Chevy
Volt: The Synchronicity of Design and Energy
Thursday, April 11, 2008
2
Volt battery packs undergo testing
Back in February of 2006, GM product guru, Bob Lutz,
tasked GM designers to come up with a design for the car
of the future. 11 months later, the Chevy
Volt debuted at NAIAS 2007.
40 miles of pure electricity. Unlimited range extension
via conventional fuels. 0 - 60 under 9 seconds. 100 mph+
speeds. A frugally beautiful Toyota
Prius, the Volt is not. Rather, the Volt is more like
an electric Camaro - a uniquely American spin on hybrid
cars.
But is it just vaporware?
To address this skepticism, GM decided to show a group of
media, including myself, just exactly where Volt
development is with an E Flex Technology Briefing last
week (see
earlier post).
Thus, media were taken to the Global Visualization Center
where 3D images replace the blueprints of yore - saving
time, money and the environment by reducing material costs
and waste by some 60 percent. And, with our 3D glasses on,
we watched the Volt piece together around the critically
important t-shaped battery pack - bolt by bolt and wire by
wire - with data from the most recent synchronization
points.
While the Volt is being built upon GM's global compact
vehicle design - this is not an electric vehicle-only
dedicated-architecture - the battery is still influencing
the design of this vehicle. The Volt, ultimately, is about
energy, storing lots and lots of energy in the Volt's
T-Pack battery. Thus, energy is driving design.
Of course, the design of the Volt really won't matter if
the lithium batteries being used by the Volt don't work,
and a lot has been happening with the batteries. Cell and
pack testing are well underway. And dynamic testing - when
rubber hits the road - is just around the corner. In fact,
the first battery pack will find its way into a Volt mule
sometime this month, and by the summer, a fleet of Volt
mules will be under test.
Additionally, to ensure that Volt batteries will provide
full performance over state of charge and life cycle -
that's at least 10 years or 150,000 miles - GM has
developed a new algorithm to model such life of service,
achieving 10 years worth of data in just 2 years.
Everything, thus far, indicates that the batteries will
work as planned.
Speaking of algorithms, math is also the language of the
the Volt's designers. In the dedicated Volt design center,
Bob Boniface, Design Manager of the Volt, told reporters
that math is powering the design of the Volt more than
normal cars to increase speed to production.
That's good because the math behind the Volt design might
just be key to the Volt achieving its promised
capabilities, particularly 40 miles of pure electric
range.
When wind tunnel tests demonstrated that the Volt wasn't
as aerodynamic as expected, engineers wondered just how
much more fuel economy could be recovered via reduced
aerodynamic drag. What they learned was, well, shocking.
At this point in the Volt's development, aerodynamics
offer more fuel efficiency gains than does a comparable
reduction in weight. Volt engineers, in disbelief, went
over this data again and again, until it was finally
realized just how important the aerodynamics - the design
- of this vehicle would be to the success of the Volt
program.
Thus, the design of the Volt has changed, even
significantly in some eyes. While, GM didn't show media a
complete view of the latest Volt iteration, they did show
a model with the current shape and proportions. Also,
Boniface showed media that the tail is now up higher,
while offering sharper corners at the edges to cleanly
break off aerodynamic drag, but it is the new proportions
of the Volt that are the real eye-catcher.
Yet, the mathematics of design continue to flow back and
forth from design center to wind tunnel, back to design
center, etc - millimeter by millimeter - as the Volt is
refined again and again in the quest for dynamic
aero-performance. Ultimately, the Chevy Volt is becoming
the perfect synthesis of energy and design - a
mathematically driven harmony, if you will.
Certainly, until GM actually begins to sell the Chevy
Volt, critics will continue to call the Volt vaporware,
and while there are still many questions, especially
regarding costs, that must be reconciled, it is obvious
that GM has, and continues to, put vast resources into the
development of the Volt. That fact cannot be denied.
The Volt isn't about theory and concepts. It's about the
future, and the Volt is a REAL product for the future.
Jon Lauckner, VP Global Product Management summed it up
best for me, "If you ask me, this isn't up for
debate. There will be a Volt. The only thing up for
discussion is the final date of production."
Perhaps the Chevy Volt won't be enough to save face in the
eyes of GM's critics, but there is no doubt that the Chevy
Volt has changed GM and the way GM thinks about producing
automobiles. Math, science and reason - the synchronicity
of design and energy - will power the next century of
automaking, and the Volt is a taste of that future.
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