[p7wang]

GM president on its electric future: ‘We can’t get away with vaporware’

Electrek spoke with Mark Reuss, General Motors president, about the company's level of commitment to its big EV plans.

electrek.co

"No. When we started with the Volt and the Bolt, we probably over-designed those battery packs. They may never die. But along the way, you learn how to control it and how people really use it, which until you do it, you’re guessing. So with better efficiency along the way, you’re decreasing the cell cost and size and improving the curve of performance and value, independent of cell chemistry."

Meaning future models will have batteries designed with a useful life of let's say the warranty period?!?

 

[boltage]

Seems like some battery management aspects were made very conservative to minimize battery degradation, such as the ~50kW DCFC limit and tapering down the charge rate at just above half full.

 

[NY-Rob]

Well, Elon has stated that his current batteries are designed to last between 300,000 - 500,000 miles and his "Million Mile Battery" is already in the works.

It's not that much of a stretch to imagine the robust over-design of the Bolt battery could also last up to a half a million miles lifespan.

 

[duncanator]

I will never know. When my lease is up in mid-2022, it's gone!

 

[AHughes]

I'll probably never hit the half million but I should see some decently high numbers. In the first 9 months of owning my back in 2018 (2017 year model) I put roughly 4,500 miles on it (short drive to work). At that point I started a new job 50 miles away and have put another 36,000 miles on it in the last 16 months (or roughly 2,250 miles a month). If I keep that up for the next 9 years I'll hit a third of a million.

I really hope it lasts that long. If it does then I'll have saved literally the cost of the vehicle in gasoline vs my vehicle.

 

[gpsman]

Unless they are fine - fine - fine, then suddenly go off a cliff and die all at once, current trends show the batteries will outlive the mechanical aspects of the car.

 

[psyflyjohn]

It was a big gamble buying two Bolts for the family. But, so far, so good. Keeping my fingers crossed...

 

[ZoomZoom]

Problem is Chevy has the degradation point so low before they will do anything, that the utility/usefulness of the car has changed at that point that many have at this point handed it off to their college going child or truly had a coming to jesus moment and embraced it's a commuter car.

 

[Sean Nelson]

Unless they are fine - fine - fine, then suddenly go off a cliff and die all at once, current trends show the batteries will outlive the mechanical aspects of the car.

There will probably come a point when the batteries start to die of some sort of degradation that's caused by age rather than by repeated charging and discharging. But that'll probably be a curve too, rather than a cliff.

 

[Warren]

There is another possibility. As I understand it, after five years, after market products can be made and sold. I have a Jeep Wrangler and get catalogs all the time. I am convinced that I could build a new Jeep from parts sold after market. There is no market for this now but as batteries begin to degrade will some enterprising person/company sell batteries with more capacity? 500 mile range? It will boil down to personal desires/preferences. Is it economical to put a re-manufactured engine in an ICE vehicle with over 200,000 miles on it already?

 

[p7wang]

For the bolt platform, probably not enough potential customers to make sense. The pre-2020 owners do have one upgrade path of going to 66 kWh as the battery is supposed to fit in exactly the same frame.

 

[Vertiformed]

For the bolt platform, probably not enough potential customers to make sense. The pre-2020 owners do have one upgrade path of going to 66 kWh as the battery is supposed to fit in exactly the same frame.

There will probably be more than 75,000 Bolts in the USA by the time they decide to make a substantive change to the design. It's not a massive number, but it's not none either. It's enough to have an Internet forum with a few thousand members, for example.

I've been on a few Kickstarter projects, and I'm often amazed at how a relatively small number of backers is enough to bring some very cool projects to life.

 

[rainsongmike]

There is another possibility. As I understand it, after five years, after market products can be made and sold. I have a Jeep Wrangler and get catalogs all the time. I am convinced that I could build a new Jeep from parts sold after market. There is no market for this now but as batteries begin to degrade will some enterprising person/company sell batteries with more capacity? 500 mile range? It will boil down to personal desires/preferences. Is it economical to put a re-manufactured engine in an ICE vehicle with over 200,000 miles on it already?

I did that once in a dodge van and got another150K