Chevrolet Volt electric car to carry 8-year, 160,000 kilometre battery warranty

DETROIT — General Motors Co. is guaranteeing the battery in its Chevrolet Volt electric car for eight years or 160,000 kilometres in an effort to inspire confidence in the new technology.
The guarantee is better than warranties on GM’s conventional car engines and transmissions, which are five years or 160,000 kilometres.

The rechargeable Volt is due in showrooms this November. The vehicle reportedly can travel 65 kilometres on battery power before a small gasoline engine takes over to generate power so the car can go longer distances.
The Volt is expected to be priced around US$35,000 but will probably cost less after U.S. federal tax credits.
A longer warranty will help GM as it tries to convince people to adopt the new lithium-ion battery technology.
Tom Stephens, GM’s vice-chairman of product planning, said the automaker is confident that the batteries will be problem free for longer than the warranty, although their ability to hold charges will decline slightly over time.
“Originally, when we were looking at this, we wanted to make sure that the batteries were good for more like 10 years,” he said.
The batteries have a similar chemical composition to those in cellphones and computers. Those batteries often wear out in a few years and are relatively expensive to replace. Early on, GM had pegged the cost of a 181-kilogram Volt battery at around $10,000, the most expensive single component in the car.
Costs should drop as GM sells more Volts, and should be substantially lower after eight years, Stephens said. He said used batteries can be shipped to GM to be rebuilt to extend their lives. Customers also would have the option of disposing of them, he said.
Mickey Bly, GM’s executive director of electrical systems, said battery cost has dropped substantially as GM learns more about the new technology and because of government funding that has reduced development costs. He would not give a figure on how far the cost has dropped.
The Volt warranty also covers the battery cooling and heating systems, its charging system and the electric drive components, GM said.
The Volt will first go on sale in Texas, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan, California and Washington, D.C. The automaker plans to produce 10,000 by the end of 2011 and an additional 30,000 in 2012. The car is to be introduced in Canada in the second quarter of next year.
Other automakers are rolling out electric cars. Shortly after the Volt goes on sale, Nissan Motor Co. will begin selling the Leaf, a fully electric vehicle which the company said will get up to 160 kilometres on a single charge. The Leaf will not have a gasoline engine, but will be cheaper than the Volt.
Nissan has not announced a battery warranty length for the Leaf, which is expected to be introduced to the Canadian market by late 2011.