(Brownstown Twp., MI, January 7, 2010) The first completed Chevrolet Volt battery pack rolled off production equipment today at a new factory in Brownstown Twp, south of Detroit. The completion of pack number one came three years to the day after General Motors unveiled the original Volt concept at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show. This marks yet another milestone in the program to bring the extended range electric vehicle to production.
The first full production Volts are due to roll out of the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant in November of this year, about four and a half years after the car was initially conceived. According to GM electric vehicle spokesman Rob Peterson the company plans to have well over 1,000 Volts on the road by the end of 2010 including the pilot build vehicles that will start coming out of the plant in mid-April.
The Brownstown plant is producing the General Motors designed 16 kWh battery packs using lithium ion cells supplied by South Korean based LG Chem. The initial supply of cells will be produced in Korea until LG Chem and its U.S. subsidiary Compact Power Inc. complete a new plant in Michigan.
The plant began as an empty shell in August 2009 and is now outfitted with production equipment arranged in three main sections. The pack first starts coming to life in the module pre-assembly area where individual cells are arranged into three main modules. The pre-assembly area processes one cell every two seconds. The modules along with the electronics are then assembled into the case on a line comprised of automated guided carts. All welding of connections is handled by automated equipment to ensure consistency and safety.
The final assembly area known as the pack main line adds seals, connectors, high-voltage cables and heat shielding. The process ends with testing of the pack to make sure it can be charged, discharged and all of the sensors work.
One of the biggest concerns for producing plug-in vehicles like the Volt is the cost of the battery. While many estimates have put the cost of lithium ion batteries for cars at as much as $1,000/kWh, GM's battery engineering director Denise Grey and program management VP Lon Laukner have told Green Fuels Forecast that the cost of this battery is far less than that. While Grey and Laukner decline to give specific numbers for competitive reasons, both hint that the cost is in the range of $500-600 per kWh. At the high end of that the Volt pack would cost $9,600, a significant chunk of the car's value.
Grey tells GFF that General Motors is working closely with suppliers to help further optimize the cost of the battery and cells. Since this is a new product area, many companies like A123 Systems and other startups have been working with only single suppliers for many components. As the volume of battery production is scaled up, GM is encouraging its suppliers to expand their own supply bases to help find lower costs.
GM is a member of the US Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) which has set a goal of getting battery cost down to $300/kWh by 2015. Grey seems confident that goal is indeed possible.
The other issue remaining for the batteries is lifespan. General Motors will be warranting the Volt battery for 10 years or 150,000 miles, a very aggressive goal. Since automotive lithium ion batteries have not yet existed for that time period, GM and other manufacturers have to accelerate testing. So far Grey remains confident that the Volt battery will last the distance but testing remains ongoing. During the recent holiday break the battery test lab at GM's Warren MI Tech Center continued running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The lab equipment is able to monitor the testing and provide automatic notifications if anything unexpected happens.
