“On a recent call with investors, GM said it will delay the launches of the Chevrolet Equinox EV, the Silverado EV RST and the GMC Sierra EV Denali by several months. CEO Mary Barra said the company will drop plans to invest $5 billion to launch several new entry-level EVs (which the market badly needs), and will equip the next-generation Chevy Bolt with lower-cost batteries purchased from China (which could make it ineligible for IRA subsidies).”
Oof. So the next gen Chevy bolt won’t even be on the ultium platform.
Bad look for GM. We bought a Bolt EUV primarily bc it was eligible for the IRA tax credit. It’s a great car but I wouldn’t consider it again if it’s going to have cheap Chinese batteries and won’t be eligible for the credit.
What a bonehead move. That’s the equivalent of raising the price for new buyers by $7500 for a worse car. What in the heck is she thinking?
Those cheap Chinese batteries aren’t “cheap” as in bad quality.
They’re almost certainly using LFP batteries which are made in China right now, but they are incredible batteries.
They’re cheaper because they use more common materials, the F and P being iron and phosphate which are plentiful. They’re also more environmentally friendly to procure those materials
They’re also much safer than GMs current pouch batteries which are more prone to fire due to their chemistry, and form factor. LFP batteries are probably the safest you can have in a car right now. The chemistry itself is less fire prone, and their prismatic form factor is physically less prone to thermal runaway problems.
And then, not only are they safer and cheaper, they last longer capable of thousands of cycles. A LFP car with 250m range could quite realistically have a 750,000 to 1,000,000 mile lifespan. Maybe longer.
But wait there’s more! Unlike other chemistries LFP batteries can be charged to 100% with minimal impact on degradation. So you can get more out of the battery instead of the 20-80% range being the optimal way to keep its best performance.
The more cars we have using these batteries the better it’ll be. We should work to get local production of them as well.
All the manufacturers are moving to use them, but one of their downsides is their lower energy density. You can’t get those 400 mile range cars out of them as they’d take up too much space. So they don’t work well in trucks, or long range vehicles. But they work perfectly in something like a standard range Bolt or Model 3 type vehicle.
one of their downsides is their lower energy density. You can’t get those 400 mile range cars out of them as they’d take up too much space.
Unlike other chemistries LFP batteries can be charged to 100% with minimal impact on degradation. So you can get more out of the battery instead of the 20-80% range being the optimal way to keep its best performance.
This seems like a reasonable trade-off to make, no?
Oh it’s absolutely worth it if you don’t want the 300+mile cars or trucks.
And with enough time as the chemistry improves as they all do, they’ll slowly creep up making them an even better choice.
I’m happy to see others adopting the tech.
GM makes yet another bone-headed decision? Color me surprised. Maybe if they charged $200,000 for their Hummer EV people will buy it? They’ve already killed the Volt and Bolt.
That’s a shame too. The Volt was an outstanding car. My favorite feature was the little button on the end of the blinker lever that gave a polite little series of honks, “beepbeepbeep”.
