How Long Have "We" Been Working On Battery Technology? -- August 20, 2021

How many years have "we" been working on batteries?/

According to wiki, this dates back to 1748 when Benjamin Franklin described multiple Leyden jars by analogy to a battery of cannon. 

So, that was 1748.

Alessandro Volta, the voltaic pile, 1800.

Michael Faraday, 1834.

Fast forward to 2001,  when A123 Systems, LLC, a developer and manufacturer of lithium ion phosphate batteries, was founded.

Along with A123, Sony, Toyota, Apple and myriad others were working on a "better" battery. 

Lots of investments, lots of research, but in 2012, A123 filed for bankruptcy protection. 

Tesla was incorporated on July 1, 2013, and if one has not heard of Tesla, .... one must have been living under the Geico Rock.

Chevy Volt: December, 2010 - February, 2019.

Chevy Bolt, model years 2017 to the present (2022).

So, since 1748 .... then apparently at the beginning of the 21st century we got serious ... 

... and now we're still having fires in these batteries. 

Today, 4:30 p.m. CT or thereabouts, GM after the market closes, announces a full recall of its Chevy Bolt. This is the third recall for this model. After the first recall some months ago, the cars were returned "fixed" to their owners, but about a month ago, a second recall of about 63,000 cars, or something like that. While still under recall, the third recall which extended to all Chevy Bolts. 

GM says this recall will cost an addition $1 billion for 73,000 cars which works out to $14,000 / car. 

I guess we now know the price of the battery pack for the Chevy Bolt.

GM drops 2.5% in after-hours.

One would think that after twenty years of serious effort, engineers would have the "fire thing" sorted out.

Back to square one, as they say, or in this case, back to the stables: