"What happens when a kid dumps a Slurpee down the back seat?"

Ask Toyota, or other hybrid manufacturers. Liquids have already made their way into battery pack compartments that are mounted underneath rear seat assemblies - as, for example, Toyota's Highlander Hybrid and Lexus RX400h, among other current hybrids. In addition to spilled drinks, over-aggressive shampooing of interiors by detail shops have also caused problems. In every case that I am aware of, the system's ground fault detection system properly identified the problem and shut down the system.

Although these cases are not common, investigation has shown that adjustments to the original case designs could have prevented some of the ingress. As with any new technology, OEMs will learn from experience. Some will learn faster than others.

What all this clearly shows, is that the battery tech is absolutely there for all aspects of power and energy delivery is there, what needs to be done is systems integration.
Stick in a pack of ultracaps for acceleration power and regen braking, and get the energy to drive from lipo batteries, and you are home free. The rest is power electronics to manage the charge distribution.

Tesla and others have shown that its doable, for long-range EVs. GM is still dragging their feet in implementing this stuff, and there is no excuse why they are starting this just now. They shoulda kept going and rolling out better prototype iterations since EV1. Its not like lithium wasnt on the radar when EV1 were pulled off the streets.

Wishing for the better battery to suit all our needs will remain a unaccomplished dream forever ( battery-powered passenger aircraft, anyone ? ) , meanwhile others are rolling out EVs that suit the needs of certain people.

The reason for starting at 80% for the PHEV cycle test and not 100% probably means that the Johnson Saft battery will last longer that way. Or is there another explanation? The same argument could be true for stopping at 20% but here the reason could also be that a 20% state of charge is needed to maintain sufficient power. I would like to know how the batteries from Saft, A123 and Altair compare in this regard. Clett you seem to know this for Altair could you perhaps elaborate a little on it? Anyway it is nice to see that GM has chosen to be more informative on these PHEV development issues than they would normally be.

I agree with Pauls answer to Kert. Tesla hasnt proved anything yet. They have proved that they can build a high priced toy for the "Jay Lenos" and "George Clooneys" of the world, but not for "factory worker Joe" whose livelihood may depend a single vehicle and its performance/value.

Battery technology and durability have to improve, and I feel they are. Tesla does not have the product awareness that GM has, and would not take as big of a risk/beating with a product introduction of unproven, developing technology. So a comparison of Tesla to GM is totally senseless in this case.

As far as GM dragging their feet, I disagree, as I feel they are only going to implement these technologies after they are comparable in PRICE,RANGE, and DURABILITY with existing ICE offerings. Just the fact that they are at "the game", if not in "the game" gives me hope for our future transportation. Dont pin our hopes on Tesla, as I feel Telsa will only be a small part of the future. Hopefully I will be wrong. Either way, with the improving EV vehicles in the future our future is indeed bright. The battery gestation period is long, and we are an impatient animal.

I can't wait for next years auto show when GM will offer the first car to run on cat urine. Strange isn't it, that someone would actually want to buy a car GM displayed at the show. No wonder Toyota is leaving them in the dust.

Kert -

The main reason for not fully discharging the PHEV pack to 0% or even 5% SOC is that you still have to maintain HEV, or charge sustaining, activity at that state of charge. It is dubious that Altair would be capable of pulling the power required for any significant time (if at all) at 5% SOC.

But could not the Altair battery cycle between 95% SOC and 15% SOC, providing an AER of 80% of the battery capacity? If a PHEV packed a 20 KWH battery, then 16 KWH would be available for an all electric range of 45 miles. These batteries are available now, the ability to connect them together is available now, and the electrical power control system is available now. The Volt could go into production now, it is not constrained by technology. Cost and production capacity are the real barriers.

Dustin:
I'm guessing here, but I think the small engine that is in the volt concept would be too weak to power the entire vehicle alone--if that is what you are getting at? I think that motor is small due to it only needing to run a generator to produce electric for re-charging, and therefore is efficient at sipping gas rather than gulping. In a scenario as in the rest of the cars that are run directly by an ICE, any amount of speed, or hauling, or towing, or hill climbing asked of the vehicle starts to kill the fuel economy.

I am not sure if a battery for plug-in application must be high power. Assuming a parallel configuration, any high power need can be satisfied from the engine.

GM's stated requirements could cause their plug-in cars to be delayed compared to Toyota's entry. I don't know why would GM content to be in a position to be always trying to catch up. Their EV1 effort should have given them a head start, but they completely botched it.

You GM bashers must remember that GM is one of the world leaders in hybrid applications in buses, such as used in public transport. Granted, they are behind Toyota in the personal transport "race", but at least they are in "the race". Alot of car makers cannot make that claim at the moment.

As I said earlier, GM leads Toyota in hybrid applications for buses and large vehicles. GM and Toyota are choosing two different routes for the same destination, and hoping the technology transfers to the other end of their market over time. Both are making advances. So, you Toyota lovers must learn to quit bashing GM, as at least they are trying. Everyone will benefit from this continued trend.

If you want to bash someone, bash Chrysler who think the world will be all good with "hemi" pasted on everything!

The reason they dont go too low or too high is itbadly effectts lifetime. Remember gm wants 10 years 150k miles out of these things and so uses various methods to make sure it gets that with room t0p spare.

"Factory worker Joe" can't afford a hybrid 'cause all the factories are in China. China at its current level of QC would produce batteries and control systems with MTBF of around 3-400 hours.

What is good is the W War. Wantanabe vs. Waggoner. Neither guy wants the other to take market share so they are pre-announcing to read consumer response. If you guys really WANT the Volt - send an e-mail to your GM dealership and ask when you can place an order. Nothing moves market faster than consumers with cash waving over their heads.

The cat car was overshadowed by the one that runs on grey matter. More grey matter - better the mileage.

Notice that there was no new information in GM's press release. But there is so much misinformation about GM (e.g., "Who Killed the Electric Car?") that they have to do this kind of thing to educate the public about their product development plans. GM is fighting for its life. And, yes, they are behind in hybrid car technologies. But they'll be buying batteries from some of the same suppliers as Toyota and Honda, so they just may catch up.

Lad,

I won't argue with your conspiracy theory; time will demonstrate that battery technology isn't controlled by BIG-Anything. But I will correct your quote. What Charles Wilson, the president of GM during the 1950's, actually said at his senate confirmation hearing for secretary of defense was "what's good for the United States is also good for GM." People have turned his words around for so many years that few people even know what he actually said.