrel.gov/vehiclesandfuels/energystorage/pdfs/40378.pdf)- the most critical piece. While the remaining challenges are anything but trivial, it does seem feasible to have first-gen PHEVs from a big auto mfg within 5 years. Considering the track record of the Japanese manufacturers, I doubt they're ready to concede "first-to-market" dibs to GM...
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