how long a volt battery pack good for..

GM says Volt battery system will have 8-year, 100,000-mile warranty Chrissie Thompson Automotive News -- July 14, 2010 - 12:01 am ET UPDATED: 7/14/10 3:41 p.m. ET

General Motors Co., preparing to launch the first U.S. mass-market plug-in hybrid, will offer buyers of its Chevrolet Volt an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty on the lithium-ion battery's 161 components.

The warranty also includes the battery's thermal management system, charging system and electric-drive components, GM said today.

The Volt, which goes on sale in October or November, can run for up to 40 miles on battery power before it switches to power from a gasoline-powered engine. A battery can charge in 8 to 10 hours on 120-volt power or about four hours through a 240-volt hookup.

GM intends for the warranty length to give customers confidence in the Volt's unfamiliar plug-in technology, said Micky Bly, GM's executive director of global electrical systems, today at GM's battery plant in Brownstown Township, Mich.

"It's one less question for the dealer," Bly said. GM has not announced the warranty for the Volt's gasoline-powered engine, but Bly said it would be at least as long as GM's standard five years or 100,000 miles.

The Volt battery's longevity stems in large part from the liquid heating and cooling system that keeps the battery at optimal temperatures. The Volt is the only such mass-market vehicle with a liquid-powered thermal management system, GM said.

For example, the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle has an air-cooled battery. Nissan hasn't released warranty information for the Leaf, which goes on sale in December.

The Brownstown plant has been building prototypes for Volts since January and will soon start batteries that will go on vehicles destined for customers' garages.

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I think it is commendable that GM is going to provide such a long warranty period for the batteries and related electronics in the Volt.....BUT, suppose they get it wrong (and when hasn't GM gotten new technology wrong?).

I suppose they have to do something to offset the high cost of the Volt, but if I was a GM stockholder, I would be worried that GM is openning themselves up to huge warranty liability down the road.

Ed

I dont think the price is out of line.

35K minus 7500 federal incentive and another 5k in California means that for my $22K i will get a car that will cost me about $15 a month for my commute. I work 15 miles from home and can charge at work, and I seldom take trips.. The engine would run very seldom. I cant wait to buy one. Ben

In message , C. E. White writes

Exactly like Mazda and there confidence in the Wankel rotary engine which just about bankrupted them, until Ford bought them out.

Say for instance you have a lead acid battery that is in good condition, but it has discharged and the battery is very cold, around zero degrees (wintertime) and you want to charge up the battery.At that cold temperature, it won't charge up, or will it? cuhulin

snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net wrote in news:29289-4C411531-395@storefull-

3173.bay.webtv.net:

0 Celcius or Fahrenheit? There was a case last year when there was a bus strike here and someone (read manager) forgot to have the batteries taken out when the garages were shut down. So Three months later and several hundred batteries were dead. Completely dead. No mention of whether any had residual charge, but surely some would be charged fully. And the rest of the possibilities as well one would think. This would be temperatures as low as -20 F. In the dead of winter.

We routinely get instructions stating to keep acid batteries charged in weather that cold. By trickle charge to maintain a voltage level. It lowers the freezing point of the acid solution I guess.

William Jeanes, former Editor in Chief and publisher of Car & Driver magazine, is talking right now to a local radio talk show host. Concerning electric cars, William Jeanes said, There ain't no magic solution!

I believe he is right too. cuhulin

Once you start charging, the temperature in a practical battery will increase since there is a resistive component present. So you can charge a battery when the environmental temperature is low, but the battery temperature will be increase.

Due to the nature of the electrochemical reaction in the battery, when they are cold they put out less current than when they are warm.

At least, that is the way I understand it.