Listen Up, Detroit Are Talkin’ Badderies!
Ok, so the doco Who Killed The Electric Car may have stung GM into full blown counter-spin mode and hence the knee-jerk announcement of the Chevy Volt, AKA “the electric car that runs on press releases” but I’ve got to admit that after viewing this interview with GM’s Bob Lutz my scepticism is waning. Which can only mean that my excitement is building!
Yes, I am now fully convinced that the Chevy Volt will be built and that it just may be the catalyst that triggers our departure from the Fossil Fuel Age and finally propels the human species into the into the Lithium Age. If GM are telling us that they have 150 engineers working on the Volt and another 400 engineers working on the “flexible” drive trains of the near future then I ain’t gunna fight it any more, I believe ‘em.
My Hero; David Vieau, President & CEO, A123 Systems.
Of course, it isn’t GM who’re the real catalyst, it’s the Apple Computers of the battery industry, A123 systems, that are really changing the world and to GM’s credit, they know it. If you want to get a good idea where we are at the moment with Lithium batteries and EV’s and you have a spare half hour then I can highly recommend this “Lithium-Ion Live” video (also from Autoline Detroit), in particular, the Q & A video at the end is very interesting.
Now, back to the garage to do some more cycle testing on MY A123 batteries… 
(Thanks to Steven Lough for posting these links on the EV Discussion List.)
September 12th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
hhhhhmmmmmmmmm.Sounds promising.
September 20th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Hi Shaun
I agree - when it comes to asking “Who Revived the Electric Car”, looking back we will have to say - the battery companies.
The other week I was directly emailed by A123, inviting me to register my interest in their battery extention pack for the Toyota Prius - which I did out of a show of support.
So….how is your testing of A123 batteries (developers kit or hacked DeWalt pack) progressing - any updates for us non-engineering types?
September 20th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Hi Alex,
Wow, A123 are starting to ramp things up (at last?), very interesting.
A123 have clearly stated that their investment in Hymotion was so that they could do real-world EV testing. Their goal has always been to build EV battery packs but there has been no market to build capital so they started with DeWalt and now Hymotion.
It will be an expensive “show of support” by you but a very important one, well worth it if you can afford it. Besides, realistically, any Big-Auto EV is at least 5 years away from hitting the shores of Australia.
My Battery testing is going steadily I have two DeWalt packs and I have spent a considerable amount of my rare *spare* time building the test bench. This involves configuring many various electronic control and data acquisition devices and writing some robust control and logging software and setting up some web pages to share my results. It may look quiet on the E-E blog but this is always inversely proportional to my real EV activity!
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Hi Shaun,
While you’re beavering away on your A123 testing, I would be interested to know your views on the Lithium Ion battery packs that are actually now available for eV conversions from Chinese company Thundersky. Ross Blade from Blade Electric Vehicles is using the Thundersky batteries in conversions of the Hyundai Getz.
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Hi Stan,
That’s a great question, one I’ve been asked quite a lot lately and one that requires a fair bit of explaining so it’ll be my next post.