NEWS & TECHNOLOGY ELECTROMOBILITY
Large pouch cell battery tech at heart of GM EV strategy
TBy Nick Flaherty he modular propulsion system for next generation GM
global electric vehicles is based on a proprietary low cobalt
lithium ion Ultium pouch cell batteries to be built with
LG Chem. High volume manufacture will drive the cost under
$100/kWh, says GM, which will
also license the pouch cell technology
to other companies.
The large-format pouch cells
can be stacked vertically or horizontally
inside the battery pack.
This allows engineers to optimize
the battery energy storage and
layout for each vehicle design. Ultium
energy options range from
50 to 200 kWh, which could enable
a GM-estimated range up to
400 miles (880km) or more on a
full charge with 0 to 60 mph acceleration
in 3s. Motors designed
in-house will support front-wheel
drive, rear-wheel drive, all-wheel
drive and performance all-wheel drive applications.
The Ultium-powered EVs are designed for DC fast charging
and most will have 400V battery packs and up to 200 kW fastcharging
capability. Truck versionos of the platfrom will have
800V battery packs and 350 kW fast-charging capability. There
will be plans 19 different battery and drive unit configurations
initially, compared with 550 internal combustion powertrain
combinations available today.
“Our team accepted the challenge to transform product
development at GM and position our company for an all-electric
future,” said Mary Barra, GM chairman and CEO. “What we
have done is build a multi-brand, multi-segment EV strategy
with economies of scale that rival
our full-size truck business with
much less complexity and even
more flexibility.”
Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and
Buick will all be launching new EVs
this year. The next new Chevrolet
EV will be a new version of the Bolt
EV, launching in late 2020, followed
by the 2022 Bolt EUV, launching
Summer 2021. The Bolt EUV will
be the first vehicle outside of the
Cadillac brand to feature Super
Cruise, a Level 2 hands-free driving
technology for the motorway. This
will expand to 22 vehicles by 2023,
including 10 by next year.
The Cruise Origin, a self-driving, electric shared vehicle,
shown to the public in January, was the first product revealed
using GM’s third generation EV platform and Ultium batteries.
Next will be the Cadillac Lyriq luxury SUV in April. A GMC Hummer
EV that uses the Ultium pouch cell technology is currently
planned for May. Production is expected to begin towards the
end of 2021 at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, GM’s
first assembly plant 100 percent dedicated to EV production.
BMW introduces “ecological geofencing” for hybrid vehicles
By CChristoph Hammerschmidt armaker BMW wants to contribute to the reduction of
pollutant emissions in inner cities with a new feature:
The cars’ navigation system automatically switches from
the combustion engine to the electric motor as soon as the
vehicle enters selected urban areas or environmental zones.
In various plug-in hybrid models from BMW, drivers now
can preset so-called “edrive
zones”. When the
car enters such an innercity
low emission zone,
it automatically switches
from combustion to electric
mode. For this purpose,
the vehicles use geofencing
technology via GPS, in
which an area is predefined
on the map by means of
coordinates. The zone is
then graphically displayed
to the driver on his navigation
device. Within this
area, the car drives electrically
for as long as the battery’s state of charge permits. If the
battery’s energy reserves run out, the system switches back to
the combustion engine. The driver receives a corresponding
signal in the Control Display.
The service is now available in around 80 European cities.
Further BMW models and regions are to follow. The system is
based on a practical test conducted by BMW in Rotterdam.
50 drivers of plug-in hybrids were asked to switch to purely
electric driving mode via a specially developed smartphone app
when entering the defined
inner city zone. As a result,
around 90 percent of all
routes within the core area
were covered electrically,
BMW says.
According to the carmaker,
the technology is a
contribution to the Smart
City vision. This approach
is also conceivable for
other vehicle brands,
the vehicle manufacturer
explained. In addition, it
gives city administrations
a means of improving air
quality in particularly critical areas or even in the entire urban
area, provided that other OEMs should also implement the technology
in their vehicles.
10 News April 2020 @eeNewsEurope www.eenewseurope.com
/eenewseurope
/www.eenewseurope.com
