Will GM be able to compete in this fast moving market?

Nissan rushes to put electric car charging stations across Tennessee
By G. Chambers Williams III • THE TENNESSEAN • October 11, 2009
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With the rollout of Nissan’s first electric vehicles just over a year away in Tennessee, the race is on to figure out how to set up a network of charging stations swiftly enough to get ready.

It won’t be easy.

Thousands of chargers will be needed to satisfy Nissan’s ambitious plans to sell thousands of the clean-running cars in the first year as it strives to be the first automaker in the world to successfully mass market an all-electric vehicle.

Unlike the popular hybrids on the market today, Nissan’s new Leaf, a five-passenger compact hatchback, won’t have an internal-combustion engine onboard to back up the electric power. When the battery runs down, the car stops and drivers walk.

Getting the charging infrastructure in place may be a herculean task, said Mark Perry, director of product planning for Nissan North America Inc., but the automaker vows to be ready when the first cars come to market in December 2010.

Phoenix-based ECOtality Inc. has partnered with Nissan to set up the charging systems in consumers’ homes, as well as to create public networks in Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville and on the interstate highways between those cities.

Charging stations also will be set up in Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington, all of which are included in the first phase of Nissan’s rollout of the Leaf.

ECOtality has a $100 million loan from the U.S. Energy Department to help pay for the system, which will consist of “two layers of infrastructure,” said Colin Read, the firm’s vice president for corporate development.

Read said the first 1,000 buyers in Tennessee will get free home chargers installed, which could run up to about $1,500 each for the equipment and installation combined. Without that help, the biggest expense for some Leaf buyers might be getting their home garage wired for the 240-volt chargers, which themselves could cost about $500 each.

Must be the “New GM” of transparency and open communication. Well, sometimes it does take quite a while for a policy directive from the CEO to filter down through the ranks.

How about diesels in Chevy cars?

That’d fix a lot of problems.

A good question, but pointless to ask in this forum. It is rare to get an answer to a question on this blog from someone at GM — no matter how good the question.

How do you sell to these customers? Have their been any suggested solutions to this problem?

The Volt is merely a step stone to the next level.

As long as the Volt can do all the things I can with our late 90s LeSabre, but with better mileage, I’d consider it. The problem begins to show when small, hybrid vehicles that have little use outside of a commuter vehicle. I need a truck, so if I’m going to get a hybrid it better be able to do all the things I can do with a passenger car, not just commute. If I can jump in with the family, the dogs, luggage, and head up to the Grand Canyon, or across country, then great. The problem with traditional hybrids is that as the battery is depleted, especially on mountain drives, they become dangerously underpowered.

Andrew Farah,

The key to the life of rechargeable batteries is how many charging cycles they can stand before losing efficiency, not how many years you expect the battery pack to last.. Charging cycles are a function of how the car is actually used and a much better metric.

How many charging cycles do you expect the Volt battery to last? And if the number of those cycles is in the range of 1,000 or so, when you divide the cost of the battery pack by the cycles, won’t that be a significantly high number?

You guys are on to something with bringing back the Chevy Nomad, but instead of rebadging the Vibe as the Nomad, GM should make a sport station wagon or minivan version of the Camaro and call that the Nomad.

A Camaro Nomad could be a real halo brand for the “new GM.” (Or maybe they’re reserving the name Nomad for a station wagon version of the Volt. How does the Volt Nomad sound?)

Marty Dalrymple asked a good question above about the life of the Volt’s battery in terms of discharge-charge cycles. It seems obvious that the number of charging cycles the battery can go through will be more critical than the lifespan in years. Are you going to answer his question?

How many charge cycles will the battery be able to go through before losing its efficiency? Will your warranty be based on life in years, or life in charge cycles? (I assume you will have software in the car that will keep data on the number of charge events over the battery’s life, right?)

Also, if the battery’s software identifies itself as not being able to hold the rated charge early in its life, will the car’s owner get notice of that so s/he can go to the dealership for a battery swap at GM’s expense?