electric cars make progress with new batteries - lithium ion cell

Using a battery to drive a car engine is a technical journey involving batteries, electronics and sensors.
A large amount of energy generated must be strictly controlled.
The engineer must install the battery shape into the vehicle.
The next generation of hybrid and electric vehicles will have a lighter, more powerful battery
Automakers are investing billions in lithium-ion batteries.
There are three prominent places for electric cars.
First of all, they are really quiet.
Second, they speed up immediately because the wheels can be powered on immediately.
Third, they will be expensive: some of the billions of automakers that invest in battery technology will appear at a price tag.
Ron Jamison is in charge of GM's new 30,000-square-
Foot Battery Lab
GM has invested $1 billion in the Chevrolet Volt project to build a car that can travel 40 miles by battery alone.
The lab is full of rooms in black or silver and looks like a huge meat locker. Twenty-
4 hours a day, 7 days a week, charging and discharging lithium ion batteries in the room under different climatic and load conditions.
GM also performed continuous testing of individual cells.
More than 200 lithium-ion batteries in one 400-pound battery.
Each battery must be perfect or the battery will not work. "This cell —
I think it's about the size of the greeting card, "said Brian Colbert, spokesman for GM's hybrid program, while showing a greeting card to reporters.
Cells are a flat bag that looks like plastic 8by-
5 mail envelopes with padding.
A lot of energy is stored in the small package.
But Jamieson says the battery won't catch fire even if the battery pack is crushed in an accident.
Jamieson said: "You might think, wow, I would expect some very bad results if I stuck this in the water, or shortened it, or whatever.
"But it's very, very benign.
Like I said, boring.
GM said its Chevrolet Volt will be available by the end of 2010.
Other automakers will launch lithium-ion battery electric and hybrid vehicles on 2011 and 2012.
Auto companies say that as time goes on, costs will fall as more drivers fuel their cars at electric outlets rather than fuel pumps.