[Chevy Bolt News]

News came out this week that GM would be partnering extensively with LG to produce Chevrolets Bolt EV.

GM's executive VP of product development, Mark Reuss noted that this markets a significant shift away from the traditionally contentious automaker-supplier relationship. Something he says is essential to EV production. “The Bolt EV will be the result of an entirely different PEM/supplier relationship.”

And what a significant shift it is, LG is expected to supply not just the battery, but also the PEEM (power electronics and electric machine), the HVAC electronic climate control compressor, telematics for OnStar and both displays for the cluster and infotainment unit.

However do keep in mind that the electric motors LG is providing are built from GM provided designs and specs. LG already is already a significant player on the display side of the equation.

Unfortunately GM will not be discussing the technical details of the Bolt until it has been revealed in production form.

 

[Roth33d]

Excited to see what information comes out and how they plan to display that information, cut-away displays being one of many ways to learn about what was done is what i'll be expecting.

 

[volta]

More and more we see tech companies partnering with auto companies. I believe the two industries will converge. Either partners or some companies that do one will begin fully investing in the other. Apple is getting in and Google. Samsung with Tesla for batteries. LG with Chevy for batteries.

 

[LightningBolt]

electric motors LG is providing are built from GM provided designs and specs.

Does that mean Lg didn't design the electric motors? They're just providing GM with their production plant?

 

[Shuto]

More and more we see tech companies partnering with auto companies. I believe the two industries will converge. Either partners or some companies that do one will begin fully investing in the other. Apple is getting in and Google. Samsung with Tesla for batteries. LG with Chevy for batteries.

LOL, you know this isn't a new thing right. They're called suppliers and the tech industry has always been one. GPS, radios, whatever. Batteries are easy, LG/Samsung whoever already makes them for laptops/cellphones, essentially they just daisy chain a bunch of them together

Aple and Google want to build cars, thats different from being a suplpier. But as one brilliant mind at Toyota quipped recently, good for Google, they still have build the car part...

I ask Koibuchi whether he’s worried about being disrupted by Google. “People focus a bit too much on the computer,” he says. “For an autonomous car, you also need a car.”

http://dailykanban.com/2015/10/i-was-toyotas-autonomous-drive-test-dummy-and-i-am-alive-to-write-this/

 

[volta]

LOL, you know this isn't a new thing right. They're called suppliers and the tech industry has always been one. GPS, radios, whatever. Batteries are easy, LG/Samsung whoever already makes them for laptops/cellphones, essentially they just daisy chain a bunch of them together

Aple and Google want to build cars, thats different from being a suplpier. But as one brilliant mind at Toyota quipped recently, good for Google, they still have build the car part...



http://dailykanban.com/2015/10/i-was-toyotas-autonomous-drive-test-dummy-and-i-am-alive-to-write-this/

The point is that technology and software and batteries etc... is becoming more and more an integral part of the vehicle so this relationship is becoming deeper and stronger all the time. Software is becoming so much a part of the industry that tech companies are beginning to look into building their own cars instead of being suppliers.

It was going on before, but now it is going on more and more.

 

[Bazinga]

Looks like everyone is now clamoring for LG Chem's batteries. Found and article on Forbes stating that LG is finalizing a deal with Tesla to supply them with batteries. Not sure if the deal is similar to the partnership between GM and LG or if Lg is supplying them batteries and only batteries.

 

[volta]

Car and Driver wrote a long piece on Chevy, the Bolt and Chevy's partnership with LG.

LG will manufacture the Bolt’s electric motor, power-inverter module, onboard battery charger, instrument cluster, and infotainment system. Building on the successful Volt battery-cell supply relationship (a claimed failure rate below 2 parts per million), LG will also manufacture lithium-ion cells and assemble them into a finished battery-pack system, along with modules that distribute electrical power, energize accessories, and communicate with charging stations. The battery heater—necessary for optimal performance in cold weather—will also be supplied by LG. Subsidiaries LG Chem, LG Innotek, LG Display, and LG Electronics working under the LG Electronics Vehicle Components umbrella in Incheon, Korea, invested $250 million developing and preparing to manufacture these Bolt components.

Regarding battery-pack configuration, it’s clear that the Bolt will need significantly greater electrical capacity than the 2016 Volt, which delivers 53 miles of EPA combined-driving, electric-only range from its 18.4-kWh battery pack. (Or the Nissan Leaf, which scores 107 miles with its recently introduced 30-kWh pack option.) Plan on at least 50 kWh of capacity. Speaking to that, GM says only that the Chevy Bolt will use a “flat-pack” configuration, bound to consume less interior space than the Volt’s T-shaped battery pack. In other words, the prismatic cells surely will be laid horizontally and built into the floor instead of using the Volt’s vertical alignment. One other cost-, weight-, and space-saving deviation we predict is use of air cooling in the Bolt versus the complex liquid-cooling arrangement seen in the Volt.

The Chevy Bolt will be unveiled in production form in January at the North American International Auto Show. A lot will be revealed at that point.

http://blog.caranddriver.com/will-chevrolets-bolt-ev-be-a-lightning-bolt-or-another-lame-electric-the-gm-lg-partnership-will-tell-the-tale/

 

[Roth33d]

LG is going to be a big winner here especially as GM brings out more EV's to stay competitive in the market all thoughout their brands. Batteries should be one of the key things to bring them in money.