GM’s Barra: R&D Begun for 10-Minute EV Charger

General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra says the automaker remains on target to deliver 20 new all-electric vehicles globally by 2023 and confirms plans to soon release an experimental EV capable of a 180-mile (290-km) range with less than 10 minutes of charging.

Two of the EVs in GM’s 2023 plan were revealed in China earlier this year: The Buick Velite 6 and the Baojun E200.

The 5-door Velite 6 is based on an all-new EV platform and uses a new pure electric drive system. It will be introduced in China after a sibling plug-in Velite 6 debuts later this year.

The fully electric E200 expands on the capability of its predecessor, the E100. It has a range of 130 miles (210 km) under the New European Driving Cycle and comes to China this month.

“China is the world’s largest EV market and will be a large driver of global EV adoption,” Barra writes in an update on the automaker’s EV plan at LinkedIn, a social-focused business and employment website.

According to Wards Intelligence data, China will spur a 28.9% EV production increase in Asia Pacific to 867,267 units in 2018 from 672,982 last year. The world’s No.2 EV market, the U.S., will see EV production more than double this year to 291,740 units from 142,522 in 2017.

Barra confirms the fast-charging EV will be released soon to Delta Electronics, a global power and thermal management expert, as part of a research initiative with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a solid-state transformer-based extreme fast-charger. GM is the sole automaker participating in the 3-year, $7 million project.

The charger also is expected to be more efficient, four times lighter and half the size of conventional DC chargers. Delta researchers based in Livonia, MI, and North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park will conduct the work.

“We also will continue seeking partners to help drive adoption and develop supporting infrastructure,” Barra says.

First reported by Bloomberg, the project puts GM on a path to match the superchargers from EV rival Tesla.

Barra also reiterates plans to increase production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV, which has struggled to maintain inventories due to demand in the U.S., Canada and Asia. The fourth quarter production hike at GM’s Orion Twp., MI, assembly plant will be more than 20% compared with the previous three quarters.

Buick Velite 6.

The facility currently produces about 2,400 Bolts per month, according to Wards Intelligence.

Bolt sales in the U.S. through June were up 3.5% to 7,858, but second-quarter deliveries fell 22.6% to 3,483 compared with the same period last year, according to GM’s quarterly sales report.

Barra says a new LG Electronics facility in Hazel Park, MI, will support the production increase. LG will begin supplying the Bolt’s Li-ion battery pack from the facility with cells from LG’s Holland, MI, plant. LG previously would source cells and assemble the packs in Korea and ship to Orion for assembly into the Bolt.

GM also recently expanded its battery lab in Warren, MI, which according to Barra permits the automaker to complete nearly all battery testing under one roof to reduce cost and development time. Now occupying more than 100,000 sq.-ft. (9,290 sq.-m) of space, the lab includes new heavy and mild battery abuse test areas.

“And we’re not done,” Barra adds. “Additional major enhancements begin this fall with new test chambers and advanced equipment to accelerate our next-generation battery architecture.”