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The article is mistaken in interpreting the warranty as a sign of GM's confidence in their product. GM is offering the warranty because no one will buy the car

The article is mistaken in interpreting the warranty as a sign of GM's confidence in their product. GM is offering the warranty because no one will buy the car otherwise, and they really have little to lose if the battery turns out to be a turd. They'll either get another government bailout or declare bankruptcy, which is just what would have happened anyways. Consumers know this, which is why other car companies won't necessarily feel compelled to match the warranty.

curtis 16y ago
At one point the Volt was expected to use lithium ion phosphate batteries from A123 Systems (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A123Systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A123Systems), but at some point they were dropped in favor of a lithium ion polymer battery system from LG Chem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Chem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Chem). I'm under the impression that commercially available lithium ion phosphate batteries are already good enough that they can reasonably be expected to last for 8 years / 100k miles. The most notable tradeoff between the two battery chemistries is that lithium ion phosphate batteries tend to last longer (maybe much longer), but lithium ion polymer batteries have about twice the energy density when they're new. If Tesla were using lithium ion phosphate batteries, they'd only be looking at a 120 mile range on the Roadster instead of 240. Since the Volt is a plug-in hybrid with only a 40 mile range on battery alone, it seems like lithium ion phosphate, with its longer life time, would be the ideal choice. This raises the question of why, exactly, GM switched to lithium ion polymer. I don't know, nor have I seen any informed opinion about that. My guess, and this is total speculation on my part, is that a) they didn't think A123 Systems had the capacity to support the Volt, and b) LG Chem made them a deal they couldn't refuse. I suspect (and again, I'm just speculating) that GM may be expecting to have to replace batteries of the first generation of Volts under warranty. I also suspect that LG Chem will be assuming some of the cost, and that both parties believe replacement batteries will be substantially cheaper in a couple of years when they're needed. Finally, I think that GM expects to lose money for several years on Volt anyway. This is not necessarily bad business -- it will be years before Volt and other GM electric vehicles will make a major percentage of their sales. I'm pretty sure Toyota lost money for years on Prius, and few people think that was a mistake anymore.

curtis 16y ago

At one point the Volt was expected to use lithium ion phosphate batteries from A123 Systems (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A123Systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A123Systems), but at some point they were dropped in favor of a lithium ion polymer battery system from LG Chem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Chem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Chem). I'm under the impression that commercially available lithium ion phosphate batteries are already good enough that they can reasonably be expected to last for 8 years / 100k miles. The most notable tradeoff between the two battery chemistries is that lithium ion phosphate batteries tend to last longer (maybe much longer), but lithium ion polymer batteries have about twice the energy density when they're new. If Tesla were using lithium ion phosphate batteries, they'd only be looking at a 120 mile range on the Roadster instead of 240. Since the Volt is a plug-in hybrid with only a 40 mile range on battery alone, it seems like lithium ion phosphate, with its longer life time, would be the ideal choice. This raises the question of why, exactly, GM switched to lithium ion polymer. I don't know, nor have I seen any informed opinion about that. My guess, and this is total speculation on my part, is that a) they didn't think A123 Systems had the capacity to support the Volt, and b) LG Chem made them a deal they couldn't refuse. I suspect (and again, I'm just speculating) that GM may be expecting to have to replace batteries of the first generation of Volts under warranty. I also suspect that LG Chem will be assuming some of the cost, and that both parties believe replacement batteries will be substantially cheaper in a couple of years when they're needed. Finally, I think that GM expects to lose money for several years on Volt anyway. This is not necessarily bad business -- it will be years before Volt and other GM electric vehicles will make a major percentage of their sales. I'm pretty sure Toyota lost money for years on Prius, and few people think that was a mistake anymore.