The Chevy Volt (in camo) in the GM wind tunnel

I'll come right out and say that writing for a blog is so dramatically different from a lot of the other kinds of writing I've done for the last 15 years that I find it hard sometimes to figure out just how writing a thousand or so newspaper articles could have prepared me for blogging. The report on where GM is at today with the Chevy Volt I'm about to file is an example of how much cooler it is to write on AutoblogGreen about the Volt than it would be to write a 600-word story for the Detroit News or whoever. Here goes.

What you'll find in the links below are posts about the various stops on the big media tour that GM took about 70 or so journalists on last week. I gave you my first impression the day of the event, but this is a chance to, in a way, take you along on the tour. I've organized the posts in chronological order, but each post is self-contained so feel free to click on what you're most interested in. Each one includes at least one audio clip (most have two) from GM representatives about their role in moving the Volt from concept to production car. They're all worth a listen if you want to know more about this vehicle. Ready? Let's go.

• The April 2008 Chevy Volt update: Denise Gray, the battery lady
• The April 2008 Chevy Volt update: A visit to the Battery Systems Lab
• The April 2008 Chevy Volt update: Wicked 3D in the Visualisation Center
• The April 2008 Chevy Volt update: Designing the Volt interior and exterior
• The April 2008 Chevy Volt update: Breezing through the GM Aero lab/wind tunnel

We've spoken with Denise Gray, GM's director of Hybrid Energy Storage Systems (she's working to get the hybrid taken out of her title, considering the whole E-REV thing), about the Chevy Volt's batteries many times in the last year or so (read our talks from August 2007, November 2007, and January 2008). At the Volt briefing last week, Gray gave the collected journalists a 15-minute presentation on where the batteries are today.

The goal for these cells, from A123 Systems and Compact Power Inc. and currently being tested by GM, is to be able to move the Volt from a standstill to 60 mph in 8.5 seconds or less and to give the driver the expected "passing capability" and "predicted drivability." The trick is to provide this capability over the full life cycle (10 years and 150,000 miles) of the Volt. Of course, the 40 mile electric range in city driving is also important.

Gray said her desire is to have the batteries tested at every level. GM is doing its own testing, natch, but the suppliers will be feeding reams of data to Gray and her team on the thermal properties, the materials and more. There are more than 60 battery scientists, engineers and researchers globally in Gray's department, and then dozens more who are not directly tied to her. There are multiple battery cell and pack cyclers and thermal chambers/simulators in use at all locations globally. The challenge, of course, is to simulate 10 years of battery operations in just two years, give and take. GM's solution will be described in the battery test update.

Listen to Denise here:

• Next: A visit to the Chevy Volt's Battery Systems Lab.

Prior to the opening of the LA Auto Show this week, AutoblogGreen sat down with Denise Gray of General Motors to talk about batteries. Denise is the director of Hybrid Vehicle Energy Storage Systems and oversees all the battery development going at GM for vehicles ranging from the new Two-Mode hybrid SUVs to the Chevy Volt.

AutoblogGreen: Why don't we get started with the current status of battery development for the E-flex program. Bob Lutz recently mentioned in an interview you have received the first pack from CPI. Where do things stand right now?

Denise Gray: Well, just to step back a little bit in the May-June timeframe, we got our contracts together, we worked with our two chosen suppliers CPI and Continental and we have been working those programs feverishly. We have come up with designs that are buildable, if you will, for our first mule build, or our first bench build that is probably the more proper name, what that design should be composed of and CPI delivered that on October 31. I was over in the lab, in fact, when they called and said, "Hey, they are here. They are at the grounds. Come on. But our security guys routed them to a different gate, so they will be here in ten more minutes."

So it was kind of like waiting for the birth of a baby. They brought it in, they had their big truck they brought it in. We had our forklift. The guys went and got it and I said make sure you handle it very well, so it was brought in.

Check out the rest our conversation after the jump to learn about how GM determines the state of charge of a battery and the current status of the PHEV Saturn Vue.

General Motor's director of hybrid energy storage systems, Denise Gray (pictured), and Mary Ann Wright, vice president and general manager of hybrid battery systems at Johnson Controls Inc., told a congressional panel today that U.S. auto suppliers need the federal government's help to create the high-tech future-car batteries we're all waiting for. Those lithium ion and nanotech batteries aren't going to create themselves, you know.

Automotive News (subs req'd) is reporting that the two experts spoke at a subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee hearing. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Texas, chairman of the subcommittee on energy and environment, said that advanced battery legislation is being drafted by committee leaders.

Related:

• AutoblogGreen Q&A: GM Battery Director Denise Grey

[Source: Harry Stoffer / Automotive News]