That is information, as a result of Normal Motors is massive, they usually have already got expertise with hybrids and pure electrical autos. Many others have added a number of EV’s to their line-up, however sometimes it regarded like they had been solely “inexperienced washing” their firm for the PR. Nevertheless…this preliminary order is for 500 full-sized supply vans (with extra to return), and meaning it’s a giant deal. So…let’s have a look.
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BrightDrop
GM’s new EV division is “BrightDrop“, they usually have delivered the primary 5 of those supply vans to FedEx’s facility in Inglewood, California. They’ve introduced that they’re within the ultimate phases of growing their Cadillac “Lyriq” EV, which is an upscale SUV. They’ve additionally introduced that they are going to be reviving the “Hummer” as an AWD off-road EV. They’ve developed an EV Silverado pick-up to be proven in January 2022 at CES in Las Vegas, the place CEO Barra is scheduled to be the keynote speaker. The Silverado is rumored to have an choice for a 400-mile prolonged vary battery pack.
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GM’s Ultium EV line
The precise mannequin that FedEx selected is the EV600 cargo van, with 600 cubic ft of cargo area. makes use of their “Ultium” line of EV components, which have taken some time to develop, as a result of GM needs them to be useable as a worldwide platform, and to be configurable in quite a lot of methods for various autos.
Within the pic above, the platform FedEx selected for the primary few EV600 supply vans is an AWD system, and the brief motor module is the rear of the van, with the taller unit in entrance. BrightDrop additionally has an choice for a FWD model of the EV600.
GM has designed a number of sizes of it’s Ultium motor, utilizing the identical radial-flux inrunner topology. The stator makes use of “bar wound” windings, which has additionally been referred to as a “hairpin” winding. This model is simpler to automate it’s manufacture and meeting, and the thickness of the wire exhibits that GM plans to lean the motor’s duty-cycle in direction of utilizing excessive amps as a short lived peak for acceleration and torque.
Not proven within the pic above is that the rotor on the left is utilizing the Inside Everlasting Magnet / IPM mounting. By embedding the magnets barely beneath the floor of the rotor, and farther away from the air-gap…the facility stays the identical, however the magnets can run cooler, as a result of they expertise fewer magnetic eddy currents than a standard surface-mounted magnet association.
The motors are presently being manufactured at GM’s Baltimore facility.
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The Ultium Battery
GM has revealed that their Ultium line of merchandise shall be utilizing a flat pouch cell, developed by a workforce that was led by Andy Oury. Their battery chemistry was created in partnership with LG in South Korea, and has resulted in utilizing extra nickel, however…utilizing about 70% much less cobalt. Cobalt is pricey, so creating a brand new battery method that makes use of a lot much less of it brings the fee down. Cobalt can also be very politically delicate, as a result of the few nations that produce it proper now have employed horrific mining follow (human oppression and environmental disasters). In consequence, a number of firms have developed recycling processes to efficiently reclaim the cobalt from used batteries (for more info on this, read our article by clicking here).
GM has introduced a strategic collaboration with Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) to safe lithium from Southern California’s Salton Sea. GM’s present Ultium battery cells are being manufactured at their facility in Lordstown Ohio, in a partnership with Solid Energy Systems (SES), with a second facility being in-built Spring Hill, Tennessee.
SES is a brand new firm that arose from the ashes of the well-known however now-defunct “A123” firm.
GM is claiming that this battery pack has the choice of an built-in collection/parallel switching so it may be charged at 400V within the US, and at 800V in Europe, and that’s fascinating. It’s not technically troublesome to try this, however that is the primary system I do know of that’s trying so as to add this function (You can read our article on EV formats and voltages by clicking here)
The cost plug is a J1772 format (proven beneath). The 5-pin part on the highest half is for environment friendly AC charging that can probably be used to completely cost the battery when they’re parked late at evening, when the electrical grid has a lot of extra capability, and charging charges are low at the moment.
The 2 massive pins within the backside half of the socket are for high-amp “quick charging” which is probably going for use at any time when the van returns to the logistics middle to get a fast re-load of cargo, and go proper again out once more. The max vary is listed as 250-miles, however that might be below supreme circumstances, besides…this van is probably going to have the ability to simply attain 200 miles in the actual world, which poses no drawback with somewhat battery top-off each time it makes one other spherical, so as to add extra miles to the vary.
I believe the burden of the van and it’s stop-and-go metropolis user-profile will permit it to reap a major quantity of regenerative braking (regen). Electrical bikes have a tiny tire-patch in touch with the pavement, and are comparatively mild, which limits how a lot regen could be dialed-in earlier than inflicting the tires to skid. Autos with high-regen can have their customary brakes final many occasions longer than they do in a gasoline automotive.
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That is excellent news, as a result of when an organization as massive as Normal Motors dives into EV’s with each ft, there’s a ripple impact in analysis and improvement, and something that succeeds will drive competitors. Tesla has been grabbing a lot of the EV information this final decade, and even Ford has generated somewhat buzz, however…this time I feel GM is severe about producing EV’s for a broader market.
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Written by Ron/spinningmagnets, December 2021