AutoblogGreen

It's not so much the schedule that worries me, it the fact that the price keeps climbing. The Volt was originally slated to sell for "comfortably below $27K” and is now expected to be over $40K which removes it from being the mass market “game-changer” that GM was hoping for. There has been a heated discussion over at www.gm-volt.com

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I have to wonder what the two battery manufacturers feel about being strung out like this. It has to be hard to plan for future production when GM won't pull the trigger one way or the other. There's the issue of lead time as the winning supplier has to actually acquire the goods, workforce and actually produce the packs. I'm guessing neither have the desire or resources to begin ramping up for mass production on the hopes of winning the contract.

Mark my words, this delay in naming a supplier will only server to further delay the mass marketing of the Volt. I could better understand a delay if this was a technical issue but it just seems to be GM dragging it's heals...

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Delaying naming a final supplier keeps GM "in the drivers seat" w.r.t. keeping costs in check on the battery, which will likely be the single most expensive part in the car. The worst potential result of the delays is that the parts suppliers, or supplier subdivisions, will be bankrupted. Fixed asset production investments will need to be made to meet volume production deadlines. During the previous EV bubble in the 1990s a number of EV builders and parts suppliers were bankrupted or hollowed out as the ZEV mandate collapsed in slow motion. In effect, they were all rounded up, committed financially, and then dumped.

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I don't blame gm for not announcing the supplier. With a car like this you don't want your competitors knowing you who what where an why . "Accidental leakage could take place"

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Tough decisions. It sounds like both batteries passed the tests, and had similar pricing, so it's now a matter of who can be the most reliable supplier.

I would not be at all suprised if GM decides to have Continental/A123 supply batteries for the North American E-Flex models, and have CPI/LG supply batteries for Asian and European E-Flex models

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Well, I think by now the technological side of this has been pretty much settled and the decision is largely about the business side of things.
Given Lutz' recent comments about the production price increase for the Volt, it's clear that GM will go with the manufacturer that can offer them the needed capacity at the lowest price, while the battery manufacturers want to secure a reasonable profit, and both want to take the least possible risk. However, as such things are hard to ascertain, there's probably a lot of number crunching going on right now, and a lot of haggling behind closed doors.
The delay sucks, but business just works that way.

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@ChrisM -
I thought the volt is only going to be produced in 1 plant (Hamtramck)? Why would they have 2 suppliers for 1 part in 1 plant?

Or is GM possibly going to need a 2nd supplier if "e-flex" spreads to other platforms?

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