General Motors is gearing up it’s publicity machine in preparation for the launch of its all-electric vehicle at the end of the year. The Chevrolet Volt is considered by many to be the last chance for the storied automaker, which was rescued from bankruptcy by the U.S. government. Last week GM confirmed that the car will first be available in Washington D.C., California, New York City and Austin, Texas. This week they announced that the Volt’s battery system will be covered by an 8-year/100,000-mile warranty. The company generally offers a 5-year warranty on vehicles, but the longer guarantee is necessary to allay market-wide concerns that lithium-ion battery systems may not be robust enough for long-term use. GM is currently in the process of ramping up commercial production of the 400-lb battery packs, which contains cells made by LG Chem (051910.KS), and are the single most expensive component in the entire vehicle.
Electric car company Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA) verified
details concerning its development deal with Toyota (NYSE: TM) at the end of last week. The company has signed a memorandum of understanding to deliver two
electric vehicles to Toyota by the end of this month. The prototypes
will combine Tesla’s electric powertrains with Toyota vehicles, according
to a Reuters report. Unconfirmed reports suggested such an agreement was set in place in May
when Toyota agreed to invest $50 million in Tesla. Tesla began trading on the Nasdaq on June 29. Share prices surged nearly
50% in the first week of trading before settling back around $19 dollars, where trading began.
OG&E (NYSE: OGE), Oklahoma’s largest electric utility, has selected Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) to build a
private wide area network (WAN) to support its smart grid
implementation. The network will transport two-way data traffic from smart devices across the utilities 30,000 square mile service territory. OG&E’s decision to build its own communications network
diverges from a recent trend, in which smart grid companies are
partnering with wireless carriers like AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) to utilize existing
infrastructure for data transmission.
OG&E’s smart grid also will include a centralized data control system made by the Swiss company ABB.
GE (NYSE: GE) announced that it will commit $200 million to breakthrough ideas generated through what it is calling an "open innovation
challenge." The challenge invites technologists, entrepreneurs and start-ups
to share their best ideas on building the next-generation power grid. Well-known venture capital firms and the Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine will assist in judging the ideas and determine who will receive funding and partnership opportunities with GE. The submission window is open for 10 weeks and additional details are available on the website.
Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc. (Nasdaq: QTWW)
and its German affiliate Asola, have agreed to establish a joint venture manufacturing plant for solar
modules in Ontario, Canada. Initial capacity for the plant is planned for 30 megawatts (MW) of mono- and poly-crystalline silicon solar cells. The facility, located near Toronto, will replicate the equipment, processes
and quality control measures employed at Asola’s 45-MW facility in
Germany. And the two companies will be joined by Evergreen Power, a Canadian developer of renewable energy projects.
And lastly, if you haven’t already heard of Yingli Solar, you probably will soon. Yingli Solar is the brand name for panels made by Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE:YGE). The company is rapidly expanding production and marketing efforts to become a major player in the global market. If you watched a few World Cup soccer matches, you probably saw the company’s name on billboards surrounding the playing field. In the last week the company announced that it won a contract to supply panels for high-visibility solar projects at 16 Kaiser Permanente hospitals in California. And they were granted a credit line from the state-owned China Develoment bank for the equivalent of about $5.32 billion. Last month Yingli opened new production lines that give the company a total manufacturing capacity of 1 gigawatt (GW) per year, and additional expansions are in the works.
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