Better batteries for the Volt
Electric-only range goes up, fuel consumption goes down
- Published in News.
Going the distance: The Volt's battery will take it further down the road
Improved battery technology will enable GM to increase the Chevrolet Volt's electric-only range by almost 5km.
Increasing the lithium-ion battery's energy capacity and modifying the cell chemistry will enable the Volt to travel more than 61km before the combustion engine fires up to run the generator.
GM's director of global battery systems engineering Bill Wallace said: “We've done some work at the cell level to modify the ingredients to make a better end result. The will allow our customers to experience more pure EV range.”
The cells are still based on a manganese spinel chemistry but the quantities of the elements used to make the electrodes have been altered. The battery's total energy storage capacity has been increased from 16 to 16.5kWh.
The Volt will also be able to use more of the energy stored in the battery: the vehicle's electric motors will be able to draw 10.8kWh from it before the combustion engine starts, compared to 10.3kWh in the current model.
