wife needs a newer car

[theclencher]

From the GM Blog itself:

Building the Plug-In Hybrid: The Battery Challenge
By Beth Lowery
Vice President, GM Environment and Energy

In January, GM caused great excitement when we revealed the Chevrolet Volt, our plug-in electric hybrid concept vehicle. Since that time, we have received many questions about the car, particularly relating to the challenges of battery technology.

Today, I led a discussion before 100 members of the media and bloggers who joined in person and by webcast. The battery briefing: (1) introduced GM’s new battery team and summarized where we’ve been — GM learned from its past work with the EV1 and lead acid batteries; (2) where we are — GM has evolved to nickel metal hydride batteries in vehicles like the current Saturn Vue Green Line; and (3) where we’re going — to make a production-worthy car, the vehicle must meet a potential car buyer’s expectations in terms of performance, cost, safety and reliability — and the battery is an integral part of that process.

Joining me were leaders from technology partners like Johnson Control–Saft, A123 Systems and Cobasys. Each spoke about the challenges in developing a lithium ion battery that is safe, low cost and as efficient and long-lasting as possible. Each is looking at refining materials and improving battery chemistry to develop a product that will be used in GM’s future vehicles.

Whatever the battery looks like, it will need to perform in all situations — from quick acceleration to climbing steep hills. The energy storage needed to give the vehicle its range is equivalent to the power needed to run a laptop continuously for weeks. Lithium ion is the best solution to provide the energy and packaging profile demanded by these vehicles.

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OK so if there are no batteries what are they plugging in?

If there are no batteries why is there a battery challenge?

Get your wife on here to explain it to me.