We've heard a lot of hype from General Motors recently about its Saturn VUE Plug-in and Volt prototype. Johnson Controls-Saft recently announced (Jan. 9) that they are striving for major advances in lithium-ion technology.
According to Alan Mumby, who leads the JCS joint venture, lithium-ion battery technology will become the technology of choice over nickel-metal-hydride, because it offers significant advantages in packaging, energy storage and energy-delivery performance.
Ongoing research and development work is underway at the JCS lithium-ion battery-development laboratory in Milwaukee. The facility is devoted exclusively to lithium-ion battery development for hybrid vehicles.
It is smart for GM to seek out their own supply partners to build their own innovative ideas. One of the problems with licensing technology from a giant like Toyota is that often suppliers, which build the licensed part, will first supply the dominant partner leading to shortages for the minority partner. Ford complained about this with the Escape hybrid early on, which was dismissed by Toyota.
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